PlayGround Illuminates the Holiday Season for Dec 16 Monday Night PlayGround

Posted by on November 27, 2020

“Look at how a single candle can both defy and define the darkness.” -Anne Frank

PlayGround shines a light on the Holiday Season with a special round of Monday Night PlayGround, on Monday, December 21, at 7pm PT, with six original short plays inspired by this month’s prompt, “ILLUMINATE.” PlayGround Writers have just four-and-a-half days to find their own illumination as they seek to generate original short scripts inspired by the prompt. The top six scripts will be rehearsed and presented live via Zoom on Monday, December 21 (PlayGround-LA will share their own response to the prompt with six new plays on Monday, December 14). Illumination plays a significant role in many religious and pagan traditions celebrated near or on the winter solstice – Diwali, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Christmas, Yule, and Bodhi Day (literally “Day of Enlightenment”), among many others. PlayGround looks forward to the writers’ plays bringing light to this dark time and PlayGround bringing their plays to light. Admission is free though advance reservations are required (1 reservation = 1 zoom link for up to 2 devices; Zoom links will be sent out the day of performance). For the complete schedule or to reserve tickets, visit https://playground-sf.org/monday.

Each month, PlayGround announces a topic and PlayGround writers have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-page script. Recent topics have included: “Hero’s Journey,” “Suffrage,” “The Shakespeare Prequels,” and last year’s “Feeding Nine Billion” as part of a six-year collaboration with Planet Earth Arts and Stanford University. The top six scripts are matched with directors and a cast of leading local professionals and rehearsed for just ninety minutes on the day of the performance. Following a brief technical rehearsal to add sound and other design elements, the six short plays are performed as script-in-hand staged readings for a live (albeit online) audience on third Mondays, October through March. 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, which this year will be celebrating its 25th iteration.

The 2020-21 Writers Company is: Lynn Aylward, Cass Brayton+, Tom Bruett, Diana Burbano+, Madeleine Butler, Reg Clay, Rob Dario, Victoria Chong Der+, Victoria Evans Erville, Akaina Ghosh, Linda Maria Giron, Lauren Gorski, Garret Jon Groenveld+, Aaron Higareda, Sam Hurwitt, Tejahra Jacobs, Eddrick Jerome, Lisa Kang, Melissa Keith+, Anne Yumi Kobori, Molly Olis Krost, Samuel Levit, Jonathan Luskin+, Christopher Magee, Meghan Maugeri, Katie May+, Alanna McFall, Misao McGregor+, Bacilio Mendez II, Amissa Miller, Erin Marie Panttaja, Evelyn Jean Pine+, Madeline Puccioni, Annette Roman, Rebecca Schweitzer, Marissa Skudlarek, Martha Soukup, Chris Steele, Lisa Thompson, Eteya Trinidad, Leela Velautham+, Daysha Veronica+, Madison Wetzell, Christian Wilburn+, and Sean Wong-Westbrooke.
(+ Resident Playwright, Bold = new writers in 2020-21)

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, designers, and stage managers. The 2020-21 PlayGround Company includes: Molly Aaronson-Gelb , Angel Adedokun, Patrick Alparone*, Liz Anderson*, Rinabeth Apostol*, Michael Asberry*, Michael Barrett Austin*, Mary Baird*, Aldo Billingslea*, Giselle Boustani-Fontenele, 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 , Claire Ganem, 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, J Jha, Lyndsy Kail*, Dean Koya, Danielle Levin*, Jeffrey Lo , Gwen Loeb*, George Maguire*, Melanie Marshall , Julia McNeal*, Sam Misner*, Brady Morales-Woolery*, Lisa Morse*, Molly Noble*, Karen Offereins, 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*, Neiry Rojo, Stacy Ross*, Adam Roy , Katie Rubin , Lindsey Marie Schmeltzer , Louel Senores, Robert Sicular*, Jeunee Simon*, M. Graham Smith , Ken Sonkin*, Lauren Spencer*, Teddy Spencer*, Howard Swain*, Jomar Tagatac*, Emilie Talbot*, Danielle Thys*, Isabel To, Jon Tracy , Mark Rafael Truitt*, Liam Vincent*, Maryssa Wanlass , Tracy Ward , Reggie D. White*, Aaron Wilton*, and Elena Wright*.
(* Member, Actors’ Equity Association, Bold = new members in 2020-21)

PlayGround, California’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s (and now Los Angeles’) 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 200 early career playwrights, developing and staging more than 850 of their original short plays through the Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned 85 new full-length plays by 55 of these writers through its Commissioning Initiative and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 30 plays at theatres of every size, including three that have gone on to NYC and other major theater communities. Most recently, PlayGround renovated and relaunched the former Thick House Theater in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill as Potrero Stage, a state-of-the-art center for new plays, home to PlayGround’s expanding artistic programs and some of the Bay Area’s most distinguished new play developers and producers. Over the past twenty-four years, PlayGround has served to identify some of the most important new local voices for the theatre. PlayGround’s alumni have gone on to win local, national, and international honors for their short and full-length work, including recognition at the Humana Festival, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The Lark’s Playwrights’ Week, New York International Fringe Festival, and others. PlayGround received the 2009 Paine Knickerbocker Award for outstanding contributions to Bay Area theatre, 3 BATCC Awards for Best Original Script for PlayGround commissions, a 2014 National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing (founder of the Tony Awards®), and a 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award. Visit https://playground-sf.org for more information.

Potrero Stage is a 99-seat state-of-the-art performance space located in the heart of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, operated by PlayGround, and serving as home to some of the Bay Area’s leading new play developers and producers, including PlayGround, Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, and Playwrights Foundation, among others. While the venue is closed during the COVID pandemic, Potrero Stage will highlight the best in online programming by PlayGround, Potrero Stage resident companies and other Potrero Stage producers. For more information, visit https://potrerostage.org.

2020-21 Monday Night PlayGround Season Calendar
December 21, 2020 7pm via Zoom live stream (topic announcement: Nov 27)
January 18, 2021 7pm via Zoom live stream (topic announcement: Dec 24)
February 15, 2021 7pm via Zoom live stream (topic announcement: Jan 22)

For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/monday or call (415) 992-6677.