PlayGround presents Season 28

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

Topic: “NOT SO SILENT NIGHT“

December 20, 2021 7pm PT

Freight & Salvage + 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.

The Nativity
by Linda Amayo-Hassan
Directed by Tessa Corrie
Joseph……………………………………………Juan Amador
Mary……………………………….Leontyne Mbele-Mbong
Rachel……………………………………….Maryssa Wanlass

The Tinsel Drip
by Christopher Robin Magee
Directed by Nikki Meñez
Hallelujah Margaret………………..Catherine Luedtke
St. Mary of the Burnt Bulb………….Cathleen Riddley

Nutcracker Sweets
by Jennifer Le Blanc
Directed by Jennifer King
Dad……………………………………………….Aaron Wilton
Mom………………………………………………….Lisa Morse
Sarah……………………………………….Krystle Piamonte
Junior……………………………………Matthew Hanjoong
Usher/Dancer…………………………………Alison Ewing

8-2-5 Cherry
by Bacilio Mendez II
Directed by Norman Gee
Paul………………………………………….Enormvs Munoz
Mia……………………………………….Gabriella Goldstein
Sam……………………………………………….Liz Anderson
Max…………………………………………..Melvign Badiola

Union Square
by Eteya Trinidad
Directed by Jeunee Simon
Joni…………………………………………..Karen Offereins
Sam……………………………………Gabriella {G} Momah
Erin…………………………………………….Isabel Anne To
Catherine……………………………………….Rosie Hallett
Ben……………………………………………..Max Carpenter

Succession: The Medieval Edition
by Maury Zeff
Directed by Tracy Ward
Drohamira……………………………Stephanie Prentice
Vratislaus……………………………………..Gabriel Grilli
Wenceslas……………………………….Christian Wilburn
Boleslaus……………………………………..Patrick Russell

Stage Manager: Dianne Harrison

Sound Designer: James Goode

This live stream is produced under a SAG-AFTRA New Media Agreement.

PlayGround is a member of Theatre Bay Area and Theatre Communications Group,
and an Associate Member of the National New Play Network (NNPN).

People’s Choice Award

Following tonight’s performance, we invite your participation in this month’s People’s Choice Award. Through the People’s Choice Award, our audience can play a direct impact in furthering the career of a promising new playwright. To vote, make a People’s Choice Award tax-deductible donation on behalf of your favorite play(s)/playwright(s) from the evening. Every donated dollar counts as a vote while directly supporting PlayGround’s award-winning incubator programs.

Cast your vote for your favorite play(s) by making a People’s Choice donation via Zelle (info@playground-sf.org), Venmo (our account ID is @playgroundsf and if they ask for the last four digits of my phone, it’s 8541) or on our website at https://tickets.playground-sf.org/TheatreManager/1/online?donationquick=16 (you can also visit the Monday Night PlayGround page for the People’s Choice donation button). Add a note/memo with your gift to indicate your favorite play(s) or email your selection to boxoffice@playground-sf.org.

At the end of the week, we’ll tally up the top vote-getter and automatic semi-finalist for our season-ending Best of PlayGround. It’s a powerful way of showing your support for new writers and their work, while helping PlayGround continue doing what we do!

BIOGRAPHIES

PLAYWRIGHTS

LINDA AMAYO-HASSAN (The Nativity), she/her, is a Chicana/Native playwright and is the Artistic Director of Theatre Cultura. Linda is an Equity actor, singer, director and a theatre professor at Chabot College. Linda is currently under commission with PlayGround for her play LA VIDA LOBO which was featured in Best of PlayGround 23. She is a member of the Pear Playwrights Guild, SameBoat Theatre Collective, Native Writers and had the honor of attending The Kennedy Center Playwriting 2018 Intensive.

