PlayGround presents Season 30

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

Topic: “The Shakespeare Multiverse”
January 15th, 2023 7pm PT
Live at Freight & Salvage + Simulcast & On-Demand

Acknowledging the Legacy of the Land We Inhabit

PlayGround acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush (RAH-my-toosh) Ohlone (oh-LOW-nee) and Lisjan (lih-SHAH-n) Ohlone, the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula and East Bay, respectively. As the past and present Indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone and Lisjan have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. We recognize the historic injustice of the forcible removal of the Ohlone people from their ancestral lands, and that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the Ancestors, Elders and Relatives of the Ramaytush and Lisjan Communities and by affirming their sovereign rights as First Peoples. We honor the storytellers of the Ohlone and are grateful for our ability to share and uplift Indigenous stories and those of other historically marginalized communities.

To learn about the legacy of the land you inhabit, visit Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land. To read the complete Land Acknowledgment Policy, click here.

PlayGround’s Anti-Racist Policy

PlayGround recognizes the impact of racial oppression within society and the American Theater and that we have been complicit in White Supremacy culture. Our goal is to co-create safety for our community by identifying and interrupting instances of racism and all forms of oppression when we witness them, through specific actions rooted in the principles of anti-racism and accessibility. In its endeavor to address the implications of our history, PlayGround is committed to its compliance with the following fundamental rights:

• The recognition of inherent dignity and worth of each human being.
• The recognition of equality of all human beings.
• Recognition of rights of ethnic, racial, cultural, linguistic and religious groups.
• Equality and non-discrimination.

PlayGround’s Anti-Racist Policy applies to: all members of the PlayGround community, including employees, independent contractors, volunteers, audience members, donors, and general members of the community.

To read the complete Anti-Racist Policy, click here.

Monday Night PlayGround Memberships

We are deeply grateful to our 2023-24 Monday Night PlayGround Members, whose direct support helps to underwrite artists fees for the Monday Night series across all four regions: Sharon Baldwin, Jaisey Bates, Tim Bishop, Ms. Linda B Breaux-Smith, Emilie Brooks, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Ben Cain, Julie Campbell, Sidney Glass & Eleanor Clement Glass, Joan Cleveland, Ms. Marilyn Berg Cooper, Sandra Cruze, Dodds Delzell, Hillary DeMartino, Sharon Ebehardt, Ann Ehrmann, Ms. Cherielyn Ferguson, Krystyna Finlayson, Sheri Flanders, Conde Freeman, Dr. Jan Gilman, Lara Gilman, Michael Tonjum & Jan Gilman, Hollis Greenwood, Ruben Grijalva, Regina Guggenheim, Dana Hall, Rachel Harner, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Lucy Hsu, Brandy T Jones, Ms. Anne M. Krause, Emily Kuroda, Douglas Le Blanc, Ms. Kristy Lin Billuni, Mr. John Lindner, Jonathan Luskin & Leslie Katz, Rhea MacCallum, George Maguire, Brian Markley, Linda Marks, Dr. Sheila McCormick, Ms. Cynthia L Morishige, Molly Noble & Bob Guilbault, Annette Oliveira, Maryl Olivera, Ms. Vicki Oswald, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Mrs. Elizabeth Poston, Madeline Puccioni, Mr. George Rose, Jessica June Rowe, Michelle Ruscetta, John J. Ruskin, Kathryn Ryan, Miyoko Sakatani, Louel Senores, Mark Sherstinsky, Nancy W. Smith, Stan Stone, Cathie Stonie, Mr. Richard Dana Swart, Kim Tram, Jeffrey Trescott, Michael E Tuton, Dr. Eidell Wasserman, Bex White, Christian Wilburn, Janine Wilburn, and Maury Zeff. Thank you!

To learn more about the Monday Night PlayGround membership program, click here.

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!

