PlayGround presents Season 28

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

Topic: “CHILD’S PLAY: ADAPTED NURSERY RHYMES“

March 21, 2022 7pm PT

Live at Freight & Salvage + Simulcast & On-Demand

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.

Lord Goose
by Maury Zeff
Directed by Tessa Corrie
Piggy…………Michael Barrett Austin
Tweedle Dee…………….Dodds Delzell
Little Bo Peep……..Krystle Piamonte
Marry………………..Charisse Loriaux

This Old Man
by Reg Clay
Directed by Lana Richards
Marty…………………….David Cramer
Jewel………………….Rebecca Pingree
Waiter…………………………Brian Levi

Welcome to Monte’s
by Tejahra Jacobs
Directed by Doyle Ott
Monte………………….……Soren Oliver
Ginger……………….Maryssa Wanlass
Basil…………………Christian Wilburn
Poppy…………………April Ballesteros

Gently Down
by Monique Hafen Adams
Directed by Peter J. Kuo
Man………………………Patrick Russell
Girl…………………………….Monica Ho

Pretty Maids All in a Row
by Alanna McFall
Directed by Jim Kleinmann
Mary…………………..Miyoko Sakatani
Lila…………………………Leticia Duarte
Dora…………………Autumn Mirassou
The John………………………Brian Levi

A Cow Named Bo
by Eteya Trinidad
Directed by Katja Rivera
Bo…………………………….Gisela Feied
Tribbles………………..Brian Herndon

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

MONIQUE HAFEN ADAMS (Gently Down), she/ her, is overjoyed to return to PlayGround after the reading of Ella at the Houston Philharmonic. Adams looks forward to having the short play version of The Canterbury Fails presented in New York at the Atlantic Acting School later this month. New to writing, Adams can usually be seen on stage. Acting credits include productions at ACT, Theatreworks, SF Playhouse, San Jose Stage Company, or Center REP, among others. She thanks her husband and her daughter for their constant inspiration.

REG CLAY (This Old Man), he/him, is a graduate of Duke Ellington SOA and NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, and has written plays for Eastenders Repertory Company, Plethos Productions and Bindlestiff Studios. Reg is very delighted to be a part of Playground SF and to have his piece a part of Monday Night Playground.

TEJAHRA JACOBS (Welcome to Monte’s), she/her, is a writer and playwright based in the Bay Area. Currently, she’s enjoying her third season in the writers pool. Tejahra previously served as a dramaturg at the New Play Festival in Riverside. When she is not writing she is a novice baker. She’s thankful for the support of her family and friends.

ALANNA MCFALL (Pretty Maids All in a Row), she/her, is a novelist and playwright. Her novel, The Traveling Triple-C Incorporeal Circus, was published by Atthis Arts. She was a company Resident Playwright for two seasons and has been featured in Best of PlayGround 22 and 23. Alanna was the 2019 recipient of the June Anne Baker Prize.

ETEYA TRINIDAD (A Cow Named Bo), 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(Lord Goose), 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. His plays have appeared in the 2014 and 2017 Best of PlayGround festivals and won four PlayGround audience awards. He has received playwriting commissions and fellowships from PlayGround, SF Olympians, and the SF Writers Grotto, where he works and teaches. He won the 2021 Clark-Gross Award in the Novel and was nominated for a 2020 Pushcart Prize in fiction. Maury earned an MFA in writing from the University of San Francisco.

ACTORS

MICHAEL BARRET AUSTIN (Lord Goose, “Piggy“), he/him, most recently appeared in A Christmas Carol at Center Rep. Other (pre-pandemic) theatre appearances include As You Like It (SF Shakespeare Festival), Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (42nd Street Moon) and The Elephant Man (Dr. Frederick Treves) at Hillbarn Theatre. He toured the country with The National Theatre for Children and Italy with Shakespeare at Stinson, and has appeared on television, film and in countless commercials. He is a member of TheatreFirst, Just Theater and PlayGround and proud husband of Emily and father to Lucille. www.michaelbarrettaustin.com

APRIL BALLESTEROS (Welcome to Monte’s, “Poppy”), she/her, is an actor, director, theater educator, stage manager, props designer as well as being Associate Artistic Director at Theatre Cultura and Artistic Learning Programs Manager at the California Shakespeare Theater. She has worked with SF Playhouse, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, Theatre Cultura and is a member of the Latinx Mafia Theater Collective. In 2021, she directed Latinx Mafia’s staged reading of Memoria Del Silencio and starred in their Innovators Showcase premiere production of Velorio. With every project she does, she hopes to empower and uplift BIPOC voices. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from California State University, East Bay and is a proud Chicana from East LA.

