Company in the News May 2023

See what PlayGround-SF Writers, Company Members and Alumni are up to this May!

Analog Theatre (Innovator Incubator Class of 2023) will be presenting their Mask Monday on May 29th, Memorial Day. Join company members Rebecca Pingree and Jed Parsario, together with phenom actor Elissa Beth Stebbins as they host Local guest artists in a night of “Promisingly Unfinished Physical Theater!” And see Jed, Elissa and Rebecca in this year’s Best of PlayGround, May 13 & May 14, at Potrero Stage and simulcast.

Bacilio Mendez II is one of six artists that have been selected as the 2023 cohort of SFBATCO’s Creators Lab; an incubation space for the development of original theatrical works by emerging creatives. This 8-week-long program is a creative space for developing concepts or initial drafts of theatrical works. After the 8-week development process, participants will have an opportunity to present a staged performance or reading of their piece with actors. The culminating presentation will be held on Sunday July 9th at the Brava Theater Center. Photo Caption: The 2023 Creators Lab Cohort is Lilia Houshmand, Jamey Williams, Maria Arreola, Bacilio Mendez II, Charlotte Gutierrez, Reed Flores.

April Ballesteros is playing Concepcion in YERMA at Shotgun Players as well as Assistant Stage Managing!

Tanika Baptiste is a new PlayGround company member and is making her Magic Theatre debut as the MC for Marc Anthony Thompson’s The N’ Lovers. In his first full fledged play, Marc Anthony takes us into an inspired true story of a couple who miraculously escaped from chattel slavery from a plantation in Georgia to freedom in Boston. A provocation in Black creation, from its brazen title to the intentional inversion of minstrelsy, this genre-shattering piece will layer original music, movement, and film and engage us in the horror and humor of history masterfully retold.

Louis Parnell will be performing in Vicky Pham’s The Resolution of Us as part of the Best of PlayGround, May 13 & 14. At the end of the month, he starts Asst Directing A Chorus Line at San Francisco Playhouse which opens in June.

Michael Barrett Austin will be appearing in ‘Chinglish’ at SF Playhouse May 4-June10.

Krystle Piamonte voices Grace Han and other delightful characters in the radio play, THE FOREVER WAVE, written and directed by Nicole Gluckstern. Inspired by “Under Milk Wood” by Dylan Thomas, THE FOREVER WAVE reconceptualizes Thomas’ play for a climate ravaged near-future, a drowned Bay Area circa 2070. Encore performances of THE FOREVER WAVE will air on Sunday, May 14 — the 70th anniversary of Under Milk Wood’s first live performances. For more information, visit https://estrellasuerteproductions.com/forever-wave/.

Natalia Delgado is performing in EXHAUSTION ARROYO: Dancin’ Trees in the Ravine at Cutting Ball.

David Schweidel is producing a staged reading with band of his murder mystery musical OPHELIA DIDN’T DROWN at St. Alban’s in Albany CA on August 11 & 12. A few roles remain to be cast. Email schweidel@sblcglobal.net if you’re interested in learning more. Quick synopsis: A girl in a castle uses science and sleuthing to solve the mystery haunting her best friend. Was the old king murdered? Is that ghost really a ghost? Ophelia didn’t drown. She revolutionized Denmark!

Miyoko Sakatani is so proud and honored to be in “The Song of the Nightingale” by the brilliant Min Kahng for the third time! This is the 10th anniversary of it’s world premiere in 2013 at the Altarena Plahouse in Alameda which opened to rave reviews and theatre award nominations. It is also meaningful because as an all Asian American intergenerational cast, we are honoring and celebrating AAPI Heritage Month! This magical fairy tale adapted by a story by Hans Christian Anderson brings a gift of hope and peace to all of us. I am so grateful to be a part of this extraordinary production! !

Kenny Prestininzi and Christopher Winslow’s cabaret-play MISS ROSE will perform in New Orleans June 17-July 1. Let’s bring it to San Francisco! Kenny recently directed Mashuq Mushtaq Deen’s FLOOD for Kansas City Rep in January 2023.

Rachel Bublitz has received a commission from the University of Utah for a one-act play about retroviruses. Another commissioned play, THE GREAT SALT FILM, premieres later this month at Rowland Hall. Her prom murder mystery, BLOOD & SEQUINS, was selected for publication with Brooklyn Publishers. Finally, her play for young audiences, PRESENTING: SUPER CAT & REPTILE ROBOT, will receive its third production in Birmingham Children’s Theatre’s 2023/24 season!

Tony Ortega is spearheading City Street Artists with his leadership team in Playground SF innovator incubator showcase 2023. Tony is thrilled to work on Christian Wilburn’s Starlight for the PlayGround 27th annual festival!

Cherielyn Ferguson‘s 10-minute play, Please Hold On, will be included in Gemco Players’ Take Ten Play Festival. coming up May 5-7 in Emerald, Victoria, Australia.

Maury Zeff‘s short play “The Extraordinary, Ordinary Ones” (an October 2022 People’s Choice Award winner) is a finalist for Lake Shore Center for the Arts’ Juice Box One Act Competition in Westfield, NY and his one act “Eternal Hellfire and Damnation: A Love Story” was produced in Lee’s Summit, MO in April.

Kristy Lin Billuni will facilitate Left Coast Theatre Company’s FREE Playwriting Workshop, 6/4-8/20. LCTC’s mission is to develop and produce new LGBTQ+ works, and one of the best ways to do that is to provide a place where playwrights and playwrights-to-be can have pages read, exchange constructive feedback, and learn different methodologies of feedback.