JENNIFER LE BLANC (Nutcracker Sweets), she/her, is thrilled to be part of PlayGround.  She adapted Jane Austen’s Persuasion which received its world-premiere at San Jose Stage Company and Defoe’s Moll Flanders which received its world-premiere at Pacific Repertory Theatre. She wrote We Made Bread, a one-woman show adapted from interviews, for Perspective Theatre Company (formerly Arabian Shakespeare Festival). Jennifer has contributed short plays to Shotz, Perspective Theatre Company’s New Works Festival, and Our Digital Stories. Jennifer received her BA in English Literature from U.C. Berkeley and her MFA in Acting from the National Theatre Conservatory.  She is an associate artist with the Perspective Theatre Company and Livermore Shakespeare Festival.

CHRISTOPHER ROBIN MAGEE (The Tinsel Drip), he/him, is always simply pleased as punch to see wonderful performers speaking his silly lines. Happy Holidays everyone!

BACILIO MENDEZ II (8-2-5 Cherry), he/him, is excited to see you all live and in-person again!

ETEYA TRINIDAD (Union Square), she/her, is a playwright, stage manager, and theater artist. She is a resident playwright at PlayGround and a member of the 2021 LezWritesBTQ Cohort at 3 Girls Theatre. Her writing has been recognized in the 2021 Best of PlayGround Festival with the June Anne Baker Prize, and as a finalist for the 2019 Bay Area Playwrights Festival.thrilled to be a resident playwright at PlayGround and the 2021 recipient of the June Anne Baker Prize. Her work has also been seen at Berklee College of Music, SF Olympians Festival, Ross Valley Players, and Amios West, among others. www.eteyatrinidad.com

MAURY ZEFF‘s (Succession: The Medieval Edition), he/him, work has been performed around the US and in Europe, and published in American Fiction, Crab Orchard Review, Southern California Review, and elsewhere. He won the 2022 Clark-Gross Award for his novel “Off Mahatma Gandhi Road” and was nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize in fiction. His plays have appeared in the 2014 and 2017 Best of PlayGround festivals and won four People’s Choice awards. He has received commissions and fellowships from PlayGround, the SF Olympians, and the San Francisco Writers Grotto, where he works and teaches. Maury earned a writing MFA from the University of San Francisco.

ACTORS

JUAN MANUEL AMADOR (The Nativity, “Joseph”), he/him, is an actor, emcee, DJ, and member of San Francisco’s Campo Santo artist collective. Regional Credits: Quixote Nuevo (Cal Shakes); Between Riverside and Crazy (San Jose Stage); Oedipus El Rey, A Lie of the Mind (Magic Theatre); Candlestick (ACT Costume Shop); Casa de Spirits (Yerba Buena Center for the Arts); To The Bone (Ubuntu Theater Project); Babylon is Burning (Z Space); Superheroes (Cutting Ball Theater). National Tours: Quixote Nuevo (Hartford Stage/Huntington Theatre Company/Alley Theatre); Nogales (Borderlands Theater/Magic Theater); Tree City Legends (Living Word Project). Web Series: East WillyB. Film: Side Effects (Campo Santo). Awards: Connecticut Critics Circle; Grammy Award nominee. You can currently hear Juan every weeknight 8-10pm on 91.7 FM KALW in the San Francisco Bay Area.

LIZ ANDERSON‘s (8-2-5 Cherry, “Sam”), she/they, work as an actor and filmmaker centers on complex female protagonists and address themes of social justice and equity through sci-fi and comedy.

MELVIGN BADIOLA (8-2-5 Cherry, “Max”)

MAX CARPENTER (Union Square, “Ben”), he/him, is delighted to jump into the playground family and turn-up with y’all on a school night. Locally, he’s performed at SF Playhouse, Center Rep, Bay Area Playwrights fest, The Lorraine Hansberry, in addition to a few places regionally. Favorite performances include the sociopathic serial rapist/ murder/ male stripper Jeremy Jones on Law and Order SVU and Stanly Kowalski in Precariat Production’s Immersive presentation of Streetcar Named Desire, featuring the first non-binary Blanche Dubois.

