PlayGround’s October 21 Season Opener!

“I got a rock.” – Charlie Brown

PlayGround kicks off its 25th anniversary season on Monday, October 21, 8 PM at Berkeley Repertory Theatre with an all-new season of the celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series. The topic for the first round, announced this morning, is “TRICK OR TREAT”. Members of the recently announced 2019-20 PlayGround Writers Company have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive an hour-and-a-half rehearsal and a professional script-in-hand staged reading at Berkeley Rep on October 21. PlayGround writers in Los Angeles are working simultaneously on the same prompt and their finalists will be presented at Hollywood’s Broadwater Main Stage (home of Sacred Fools Theatre Company) on October 14.  Tickets are $30 and half-price discounts and 6-admission preferred seating subscriptions are available for PlayGround-Potrero Stage Members. For tickets or more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/monday.

The playwrights of the 2019-20 PlayGround Writers Company are: Ai, Linda Amayo-Hassan+, Lynn Aylward, Vonn Scott Bair, Rosalie Fay Barnes, Tom Bruett+, Madeleine Butler, Ron Campbell, Patricia Cotter+, Nara Dahlbacka, Rob Dario, Victoria Chong Der+, Victoria Evans Erville, Elizabeth Flanagan, Jerome Joseph Gentes+, Akaina Ghosh, Lauren Gorski+, Garret Jon Groenveld+, Tanya Grove, Sarah Haas, Karen Hartline, Sam Hurwitt, Tejahra Jacobs, Lisa Kang, Melissa Keith, Molly Olis Krost+, Brady Lea+, Meghan Maugeri, Alanna McFall+, Madeline Puccioni, Annette Roman, Ayelet Schrek, Rebecca Schweitzer, Nic Sommerfeld, Martha Soukup, Lisa Thompson, Addie Ulrey, Leela Velautham, Madison Wetzell, Christian Wilburn, James Yu, and Maury Zeff (+ Resident Playwright).

Recent topics have included: “Justice,” “Holiday Miracle,” Twist of Fate” and “Borders, Islands & Walls” as part of a now-six-year collaboration with Planet Earth Arts and Stanford University. The top six plays from each month are rehearsed for just one-and-a-half hours each and presented as script-in-hand staged readings at Monday Night PlayGround, now celebrating its twenty-sixth year. PlayGround audiences get to enjoy a unique behind-the-scenes perspective, with a free Pre-Performance Discussion at 7:10pm.  Audience members can also experience the thrill of being a producer through the monthly People’s Choice Awards, helping to determine which plays and playwrights go on for consideration in PlayGround’s annual showcase, the Best of PlayGround Festival.

Supporting PlayGround playwrights and the Monday Night series are the members of the PlayGround Company, representing some of the Bay Area’s leading directors, actors, and designers, with a majority belonging to Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers. The 2019-20 PlayGround Company includes: Molly Aaronson-Gelb,  Patrick Alparone*,  Liz Anderson*,  Rinabeth Apostol*,  Michael Asberry*,  Michael Barrett Austin*,  Mary Baird*,  Aldo Billingslea*,  Millie Brooks,   Julia Brothers*,  Nicole Apostol Bruno,  Lizzie Calogero*,   Ron Campbell*,   Joy Carlin*,  Nancy Carlin*,  Desdemona Chiang,  Tessa Corrie,  David Cramer*,  Will Dao*,  Anne Darragh*,  Dodds Delzell*,  Livia Gomes Demarchi,  Carolyn Doyle*,  Nora el Samahy*,  Rebecca Ennals,  Britney Frazier*,  Michael French,  Sarah Gasser,  Norman Gee*,  Douglas B. Giorgis*,   Amy Glazer ,   Cindy Goldfield*,   BW Gonzalez*,  Christian Haines,  Margo Hall*,  Rosie Hallett*,  Daryl Anthony Harper,   Eric Fraisher Hayes*,   Brian Herndon*,  Laura Humphrey, Lyndsy Kail*,   Danielle Levin*,  Jeffrey Lo,  Gwen Loeb*,   George Maguire*,  Melanie Marshall,   Julia McNeal*,   Sam Misner*,  Brady Morales-Woolery*,   Lisa Morse*,   Molly Noble*,  Soren Oliver*,  Joseph Patrick O’Malley*,  Ely Sonny Orquiza,  Melissa Ortiz*,  Doyle Ott*,  June Palladino*,   Carla Pantoja*,   Louis Parnell*,  Jed Parsario*,   Michael Phillis ,  Rebecca Pingree,  Stephanie Prentice*,  Virginia Reed,   Cathleen Riddley*,   Katja Rivera ,  Adrian Roberts*,   Stacy Ross*,  Adam Roy,  Katie Rubin,  Lindsey Marie Schmeltzer,   Robert Sicular*,  M. Graham Smith,   Ken Sonkin*,  Lauren Spencer*,  Teddy Spencer*,  Howard Swain*,   Jomar Tagatac*,  Emilie Talbot*,   Danielle Thys*,   Jon Tracy ,  Mark Rafael Truitt*,   Liam Vincent*,  Maryssa Wanlass,   Tracy Ward ,  Reggie D. White*,  Aaron Wilton*,   and Elena Wright* (* Member, AEA).

PlayGround, the Bay Area’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s best new playwrights, including the monthly Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, annual PlayGround Festival of New Works, full-length play commissions and support for the production of new plays by local playwrights through the New Play Production Fund. To date, PlayGround has supported over 250 local playwrights in the development and staging of more than 950 original short plays and 80 new full-length plays, with 5 more commissions currently in development. PlayGround also operates Potrero Stage (formerly Thick House), a state-of-the-art 99-seat black box theatre in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, home to some of the Bay Area’s leading new play developers and producers, including PlayGround, Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, and Playwrights Foundation. For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org.

WHAT: Monthly, October-March, the popular Monday Night PlayGround series presents staged readings of thematically-connected short works by the Bay Area’s best new playwrights each month at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, staged by leading local professional actors and directors.  The given topic for the October 21 PlayGround is “TRICK OR TREAT”.

WHERE: Berkeley Repertory Theatre, 2025 Addison St, Berkeley, CA

WHEN: Monday, October 21, 2019 at 8pm                                     

Additional Season Dates:
November 25, 2019** at 8pm
December 16, 2019 at 8pm
January 20, 2020 at 8pm
February 17, 2020 at 8pm
March 16, 2020 (Planet Earth Arts New Play Festival)
** The Nov round will take place at Freight & Salvage.

TICKETS:                Tickets are $30 general admission. Half-price tickets and preferred seating discount subscriptions are available for PlayGround-Potrero Stage Members (just $25/year).  For more information about the Monday Night PlayGround series, call (415) 992-6677 or visit https://PlayGround-sf.org/monday.