An “Interview” with Playwright Daniel Martinez Jr.

Howdy folx!! It’s time for another “interview” with one of the playwrights featured in the PlayGround’s 29th Festival of New Works! Unlike traditional playwright interviews, we asked our writers to reply to our questions with either a single word, an image, an obvious lie, or a rhyming couplet (or whatever they wanted if they weren’t in the mood). Looking for tickets to the festival? Find them here.

Enjoy our “interview” with playwright Daniel Martinez Jr. whose play The Trial Run is part of Best of PlayGround(SF) ’25 May 24-35 (this weekend!) at Potrero Stage.

1. What is your hometown?

San Jose, CA

2. What is a song that represents your play?

Vanish Into You (Lady Gaga)

4. What do you do creatively other than writing?

I perform! Mostly act in my own one-man shows, but would love to get back into performing in general.

5. Give a teaser for your play.
Grieving husband Dax is given the chance to reunite with his late husband when he uploads his consciousness to a shape-shifting AI droid. What starts as a bittersweet reunion quickly spirals into something far more complicated when the AI reveals something Dax’s husband took to the grave.

6. Give us an out-of-context spoiler for your play.

IYKYK

7. What was the seed of your play?
DEATH. Kidding. Kinda. This season a lot of my plays revolved around death. When Sci Fi was announced [as the topic for March Monday Night PlayGround], my mind immediately went to AI. I thought of a way to combine the two and voila! The Trial Run was born.

8. What artists (theatre or non-theatre) inspire you or your play?
Charlie Brooker and the entire Black Mirror series. *chef’s kiss* there are some BRILLIANT stories there. I’d love to write an episode of Black Mirror…Charlie give me a call!

10. Describe where you were when you wrote this play.
A writer needs their emotional support fast food on writing weekends. (see above)

Daniel Martinez Jr., he/him, is an award winning playwright based in San Jose, CA. This is his third season in the Writers Pool and the water is still ~warm~. Daniel’s short plays have had several staged readings through PlayGround SF. Daniel’s newest one-act play, Vodka Cran, was recently featured in Mountain Community Theater’s New Works Festival. Daniel’s newest one man play, What’s in a Name?, premiered at PlayGround’s Solo Performance Festival in January 2025. Daniel loves writing and sharing stories with all of you- THANK YOU for watching! During the day, Daniel manages a film school for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

ABOUT THE PLAY: A grieving husband goes to an AI facility where his husband’s consciousness has been uploaded to the latest AI Droid and, in doing so, discovers a messy secret his husband never told him. More…