ALISON EWING‘s(Nutcracker Sweets, “Usher/Dancer”), she/her, Broadway credits include Mamma Mia! & Cabaret. National tours: Anastasia, An American In Paris, Cabaret and Flashdance. Regional favorites: Hand To God at San Jose Stage, Emma, Big River, Into The Woods, Harold & Maude, Ain’t Nothin’ But The Blues at TheatreWorks, Putnam County Spelling Bee at San Jose Rep, Sweet Charity at Center Rep, Jacques Brel, Beggar’s Holiday at Marin Theatre Company, A Little Night Music & Irma La Douce at 42nd Street Moon, The Last 5 Years, Baby and Proof at Playhouse West. Alison is also an audiobooks narrator for Audible and Tantor Media. www.AlisonEwing.com

GABRIELLA GOLDSTEIN (8-2-5 Cherry, “Mia”), she/her, is thrilled to be a part of Monday Night PlayGround! Some past Bay Area theater credits include, Somewhere a Pear and Perspective Theatres Co-Production; Pericles and King Lear at San Francisco Shakespeare Festival; A Doll’s House, Part 2 and Tea for Three at Palo Alto Players; Roe at Foothill College Theatre; and A Month in the Country, Democratically Speaking, and Voices of the Earth at Stanford Repertory Theater. She has appeared in several TV/internet commercials and narrated romance novels for Audible.com. Gabriella is a graduate of The Juilliard School and Barnard College, Columbia University.

GABRIEL “GG” GRILLI (Succession: The Medieval Edition, “Vratislaus”), he/his an actor, director, writer, and teacher. He’s worked at theatres in the Bay Area, NYC, regionally, and internationally for over 25 years. In 2021, GG directed a reading of Maury Zeff’s MERCHANT OF STRATFORD for Ross Valley Players and collaborated on the international short, VIRTUALLY IMPOSSIBLE, writing and directing the NY section with the Sundance Globe Writers. Other recent theatrical work includes lead roles in THE WAITRESS & THE ROBBER with Concrete Temple in NYC and Seoul, South Korea and MOTHER NIGHT with Custom Made at 59E59. MFA Directing, Penn State. BFA Acting, Hofstra. www.gabrielgrilli.com

ROSIE HALLETT (Union Square, “Catherine”), she/her, is the current Playground Women Leaders Fellow for Acting. Those with good memories may remember her pre-pandemic performances in Mother of the Maid at Marin Theatre Company and Top Girls and Men on Boats at ACT! Her recent work has been mostly on-camera, in the short films The Circle of 13 and Us + Them and in numerous local commercials.

MATTHEW HANJOONG (Nutcracker Sweets, “Junior”), he/him, is a graduate from Sacramento State University and has been working all over California. He was last seen digitally performing for PlayGround’s Best Of series and last seen on stage in Gold Hill Samurai at the Wakamatsu Festival. Hanjoong’s upcoming project(s) include(s) The Great Leap at Capital Stage.

CATHERINE LUEDTKE (The Tinsel Drip, “Hallelujah Margaret”), she/her, is a British actor who works in the Bay Area and Europe. She is a member of Actors Reading Collective, a founding member of The Director’s Theatre/Writer’s Theatre London (In Alphabetical Gardens, Said The Assassination and The Erotic Review Sinai) and a Resident Artist at Crowded Fire (Revolt. She Said. Revolt Again.) Recent credits: Cal Shakes (Macbeth, War of The Roses) and The National Theatre/Young Vic (The Jungle) catherine has also performed with Third Cloud From The Left, PlayGround, Villa Design Group M. I. T., The Breadbox, Stanford Rep, NCTC and YBCA. She is a TBA, SFBATCC, and Titan award finalist. @luedtkecat, catluedtke.com

