ANNOUNCING PLAYGROUND’S 33rd SEASON

Posted by on September 18, 2026

PlayGround, a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, is pleased to share plans for its 33rd anniversary season. The season announcement coincides with the release of the 2026-27 Writers Pools, 112 early-career playwrights in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, who will participate in PlayGround’s signature incubator program, Monday Night PlayGround, developing more than 600 new short plays this season of which 96 will be staged by the four communities over the course of 16 public events, all performed in-person and simulcast under a first-in-the-nation SAG-AFTRA agreement. New for this year: PlayGround’s first prePlay Table Reading Series! Four PlayGround alumni in each PlayGround City will receive a public table read of an evening length play with a paid cast and live broadcast (schedule and details below).PlayGround has also announced the 40 playwright alumni selected for this year’s Resident Playwrights Program, including five playwrights under commission and representing all four regions.

The 2026-27 Season will feature more than 120 public performances of new works by PlayGround playwrights, ranging from fringe-style full productions to a Hitchcock-inspired holiday show, and from new solo performance to developmental staged readings and premieres of bold new full-length plays. Taken altogether, PlayGround’s 33rd Season represents the nation’s largest celebration of new playwrights and new works and stands as a true celebration of the vitality and promise of the American Theatre.

Following the conclusion of the Monday Night series, PlayGround presents Best of PlayGround, a celebration of the top new playwrights and works from the season, in Los Angeles (April 5), New York (April 12), Chicago (April 19) and San Francisco (May 29-30).

2026-27 PlayGround-San Francisco Company

PlayGround also recently announced its 2026-27 Company, including the Writers Pool, Resident Playwrights and Artist Company. These 160+ artists will fuel PlayGround’s incubator programs over the next season, fostering the development of more than 150 original short and full-length plays.

The PlayGround-San Francisco 2026-27 Writers Pool includes: Linda Ayres-Frederick, Robyn Brooks, Madeleine Butler, Jediah Craig, Garret Groenveld, KT Frances Hartline, Carl Andrew Johnson, Ruth Kirschner, Greg Lam, Justin P. Lopez, Daniel Martinez Jr, Marissa Martinez, Gillian O’Leary, Richard Perez, James Perry, Jan Probst, Richard Raya, Dom Refuerzo, Cathleen Riddley, Kimberly Ridgeway, George Rose, Sophie Ruf, Greg Sigur, Chris Steele, Stan Stone, Lisa Gaye Thompson, Deborah Yarchun, Maury Zeff

2026-27 Resident Playwrights: San Francisco: Monique Hafen Adams, Robyn Brooks, Garret Groenveld, KT Frances Hartline**, Vicky Pham, Richard Perez*, Evy Pine, Sophie Ruf, Stan Stone, Maury Zeff; Los Angeles: Michael P. Adams, Damian Alejandro Arteaga*, Esther Banegas Gatica**, Rachel Harner, Jonathan Josephson, Mildred Inez Lewis, Cara Sanchez, Baylee Shlichtman, Daysha Veronica, Jennie Webb; New York: Ash, Tom Bruett, Saiya Floyd, Dana Leslie Goldstein, Bram Hartman, Howard Ho, Wade Lawrence Hollomon, Nina Ki, Uma Incrocci**, Gaurav Mishra, Lyra Nalan; Chicago: Anne Brady, Betsy Dudak*, Dana Hall, Toby Inoue**, alfonzo solomon kahlil, Alex Kingsley, Bacillio Mendez II, Shail Modi, J.S. Puller, Matt Shultz, Katherine Swan

* Playwrights under commission for the 2026-27 season
** June Anne Baker Award Winner

In addition, PlayGround is pleased to welcome new and returning members of the PlayGround-San Francisco Artist Company: Linda Amayo-Hassan, Liz Anderson, Michael Asberry, Michael Barrett Austin, Mary Baird, April Ballesteros, Tanika Baptiste, Rolanda D. Bell Aldo Billingslea, Julia Brothers, Lizzie Calogero, Ron Campbell, Nancy Carlin, Joy Carlin*, Ben Chau-Chiu, Zoe Chien, Tessa Corrie, David Cramer, Will Dao, Anne Darragh, Roshni Datta, Natalia Delgado, Dodds Delzell, Carolyn Doyle, Leticia Duarte, Michael French, Claire Ganem, Norman Gee, Douglas B. Giorgis, Linda Giron, Amy Glazer*, Leon Goertzen, Cindy Goldfield, Gabriel Grilli, Rudy Guerrero, Karina Gutierrez, Rosie Hallett, Matthew Hanjoong, Eric Fraisher Hayes, Brian Herndon, J Jha, Jennifer King, Danielle Levin, Jeffrey Lo, Gwen Loeb, George Maguire*, Melanie Marshall, Alicia Mason, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Julia McNeal, Brittany Mellerson, Brady Morales-Woolery, Lisa Morse, Khary L. Moye, Molly Noble, Karen Offereins, James Aaron Oh, Annette Oliveira, Soren Oliver*, Ely Sonny Orquiza, Doyle Ott, June Palladino*, Louis Parnell, Jed Parsario, Krystle Piamonte, Rebecca Pingree, Stephanie Prentice, Virginia Reed*, Lana Richards, Cathleen Riddley, Kimberly Ridgeway, Katja Rivera, Stacy Ross*, Katie Rubin, Patrick Russell, Miyoko Sakatani, Louel Senores, Robert Sicular*, Dave Sikula, Jeunee Simon, M. Graham Smith, Ken Sonkin*, Chris Steele, Jenna Stein-Corman, Howard Swain*, Jomar Tagatac, Emilie Talbot, Danielle Thys, Isabel Anne To, Jon Trac, Mark Rafael Truitt, Maryssa Wanlass, Tracy Ward, Christian Wilburn, Wayne Wong, Elena Wright, Hector Zavala

* Company Member Emeritus

2026-27 Monday Night PlayGround Season Calendar

Monday Night PlayGround
Round 1: October 12 (LA), October 19 (SF), October 26 (NY), November 2 (Chicago)
Round 2: November 23 (LA), November 30 (NY), December 7 (SF), December 14 (Chicago)
Round 3: January 11 (LA), January 18 (SF), January 25 (NY), February 1 (Chicago)
Round 4: March 1 (LA), March 8 (SF), March 15 (Chicago), March 22 (NY)

Best of PlayGround
April 5, 2026 (LA)
April 12, 2026 (NY)
April 19, 2026 (Chicago)
May 29-30, 2026 (SF)

prePlay Table Reading Series
Round 1: October 11 (LA), October 18 (SF), October 25 (NY), November 1 (Chicago)
Round 2: November 22 (LA), November 29 (SF), December 6 (NY), December 13 (Chicago)
Round 3: January 10 (LA), January 17 (SF), January 24 (NY), January 31 (Chicago)
Round 4: February 28 (LA), March 7 (SF), March 14 (Chicago), March 21 (NY)

All programs will be offered both in-person and online this year and are all admission free. Tickets and Monday Night PlayGround memberships go on sale September 18, 2026.

Venue:
Monday Night PlayGround-San Francisco performances
Ashby Stage, 1901 Ashby Ave, Berkeley, CA 94703
Potrero Stage, 1695 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94107

prePlay Table Reading Series PlayGround-San Francisco
PlayGround PlaySpace, 3286 Adeline St #9, Berkeley, CA 94703

For more information, visit https://PlayGround-SF.org or follow PlayGround on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/playground.sf/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/playgroundsftheatre/). For information on our sister programs, visit PlayGround-LA, PlayGround-NY, and PlayGround-Chicago.