Juliet’s Post Credits Scene
by Greg Lam
Directed by Jeunee Simon
Juliet………………………………..Isabel To
Horatio……………………..Leon Goertzen
Page………………………….Ron Campbell
First Watchman…………Robert Sicular

Queer (Shakes)Peer Support Group
by Kaz Valtchev
Directed by Ely Sonny Orquiza
Puck………………………….Joe Ayers
Ganymede……….Dominic Lauren
Orlando………………Louel Senores
Cesario……………..Ben Chau-Chiu

Less Than Noble
by Kimberly Ridgeway
Directed by Lana Richards
Paul…………… Dodds Delzell
Archie..…………..Khary Moye
Emily..…………..Elena Wright

The Antonio Play
by Jennifer Le Blanc
Directed by Tanika Baptiste
Antonio…………………………………………… Ron Campbell
Sebastian / Bassanio / Hortensio…… Natalia Delgado
Margaret / Fighter / Ariel.………………………..L Duarte
Son.……………………………………………………Gisela Feied

Coronation Day
by Jediah Craig
Directed by Jim Kleinmann
Portia…………………Karen Offereins
Lucius…………………….Wayne Wong
Brutus…………………..Robert Sicular
Caesar……………………..Ryan Tasker

The Selfish Atlas or How Hamlet Got His Groove Back
by Christian Wilburn
Directed by Emilie Talbot
Hamlet ………….Michael Carroll
Prince Hal.………..Emilie Talbot
Falstaff………………..Dave Sikula
Ophelia…………………..Sarah Lee

Stage Manager: Jenna Stein-Corman

This live stream is produced under a SAG-AFTRA New Media Agreement.

PlayGround is a member of Theatre Bay Area and Theatre Communications Group.

People’s Choice Award

Following tonight’s performance, we invite your participation in this month’s People’s Choice Award. Through the People’s Choice Award, our audience can play a direct impact in furthering the career of a promising new playwright. To vote, make a People’s Choice Award tax-deductible donation on behalf of your favorite play(s)/playwright(s) from the evening. Every donated dollar counts as a vote while directly supporting PlayGround’s award-winning incubator programs.

Cast your vote for your favorite play(s) by making a People’s Choice donation via Zelle (info@playground-sf.org), Venmo (our account ID is @playgroundsf and if they ask for the last four digits of my phone, it’s 8541) or on our website at https://tickets.playground-sf.org/TheatreManager/1/online?donationquick=16 (you can also visit the Monday Night PlayGround page for the People’s Choice donation button). Add a note/memo with your gift to indicate your favorite play(s) or email your selection to boxoffice@playground-sf.org.

At the end of the week, we’ll tally up the top vote-getter and automatic semi-finalist for our season-ending Best of PlayGround. It’s a powerful way of showing your support for new writers and their work, while helping PlayGround continue doing what we do!

Biographies

PLAYWRIGHTS

JEDIAH CRAIG (Coronation Game), he/him, is a Bay Area playwright and proud member to the Playground SF writer’s pool, PCSF and TBA. Most recently his play Apart of Us was published in riverSedge: A Journal of Art and Literature.

GREG LAM (Juliet’s Post Credits Scene), he/him, is a playwright, screenwriter, podcaster and board game designer. He is the co-founder of the Asian-American Playwright Collective, a member of The Pulp Stage Writer’s Room, Playground SF, and The Pear Theatre’s Playwright Guild. LAST SHIP TO PROXIMA CENTAURI premiered digitally at Kitchen Dog Theater in 2021, onstage at Portland Stage Co. in 2022. REPOSSESSED premiered at Theatre Conspiracy in 2018. TREACHERY ISLAND premiered at The Pulp Stage in 2023. CHAPLIN & KEATON ON THE SET OF LIMELIGHT will premiere at The Pear Theatre in Mountain View in June 2024. For more about Greg, see https://greglam.wixsite.com/home.

JENNIFER LE BLANC (The Antonio Play), she/her, is thrilled to be part of Playground. She adapted Jane Austen’s Persuasion which received its world-premiere at San Jose Stage Company and Defoe’s Moll Flanders which received its world-premiere at Pacific Repertory Theatre. She wrote We Made Bread, a one-woman show adapted from interviews, for Perspective Theatre Company (formerly Arabian Shakespeare Festival). Jennifer has contributed short plays to Shotz, Perspective Theatre Company’s New Works Festival, and Our Digital Stories. Jennifer received her BA in English Literature from U.C. Berkeley and her MFA in Acting from the National Theatre Conservatory. She is an associate artist with the Perspective Theatre Company and SPARC. www.jenniferleblanc.com

KIMBERLY RIDGEWAY (Less Than Noble), she/her, playwright/director/actor/producer is in her Freshman year of SF Playground’s writing pool. She wrote, produced, and directed the full-length stage plays Prospect Place, Heavy Burdens, No More Secrets, The Confession, The Gigolo Chronicles, and The Drowning Pool. Kimberly is a Brady Fellow Recipient (3Girls Theatre) for her play Soulmates, and the recipient of the Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Art Leadership Residency (Central Works). Kimberly’s writing highlights the voices of women, specifically women of color, and the stories are both thought-provoking and entertaining. Kim can be found on Instagram @khaoss15 and NPX.

