Monday Night PlayGround Finale To Be Live Streamed!
“For now I ask no more Than the justice of eating.” – Pablo Neruda
PlayGround concludes the 25th anniversary season of its celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series with a special evening of environmental-inspired plays as part of the 6th annual PLANET EARTH ARTS NEW PLAY FESTIVAL at 8pm on Monday, April 6 (rescheduled from March 16). NOTE: Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and current shelter-in-place order, this performance will be live streamed only via Zoom, with actors performing remotely. The topic for the April 6 program was “FEEDING 9 BILLION”. Members of the 2019-20 PlayGround Writers Company had just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic. The top six scripts will each receive a professional script-in-hand staged reading via Zoom live stream on April 6. Tickets are $15 and advance purchase is required (ticket purchasers will receive a private link to the live stream on the day of the event). For tickets or more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/monday.
The selected plays/playwrights are:
The Vault by Uma Incrocci, directed by Jeunee Simon
Nice to Meet Ya by Melissa Keith, directed by Giselle Boustani-Fontenele
Ant Farm by Molly Olis Krost, directed by Katherine Hamilton
Gala by Rebecca Schweitzer, directed by Susi Damilano
Agent of Change by Addie Ulrey, directed by Jim Kleinmann
Extraordinary Fruit by Leela Velautham, directed by Norman Gee
This is the sixth year of PlayGround’s partnership with Planet Earth Arts and Stanford University on the development of environmental-inspired plays as part of the annual “Planet Earth Arts New Play Festival”. In addition to the ten-minute plays generated through this collaboration, PlayGround and Planet Earth Arts have commissioned and developed more than a dozen new full-length plays, adapted from the Monday Night shorts, including recent PlayGround Festival premieres and TBA Awards Recommended Productions, ANNA CONSIDERS MARS by Ruben Grijalva (2019) and BRIGHT SHINING SEA by Julianne Jigour (2018).
The playwrights of the 2019-20 PlayGround Writers Company are: Ai, Linda Amayo-Hassan+, Lynn Aylward, Vonn Scott Bair, Rosalie Fay Barnes, Tom Bruett+, Madeleine Butler, Ron Campbell, Patricia Cotter+, Nara Dahlbacka, Rob Dario, Victoria Chong Der+, Victoria Evans Erville, Elizabeth Flanagan, Jerome Joseph Gentes+, Akaina Ghosh, Lauren Gorski+, Garret Jon Groenveld+, Tanya Grove, Sarah Haas, Karen Hartline, Sam Hurwitt, Tejahra Jacobs, Lisa Kang, Melissa Keith, Molly Olis Krost+, Brady Lea+, Meghan Maugeri, Alanna McFall+, Madeline Puccioni, Annette Roman, Ayelet Schrek, Rebecca Schweitzer, Nic Sommerfeld, Martha Soukup, Lisa Thompson, Addie Ulrey, Leela Velautham, Madison Wetzell, Christian Wilburn, James Yu, and Maury Zeff (+ Resident Playwright).
Recent topics have included: “The Shakespeare Prequels,” “Gift Exchange,” “Anthropomorph” and last year’s “Borders, Islands & Walls” as part of a now-six-year collaboration with Planet Earth Arts and Stanford University. The top six plays from each month are rehearsed for just one-and-a-half hours each and presented as script-in-hand staged readings at Monday Night PlayGround, now celebrating its twenty-sixth year. PlayGround audiences get to enjoy a unique behind-the-scenes perspective, with a free Pre-Performance Discussion at 7:10pm. Audience members can also experience the thrill of being a producer through the monthly People’s Choice Awards, helping to determine which plays and playwrights go on for consideration in PlayGround’s annual showcase, the Best of PlayGround Festival.
Supporting PlayGround playwrights and the Monday Night series are the members of the PlayGround Company, representing some of the Bay Area’s leading directors, actors, and designers, with a majority belonging to Actors’ Equity Association, the union of professional actors and stage managers. The 2019-20 PlayGround Company includes: Molly Aaronson-Gelb, Patrick Alparone*, Liz Anderson*, Rinabeth Apostol*, Michael Asberry*, Michael Barrett Austin*, Mary Baird*, Aldo Billingslea*, Millie Brooks, Julia Brothers*, Nicole Apostol Bruno, Lizzie Calogero*, Ron Campbell*, Joy Carlin*, Nancy Carlin*, Desdemona Chiang, Tessa Corrie, David Cramer*, Will Dao*, Anne Darragh*, Dodds Delzell*, Livia Gomes Demarchi, Carolyn Doyle*, Nora el Samahy*, Rebecca Ennals, Britney Frazier*, Michael French, Sarah Gasser, Norman Gee*, Douglas B. Giorgis*, Amy Glazer , Cindy Goldfield*, BW Gonzalez*, Christian Haines, Margo Hall*, Rosie Hallett*, Daryl Anthony Harper, Eric Fraisher Hayes*, Brian Herndon*, Laura Humphrey, Lyndsy Kail*, Danielle Levin*, Jeffrey Lo, Gwen Loeb*, George Maguire*, Melanie Marshall, Julia McNeal*, Sam Misner*, Brady Morales-Woolery*, Lisa Morse*, Molly Noble*, Soren Oliver*, Joseph Patrick O’Malley*, Ely Sonny Orquiza, Melissa Ortiz*, Doyle Ott*, June Palladino*, Carla Pantoja*, Louis Parnell*, Jed Parsario*, Michael Phillis , Rebecca Pingree, Stephanie Prentice*, Virginia Reed, Cathleen Riddley*, Katja Rivera , Adrian Roberts*, Stacy Ross*, Adam Roy, Katie Rubin, Lindsey Marie Schmeltzer, Robert Sicular*, M. Graham Smith, Ken Sonkin*, Lauren Spencer*, Teddy Spencer*, Howard Swain*, Jomar Tagatac*, Emilie Talbot*, Danielle Thys*, Jon Tracy , Mark Rafael Truitt*, Liam Vincent*, Maryssa Wanlass, Tracy Ward , Reggie D. White*, Aaron Wilton*, and Elena Wright* (* Member, AEA).
PlayGround, the Bay Area’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s best new playwrights, including the monthly Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, annual PlayGround Festival of New Works, full-length play commissions and support for the production of new plays by local playwrights through the New Play Production Fund. To date, PlayGround has supported over 250 local playwrights in the development and staging of more than 950 original short plays and 80 new full-length plays, with 5 more commissions currently in development. PlayGround also operates Potrero Stage (formerly Thick House), a state-of-the-art 99-seat black box theatre in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, home to some of the Bay Area’s leading new play developers and producers, including PlayGround, Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, and Playwrights Foundation. For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org.