Company in the News April-2026
See what PlayGround-SF Writers and Company Members are up to this month including: Michael Barrett Austin, Carolyn Doyle, Nancy Carlin, Ruben Grijalva, Gwen Loeb, Ross Nelson, Miyoko Sakatani, Emilie Talbot, and Lisa Gaye Thompson!
In 2023, Gwen Loeb started a nonprofit, World Builders Incubator (WBI), in order to speed the pace of progress with narrative arts & entertainment that’s focused on social and environmental solutions. On May 1-3 WBI will present readings of our first 5 new works that were created during our beta test! Better yet: the writers are almost all Playground company members! (We aren’t cast yet, but I’m guessing you can bet your bippy that we’ll have a whole lot of PlayGround ON stage as well!) The readings will be in the luxurious screening room at YBCA in San Francisco and include: 1 TV pilot by Esther Banegas Gatica, 1 screenplay by Mikee Loria, 1 book by Tom Swift, 1 book by Douglass Weissman, and 1 play by Susan McCully. Tickets are pay-what-you-can. Please join us for a weekend of hope as we use the power of stories to uplift what’s possible! Learn more here: https://wbistories.org/readings-2026/.
Emilie Talbot will be playing Amanda Wingfield in THE GLASS MENAGERIE at SPARC at The Bankhead in Livermore, May 1-3. One amazing , beautiful weekend only! Click HERE for more info.
Nancy Carlin is directing Neil Simon’s Pulitzer Prize winning play “Lost In Yonkers” for Center Rep in Walnut Creek. Fabulous cast includes Adam Magill, Renee Rogoff, Vinnie Randazzo, Sarah Mitchell, and Ellen Ratner. It runs March 29-April 19. Click HERE for more info.
Ruben Grijalva‘s Value Over Replacement begins a three-week run at Ross Valley Players March 27th, with shows Thursday – Saturday until April 12th. The play, whose development began with a Monday Night PlayGround short all the way back in 2012, is returning to the Bay Area 10 years after it premiered at the PlayGround new works festival in 2016. TICKETS!
Ross Nelson is directing the upcoming performance of Will Eno’s “Tragedy: a tragedy: for Raven’s Feather Productions. The show opens April 17 and runs through May 3 at the Helena Avenue Theatre. Click HERE for more info.
Miyoko Sakatani is happy to be cast for another season of the 3Girls Theatre (3GT) Reading Series, “Where We Belong.” She will be performing in “Scryer” by Karen Caronna on April 12th at 2pm. 3GT develops, promotes, and presents new plays by emerging SF Bay Area women playwrights over 40, multiracial, cis, trans and gender non-conforming artists. TICKETS!
Michael Barrett Austin just closed an extended run of the musical ‘Once’ at Berkeley Playhouse. Click HERE for more info.
Carolyn Doyle will be performing in Round 2 of THE BRECHT PROJECT: 11 commissioned plays from 11 playwrights, writing short plays inspired by the scenes in Bertolt Brecht’s “Fear and Misery of the Third Reich,” and re-setting the stories in our 2026 America. April 16-19. Click HERE for more info.
Lisa Gaye Thompson’s play, At the End of Our Streets, the Stars, will have a staged reading in SF on May 17th. Produced by 3 Girls Theatre! Tickets here. We’d love to see you there! Click HERE for more info.