KAZ VALTCHEV (Queer (Shakes)Peer Support Group), he/him, has worked with Monday Night Playground as a stage manager, actor, and now a playwright. He has been onstage, backstage, and front of stage for several theaters across the Bay Area. He has also spent over a decade writing stories, slam poetry, and songs. He has had short plays produced with the 2020 Queer AF Festival and the 2022 Fresh Baked Pears Festival. He will also have an original monologue published in the anthology, WE-US: Monologues for Gender Minority Characters in March 2023.

CHRISTIAN WILBURN (The Selfish Atlas or How Hamlet Got His Groove Back), he/him, is a San Francisco-based writer whose work blends the deeply personal and the fantastical. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from Santa Clara University and holds an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco. Over the past three years Christian has been an active PlayGround member, frequently contributing to PlayGround programming. He’s been featured in Monday Night PlayGround, Best of PlayGround, and the PlayGround Playwright Residency Program. His PlayGround-commissioned full-length play, Starlight, was featured in the 2023 PlayGround Festival of New Works.

ACTORS

JOE AYERS (Queer Shakes(Peer) Support Group, “Puck”), is an actor, director, choreographer, and teaching artist currently based in San Francisco. He has had the pleasure of working on and offstage at companies such as Center REP, Asolo Rep, American Stage, American Conservatory Theater, Cal Shakes, San Francisco Playhouse, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Aurora Theatre Company, Berkeley Playhouse, PlayGround SF, Los Altos Stage Company, and New Canon Theatre Company. BA: UC Berkeley. MFA: FSU/Asolo Conservatory. Instagram: @joeayers13.

RON CAMPBELL (Juliet’s Post Credits Scene, “Page”; The Antonio Play, “Antonio”), he/him, In a career that has spanned forty years, four continents, and over 150 productions, Ron Campbell has performed everywhere from the Aurora Theatre across the street to the Royal Albert Hall in London, the Fuji Dome in Tokyo, the Habima in Tel Aviv and the Theatre if Dionysius in Ephesus, Greece. He was the lead clown with Cirque du Soleil, the star of the one man show “R. Buckminster Fuller” and the ringmaster of the Lone Star Circus. He holds a 5th degree black belt in Japanese swordsmanship and sails a 1965 Pearson Ensign sailboat. And he draws comic books.

MICHAEL CARROLL (The Selfish Atlas or How Hamlet Got His Groove Back, “Hamlet”), he/him, a Southern California native, honed his acting craft at the Stella Adler Youth Conservatory in Los Angeles. Armed with an Associate Degree from Santa Monica College and a Bachelor’s in Theater Arts from UC Berkeley, he brought characters to life as the Egungun in “The Red and Brown Water” and Mr. Burns in “Mr. Burns: A Post-Electric Play” at UC Berkeley. Michael recently portrayed YoungBlood in “The Slave Who Loved Caviar” and Shaniqua in “Cinderella” at the African American Shakespeare Company, highlighting his skill and passion for the stage.

BEN CHAU-CHIU (Queer Shakes(Peer) Support Group, “Cesario”), they/them, is a Bay Area actor and director. They’re excited to be back as a company member for PlayGround’s 30th season! Recent credits include: Cymbeline, Much Ado About Nothing (SF Shakes); Poor Yella Rednecks, The Headlands (A.C.T.); Delta Daze, Momo, Best Christmas Ever (Monday Night PlayGround SF/NY); She Loves Me (42nd Street Moon); Beauty and the Beast (Palo Alto Players). They have also worked with Cal Shakes, Berkeley Rep, Livermore Valley Opera, New Conservatory Theater Center, Town Hall Theatre, and Bay Area Children’s Theatre. benchauchiu.com

NATALIA DELGADO (The Selfish Atlas or How Hamlet Got His Groove Back, “Sebastian”/”Bassanio”/”Hortensio”), she/her, was born and raised in the heart of Los Angeles and has always been around incredibly creative and innovative people. Her 10+ year background in Theatre has only increased her passion and curiosity to delve deep into truthful storytelling. Whether on or off stage, she commands the room with her infectious charm and giving spirit. Memorable roles include Felicia (Dreaming in Cuban), La Roca and La Karen (Exhaustion Arroyo), Mercutio (Romeo and Juliet), Blondie (Zoot Suit), Camila (In the Heights), and many more. She has also been featured in various Staged Readings and Original Works through several Theaters in the surrounding Bay Area such as Monday Night Playground, Shotgun Players, and Awesome Theater. When she is not acting on stage, you can find Natalia teaching 2nd-grade English and participating in other theatrical/film projects. IG:artistanatalia

DODDS DELZELL (Less Than Noble, “Paul”), he/him, is a proud member of Playground. a huge admirer of all who take part, Writers, Directors, Stage Managers, Volunteers, and Audiences in this family we call Theater!

