PlayGround presents Season 31

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

“The Shakespeare Sequels”
January 27th, 2025 7pm PT

David Brower Center & Simulcast

Acknowledging the Legacy of the Land We Inhabit

PlayGround acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Ramaytush (RAH-my-toosh) Ohlone (oh-LOW-nee) and Lisjan (lih-SHAH-n) Ohlone, the original inhabitants of the San Francisco Peninsula and East Bay, respectively. As the past and present Indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Ramaytush Ohlone and Lisjan have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. We recognize the historic injustice of the forcible removal of the Ohlone people from their ancestral lands, and that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the Ancestors, Elders and Relatives of the Ramaytush and Lisjan Communities and by affirming their sovereign rights as First Peoples. We honor the storytellers of the Ohlone and are grateful for our ability to share and uplift Indigenous stories and those of other historically marginalized communities.

To learn about the legacy of the land you inhabit, visit Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land. To read the complete Land Acknowledgment Policy, click here.

PlayGround’s Anti-Racist Policy

PlayGround recognizes the impact of racial oppression within society and the American Theater and that we have been complicit in White Supremacy culture. Our goal is to co-create safety for our community by identifying and interrupting instances of racism and all forms of oppression when we witness them, through specific actions rooted in the principles of anti-racism and accessibility. In its endeavor to address the implications of our history, PlayGround is committed to its compliance with the following fundamental rights:

• The recognition of inherent dignity and worth of each human being.
• The recognition of equality of all human beings.
• Recognition of rights of ethnic, racial, cultural, linguistic and religious groups.
• Equality and non-discrimination.

PlayGround’s Anti-Racist Policy applies to: all members of the PlayGround community, including employees, independent contractors, volunteers, audience members, donors, and general members of the community.

To read the complete Anti-Racist Policy, click here.

Monday Night PlayGround Memberships

We are deeply grateful to our 2024-25 Monday Night PlayGround Members, whose direct support helps to underwrite artists fees for the Monday Night series across all four regions:

Dr. & Mrs. Sam & Naomi Abramovitz, Sharon Baldwin, Tim Bishop, Linda B Breaux-Smith, Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, John Brown, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Ben Cain, Sidney Glass & Eleanor Clement Glass, Joan Cleveland, Sheila Collins, Marilyn Berg Cooper, Logan Varas De Valdes, Cathy Earnest, Ann Ehrmann, Krystyna Finlayson, Michael Tonjum & Jan Gilman, Hollis Greenwood, Elizabeth Groenewegen, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Brandy T Jones, Roxy Jones, Jacqueline Whittier Kubicka, Emily Kuroda, Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Le Blanc, Alice Lehmann, Karen & Matt Levesque, Kristy Lin Billuni, Melinda Lopez, Linda G Marks, Dolores Martinez, Dr. Sheila McCormick, Yvonne McIntyre, Cynthia L Morishige, Dan Morley, Molly Noble & Bob Guilbault, Annette Oliveira, Emily Brauer Rogers, George Rose, Jessica June Rowe, Michelle Ruscetta, John J. Ruskin, Miyoko Sakatani, Jennifer Schultz & Eric Rosenzweig, Mark Sherstinsky, Nancy W. Smith, Stan Stone, Cathy M Stonie, Mary Lou Torre, Kim Tram, Vicki Victoria, Dr. Eidell Wasserman, Bex White, Janine Wilburn, and Cindy Womack. Thank you! 

To learn more about the Monday Night PlayGround membership program, click here.

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!

