Company in the News Sep-2025

See what PlayGround Writers, Company Members, and Alumni are up to this September!

Melina Cohen-Bramwell’s CA$H grant winning play PLEASE DON’T SLOW ME DOWN will have it’s world premiere this coming October and November. (This play was first workshopped in PlayGround SF’s Free-Play Festival!). The show follows Benji Tullman, a bipolar, Bay-Area-born millennial—and the physical embodiment of his cyclical moods—who are having one last, manic hurrah. Over the course of one wild night, they wind up at a rave on the site of their former elementary school, Chaverim Jewish Day School, and at a crossroads that will determine the course of Benji’s future. (It’s a comedy!)

Patrick Russell will next be seen in Noises Off at San Francisco Playhouse, running Sept. 25th to Nov. 8th.

Laura Domingo was part of the writing team for Killing My Lobster’s latest production Legends & Laughter, a Dungeons & Dragons-themed sketch comedy show performing Fridays & Saturdays at 7PM at Eclectic Box in the Mission.

Louis Parnell will be alongside fellow PlayGround company members starting rehearsals for NOISES OFF at San Francisco Playhouse next week Aug26. It will play Sept25-Nov8.

Garret Jon Groenveld’s award winning play The Hummingbirds is published this month and available at Theatrical Rights Worldwide. In addition, the play will premiere at the National Theatre of Romania in Bucharest on September 27, 2025 in a new production.

Miyoko Sakatani will produce and co-host with Loic Pichot their new Podcast, CULTURALLY DISTRESSED dropping in September! An unscripted podcast where we celebrate pride, cultural diversity and life with lot’s of humor and humanity. Miyoko is also associate producer of a feature film “Sage” by Bryan and Vita Hewitt screening this month. A coming of age story about a non-binary middle schooler who’s BFF is a drag queen, mentor and surrogate parent. This is a heartwarming film where differences are normalized and community is family. So proud and thrilled to be a part of both of these projects!

Ross Nelson’s theatre company, Raven’s Feather Productions, will be presenting Larissa FastHorse’s holiday satire The Thanksgiving Play from September 5-21.

Cindy Goldfield is headed into tech for INDECENT at CenterRep, which runs the month of September. Pay-what-you-will performances on Sept 7 and 10!

Sanjit’s short play, Dance With Me, will be performed live at The Marsh Theatre, San Francisco, on September 15 and 29 at 7 PM as part of the Monday Night Marsh program. The play will be directed PlayGround Company Member Ben Chau-Chiu.

Jully Lee is in The Night of the Iguana by Tennessee Williams at Boston Court Pasadena in the role of Hannah Jelkes (Sept. 11 – Oct. 19). She is also teaching a SCENE STUDY INTENSIVE with COLD TOFU IMPROV on Mondays in September in Little Tokyo (Sept. 8 – Sept. 29). Registration now open. jullylee.com

Katherine Swan’s short play Pony will be performed as part of the Greenhouse Festival of New Work at the Broadwater in Los Angeles in September. Her play Red Bell will have a staged reading as part of the Student Playwriting Festival at The Barrow Group in New York.

Eric Fraisher Hayes will be directing The Hairy Ape by Eugene O’Neill at Tao House next month. The show will travel to New Ross, Ireland in October to be featured at the Eugene O’Neill International Festival of Theatre.

Katja Rivera assistant directed SF Shakespeare’s The Two Gentleman of Verona, touring in parks this September! (directed by Company Artist Ely Sonny Orquiza)

Jan Probst’s play The Prophecy of the Crows will be broadcast on PBS station WNIT, Channel 34.1 in the Michiana area, on Saturday, September 6 at 10PM EDT/7PM PDT. The program can also be streamed from their website: www.wnit.org. This show was produced by Wild Rose Moon Radio Hour and Attic Theatrics, in Plymouth, Indiana.

Eiko Moon-Yamamoto will be understudying Marmee/ Aunt March in the World Premiere adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women by Lauren Gunderson. Directed by Giovanna Sardelli at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley from September 24-October 12. She is honored to work with Cathleen Riddley who is playing the role of Marmee and Aunt March.

Upcoming events to support the production (and have a good time!) include a Fund-Rave-er! Launch Party including a DJ Set by Michael Kelly, Oct 16th at 8:00 at El Rio in SF! Get tickets on Eventbrite. If you can’t make the party but still want to support please donate HERE. Directed by Lana Richards and starring Dom Refeurzo. Follow @please_dontslowmedown on Instagram for updates and tickets.

Michael Barrett Austin recently appeared in the TheatreWorks New Works Festival workshop of ‘The Bridge,’ a new musical about the building of the Brooklyn Bridge by Patricia Cotter and The Kilbanes. His next theatrical project will be Once at Berkeley Playhouse.

Join us for the 3rd Annual Filmmakers Extravaganza Sat Sept 27 Doors open at 5pm at Delancey Street Screening Room: A special screening of the films created in the past year by the talented members of Encounters Film Collective that include Playground Writers Linda Ayres-Frederick, and alumnus Jonathan Luskin.

Brian Herndon is appearing in both SAINT JOAN (September 4-21) and THE TEMPEST (October 2-18) at Pacific Repertory Theatre this fall.