L DUARTE (The Antonio Play, “Margaret”/”Fighter”/”Ariel”), they/them, they/them, is a Bay Area actor, playwright, activist and teaching artist whose recent projects include: SPARC Science Plays Festival with Livermore Shakespeare, Cry of Curs with Tabard Theatre, The Review with Theatre Rhinoceros, Particle of Dread with Anton’s Well, Helen! With Theatre of Yugen, Into the Beautiful North & The King of Cuba with Central Works. They have worked with Willows Theatre Co, Berkeley Rep., Crowded Fire, Playwrights Foundation, SF Playground, Bay Area Children’s Theatre and various others. Duarte is a graduate of UCLA, UCSC, and has trained with A.C.T., Shakespeare & Co., & SITI Co. Duarte is a member of Latinx Mafia, In Full Color and Lez Writes. Find a full range of work by Duarte at www.sfcasting.com/leticiaduarte

GISELA FEIED (The Antonio Play, “Son”), they/them, graduated from PCPA in 2019 where they had the pleasure to be in the ensemble for the Crucible, play Tootles in Peter Pan, Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Gabby in American Mariachi, and tour Breaking Through as part of the PCPA Fall Outreach Program along the central coast. Currently, they are working as a Teaching Artist bringing mental health awareness and tools for mental wellness virtually to high schools across Northern California.

LEON GOERTZEN (Juliet’s Post Credits Scene, “Horatio”) has worked at theatres in northern and southern California including Capital Stage, East West Players, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Will and Company, Magic Theatre, Asian American Theater Company, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Road Theatre Company, Cutting Ball Theater, Aurora Theater Company, Bay Area Playwright’s Festival, Inverness Shakespeare and New Conservatory Theater. Film credits include Quitters (with Mira Sorvino and Kieran Culkin) and Beauty and The Blade. Leon is a BFA graduate of UNC School of the Arts and is a member of Actors’ Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild and is a founding company member of Ferocious Lotus Theatre Company

DOMINIC LAUREN (Queer Shakes(Peer) Support Group, “Ganymede”), he/him, is a versatile artist, excelling as an actor, dancer, and singer. With a passion for the performing arts, Dominic brings charisma and talent to every project. With a career spanning various roles on stage and screen, Dominic’s dynamic performances captivate audiences.

SARAH LEE (The Selfish Atlas or How Hamlet Got His Groove Back, “Ophelia”), she/her, Korean American actress, devout cat mom.

KHARY MOYE (Less Than Noble, “Archie”), he/him, is happy to be returning with Playground for The Twisted Holiday show!! He was last seen at Marin Theatre Company for August Wilson’s “Two Trains Running” and with Best Of Playground 27 for “Boogie Cousins And The 1.8 Seconds That Changed Everything” By Michael Tuton. Other productions include “Intimate Apparel” with Lorraine Hansberry Theatre Company, Toni Stone with A.C.T., A Streetcar Named Desire with African American Shakespeare Company, and Six Degrees Of Separation at Custom Made Theatre Company. Film/Television credits include The Dave Chappelle Show and Sense 8. He is beyond grateful to be spreading Holiday Cheer on Stage!! Thank you everyone for keeping Theatre alive!!

KAREN OFFEREINS (Coronation Day, “Portia”), she/her, is a company member of PlayGround and was last seen on stage in Quicksand Club Sketch Comedy. Recent credits include EVOLUTION (Ferocious Lotus, where she is also a company member), How to Transcend a Happy Marriage (Custom Made Theatre Company), Elevada (Shotgun Players), and Two Mile Hollow (Ferocious Lotus). Past credits include Phèdre (Cutting Ball Theater), The Potrero Nuevo Project (PlayGround), The Rules (SF Playhouse), The Mousetrap, Top Girls, and Our Town (Shotgun Players), The Pain and the Itch (Custom Made Theatre Company), and Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Big Funk, and No Exit (AtmosTheatre).