The Case of the Missing Messenger
By Madeleine Butler
Directed by Ben Chau-Chiu
Beppe Venerdi……………..Michael Barret Austin
Cesca Fabbro……………..Roshni Datta
Witness/Nurse/Friar Laurence/Capulet……………..Cathleen Riddley

One Gentle Man
By Stan Stone
Directed by Tanika Baptiste
Julia/Sebastian……………..Zoe Chien
Proteus……………..James Oh

Coriolanus 2: End Game
By Kimberly Ridgeway
Directed by Norman Gee
Aufidius……………..Justin Hernandez
Virgilia……………..Rebecca Pingree
Gilbert……………..Donnie Love

The Shrewing of the Tame
By Greg Lam
Directed by Jim Kleinmann
Katherine……………..Maryssa Wanlass
Bianca……………..Marjan Safa

Othello: Lies and Consequences
By Carl Johnson
Directed by Claire Ganem
Iago……………..Wayne Wong
Emilia……………..April Ballesteros
Rodergio……………..Louel Senores

I Love Hero
By Laura Domingo
Directed by Nick Musleh
Hero……………..Natalia Delgado
Claudio……………..Patrick Russell
Margaret……………..Isabel Anne To

Stage Manager – Liam Kirk
Broadcaster – Alanna McFall
Box Office Manager – K’Zhane McGill

This performance is produced under agreement with SAG-AFTRA.

PlayGround is a member of Theatre Bay Area, ART/New York, the League of Chicago Theatres and Theatre Communications Group.

Biographies

PLAYWRIGHTS

MADELEINE BUTTLER (The Case of the Missing Messenger), she/her, has had various short plays staged for Monday Night PlayGround, including A Beautiful Evening, The Story of Our Lives (People’s Choice Award), The River God (Best of PlayGround 2016), The Last Pirogue, Beshert, and Stuck. Her short plays have also been staged by Playwright’s Center of San Francisco, FABUM (Washington, D.C.), Drama with Friends, and 3 Girls Theatre, including an episode of a collaborative serial radio drama. She has regularly attended the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive since 2021 and studies playwriting on an ongoing basis with Anthony Clarvoe.

LAURA DOMINGO (I Love Hero), she/her, is a Native Hawaiian/Filipina writer and actor based on Oakland, CA. She has written screenplays for three Best Film winners for the 48-Hour Film Project (2019 – San Jose; 2020 – U.S. West; and 2021 – San Jose), and her short plays won runner-up in 2023 and 2024 for Silicon Valley Shakespeare’s 48-Hour Play Festival. She is part of the writing pool with SF-based sketch comedy company Killing My Lobster.

CARL JOHNSON (Othello: Lies and Consequences), he/him, is a recent addition to PlayGround-SF, with a passion for writing satire, speculative fiction, and comedy. While taking screen and stage playwriting courses at Berkeley City College, he was encouraged by his instructor to submit his work to local theater groups. His writing often draws from personal experiences, blending humor and thought-provoking elements, with the goal of ensuring that audiences leave with both a smile and something to ponder.

GREG LAM (The Shrewing of  the Tame), he/him, is a playwright, screenwriter, podcaster and board game designer. He is the co-founder of the Asian-American Playwright Collective, a member of The Pulp Stage Writer’s Room, Playground SF, and The Pear Theatre’s Playwright Guild. LAST SHIP TO PROXIMA CENTAURI premiered digitally at Kitchen Dog Theater in 2021, onstage at Portland Stage Co. in 2022. REPOSSESSED premiered at Theatre Conspiracy in 2018. TREACHERY ISLAND premiered at The Pulp Stage in 2023. CHAPLIN & KEATON ON THE SET OF LIMELIGHT premiered at The Pear Theatre in Mountain View in June 2024. For more about Greg, see https://greglam.wixsite.com/home.

KIMBERLEY RIDGEWAY (Coriolanus 2: End Game), she/her, is a playwright, director, actor, and producer. Her impressive portfolio includes writing, producing, and directing the full-length stage plays Prospect Place, No More Secrets, and The Gigolo Chronicles. Kimberly has directed projects for many Bay Area theaters including Altarena Playhouse, City Lights Theatre Company, Dragon Productions Theatre Company, Oakland Theatre Project, Bay Area Drama Company, SF Playground, Theatre Rhinoceros, Palo Alto Players, 3Girls Theatre and TheatreFirst; as well as for Three Willows Theatre (TX), National Black Theatre (NY), and Spokane Civic Theatre (WA). Kimberly is a Brady Fellow Recipient (3Girls Theatre) for her play Soulmates, the recipient of the Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Arts Leadership Residency (Central Works), and the Artistic Associate at Altarena Playhouse. Kimberly is in the writer’s pool and director’s pool for SF Playground, who recently awarded her the June Anne Baker Prize for a commissioned new work.