LEONTYNE MBELE-MBONG (The Nativity, “Mary”), she/her, is delighted to return to PlayGround. Recent shows: Half-Life of Marie Curie with TheatreSquared in Arkansas and King Lear live streamed with SF Shakes. Other favorites: Bull in a China Shop, Temple, and Breakfast with Mugabe with the Aurora; title role in Medea (TBA Award), Cleopatra in Antony & Cleopatra (TBA Award Finalist), and Lady M in Macbeth with African-American Shakespeare Company; Watch on the Rhine with Guthrie/Berkeley Rep, Top Girls with Shotgun Players, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, Fences; Andromache, Candide, Richard III (3 times), Twelfth Night, and Intimate Apparel (Mayme; ARTY Award, best supporting actress). www.leontynembele-mbong.com

GABRIELLA {G} MOMAH (Union Square, “Sam”), they/them, is a Black queer nonbinary storyteller raised on the unceded territories of the Tongva and Ohlone peoples. G is so excited for their first in-person performance with Playground! Some credits include Schoolgirls; Or the African Mean Girls Play at Berkeley Repertory Theater, Top Girls at American Conservatory Theater, numerous shows with Killing My Lobster and the National Queer Arts Festival. Gabby is a Resident Artist of Crowded Fire Theater currently pursuing their MFA in Acting and Directing at Brown / Trinity Repertory Theater on occupied Narragansett and Wampanoag land.

LISA MORSE (Nutcracker Sweets, “Mom”), she/her, is so happy to be in the room with all these artists and theatre lovers again. Hooray for us all!

ENORMVS MUNOZ (8-2-5 Cherry, “Paul”), he/him, acts, dances, clowns, writes, & directs… he splits his time between nyc, ca, & hawai’i.

KAREN OFFEREINS (Union Square, “Joni”), she/her, is a company member of PlayGround and was last seen on stage in Custom Made Theatre’s How to Transcend a Happy Marriage, having previously performed there in The Pain and the Itch and M. Butterfly. Recent credits include Elevada at Shotgun Players (as well as The Mousetrap, Top Girls, and Our Town), Two Mile Hollow (Ferocious Lotus, where she is also a company member), and Phèdre (Cutting Ball Theater). Past credits include The Potrero Nuevo Project (PlayGround), The Rules (SF Playhouse), and Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Big Funk, and No Exit (AtmosTheatre).

KRYSTLE PIAMONTE (Nutcracker Sweets, “Sarah”), she/her, is a stage/screen actor based in the Bay Area! Theatre includes: RIPPED (Z Space); KING OF THE YEES and DANCE NATION (SF Playhouse); INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN (BACT); and TWO MILE HOLLOW (Ferocious Lotus). Film/TV include: SORRY TO BOTHER YOU, BOUND 4 HEAVEN, and LUMPIA WITH A VENGEANCE. She is a 2x TBA Award Finalist for Outstanding Performance in a Principal Role in a Play and was named an MVP of Bay Area Theatre by KQED. She is a Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director of The Chikahan Company. www.krystlepiamonte.com | IG: @xLe

STEPHANIE PRENTICE (Succession: The Medieval Edition, “Drohamira”), she/her, s a Bay Area native, and has been a proud AEA member for 20 years. She has been a PlayGround company member since 2015. Stephanie featured in Best of PlayGround 19 and 20, has performed in three full-length Festival of New Works plays. She is currently serving her second year as a member of the Board of Directors, and is also a PlayGround Associate Producer. Stephanie also serves as Casting Associate for TheatreFirst in Berkeley, and is the Director of Patron Services. Most importantly, she is the proud mother of two wonderful kids.

CATHLEEN RIDDLEY (The Tinsel Drip, “St. Mary of the Burnt Bulb”), she/her, is currently appearing as Maria in Twelfth Night at SF Playhouse. She was featured recently as Paulina in Winter’s Tale at Cal Shakes, and has appeared at Magic Theatre, ACT, TheatreWorks, and Shotgun Players (playing every role in Hamlet – seriously), among others. She is an alumna of The Juilliard School, a certified ASL Interpreter and has an MA from UPenn. Cathleen is proud to be a member of Making Good Trouble, a cohort of theatre artists in partnership with Authentic Arts & Media, whose goal is to empower Bay Area artists and staff to become anti-racism trainers.