LOUEL SENORES (Queer Shakes(Peer) Support Group, “Orlando”), he/him, is a Berkeley-based actor and stage manager. You may have last seen him in Tea Party (One of Our Own), Dream Hou$e (Shotgun Players) or you can come see him in The Engine of our Disruption playing at Central Works now! It’s also possible you didn’t see him stage-managing Yerma (Shotgun Players) and Water by the Spoonful (SF Playhouse). He’s a proud company member of PlayGround SF and Berkeley Interactive Theater, which specializes in delivering custom-made EDIB workshops for universities and other intact organizations. When he’s not doing theater, Louel is likely to be found managing a frozen yogurt shop, karaoke-ing with strangers online, playing video games, and/or dueling other nerds with foam weapons. LouelSenores.com

ROBERT SICULAR (Juliet’s Post Credits Scene, “First Watchman”; Coronation Day, “Brutus”), he/him, has performed a universe of roles in a decades long career that spans the country and the globe. He has over 90 productions of Shakespeare to his credit, dozens of contemporary world premieres, and everything in between. In Film/TV/Online he’s featured in Josh Kornbluth’s “Love and Taxes”, the sci-fi comedy action-thriller “Never Die Twice”, Bollywood potboiler, “Dil Pardesi Ho Gaya”, and stars as the title character in the podcast, “Dr. Dark Presents”.

DAVE SIKULA (The Selfish Atlas or How Hamlet Got His Groove Back, “Falstaff”), Dave Sikula has been acting and directing in the Bay Area for more than two decades. Among his favorite roles are Samuel Beckett in “Sam and Dede, or My Dinner with Andre the Giant,” George Kraft in “Kurt Vonnegut’s ‘Mother Night,’” Lawrence Jameson (“Dirty Rotten Scoundrels”), Edna Turnblad (“Hairspray”), and Hildy Johnson (“The Front Page”). As a writer, he has translated Moliere’s “The Imaginary Invalid” and all of Anton Chekhov’s major plays (and is working on the minor plays). His version of “Uncle Vanya” won the BATCC Award for Best Production in the South Bay.

RYAN TASKER (Coronation Day, “Caesar”), he/him, has most recently worked with Word for Word (where he is a company member), One of Our Own Productions, the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and Marin Theatre Company.

EMILIE TALBOT (The Selfish Atlas or How Hamlet Got His Groove Back, “Prince Hal”), she/they, is a Bay Area-based actor, director, and teacher. She is a longtime PlayGround company member as both an actor and director, serves on the PlayGround Board, and teaches in the Schools of Entertainment at AAU. She has appeared on stages across the country from Boston to La Jolla, Oregon to Dallas, including stints at numerous Bay Area theatres. Film and television work include 13 Reasons Why, the award-winning shorts Sonder, and Starting Over, and a whole slew of commercials, industrials, radio dramas, and video games. She is also a member of Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC.) www.emilietalbot.com

ISABEL TO (Juliet’s Post Credits Scene, “Juliet”), she/her, is an actor, singer, voiceover artist, and proud PlayGround company member based in the Bay Area. She most recently performed in “A Very Hitchcock Christmas”, Killing My Lobster’s “The Skin We’re In”, and has appeared in PlayGround SF festival productions (“Starlight” and “Funny Like an Abortion”). Other selected credits: Tea Party (One Of Our Own Theater), The Jersey Devil Play (Awesome Theatre), and Avenue Q (New Conservatory Theatre Center). Offstage, Isabel works at a social nonprofit and enjoys cross-stitching, jigsaw puzzles, and baking. www.isabelanneto.com

WAYNE WONG (Coronaton Day, “Lucius”), he/him, has played roles in over 80 productions, mostly operas. He was last seen in West Edge Opera’s production of Le Rossignol; he appears this spring as Mr. Durdles in Lamplighters Music Theatre’s production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Other engagements include SF Playhouse, Shotgun Players and Playwrights Foundation. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Brown University.

ELENA WRIGHT (Less Than Noble, “Emily”), as an actor they have worked at SPARC, TheatreWorks, Marin Shakespeare, SF Playhouse, Capital Stage, California Shakespeare Theatre, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare, Marin Theatre Company, Commonwealth Shakespeare, CentralWorks, Shotgun Players, and B Street Theatre, among others. They are a Company Member of PlayGround.