STAN STONE (One Gentle Man), he/him, is a writer for stage and screen. His published book of poetry titled Unlikely Saviors received rave reviews. Stan also has a short story in the newly published Thriving: An Anthology. Stan was honored to have his play Freedom, chosen for Monday Night Playground’s, Best of Playground, and more recently, his play Murder At Christmas was featured in the Hitchcock Holiday show.

ACTORS

MICHAEL BARRET AUSTIN (The Case of the Missing Messenger, “Beppe Venerdi”), he/him, has recently appeared in Fallen Angels (Aurora Theatre Company) Apertures of Love in Times of War at the PlayGround Festival, A Christmas Carol at Center Rep and the Chinglish at SF Playhouse (SFBATCC nomination for principal performance). Favorite past projects include The Kilbanes’ musical As You Like It (SF Shakespeare Festival), The Elephant Man (Hillbarn), Finks (TheatreWorks) and Red Hot Patriot with Kathleen Turner (Berkeley Rep). He has also worked locally with 42nd Street Moon, San Jose Stage, Playwright’s Foundation, Central Works, Hillbarn and more, and performed at the NY Fringe Festival. Michael toured America with The National Theatre for Children and Italy Shakespeare at Stinson, and has appeared on television, film and in countless commercials. He is a PlayGround and ARC member, an alumnus of Just Theater and TheatreFirst and the proud husband of Emily and father to Lucille. www.michaelbarrettaustin.com

APRIL BALLESTEROS (Othello: Lies and Consequences, “Emilia”), she/her, is a multi disciplinary theatre maker. She is the Artistic Learning Programs Manager at the California Shakespeare Theater. She has worked with SF Playhouse, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, SFBATCO and Shotgun Players, to name a few. She earned a BA in Theatre Arts from Cal State University, East Bay and hails from East LA. With every project she does, she hopes to uplift and empower BIPOC voices.

ZOE CHIEN (One Gentle Man, “Julia/Sebastian”), she/her, is an actor and arts administrator with a BFA in Theater from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, where she trained at The Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute, Playwrights Horizons Theater School, and the Stonestreet Studios for Television and Film. Zoe is the Associate Director of 3Girls Theatre Company, and is a PlayGround Producing Fellow. She feels lucky to be in this industry in a time when so much art is being made in response to our social and political climate, and is proud to represent her mixed-race (Taiwanese and Italian-American) community. For more, visit zoechien.com.

ROSHINI DATA (The Case of the Missing Messenger, “Cesca Fabbro”), she/her,

NATALIA DELGADO (I Love Hero, “Hero”), she/her, was born and raised in the heart of Los Angeles. She has always been a storyteller, whether she’s on the playground, in the classroom, or recounting her day to a friend, Natalia lights up a room with all the details she can say aloud in one breath. Her love for storytelling is undeniable. Dance and Theatre found Natalia at the tender age of 10 where she starred in Grease: The Musical as Principal Mcgee. Her curiosity blossomed into a lifelong passion. Theatre grew deeper throughout her high school years where she explored the world of theater both on and off stage- a jack of all trades. She studied at UCSC where she focused on Theatre and Education, this was a time for experimentation and taking risks as an artist. She has been featured in several productions both collegiately and professionally such as Mercutio in Romeo & Juliet (2018), premiering the role of Felicia Del Pino in Cristina Garcia’s original play, Dreaming in Cuban (2022), and portrayed a variety of roles in Fran Astorga’s,      Exhaustion Arroyo: Dancin’ Trees in the Ravine (2023).

