Company in the News September-2022

See what PlayGround Writers and Company Members are up to this September!

Allie Costa‘s play BLUE CHRISTMAS is having its world premiere September 9th through 18th at Stella Adler in Hollywood as part of A Light in Dark Places. Learn more here. Also, hear Allie on the latest episodes of THE KIT BULL STORY and FILAMENT, both streaming wherever you listen to podcasts. She can also be heard in PIECING TOGETHER THE PORTRAITS OF YOU, which is currently on the film festival circuit. A MOMENT OF SILENCE, which Allie wrote and directed, was part of the Confessions Festival. Learn more at Allie’s website here, or her IMDB page here.

Julia McNeal has big news: the book on her acclaimed character-creation technique: 5 WAYS IN TO CHARACTER, will be launched at a free event at Book Passage in Corte Madera on Saturday, September 24th at 11 a.m. Everyone is invited! Learn more about Julia’s work here.

Steve Koppman‘s one-act play FREE CONNECTION is slated to open as part of Pegasus Theatre’s (usually) annual post-Covid re-opening Tapas show, September 30 through October 23. This play was formerly ‘developed’ at the Last Frontier Theatre Conference in Alaska. Diane Sampson, a longstanding member and alumna, also has a play, THREE WOMEN ON A BENCH, TALKING, in this show. The production will run Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 and Sunday afternoons at 2, at Guerneville’s Masonic Lodge, 14040 Church St. Admission is $20. The first two Fridays, September 30 and October 7, are pay-what-you-will with seats available on a walk-in basis only. Purchase tickets are learn more here.

Karen Offereins will be performing in Ferocious Lotus’ upcoming production EVOLUTION, opening on Friday, September 16th at Live Oak Theater in Berkeley. She is a proud company member of Ferocious Lotus and is excited to be a part of new locally written works by Asian American playwrights. EVOLUTION is a co-production with TheatreFIRST and runs from September 16 – 25. Learn more here.

Evelyn Jean Pine‘s review of WE WROTE IN SYMBOLS: LOVE AND LUST BY ARAB WOMEN, edited by Selma Dabbagh, is published in Global Literary Theory. Read the review here.

Louis Parnell and Cindy Goldfield are finishing a run of Stephen Sondheim’s FOLLIES at SF Playhouse . Louis plays Dimitri Weissman, and Cindy plays Carlotta Campion. You can purchase tickets are learn more here. Use code WEISSMAN50 for half off tickets.

Michael Barrett Austin will be appearing in San Jose Stage’s THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG, a hilarious comedy directed by PlayGround director Jon Tracy, September 21 – October 16. Purchase tickets are learn more here.

Lisa Morse performed the title role in a staged reading of Amy Herzog’s beautifully funny and moving play Mary Jane at Z Space with the wonderful Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC). Read more about ARC here.

Steven Westdahl returns this September 10th – 17th to the San Francisco Fringe Festival at the EXIT Theater with his fourth production, 60 MINUTES OF OUR LIVES, an hour-long solo show featuring 16 of his short plays performed in a random order chosen by the audience. As a producer, Steven has twice won the Best Of The SF Fringe award, once in 2015 with Zurich Plays and again in 2019 with Fingertips. Tickets are on sale now and can be found here.

Aldo Billingslea will be in the ensemble at Marin Theatre Company for their Bay Area premiere of DUNSINANE by David Grieg. The show runs September 26 – October 16. Learn more here.

Jonathan Spector‘s THIS MUCH I KNOW opens at Aurora Theater in September. Read more about this production here.

Cherielyn Ferguson‘s play, VALUABLE, won in the one-act play category in the Shawnee Playhouse’s 2021 new work festival and was performed there the last weekend of August. Learn more about Shawnee Playhouse here.

Company members Rinabeth Apostol and Rosie Hallett along with Bay Area favorite Brian Rivera will be performing short plays written by Ukrainian playwrights since the beginning of the war on September 17 at 7pm at Temple Emanu-El in San Francisco. Event is free, with donations for Ukrainian aid accepted. Carey Perloff directs. Find out more here.

Ruth Kirschner‘s play THE FAMILY TREE was chosen for a staged reading with Ross Valley Players in January 2023. Keep an eye out on RVP’s website for more information.

Norman Gee comes off a double-header: performing with SF Mime Troupe all summer in the new musical BACK TO THE WAY THINGS WERE, while directing COMPARED TO WHAT for Masquers Playhouse in Pt. Richmond, a beautiful piece about the Pullman Porters set in West Oakland. This fall, Norman will be in a reading of George Saunder’s HOME, presented by Word for Word, for bookbindersmuseum.org, and later this year will appear in the SJ Stage production of MEET JOHN DOE. All while juggling duties as an Associate Producer for PlayGround!