DIRECTORS

TANIKA BAPTISTE (The Antonio Play), she/they, works full time as a director, actor, vocalist and costume designer in the Bay Area, San Diego and sometimes NY. Past directorial regional credits include: The Piano Lesson (Sankofa Theatre) Bull in a China Shop, Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betty’s (Pear Theatre) How Black Mothers Say I Love You, At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen (Theatre Rhinoceros) Assistant Director, Fight Captain and ASM Pass Over ( Marin Theatre Company) Tanika was most recently awarded Theatre Bay Area’s Arts Leadership Cohort Grant with Theatre Rhinoceros and is 3x SFBATCC nominee for direction, choreography & costume design. She is a PlayGround Company Member. Love to my family and friends. @tanikabaptiste

JIM KLEINMANN (Coronation Day; Artistic Director & Co-Founder), he/him, co-founded PlayGround in 1994, along with playwright Brighde Mullins and director Denise Shama, and has served as Artistic Director since 1996. For PlayGround, he has provided artistic and administrative leadership for the past twenty-four seasons, developing PlayGround’s unique array of new playwright and new play incubator programs, including Monday Night PlayGround, the PlayGround Festival of New Works, the full-length play Commissioning Initiative, the New Play Production Fund, Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, and most recently the Innovator Incubator. For PlayGround, he has directed more than one hundred short and full-length plays, including works by Garret Jon Groenveld, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, Lauren Yee, Katie May, and many others. Recent directing and dramaturgy credits include David Steele’s Vignettes on Love and Ruben Grijalva’s Value Over Replacement. He is a veteran arts administrator with more than thirty years of experience, including stints leading Traveling Jewish Theatre, Smuin Ballet, and Berkeley Symphony, and received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

ELY SONNY ORQUIZA (Queer Shakes(Peer) Support Group), he/him, is a multidisciplinary Queer Filipino artistic director, stage director, and arts educator native to San Francisco Bay Area, the unceded territory of the Ramaytush Ohlone People. Through theater and the performing arts Orquiza illuminates the experiences of the Asian diaspora, explores the politics of Queer/ness, and gives voice to the narratives of People from the Global Majority. As an artist, Orquiza draws on his heritage and lived experiences to create stunning theatrical productions that captivate audiences and spark meaningful conversations about equity and representation. Through his art and advocacy, he is breaking down barriers and elevating marginalized voices for the American Theatre. Ely is a 2023 YBCA 100 Honoree and PlayGround Company Member. For more: elysonnyorquiza.org

LANA RICHARDS (Less Than Noble), she/her, is a director focused on new work development, site specific work, and adaptation. She has been in residence at The Dragon’s Egg, Access Theater, and The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and is an alumna of Connecticut College where she studied theater and environmental studies. Training: SITI Company, The Michael Chekhov Association, Bread and Puppet, Complicite, and the National Theater Institute for Advanced Directing. A past PlayGround Fellow, she is PlayGround’s Associate Director of Development.

JEUNEE SIMON (Juliet’s Post Credits Scene), she/her, is an actor, director, and intimacy coordinator. Recent acting credits include: Intimate Apparel (Lorraine Hansberry Theatre), Stoop Stories (Aurora Theatre Company), La Ronde (Cutting Ball Theater), Men On Boats u/s (American Conservatory Theater), It Can’t Happen Here u/s (Berkeley Repertory Theatre) among others. Simon is a proud recipient of the 2017 RHE Artistic Fellowship and a 2019 Directing Apprentice with PlayGround. www.jeuneesimon.com

EMILIE TALBOT (The Selfish Atlas or How Hamlet Got His Groove Back), she/they, is a Bay Area-based actor, director, and teacher. She is a longtime PlayGround company member as both an actor and director, serves on the PlayGround Board, and teaches in the Schools of Entertainment at AAU. She has appeared on stages across the country from Boston to La Jolla, Oregon to Dallas, including stints at numerous Bay Area theatres. Film and television work include 13 Reasons Why, the award-winning shorts Sonder, and Starting Over, and a whole slew of commercials, industrials, radio dramas, and video games. She is also a member of Actor’s Reading Collective (ARC.) www.emilietalbot.com

PRODUCTION

JENNA STEIN-CORMAN (Stage Manager), she/her, grew up immersed in the bay area theatre community. After graduating from Sarah Lawrence College, she has gone on to work as a teaching artist, stage manager, and director in theaters all over the bay. Currently, she works with Town Hall Theatre, The Berkeley Playhouse, and the San Francisco Mime Troupe. She recently stage managed PlayGround’s 2nd annual “twisted” holiday show, A Very Hitchcock Christmas, streaming thru New Year’s.