PATRICK RUSSELL (Succession: The Medieval Edition, “Boleslaus”), he/him, is thrilled to return to Playground! Credits include Noises Off (SF Playhouse), As You Like It (Cal Shakes), and Measure for Measure and Love’s Labor’s Lost (Marin Shakespeare). He teaches acting and movement at UC Berkeley and ACT and is the founder of The Actors Space, an actor training school and acting company in SF.

ISABEL ANNE TO (Union Square, “Erin”), she/her, is an actor, singer, and avid cross stitcher living on unceded Tamyen Ohlone land. She most recently starred in Allison Page’s “Jersey Devil Play”, now streaming on Vimeo (awesometheatre.org for tickets). She is also a contributing voice actor in KML’s “The Fireside Project”, three themed anthologies of audio sketches (killingmylobster.com). Love and gratitude to JLT. www.isabelanneto.com

MARYSSA WANLASS (The Nativity, “Rachel”), she/they, is an actor, director, and educator, with an emphasis on social justice and classical theatre. Bay Area stage appearances 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 (Enchanted April, Witness for the Prosecution), Woman’s Will (Much Ado About Nothing, Good Person of Szechuan). They have directed locally for Utopia Theatre Project, PlayGroundSF, Shotz, and regionally for Advice to the Players. Wanlass’ social justice work includes directing at-risk young adults in Shakespeare plays with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and working with Red Ladder Theatre to deliver improv workshops in California’s correctional system.

CHRISTIAN WILBURN (Succession: The Medieval Edition, “Wenceslas”), he/him, is excited to make a return to acting on the PlayGround stage! Christian graduated from Santa Clara University with a degree in Theatre Arts in 2019. He has acted in Monday Night Playground, Best of Playground and most notably Paris and Ajax in the premiere of Garret Groenveld’s Disbelief.

AARON WILTON (Nutcracker Sweets, “Dad”), he/him, is elated to be working with PlayGround again where he is part of the acting company. Notable stage productions include George Street Playhouse’s “Inspecting Carol” (with Peter Scolari & Dan Lauria), Aurora Theatre Company’s “John Gabriel Borkman” (with Karen Grassle) and the lead in Hudson Stage Company’s “After All” (with Broadway’s Walter Charles & Susan Pellegrino). Film: Jexi, The Boat Builder. TV: Criminal Minds, Sunset Glory. Video Games: Watch Dogs 2, Godfather 2, Mafia: Definitive Edition, Battlefield: Hardline. Commercials: Taco Bell, Xfinity, Wells Fargo, Blue Shield, Tejava, Charles Schwab, Chase, EA Games, Cisco, Adobe, Pixar.

DIRECTORS

TESSA CORRIE (The Nativity), she/her, is a Queer and Latinx theater director based in the Bay Area. Her work is grounded in creating space for marginalized and underrepresented communities and narratives. She is a company member, ambassador, and this year’s Women Leaders Directing Fellow at PlayGround SF. Her credits include work at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Center REPertory Company, Hillbarn Theatre, Pear Theatre, Shotgun Players, TheatreFirst, The Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, More Más Marami Arts, Poltergeist Theatre Project, PianoFight, AmiosWest, and Our Digital Stories.

NORMAN GEE (8-2-5 Cherry), he/him, has worked with companies including SF-Shakes, Word for Word, Lorraine Hansberry, TheatreWorks, Shotgun Players, CentralWorks, Perspective Theater, Oakland Theater Project… He was most recently performed in GREAT EXPECTATIONS with the San Jose Stage Company, and last summer understudied (& went on!) PERICLES for SF Shakes. Founder of Oakland Public Theater, Norman creates ‘a different kind of Black Theater”, expanding notions of culture to encompass often invisible roles of African Americans. He gladly embraces his new position as a PlayGround Associate Producer.

