Company in the News November 2026

See what PlayGround-SF Writers and Company Members are up to this month including: Jeunée Simon, Allie Costa Rob Dario, Ross Peter Nelson, Rachel Bublitz, GG Grilli, Dom Refuerzo, Eiko Moon-Yamamoto, Michael Barrett Austin, J Jha, and Evelyn Jean Pine!

Jeunée Simon will be onstage at Berkeley Rep in York Walker’s COVENANT directed by Taylor Reynolds. Hailed by The New York Times as “a striking Southern Gothic work,” York Walker’s “Covenant” unravels truth from myth in a haunting and gripping reckoning with what we choose to believe and what we cannot escape. Jeunée is joined by Latoya Edwards, Israel Erron Ford, Alicia Pilgrim, and Shian Tomlinson. With Anna Marie Sharpe, Titus VanHook, and Courtney Williams understudying. Performances run: Fri, Nov 6, 2026 – Sun, Dec 13, 2026. You can also see Jeunée this fall in Campo Santo and Magic Theatre’s ROSHAMON. This innovative new play written by Ashley Smiley stars Britney Frazier with contributions from artists like Juan Amador, Nora el Samahy, and Jeuneé Simon, and choreography by Delina Patrice Brooks. Created by award-winning videographer Joan Osato and directed by Edris Cooper-Anifowoshe. Runs: November 18-Dec 6. Performed at the African American Art & Culture Complex in SF.

Allie Costa recently booked and filmed a very timely sci-fi movie – Stay tuned! Her plays She Has Seen the Wolf, Can You Keep a Secret?, and Don’t Shoot the Messenger Pigeon, all of which began at PlayGround-LA, were selected for UpStage Napa Valley’s PlayFest, running November 13th-15th in St. Helena, California. Classified will be presented November 5th and November 8th in London. Main Character Energy and Metatheatrical were both selected for Gi60, running November 12th-15th in New York City. Unfinished Business, Live A Little, A Source of Comfort, and Two Girls will be presented November 15th by Beehive Theatre Company in New York. Allie appears in the animated film Blooky: The Book Who Wanted to Be Read, which is currently on the film festival circuit and was recently screened in Los Angeles, Poland, and Mexico. She also appears in Don’t Cut Your Nails at Night, which was screened at The Great Film Club Festival in Los Angeles. Allie’s play Don’t Fear the Reaper, which also began at PlayGround-LA, was performed at a special one-night-only event in New York. Drop in the Ocean completed its run in The Bahamas. Power Pose was part of the Fast & Furious Festival in Washington. Unfinished Business had a reading in Florida. For more information about any of these projects, visit www.alliecosta.com and www.imdb.me/alliecosta

Rob Dario is currently designing props for THE SECRET GARDEN at Marin Shakespeare Company, running Nov 27 – Dec 20.

Ross Peter Nelson will be directing his latest ten-minute play, My Understanding, for the Last Chance New Play Fest. The Fest features six new pieces written to the theme “Superstition,” and runs Nov 5 – 15 in Helena, MT.

Rachel Bublitz is thrilled to announce that her children’s play PRESENTING: SUPER CAT & REPTILE ROBOT has been published with Uproar Theatricals. You can purchase a script, or license the play through their website.

GG Grilli is directing Sarah Ruhl’s Dead Man’s Cell Phone at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek with his students at Bentley School, running 10/30- 11/01.

Dom Refuerzo will be performing with Wildchoir at Thrive Network’s 10 year anniversary celebration, Our Time to Thrive. The event will be on Saturday, November 7, from 7pm to 9pm at First Presbyterian Church (near 19th St Bart Station). Tickets are available now at this link!

Eiko Moon-Yamamoto will be performing a reading of Giovanni’s Ashes written and directed by Andrea Gordon on November 23, 7:00 PM at the Magic Theatre, a production of Rainbow Zebra and the Magic Theatre.

Michael Barrett Austin loved playing Orson Welles in Maury Zeff’s ‘There’s a Believer Born Every Minute’ directed by Ben Chau-Chiu at the first MNP of the season. Next up: Neil Simon’s The Good Doctor at the 222 in Healdsburg in January/February 2027.

PlayGround Resident Playwright Evelyn Jean Pine is performing a selection from a (very) early draft of her play _The Fold_ about connection, yoga, and fentanyl on Monday, November 16 and November 30 at 7:00 as part of Monday Night Marsh at the MarshSF.

J Jha is Anand in workshop/staged reading Crowded Fire will be presenting later this fall of How to Live in a House on Fire, a new play by Kari Barclay, directed by M. Graham Smith.