PLAYGROUND, California’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s, Los Angeles’ and now New York’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 early career playwrights, developing and staging more than 1000 of their original short plays through the Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned 90 new full-length plays by 60 of these writers through its Commissioning Initiative and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 34 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.

PLAYGROUND CONTRIBUTORS

PlayGround is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the many individuals, foundations, corporations and government agencies whose contributions make our work possible. This list reflects gifts of $125 or more committed between January 1, 2023 & January 15, 2024.

GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, & FOUNDATION DONORS

Alameda County Arts Commission • Amazon • American Rescue Plan Act & CARES Act • Art Space Development Corporation • Avenue Greenlight • Berkeley Civic Arts • The Bernard Osher Foundation • Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund • California Arts Council • California Humanities • California Nonprofit Performing Arts Grant Program • Creative Capacity Fund • Disney • Grants For The Arts • KFF • Koret Foundation • LA County Arts Commission • Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation • The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund • Negley Flinn Charitable Foundation • NIAC • Nvidia • NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund • Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation • Planet Earth Arts • Rock Paper Scissors Landscape Inc. • Rye Financial Services • San Francisco Arts Commission • The Shubert Foundation • The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

SEASON SPONSORS ($5000+)

Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, Daniel E. Cohn & Lynn Brinton, Paul Haahr, Lara Gilman & Jim Kleinmann

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500+)

John H. Gilman, Carlie Wilmans, Anonymous

PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)

Randy Adams, Meriko Borogove, David Goldman, Regina S. Guggenheim, Linda Kremer, Eric Craig Moody, Nitin, David Steele, Janine Wilburn, Anonymous (2)

PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)

Steve & Gretchen Debenham, Hillary DeMartino, Keith Goldstein and Donna Warrington, Jennifer & Sean Jeffries, Paul & Pam Kleinmann, Gregg & Jennifer Le Blanc, Dr. Gary W. London, Pam MacKinnon, Danny & Dolores Martinez, Molly Noble & Bob Guilbault, Jeffrey Trescott, Pam & John Walker, Christian Wilburn, Maury Zeff, Anonymous (6)

PATRON ($250-$499)

Dolores Martinez, Cindy Gilman Redburn & Chris Redburn, Diane Sampson, Jon & Susan Sweedler, Jon Tracy, Anonymous

ASSOCIATE MEMBER ($125-$249)

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To contribute to PlayGround, visit https://playground-ch.org/contribute or contact PlayGround Associate Director of Development Lana Richards at lana@playground-sf.org or by phone at (415) 992-6677.

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PlayGround Company

PlayGround Writers Pool 2023-24

Daniel Baxter, Robyn Brooks, Nicole Apostol Bruno, Madeleine Butler, Jediah Craig, Cherielyn Ferguson, Elizabeth Flanagan, Ipsheeta Furtado, KT Frances Hartline, Sam Hurwitt, Tejahra Jacobs, Ruth Kirschner, Steve Koppman, Sarena Kuhn, Greg Lam, Jennifer Le Blanc, Kristy Lin Billuni, Justin P. Lopez, Mikee Loria, Daniel Martinez, Jr, Alanna McFall, Matthew Morishige, Richard Perez, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Xinyuan Pu, Kimberly Ridgeway, George Rose, David Schweidel, Louel Señores, Stan Stone, Lisa Thompson, Mike Tuton, Kaz Valtchev, Michael Waterson, Christian Wilburn, Maury Zeff

PlayGround Resident Playwrights 2023-24

Cass Brayton, Bailey Jordan Garcia, M.J. Kang, Samuel Kelly Fair Levit, Daniel Martinez, Jr., Matthew Y. Morishige, Molly Olis Krost, Evelyn Jean Pine, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Alexis Standridge, Leela Velautham, Jennie Webb