JENNIFER KING (Nutcracker Sweets), she/her, is an international director based in the Bay Area. Directing credits include Prague Shakespeare Company, Aurora Theatre Company, Capital Stage, Berkeley Playhouse, Cinnabar Theatre, Sonoma County Rep, Shakespeare Napa Valley. A tenured theater professor at Napa Valley College, she has taught and directed at Kingston University London, UC Davis, NVC, and SSU. As an arts leader, she has held senior level positions at Sonoma County Repertory Theater (artistic/executive director), California Shakespeare Theater (director of artistic learning), Dallas Theater Center (director of education and community outreach), and is the founder/artistic director of Shakespeare Napa Valley.

NIKKI MEÑEZ (The Tinsel Drip), they/she/siya, is a freelance director, movement artist, and arts administrator based in the San Francisco Bay Area. When not directing, Nikki works in casting and artist outreach, theater education, and arts advocacy for a more equitable and humane creative ecosystem. Local creative affiliations include Queer Cat Productions, Custom Made Theater Company, Faultline Theatre, Epic Party Theater, & PianoFight. Select directing credits include “In the Heights” by Quiara Alegría Hudes & Lin Manuel Miranda (Custom Made), “Let’s Kill Jessica” by Claire Rice (Awesome Theatre), & “The Law of Attraction” an audio play by Patricia Milton (NCTC).

JEUNEE SIMON (Union Square), she/her, is an actor, director, and intimacy coordinator in the Bay Area. Recent credits include: La Ronde (Cutting Ball Theater), Men On Boats u/s (American Conservatory Theater), HeLa (TheatreFIRST), and When My Mama Was A Hittite (Magic Theatre). Simon is a proud recipient of the 2017 RHE Artistic Fellowship and a 2019 Directing Apprentice with PlayGround. She was last seen on Aurora Theatre’s stage in Stoop Storiesby Dael Olandersmith.

TRACY WARD (Succession: The Medieval Edition), she/her, is a Freelance Director based in the  Bay Area. Recent: Disbelief at Playground, World Premiere of The Lady Scribblers at CMT. Regional Premieres include:  The Cake at NCTC, Actually at Aurora Theatre Company;  When We Were Young and Unafraid at CMT SF;  Bright Shining Sea at Playground;  The Thrush and the Woodpecker at CMT, The Dragon Play,  and What Every Girl Should Know at Impact Theatre. Upcoming: Fun Home at 42nd Street Moon, SF Feb 2022. She is a proud company member of PlayGround. www.tracyward.org, and an Associate Member of The Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers Union.

PRODUCTION & STAFF

JIM KLEINMANN (Artistic Director & Co-Founder), he, 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-four 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.

ANNIE STUART (Associate Artistic Director) has served as casting director for PlayGround for the past twenty-two seasons and in 2005 was named Associate Director. As a freelance casting director, her other credits include Marin Theatre Company, Center REP, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, San Francisco and Los Angeles Shakespeare Festivals, Brava!, Theatre Rhinoceros, and Z Space, among others. She has taught at San Jose State University, College of Marin, and Marin Theatre Company. For the PlayGround 2021-22 season, Annie will cast more than 300 roles.

DIANNE HARRISON (Stage Manager), she/her, was born and raised in Sonoma Valley and performed in children’s theatre before shifting to stage management. Some of her past shows include Sonoma Arts Live’s Same Time, Next Year; Santa Rosa Junior College’s Legally Blonde: The Musical and Almost, Maine, which earned a Certificate of Merit from the Kennedy Center’s American College Theater Festival; JoLee Productions’ Bluff, which she also co-directed; and Ross Valley Players’ Silent Sky and Ripcord. She is thrilled to be a part of Monday Night PlayGround.