JUSTIN HERNANDEZ (Coriolanus 2: End Game, “Aufidius”),

DOONIE LOVE (Coriolanus 2: End Game, “Gilbert”),

JAMES OH (One Gentle Man, “Proteus”),

REBECCA PINGREE (Coriolanus 2: End Game, “Virgilia”), she/her, Recent credits include As You Like It with SFShakes on Tour, Molly in A Thousand Natural Shocks at PlayGround, May in People Where They Are at San Jose Stage, and Sulla/Alquist in Chris Steele’s adaptation of R.U.R. at Cutting Ball. Rebecca is also a regular deviser/performer for Analog Theatre’s Mask Monday series at Standard Deviant Brewing in San Francisco (analogtheatre.org).

CATHLEEN RIDDLEY(The Case of the Missing Messenger, “Witness/Nurse/Friar Laurence/Capulet”), she/her, began her career at the Community Playhouse in Des Moines, Iowa playing Jiminy Cricket in Pinnochio at the ripe old age of 8. She is a multiple award-winning actor who has been seen at most local theaters, such as ACT, Cal Shakes, the Aurora Theatre, Center Rep, and Marin Theatre Company, to name a few. Cathleen is an Artistic Associate at Marin Shakes and a company member with Shotgun Players and PlayGround. She is a certified ASL Interpreter, has an MA in Sociology from UPenn, and is passionate about social, language, and disability justice.

PATRICK RUSSELL (I Love Hero, “Claudio”), he/him, most recently appeared in The Play That Goes Wrong at SF Playhouse. In addition to numerous productions at SF Playhouse, Patrick has performed at ACT, Cal Shakes, TheatreWorks, Magic Theater, Aurora Theater, Marin Shakespeare Company, Marin Theater, and Shotgun Players, among others. Directing credits include recent productions of She Kills Monsters and Stupid F***ing Bird at SF State. Patrick is a lecturer of acting and movement for actors at UC Berkeley and teaches physical theater and acting at ACT. He is a graduate of ACT’s MFA in acting program.

MARJAN SAFA (The Shrewing of the Tame, “Bianca”), she/her, is thrilled to be back on stage at PlayGround. She was last seen as Puck, Theseus, and Starveling, at San Francisco Shakes’ educational tour. She has previously worked with The Pear Theatre, Contra Costa Civic Theatre, Altarena Playhouse, TheatreFirst, Golden Thread Productions, San Francisco Playhouse, Palo Alto Players, San Francisco Playwrights’ Center, and Multi-Ethnic Theatre. Currently, she is in ongoing classes with Richard Seyd at the Seydways Acting Studios. To learn more about her you can visit her webpage at marjansafa.com

LOUEL SENORES (Othello: Lies and Consequences, “Roderigo”), he/him, is a Berkeley-based actor and stage manager. You may have last seen him in Tea Party (One of Our Own), Dream Hou$e (Shotgun Players) or you can come see him in The Engine of our Disruption playing at Central Works now! It’s also possible you didn’t see him stage-managing Yerma (Shotgun Players) and Water by the Spoonful (SF Playhouse). He’s a proud company member of PlayGround SF and Berkeley Interactive Theater, which specializes in delivering custom-made EDIB workshops for universities and other intact organizations. When he’s not doing theater, Louel is likely to be found managing a frozen yogurt shop, karaoke-ing with strangers online, playing video games, and/or dueling other nerds with foam weapons. LouelSenores.com

ISABEL ANNE TO (I Love Hero, “Margaret”), she/her, is an actor, singer, and proud PlayGround company member based in the SF Bay Area and has appeared in PlayGround SF festival productions (Starlight and Funny, Like an Abortion). She is currently performing in Queer As Fuck VI: Escape to Queertopia at Bindlestiff Studio. Isabel also collaborates frequently with sketch comedy company Killing My Lobster, and was last seen in The Skin We’re In. Other selected credits: Tea Party (One Of Our Own Theater), The Jersey Devil Play (Awesome Theatre), and Avenue Q (New Conservatory Theatre Center). Offstage, Isabel enjoys cross-stitching, jigsaw puzzles, and baking. www.isabelanneto.com