PlayGround Company

Molly Aaronson-Gelb, Angel Adedokun, Patrick Alparone, Linda Amayo-Hassan, Liz Anderson, Rinabeth Apostol, Michael Asberry, Michael Barrett Austin, Mary Baird, April Ballesteros, Tanika Baptiste, Aldo Billingslea, Millie Brooks, Julia Brothers, Nicole Apostol Bruno, Lizzie Calogero, Ron Campbell, Joy Carlin, Nancy Carlin, Ben Chau-Chiu, Tessa Corrie, David Cramer, Will Dao, Anne Darragh, Roshni Datta, Khalia Davis, Natalia Delgado, Dodds Delzell, Livia Gomes Demarchi, Carolyn Doyle, Leticia Duarte, Nora el Samahy, Rebecca Ennals, Gisela Feied, Britney Frazier, Michael French, Claire Ganem, Sarah Gasser, Norman Gee, Douglas B. Giorgis, Linda Giron, Amy Glazer, Cindy Goldfield, BW Gonzalez, Gabriel Grilli, Rudy Guerrero, Rosie Hallett, Katherine Hamilton, Eric Fraisher Hayes, Brian Herndon, Monica Ho, Champagne Hughes, J Jha, Colin Johnson, Jennifer King, Dean Koya, Danielle Levin, Amy Lizardo, Jeffrey Lo, Gwen Loeb, George Maguire, Melanie Marshall, Alicia Mason, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Julia McNeal, Sam Misner, Brady Morales-Woolery, Lisa Morse, Khary L. Moye, Molly Noble, Karen Offereins, Annette Oliveira, Soren Oliver, Ely Sonny Orquiza, Tony Ortega, Doyle Ott, June Palladino, Carla Pantoja, Louis Parnell, Jed Parsario, Michael Phillis, Krystle Piamonte, Rebecca Pingree, Stephanie Prentice, Ezra Reaves, Virginia Reed, Cathleen Riddley, Kimberly Ridgeway, Katja Rivera, Adrian Roberts, Stacy Ross, Adam Roy, Katie Rubin, Patrick Russell, Miyoko Sakatani, Louel Señores, Robert Sicular, Jeunee Simon, M. Graham Smith, Ken Sonkin, Lauren Spencer, Teddy Spencer, Chris Steele, Howard Swain, Jomar Tagatac, Emilie Talbot, Danielle Thys, Isabel Anne To, Jon Tracy, Dane Troy, Mark Rafael Truitt, Liam Vincent, Ian Walker, Maryssa Wanlass, Tracy Ward, Reggie D. White, Christian Wilburn, Elena Wright, Hector Zavala

PlayGround Staff

Jim Kleinmann, Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Jacque Bugler, Production Manager/General Manager
Jonathan Josephson, Director of Marketing & Communications
Lana Richards, Associate Director of Development
Bacilio Mendez II, Executive Producer
Norman Gee, Associate Producer
Katja Rivera, Associate Producer
Tessa Corrie, Casting Associate
Patricia Cotter, Casting Associate
Brittany Mellerson, Resident Designer
Sarah Gasser, Resident Stage Manager
Darius Adamson Jr., 2023-24 Producing Fellow
River Bermudez Sanders, 2023-24 Producing Fellow
Zoe Chien, 2023-24 Producing Fellow
Carmia Imani, 2023-24 Producing Fellow
Julie Lippert-Pasco, 2023-24 Producing Fellow
Xinyuan Pu, 2023-24 Producing Fellow
Christy Spence, 2023-24 Producing Fellow
Emily Zhou, 2023-24 Producing Fellow

PlayGround Ambassadors 2022-23

Jomar Tagatac (Co-Chair) , Aaron Wilton (Co-Chair) , Aldo Billingslea, Tessa Corrie, Livia Demarchi, Britney Frazier, Claire Ganem, Cindy Goldfield, Rosie Hallett, Jeffrey Lo, Gwen Loeb, Brady Morales-Woolery, Karen Offereins, Ely Sonny Orquiza

PlayGround Equity Workgroup

Diana Burbano, Victoria Evans Erville, Norman Gee, Jim Kleinmann, Brittany Mellerson, Tiana Randall-Quant, Katja Rivera, M. Graham Smith

PlayGround Board of Directors

Stephanie Prentice, Chair
James A. Kleinmann, President
Emilie Talbot, Vice President
Nitin, Treasurer
Diana Burbano, Secretary
Regina Guggenheim, Chair Emeritus
Tanvi Agrawal
Linda Amayo-Hassan
Hillary DeMartino
Katie May
Bacilio Mendez II
Rebecca Martinez
David Steele
Christian Wilburn

www.PlayGround-sf.org
3286 Adeline St #8
Berkeley, CA 94703-2485
info@playground-sf.org
(415) 992-6677