JAMES GOODE (Sound Designer), he/him, has worked with a number of Bay Area theater companies, including 6NewPlays, Altarena Playhouse, Anton’s Well Theater Company, Center REP, Hillbarn Theatre, Oakland Theater Project, Palo Alto Players, PlayGround, Playwrights Foundation, Stage 1, Theater of Others, and Theatre Rhinoceros. He’s also worked with animators, choreographers, filmmakers, visual artists, voice actors and others on a wide variety of projects, including films, gallery and museum installations, music videos, podcasts, TV shows, and educational toys and games. https://jamesgoodesound.com

LAUREL SCHWEIDEL (Box Office)

PLAYGROUND, California’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s, Los Angeles’ and now New York’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 early career playwrights, developing and staging more than 1000 of their original short plays through the Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned 90 new full-length plays by 60 of these writers through its Commissioning Initiative and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 34 plays at theatres of every size, including three that have gone on to NYC and other major theater communities. Most recently, PlayGround renovated and relaunched the former Thick House Theater in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill as Potrero Stage, a state-of-the-art center for new plays, home to PlayGround’s expanding artistic programs and some of the Bay Area’s most distinguished new play developers and producers. Over the past twenty-four years, PlayGround has served to identify some of the most important new local voices for the theatre. PlayGround’s alumni have gone on to win local, national, and international honors for their short and full-length work, including recognition at the Humana Festival, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The Lark’s Playwrights’ Week, 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. Visit https://PlayGround-sf.org for more information.

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.

PLAYGROUND CONTRIBUTORS

PLAYGROUND CONTRIBUTORS

PlayGround is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the many individuals, foundations, gifts of $125 or more committed between December 1, 2020 & December 20, 2021.

GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, & FOUNDATION DONORS

Alameda County Arts Commission • Amazon • American Rescue Plan Act & CARES Act • Art Space Development Corporation • Berkeley Civic Arts • The Bernard Osher Foundation • Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund • California Arts Council • Creative Capacity Fund • The Fleishhacker Foundation • Goldman Sachs • Google • Grants For The Arts • Koret Foundation • Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation • The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund • Negley Flinn Charitable Foundation • NIAC • Nvidia • Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation • Planet Earth Arts • San Francisco Arts Commission • The Shenson Foundation • The Shubert Foundation • Stanford University • The Tournesol Project • Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund • The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation • Zellerbach Family Foundation

INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTERS

SEASON SPONSORS ($5000+)

Donna Ano, Mr. William Bivins, Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, Jerome Joseph Gentes & Michael Bourque, Lara Gilman & Jim Kleinmann, Craig & Kathy Moody, David Steele

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500–$4,999)

John H. Gilman, Regina S. Guggenheim, Linda Kremer, Anonymous (2)

PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)

Erik Blachford, Karen Chakmakian, Sidney Glass & Eleanor Clement Glass, Thalia Dorwick, Keith Goldstein & Donna N. Warrington, Tish and Steve Harwood, Mrs. Frannie Pope Hohman, Tracy Brown and Greg Holland, Brady Lea & David Gallagher, Dr. Gary W. London, Karen Mauney-Brodek, Nitin, Ms. Carol Louisa Owens, Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock, Diane Sampson, Sharon Simpson, Marian Scheuer Sofaer & Abraham D. Sofaer, David Cost & Kate Stechschulte, Anonymous (4)

PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)

Dr. Elaine Baskin & Kenneth R. Krechmer, Paulette Donsavage & Deeje Cooley, Mr. Richard Dixon, Michael Fried, Barbara Goodyear & Stephen Rosenfield, Diane Leonard, Gwen Loeb & Doyle Ott, Rebecca Martinez, Anne Maxwell, Colette Meunier & Mark van Norman, Cindy & Chris Redburn, Cindy and Chris Redburn, Ray Riegert, Michele and John Ruskin, Nancy Spencer & Hardy Callcott, Oren & Justin Stevens, Mr. Malachy Walsh, Maury Zeff, Anonymous

PATRON ($250-$499)

