PlayGround Company in the News February 2020
Read on to learn more about PlayGround Company Member and Alumni recent news, current happenings, and upcoming events as we prepare for the February 17, 2020 Monday Night PlayGround at Berkeley Rep!
Tom Bruett directed the world premiere of Ryan Fogarty’s YOU’LL CATCH FLIES at New Conservatory Theatre Center, running through February 23. You can get ticket here.
Julia Brothers will be playing a Mormon with visions from God in A PEREGRINE FALLS by Leegrid Stevens in NYC with Loading Dock Theatre at The Wild Project, Feb 2th – 29th.
Tessa Corrie was last seen directing eight shows for TheatreWorks’ Young Playwright’s Project. Her next show will be HELL HATH NO FURY II at The Phoenix Theatre in SF on February 29th at 7pm and 8:30pm.
Dodds Delzell is once again out on the road in February with the Reduced Shakespeare Company performing THE COMPLETE HISTORY OF COMEDY (ABRIDGED).
Carolyn Doyle will be performing her solo piece BONNE BELL COTTON CANDY LIPSMACKER at this year’s Women’s Theatre Festival’s Amplify! the 24-hour festival of women+ in performance, which runs April 18 – 19, 2020 at Brava Theatre Center, SF.
Christian Haines has directed RIPCORD at Altarena Playhouse and A KINK IN THE HOSE at the Solo fest.
Daryl Anthony Harper wrapped two days of shooting on a new Virtual Reality project for VMware in Palo Alto. Daryl also continues to pepper the airwaves via TV, Radio, and Internet as the voice of the Northern California Honda Dealers “Ask” campaign!
Did you love all those Shakespeare prequels? Gwen Loeb will be in a full length King Lear prequel called QUEEN MAIR that takes place in the 2 hours immediately preceding Lear. Before the men have their say, hear 5 women – Queen Mair, her 3 famous daughters, and the Fool – work through the politics of the Lear household with plenty of delicious snark and humor. Central Works, May 9-June 7
George Maguire has 3 films premiering: DISRUPTED and the Iranian film THE NIGHT at Cinequest San Jose and THE HALL at the Yountville Film Festival.
Alanna McFall has completed her full-length play, THIS TIME LAST YEAR, which was commissioned by PlayGround as part of her June Anne Baker award in 2019. Friends are welcomed to attend a table-reading of the script on March 7th, 9am-12pm and the PlayGround PlaySpace.
Ross Peter Nelson served as dramaturg for Carroll College’s upcoming production of EMILIE: LA MARQUISE DU CHATELET DEFENDS HER LIFE TONIGHT by Lauren Gunderson. The show runs Feb 7 – 15. https://www.carroll.edu/theatre/tickets
Ely Sonny Orquiza is assistant directing GLORIA by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins directed by Eric Ting (Feb. 13 – Apr. 12, 2020) and THE ROCKY HORROR SHOW (Apr. 23 – May 17, 2020) directed by Tony Award winning director/choreographer Sam Pinkleton at A.C.T. He will be directing a new play ADAPTATIONS for Forum Theatre in the summer during the National Queer Arts Festival.
Madeline Puccioni‘s new full-length musical comedy, FINDING MEDUSA– (book and lyrics, Madeline Puccioni; music and lyrics, Jeff Dunn), will have a table read for Play Cafe before an invited audience on February 10. PlayGround superstar Aaron Wilton plays our hero, Perseus. Madeline’s DARK WINDOWS opens February 20 for M.T.Pockets Theatre in Morgantown, WVA; her VALENTINE FOR ELLIE opens March 11 for 6th Street’s Women’s History Show; her GRANDPA’S CHAIR, first staged for PlayGround SF, opens in April for Towne Street Theatre’s Ten Minute Play Festival, and her new full-length drama, TIME AFTER TIME AGAIN, will be staged for Ross Valley Playhouse in their R.A.W. Festival in May.
Annette Roman‘s play BEST SERVED (originally written for Monday Night Playground) will be performed at the Short&Sweet Festival in Sydney, Australia in March.
Katie Rubin will be waking the people up through sass and general inappropriate wildness with her hour-long Stand Up Comedy Special, WHAT . THE HELL. IS HAPPENING?!” several times over the next few months. Come see her at: Capital Stage, May 24th, 7pm; Potrero Stage, July 10th; The Tabard Theater in San Jose in June- exact dates, TBD. Also, details about where and how to listen to her new podcast, co-starring Cassidy Brown, coming soon!
Come hear a dramatic reading of FIELDS, NEST, STAGE, a brand-new play by Ayelet Schrek, presented by acclaimed theater director Kayla Minton Kaufman and featuring talented local actors. FIELDS, NEST, STAGE follows the relationship between Maa and Terrance in three separate contexts: a rural home, a warped 1950’s-esque suburbia, and finally, a stage. Inspired by the work of Cuban-American avant-gardist Maria Irene Fornés, this triptych on intimacy incorporates musical elements and explores the possibilities of dramatic form. It will be read on Sunday, February 23 at 2p. For more information, click here.
Robert Sicular begins rehearsals for the world premiere of LOVE at Marin Theatre Company, which plays March 5- 29. More info at marintheatre.org
To celebrate new works entering the Public Domain, Steven Westdahl created an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov’s play THE TRAGEDY OF MR. MORN for a public Game Jam competition. If a tabletop role-playing game for one player based on a five-act Russian neo-romantic verse play from 1924 piques your interest, check it out: https://swestdahl.itch.io/the-tragedy-of-mr-morn
Reggie White is understudying in THE INHERITANCE on Broadway