Best of PlayGround 27: The Twenty-Seventh Annual Short Play Fest!
PlayGround is thrilled to announce the selected playwrights and short plays for our 27th annual ten-minute play fest, BEST OF PLAYGROUND 27! Please join us as we showcase first-time festival writers Danny Martinez, Jr., Matthew Y. Morishige, Vicky Pham, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Michael Tuton, and Alexis Standridge. For two nights only, PlayGround will celebrate these artists and their place within the next generation of great playwrights in the Bay Area and beyond. Tickets can be purchased at https://tickets.playground-sf.org for live performances at Potrero Stage and simulcast online, Saturday May 13 and Sunday May 14 at 7pm PT and on-demand for one week. Admission for the online simulcast is free (donations gratefully accepted) but advance reservations are required. Festival Sponsorships (starting at $100) include guaranteed reservations for all festival online events with extended on-demand access and in-person priority seating as well as a complimentary Potrero Stage cap and festival poster.
As part of PlayGround’s Festival of New Works, the Best of PlayGround festival does what it says on the tin: this is PlayGround at its best. From over 150 submissions and the 36 plays staged this season for PlayGround’s Monday Night PlayGround series, PlayGround’s artist leaders have selected six ten-minute plays to give full productions in “Best of,” based on the plays’ artistic excellence and dynamism and the playwrights’ unique voice. These plays and their playwrights highlight the commitment to playfullness, justice, and process at the heart of the PlayGround community.
Since 1997, PlayGround has recognized more than 100 of the Bay Area’s most promising new writers through the annual Best of PlayGround, including Lauren Yee, Ruben Grijalva, Geetha Reddy, Cleavon Smith, Jonathan Spector, and this year’s first-time festival writers. For the complete PlayGround Festival of New Works schedule and lineup, visit https://playground-sf.org/festival.
Lineup & Synopses (alphabetically by playwright)
Changing Inward by Danny Martinez, Jr., directed by Tanvi Agrawal
While stretching for their first workout class of the new year with the hottest instructor ever, two people bond and help each other to realize they’ve made resolutions that focus on the wrong thing.
Work/Shoot by Matthew Y. Morishige, directed by Jim Kleinmann
Two female wrestlers from different generations find common ground within a cutthroat industry.
The Resolution of Us by Vicky Pham, directed by Karina Gutierrez
Soulmates, twin flames, kindred spirits, stuck in a loop at your neighborhood Walgreens—do they get the resolution they deserve?
Gallows Humor by Bridgette Dutta Portman, directed by Claire Ganem
Sparks and glitter fly when teenage Mia insists on wearing a Halloween costume her mother finds offensive.
Two Kitchens and a Bowl by Alexis Standridge, directed by Tracy Ward
A mother and daughter attempt to capture the memory of their culture and grandmother by making empanadillas.
Boogie Cousins and the 1.8 Seconds that Changed Everything by Michael Tuton directed by Rondrell McCormick
In life, it’s tough to change—in basketball, it’s damn near impossible.
About the Playwrights
Danny Martinez, Jr. (Changing Inward), he/him, is an actor and playwright from San Jose. This is his first season as a member of Playground’s Writers Pool, and the water is nice and ~warm~! Daniel debuted his second one man show, Round Hole, as part of PlayGround’s Solo Performance Festival this past February. He loves writing stories that make you laugh and go “aw”. For his day job, Daniel teaches screenwriting, acting, and directing to adults with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Matthew Y. Morishige (Work/Shoot), he/him, is an actor, musician, and playwright based in the Bay Area. Matthew’s work aims to capture unique perspectives and voices pulled from his own personal experiences. He is energized by collaboration with talented artists across many different disciplines.
Vicky Pham (The Resolution of Us), she/her, is a playwright, Bay Area native, and student at Santa Clara University. Through her writing, Vicky wishes to channel her creativity into uplifting voices and raising awareness to issues afflicting the AAPI community. She is the author of plays such as White Christmas and A Seat At The Table, which was selected for a reading under the direction of Tony Award winning actor, BD Wong. Currently, Vicky is a Hackworth Fellow researching the history and ethics of representation of Asian Americans in theatre and film in pursuit of a full-length play (Spring 2023).
Bridgette Dutta Portman (Gallows Humor), she/her, is a playwright and novelist based in Fremont, CA. More than two dozen of her plays have been produced locally, nationally, and overseas. She is past president of the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco and is a board member of the Pear Theatre, a teaching artist with Dragon Theatre, and a member of the Pear Writers’ Guild and Dramatists’ Guild. She has been a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights’ Festival, the Theatre Bay Area TITAN award, the PlayPenn Conference, the New Dramatists playwrights’ residency, and more. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Spalding University.
Alexis Standridge (Two Kitchens and a Bowl), she/her, is a recent graduate of Santa Clara University, where she studied Playwriting. She spends her time exploring queer theatre spaces in the Bay Area, and working with others to produce new works by upcoming young artists. When she’s not writing, Alexis works as a Coordinator for Santa Clara University, and enjoys being a dungeon master for Dungeons and Dragons games.