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PLAYGROUND WRITERS COMPANY

Linda Amayo-Hassan+, Cass Brayton+, Tom Bruett+, Rachel Bublitz+, Madeleine Butler, Vanessa Cassandras, Reg Clay, Victoria Evans Erville, Jessica Fechtor, Ipsheeta Furtado, Akaina Ghosh, Linda Maria Giron, Garret Jon Groenveld+, Monique Hafen Adams, Sam Hurwitt, Tejahra Jacobs, Lisa Kang, Anne Yumi Kobori, Molly Krost+, Jennifer Le Blanc, Jonathan Luskin+, Christopher Magee, Alanna McFall, Bacilio Mendez II, Isaac Ontiveros+, Conrad Panganiban, Erin Marie Panttaja, Evelyn Jean Pine+, Madeline Puccioni, Neiry Rojo, Kevin Rolston, Annette Roman, Rebecca Schweitzer , Susan Sher, Marissa Skudlarek, Alexis Standridge, Chris Steele, Shruti Tewari, Lisa Gaye Thompson, Eteya Trinidad+, Daysha Veronica+, Madison Wetzell, Christian Wilburn+, Maury Zeff
+ Resident Playwright

PLAYGROUND COMPANY

Molly Aaronson-Gelb, Angel Adedokun, Patrick Alparone, Liz Anderson, Rinabeth Apostol, Michael Asberry, Michael Barrett Austin, Mary Baird, Aldo Billingslea, Giselle Boustani-Fontenele, 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, Claire Ganem, Sarah Gasser, Norman Gee, Douglas B. Giorgis, Amy Glazer, Cindy Goldfield, BW Gonzalez, Christian Haines, Margo Hall, Rosie Hallett, Katherine Hamilton, Daryl Anthony Harper, Eric Fraisher Hayes, Brian Herndon, Monica Ho, Laura Humphrey, J Jha, Colin Johnson, Lyndsy Kail, 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, Jasmine Murray, Noble, Joseph Patrick O’Malley, Karen Offereins, Annette Oliveira, Soren Oliver, Ely Sonny Orquiza, Melissa Ortiz, Doyle Ott, June Palladino, Carla Pantoja, Louis Parnell, Jed Parsario, Michael Phillis, Rebecca Pingree, Stephanie Prentice, Ezra Reaves, Virginia Reed, Cathleen Riddley, Katja Rivera, Adrian Roberts, Neiry Rojo, Stacy Ross, Adam Roy, Katie Rubin, Lindsey Marie Schmeltzer, Louel Senores, Robert Sicular, Jeunee Simon, M. Graham Smith, Ken Sonkin, Lauren Spencer, Teddy Spencer, 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, Aaron Wilton, Elena Wright

PLAYGROUND AMBASSADORS

Jomar Tagatac (Co-Chair) , Aaron Wilton (Co-Chair) , Aldo Billingslea, Tessa Corrie, Livia Demarchi, Britney Frazier, Claire Ganem, Cindy Goldfield, Jeffrey Lo, Gwen Loeb, Brady Morales-Woolery, Ely Sonny Orquiza, Stephanie Prentice, Katja Rivera

PLAYGROUND STAFF

Jim Kleinmann, Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Annie Stuart, Associate Artistic Director
Norman Gee, Associate Producer
Jed Parsario, Associate Producer
Stephanie Prentice, Associate Producer
Katja Rivera, Associate Producer
Jacque Bugler, Production Manager
Brittany Mellerson, Resident Designer
Sarah Gasser, Resident Stage Manager & Assistant to the Artistic Director
Lindsey Abbott, 2021-22 Producing Fellow/Women Leaders Fellow
Daniel Benitez, 2021-22 Producing Fellow
Caroline Portante, 2021-22 Producing Fellow
Wallace Yan, 2021-22 Producing Fellow
Edna Mira Raia, Post Fellow
Lana Richards, Post Fellow
Chris Steele, Post Fellow

PLAYGROUND BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Regina Guggenheim, Chair
James A. Kleinmann, President
Jerome Joseph Gentes, VP-Communications
Emilie Talbot, VP-Development
Nitin, Treasurer
Katie May, Secretary
William Bivins
Diana Burbano
Eleanor Clement Glass
Lisa Mammel
Rebecca Martinez
Rondrell McCormick
Stephanie Prentice
Katja Rivera
David Steele

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Berkeley, CA 94703-2485
info@playground-sf.org
(415) 992-6677