MARYSSA WANLASS (The Shrewing of the Tame, “Katherine”), they/she, is an actor, director, and educator with a focus in social justice and classical theater. In addition to working with California’s incarcerated population with Red Ladder, she also created a storytelling program for unhoused community members with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival. They have directed professionally for SF Shakes, Utopia Theatre Project, PlayGroundSF, Shotz, and Advice to the Players. Acting credits include SF Shakes (As You Like It, Hamlet, and Winter’s Tale), CalShakes (As You Like It), San Jose Stage (Persuasion), Livermore Shakespeare Festival (As You Like It, Hamlet, Merry Wives of Windsor), Center REPertory Company (Sweat, Enchanted April, Witness for the Prosecution), Woman’s Will (Much Ado About Nothing, Good Person of Szechuan).

WAYNE WONG (Othello: Lies and Consequences, “Iago”), he/him, has played roles in over 80 productions, mostly operas. He was last seen in West Edge Opera’s production of Le Rossignol; he appears this spring as Mr. Durdles in Lamplighters Music Theatre’s production of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Other engagements include SF Playhouse, Shotgun Players and Playwrights Foundation. He is a graduate of U.C. Berkeley and Brown University.

DIRECTORS

TANIKA BAPTISTE (One Gentle Man), she/they, works full time as a director, actor, vocalist and costume designer in the Bay Area, San Diego and sometimes NY. Past directorial regional credits include: The Piano Lesson (Sankofa Theatre) Bull in a China Shop, Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betty’s (Pear Theatre) How Black Mothers Say I Love You, At the Wake of a Dead Drag Queen (Theatre Rhinoceros) Assistant Director, Fight Captain and ASM Pass Over ( Marin Theatre Company) Tanika was most recently awarded Theatre Bay Area’s Arts Leadership Cohort Grant with Theatre Rhinoceros and is 3x SFBATCC nominee for direction, choreography & costume design. She is a PlayGround Company Member. Love to my family and friends. @tanikabaptiste

BEN CHAU-CHIU (The Case of the Missing Messenger), they/them, is excited to make their directing debut with PlayGround! They’ve previously worked as an Assistant Director for My Home on the Moon (SF Playhouse), A Christmas Carol, The Headlands (A.C.T.), The Good Person of Szechwan (Cal Shakes), and Semele (U.C. Santa Cruz). They’ve also worked with SF Shakes, 42nd Street Moon, Marin Shakes, Berkeley Rep, Palo Alto Players, and Town Hall Theater. BenChauChiu.com

CLAIR GANEM (Othello: Lies and Consequences), she/her, is a director and teaching artist who is thrilled to be back at Monday Night! She is a proud Playground company member and ambassador. In addition to Playground, her work has been featured at Z space, Cutting Ball Theatre, Pianofight, 3Girls Theatre, Left Coast Theatre, Town Hall Theatre, and Magic Theatre, where she was an artistic direction apprentice during their 2018-2019 season. She is a current adjunct professor at UC Santa Cruz and a teaching artist with Town Hall Theatre. In her spare time, Claire loves baking extravagant cakes for her loved ones and taking hikes among the Redwoods.

NORMAN GEE (Coriolanus 2: Ed Game), he/him, past year has taken him from performing in Meet John Doe at the San Jose Stage, to a Word For Word production of HOME which toured France, to Much Ado About Nothing in Livermore with SPARC. He is delighted to close out this year with this PlayGround Holiday show before starting the coming year understudying BIG DATA at A.C.T. Norman will round out 2024 directing a new work in August to celebrate the James Baldwin Centennial, more info at www.baldwincentennialproject.com.