Michael Tuton (Boogie Cousins and the 1.8 Seconds that Changed Everything), he/him. Mike Tuton’s first play won 2nd place in the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco 2021 Playoffs and won the 2022 Act One:One Act festival in NYC. He is a cofounder of the Unofficial Theater Company with four other writers. Mike has created Intellectual Properties for Nike, SFMoMA, Intel, and has won multiple Cannes Lions, but Mike is most proud of being retweeted by Joyce Carol Oates. Mike is unsure what themes tie his plays together, but he likes to explore how minds are changed.
About PlayGround
Founded in 1994 by Jim Kleinmann, Brighde Mullins and Denise Shama, PlayGround has grown into the Bay Area’s leading playwright incubator and theatre community hub, with a deep commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, helping to uplift and center artists from historically underrepresented communities. Over the past 29 years, PlayGround has supported more than 300 early-career playwrights, developing and staging over 1,500 of their original short plays through PlayGround’s signature programs, Monday Night PlayGround and the PlayGround Festival of New Works. PlayGround has also commissioned 100 new full-length plays by 60 of these writers through its Commissioning Initiative and has directly facilitated the premiere of 34 of those works through its innovative New Play Production Fund. PlayGround has developed a unique model for identifying and nurturing the Bay Area’s best new writers, while helping them to build a significant body of original work and lasting connections with the artistic collaborators they need to know to ensure their success. PlayGround expanded to Los Angeles in 2012, to NYC in 2021, and launched PlayGround-Chicago last fall.
In 2015, PlayGround signed a long-term lease to operate the former Thick House Theater, where PlayGround has produced its festival since 2008. Following a successful $300,000 renovation which included new theatrical lighting, seating, signage, and upgrades to the lobby, box office and restrooms, PlayGround reopened the theatre in February 2017 as Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays. In addition to supporting PlayGround’s expanding new play programs (including the PlayGround Solo Performance Festival launched in 2018), the theatre serves as home for some of the Bay Area’s other leading new play developers and producers, including Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, and Playwrights Foundation, as well as up-and-coming companies such as Ferocious Lotus and Bread & Butter Theatre, among others. In 2019, PlayGround launched the Innovator Incubator, fostering theatrical innovation and next generation innovative theatre companies. The program culminates in the annual Innovators Showcase, which takes place each November/December, featuring over half-a-dozen new works, from developmental readings to full premieres, by the year’s Innovator Incubator cohort.
Following the closure of theaters due to the pandemic in 2020, PlayGround was one of the first theatres in the country to shift all of its programming online, with the launch of the PlayGround Zoom Fest and a unique partnership with the performers union, SAG-AFTRA. With the return of in-person performance, PlayGround has recommitted to radical accessibility with admission-free programming and online simulcast and on-demand streaming of all performances. PlayGround’s radical accessibility initiative is sponsored in part by First Republic Bank.
PlayGround’s alumni have gone on to win local, national, and international honors for their short and full-length work, including recognition at the Steinberg Awards, Glickman Awards (including 6 of the last 10), Humana Festival, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, 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.
In addition to its company of playwrights, PlayGround maintains a company of leading Bay Area directors, actors, designers and technicians whose work is regularly seen on the Bay Area’s top professional stages. PlayGround has actively positioned itself as a hub, bringing together hundreds of individuals and organizations representing the best in Bay Area theatre. For more information about PlayGround, visit https://playground-sf.org.
WHAT: PlayGround presents Best of PlayGround 27, the twenty-seventh annual short play festival featuring the best new work from the past season, live at Potrero Stage and via simulcast for two nights only, May 13 and 14 at 7pm PT. This year’s selections include: Changing Inward by Danny Martinez, Jr., Work/Shoot by Matthew Y. Morishige, The Resolution of Us by Vicky Pham, Gallows Humor by Bridgette Dutta Portman, Boogie Cousins and the 1.8 Seconds that Changed Everything by Michael Tuton and Two Kitchens and a Bowl by Alexis Standridge.
WHERE: Potrero Stage, 1695 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94107, and simulcast online
WHEN: May 13 & May 14 at 7pm PT
TICKETS: Admission for online simulcast is free (donations gratefully accepted) but advance reservations are required. Festival Sponsorships (starting at $100) include guaranteed reservations for all festival online events with extended on-demand access and in-person priority seating as well as a complimentary Potrero Stage cap and festival poster. Proof of vaccination (including booster) and masks are required for in-person performance at Potrero Stage. Links for online viewing will be sent the day of the performance and can also be accessed through your PlayGround account at https://tickets.playground-sf.org (log in, click “home” for the main menu, then “tickets for upcoming performances”, select the proper show, and choose “watch”). If you have any questions, please contact the Box Office at boxoffice@playground-sf.org. For more information about Best of PlayGround 27, call (415) 992-6677 or visit https://playground-sf.org/bestof.