Company in the News March-2026
See what PlayGround-SF Writers and Company Members are up to this March including: MICHAEL BARRETT AUSTIN, MELINA COHEN-BRAMWELL, CAROLYN DOYLE, EIKO MOON-YAMAMOTO, LISA MOORE, EVELYN JEAN PINE, CATHLEEN RIDDLEY. KATJA RIVERA, MIYOKO SAKATANI, AMY SASS and KEN SONKIN!
MIYOKO SAKATANI will performing with her creative partner Loic Pichot in “Culturally Distressed Live” on March 27-29th on the SF Potrero Stage and live streaming for the First Annual PlayGround Comedy Festival! Miyoko, a straight Japanese American baby boomer and Loic, a French American gay millennial are co-hosts of the Culturally Distressed Podcast and will be bringing their podcast to life with sketch comedy and stand up routines exploring various themes surrounding the complexities of cultural identity and personal relationships. TICKETS. @playlandproductions
KEN SONKIN is directing “Value Over Replacement” by Ruben Grijalva (“Anna Considers Mars,” “All The Worlds Are Stages,” “Shoot Me When…”) Originally produced as a short play for Playground in 2013 where Grijalva won the Playground Emerging Playwright Award. It then went on to have a short film produced, 2015 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference Finalist play, and 2016 Egerton New Play Award. It is now blossomed into a powerful full-length play. “Value Over Replacement” performs at Ross Valley Players March 27 – April 12, 2026. TICKETS. @RVPMarin
MICHAEL BARRETT AUSTIN is playing the role of Billy in the musical ‘Once’ at Berkeley Playhouse through March. TICKETS.@michaelbarrettaustin
EIKO MOON-YAMAMOTO is playing Shirley Partridge in The Bardy Bunch, The War of The Families Partridge & Brady. March 28 – April 26, 2026 at 3Below in San Jose. TICKETS.@eikoyh
MELINA COHEN-BRAMWELL has a new poetry book, Nevada, out now from Gnashing Teeth Press. Praise for Nevada— “Melina Cohen-Bramwell’s Nevada evokes the scorching desert air suffused with tender heartbreak. The spare, beautiful language glitters with internal rhyme, and loneliness, in this volume, lives in tandem with hope. Reading Nevada aloud to myself, I felt the words asking readers to believe – and to remember what belief has felt like – while chiding us for undue trust. Nevada summons the paradox that lives in each human heart, and it takes a writer like Cohen-Bramwell to break open this paradox and lay it bare.”–Dr. Philippa Kelly, dramaturg/educator, and author of The King and I. MORE INFO.@mcohenbramwell
EVELYN JEAN PINE will be reading her poetry at the Main San Francisco Public Library as part of Kim Shuck’s Poetry Jam celebrating WOMEN IN A GOLDEN STATE, on Thursday, March 12, from 6:00-7:15 in Latino/Hispanic Meeting Room A & B. RESERVE A SPOT. @evyyes
SAFFRON QUINN serves as Assistant Director & Dramaturg for Gods & Monsters at New Conservatory Theatre Center—the West Coast Premiere of Tom Mullen’s theatrical adaptation exploring the haunted final chapter of director James Whale’s life. Frankenstein’s creator has his own monsters to face. Directed by M. Graham Smith. March 6 – April 5, 2026. TICKETS. @Zunie1o
LISA MOORE is pleased to participate for the second year running with the Jewish Plays Projects out of NYC. She’ll be performing excerpts from three new plays, all finalists in their national contest, on March 29th at 7pm at the Palo Alto JCC. MORE INFO.
KATJA RIVERA’S third grandchild was born on February 5. Her name is Katrina Vivian Tange and her Abuela is besotted.
AMY SASS just returned to the Bay from an artist residency in Tuscany and is so pleased to be offering a GRIEF & PUPPETS RETREAT with Grief Doula Siobhan Asgharzadeh in Southern Oregon this May – 5/26 – 5/31. For those who are interested in inviting Creativity (song, dance, ritual theater, play and land-based art practice) into the journey with grief, please join our info call on March 7th at 10 am MT, 9:00 PT. Information and registration are at griefpilgrim.com. We welcome the Grievers, the Dreamers, The Creators, The Healers… Join us for this unique offering.
CATHLEEN RIDDLEY is deeply honored and humbled to be receiving the 2026 Jerry Friedman Lifetime Achievement Award from The San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.
CAROLYN DOYLE joined Monday Night PlayGround on March 2nd with Daniel Martinez Jr.’s “Bedtime Stories” and then looks forward to performing for a second time with The Brecht Project April 16th – 19th.