JIM KLEINMANN (Small Cat Negotiable; Artistic Director & Co-Founder), he/him, co-founded PlayGround in 1994, along with playwright Brighde Mullins and director Denise Shama, and has served as Artistic Director since 1996. For PlayGround, he has provided artistic and administrative leadership for the past twenty-eight seasons, developing PlayGround’s unique array of new playwright and new play incubator programs, including Monday Night PlayGround, the PlayGround Festival of New Works, the full-length play Commissioning Initiative, the New Play Production Fund, Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, and most recently the Innovator Incubator. For PlayGround, he has directed more than one hundred short and full-length plays, including works by Garret Jon Groenveld, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, Lauren Yee, Katie May, and many others. Recent directing and dramaturgy credits include David Steele’s Vignettes on Love and Ruben Grijalva’s Value Over Replacement. He is a veteran arts administrator with more than thirty years of experience, including stints leading Traveling Jewish Theatre, Smuin Ballet and Berkeley Symphony, and received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

NICK MUSLEH (I Love Hero),

PRODUCTION

LIAM KIRK (Stage Manager), he/him, is PlayGround’s Resident Stage Manager.

ALANNA MCFALL (Broadcaster),

K’ZHANE MCGILL (Box Office Manger),

PLAYGROUND, founded in 1994 by Jim Kleinmann, Brighde Mullins and Denise Shama, has grown into one of this nation’s leading playwright incubators and theatre community hubs, with a core commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion, helping to uplift and center artists from historically underrepresented communities. Over three decades, 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 36 of those works through its innovative New Play Production Fund. Over the past 29 years, PlayGround has developed a unique model for identifying and nurturing some of this country’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 to Chicago in 2022.

In 2015, PlayGround signed a long-term lease to operate the former Thick House Theater (San Francisco), where PlayGround has produced its festival since 2008. Following a successful $300,000 renovation, 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, as well as Free-Play Festival and “Twisted” Holiday Show, both launched in 2022), the theatre serves as home for some of the Bay Area’s leading new play developers and producers. 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, featuring over half-a-dozen new works, from developmental readings to full premieres, by the year’s Innovator Incubator cohort. PlayGround has fostered 13 new companies through this program.

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 recommitted to radical accessibility with admission-free programming and online simulcast and on-demand streaming of all performances.

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 local directors, actors, designers and technicians whose work is regularly seen on the top professional stages in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago and at regional theatres across the country. PlayGround has actively positioned itself as a hub, bringing together hundreds of individuals and organizations representing the best in local theatre. For more information about PlayGround, visit https://playground-sf.org.

POTRERO STAGE is a 99-seat state-of-the-art performance space located in the heart of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, operated by PlayGround, and serving as home to some of the Bay Area’s leading new play developers and producers, including PlayGround, Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, and Playwrights Foundation, among others. While the venue is closed during the COVID pandemic, Potrero Stage will highlight the best in online programming by PlayGround, Potrero Stage resident companies and other Potrero Stage producers. For more information, visit https://potrerostage.org.

Coming Soon!

PLAYGROUND CONTRIBUTORS

PlayGround is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the many individuals, foundations, corporations and government agencies whose contributions make our work possible. This list reflects gifts of $125 or more committed between November 1, 2023 & November 18, 2024.

GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, & FOUNDATION DONORS

Alameda County Arts Commission • Amazon • American Rescue Plan Act & CARES Act • Art Space Development Corporation • Avenue Greenlight • Berkeley Civic Arts • The Bernard Osher Foundation • Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund • California Arts Council • California Humanities • California Nonprofit Performing Arts Grant Program • Creative Capacity Fund • Disney • Grants For The Arts • KFF • Koret Foundation • LA County Arts Commission • Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation • The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund • Negley Flinn Charitable Foundation • NIAC • Nvidia • NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund • Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation • Planet Earth Arts • Rock Paper Scissors Landscape Inc. • Rye Financial Services • San Francisco Arts Commission • The Shubert Foundation • The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

SEASON SPONSORS ($5000+)

Paul Haahr, Lara Gilman & Jim Kleinmann

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500+)

Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, Dan Cohn & Lynn Brinton, John H. Gilman, Sam Latham, Anonymous

PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)

Randy Adams, Meriko Borogove, David Goldman, Keith Goldstein & Donna N. Warrington, Just Play Productions, Linda Kremer, Ronald Whittier Family Foundation, Daniele Nathanson , Nitin, Molly Noble and Bob Guilbault, Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock, John J. Ruskin, Tom Swift, Malachy Walsh and Heather Robison, Janine Wilburn, Anonymous

PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)

Linda Ayres-Frederick, Phoenix Theatre SF, Hillary DeMartino, Paulette Donsavage, Regina S. Guggenheim, Ms. Kathryn A Hecht, Diane Leonard, Kathy Roberts & Aaron Loeb, Dr. Gary W. London, Diane Sampson, Marian Scheuer Sofaer & Abraham D. Sofaer, Jeffrey Trescott, Anonymous

PATRON ($250-$499)

Nina Ball & Jon Tracy, Chris and Cindy Redburn, Jon & Susan Sweedler, Christian Wilburn, Maury Zeff, Anonymous (3)

ASSOCIATE MEMBER ($125-$249)

Sam & Naomi Abramovitz, Mary E. Baird, Ms. Portia F. Bock, Cass Brayton, Sheila Collins, Joyce Dieda, Clint Fleener, Michael Fried, Mrs. Judith Lynn Garcia, Anonymous, Gina Harris, Ms. Sharlene Hartman, Mr. Stanley William Hathaway, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Tanuja Devi Jagernauth, Ms. Mildred Inez Lewis, Anonymous, Paris McCarthy, Kimberly Ridgeway, Ms. Jessica Rofé, Margo Rofé, Carolina Rojas Moretti, Katie Ryan, Louel Senores, Alex M. Shafer, Christine Sheppard, Stan Stone, Lisa Gaye Thompson, Scott Lebus & Susannah Wise

To contribute to PlayGround, visit https://playground-sf.org/contribute or contact PlayGround Associate Director of Development Lana Richards at lana@playground-sf.org or by phone at (833) 992-6677.

PlayGround-SF Writers Pool 2024-25

Linda Ayres-Frederick, Tanika Baptiste, Daniel Baxter, Nico Bocalan, Robyn Brooks, Madeleine Butler, Melina Cohen-Bramwell, Jediah Craig, rob dario, Laura Domingo, Elizabeth Flanagan, Reed Flores, Antonio Greene, Garret Groenveld, KT Frances Hartline, Grace Hoffman, Everett Holland, Christine C. Hsu, Carl Johnson, Ruth Kirschner, Sarena Kuhn, Greg Lam, Jennifer Le Blanc, Kristy Lin Billuni, Daniel Martinez Jr., Richard Perez, Bridgette Portman, Kimberly Ridgeway, George Rose, Louel Señores, Alexis Standridge, Stan Stone, Lisa Gaye Thompson, Kaz Valtchev, Livian Yeh, Maury Zeff.

PlayGround Resident Playwrights

Michael Adams, Anthony Anello, Robyn Brooks, Bailey Jordan Garcia, Garret Groenveld, Juliet Kang Huneke, Karissa Murrell Myers, Lyra Nalan, Jacob Marx Rice, Kimberly Ridgeway, Louel Señores, Christian Wilburn.

PlayGround Company

Molly Aaronson-Gelb, Angel Adedokun, Patrick Alparone, Linda Amayo-Hassan, Liz Anderson, Rinabeth Apostol, Michael Asberry, Michael Barrett Austin, Mary Baird, April Ballesteros, Tanika Baptiste, Aldo Billingslea, Millie Brooks, Julia Brothers, Nicole Apostol Bruno, Lizzie Calogero, Ron Campbell, Joy Carlin, Nancy Carlin, Zoe Chien, Ben Chau-Chiu, Tessa Corrie, David Cramer, Will Dao, Anne Darragh, Roshni Datta, Natalia Delgado, Dodds Delzell, Livia Gomes Demarchi, Carolyn Doyle, Leticia Duarte, Nora el Samahy, Rebecca Ennals, Gisela Feied, Britney Frazier, Michael French, Claire Ganem, Sarah Gasser, Norman Gee, Douglas B. Giorgis, Linda Giron, Amy Glazer, Cindy Goldfield, BW Gonzalez, Gabriel Grilli, Rudy Guerrero, Rosie Hallett, Katherine Hamilton, Eric Fraisher Hayes, Brian Herndon, Champagne Hughes, J Jha, Colin Johnson, Jennifer King, Dean Koya, Danielle Levin, Amy Lizardo, Jeffrey Lo, Gwen Loeb, George Maguire, Melanie Marshall, Alicia Mason, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Julia McNeal, Sam Misner, Brady Morales-Woolery, Lisa Morse, Khary L. Moye, Molly Noble, Karen Offereins, Annette Oliveira, Soren Oliver, Ely Sonny Orquiza, Tony Ortega, Doyle Ott, June Palladino, Carla Pantoja, Louis Parnell, Jed Parsario, Michael Phillis, Krystle Piamonte, Rebecca Pingree, Stephanie Prentice, Ezra Reaves, Virginia Reed, Cathleen Riddley, Kimberly Ridgeway, Katja Rivera, Adrian Roberts, Stacy Ross, Adam Roy, Katie Rubin, Patrick Russell, Miyoko Sakatani, Louel Senores, Robert Sicular, Dave Sikula, Jeunee Simon, M. Graham Smith, Ken Sonkin, Lauren Spencer, Teddy Spencer, Chris Steele, Howard Swain, Jomar Tagatac, Emilie Talbot, Danielle Thys, Isabel Anne To, Jon Tracy, Dane Troy, Mark Rafael Truitt, Liam Vincent, Ian Walker, Maryssa Wanlass, Tracy Ward, Reggie D. White, Christian Wilburn, Wayne Wong, Elena Wright, Hector Zavala.

PlayGround Staff

Jim Kleinmann, Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Lana Richards, Associate Director of Development
Jonathan Josephson, Director of Marketing & Communications
Norman Gee, Associate Producer
Katja Rivera, Associate Producer
Zoe Chien, Associate Producer
Tessa Corrie, Co-Casting Director
Patricia Cotter, Co-Casting Director
Brittany Mellerson, Resident Designer
Katie Brown, 2024-25 Producing Fellow
Leon Jones, 2024-25 Producing Fellow
Zoe Lesser, 2024-25 Producing Fellow
Joey Reyes, 2024-25 Producing Fellow
Amal Mazen Salem, 2024-25 Producing Fellow
Sarah Showich, 2024-25 Producing Fellow
K’Zhane McGill, Box Office Mananager
Liam Kirk, Resident Stage Manager

PlayGround Ambassadors

Julia Brothers, Jordan Carlson, Ben Chau-Chiu , Julia Crowley, Sheri Flanders, Claire Ganem, Eric Geller, Monica Ho, Tony Kim, Christine Liao, AJ Lily, Ely Sonny Orquiza, Andrew Perez, Ivan Rivas, Miyoko Sakatani, Braedyn Youngberg.

PlayGround Equity Workgroup

Diana Burbano, Victoria Evans Erville, Norman Gee, Jim Kleinmann, Brittany Mellerson, Tiana Randall-Quant, Katja Rivera, M. Graham Smith.

PlayGround Board

Stephanie Prentice, Chair
James A. Kleinmann, President
Emilie Talbot, Vice President
Nitin, Treasurer
Christian Wilburn, Secretary
Regina Guggenheim, Chair Emeritus
Tanvi Agrawal
Linda Amayo-Hassan
Julia Brothers
Ben Cain
Howard Ho
Toby Inoue
Rebecca Martinez
Kendall Phillips
Jessica June Rowe

Follow us on Facebook and Instagram.
https://facebook.com/PlayGroundsf
https://instagram.com/playgroundsftheatre
www.playground-sf.org

PlayGround
3286 Adeline St #9
Berkeley, CA 94703-2485