DAVID CRAMER (This Old Man, “Marty”), he/him, has been happily performing with PlayGround for the past thirteen years (lucky 13!) getting to play everything from an explorer jesuit priest stoned on peyote, a 90 something WWII veteran finally marrying the man he loves, to a cannibalistic child killer writing letters at Christmastime to the mother of one of his victims…you know, the holiday show!… He salutes Playground (Jim and Annie particularly) for all the opportunities they give writers, directors and actors to stretch and grow in their craft. Thank you!

DODDS DELZELL (Lord Goose, “Tweedle Dee”), he/him, is beyond happy to be live on stage again after the last couple of years! PlayGround continues to be one of the happiest places on earth!!

LETICIA DUARTE (Pretty Maids All in a Row, “Lila”), they/them, is a Bay Area actor, playwright, activist and teaching artist whose recent projects include: SPARC Science Plays Festival, with Livermore Shakespeare, Cry of Curs with Tabard Theatre, The Review with Theatre Rhinoceros , Particle of Dread with Anton’s Well, Helen! With Theatre of Yugen, Into the Beautiful North & The King of Cuba with Central Works. They have worked with Willows Theatre Co, Berkeley Rep., Crowded Fire, Playwrights Foundation, SF Playground, Bay Area Children’s Theatre and various others. Duarte is a graduate of UCLA, UCSC, and has trained with A.C.T., Shakespeare & Co., & SITI Co. Duarte is a member of Latinx Mafia, In Full Color and Lez Writes. Find a full range of work by Duarte at www.sfcasting.com/leticiaduarte

GISELA FEIED (A Cow Named Bo, “Bo”), she/her, graduated from PCPA in 2019 where she had the pleasure to be in the ensemble for The Crucible, play Tootles in Peter Pan, and Hermia in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Currently, she is working as a Teaching Artist bringing mental health awareness and tools for mental wellness virtually to high schools across Northern California. Her first experience with Monday Night PlayGround was over zoom in La Planchada. She is very excited to bookend her experience in this season with another wonderful piece by Eteya Trinidad.

BRIAN HERNDON (A Cow Named Bo, “Tribbles”), he/him, did his first Monday Night PlayGround in 2000 and has been enjoying it ever since! He’s played various primates, a bear, a centuries-old Tibetan woman, dads, kings, teachers and astronauts, but until now, no cats! He just finished the run of PASS OVER at Marin Theatre Company.

MONICA HO (Gently Down, “Girl”), she/her, currently lives in Oakland, CA. She is a recent graduate of the American Conservatory Theatre MFA program, class of 2020. Regional credits include Top Girls (American Conservatory Theater); The Good Person of Szechuan (California Shakespeare Theater); Noises Off (SF Playhouse); The Taming (Marin Shakespeare Company); Crane (Ferocious Lotus Theater Company); Shiner (FaultLine Theater). Monica is the winner of the 2016 San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle Award for Best Actress for her work in In Love and Warcraft (Custom Made Theater). In 2020, she produced, directed, and performed a one-woman play about legendary silver-screen actress Anna May Wong [China Doll, by Elizabeth Wong].

BRIAN LEVI (This Old Man, “Waiter”; Pretty Maids All in a Row, “The John”), he/him, has been seen at theatres all over the Bay Area for many years, most recently in Below Sycamore at the Shelton in SF and Embers with Anton’s Well in Berkeley. Next up will be The Square Root of a Sonnet at City Lights in SJ with Bay Area Drama Company. In a former life, Brian was a software engineer, but now he is pursuing stage and film full time.

CHARISSE LORIAUX (Lord Goose, “Mary”), she/her, was last seen in You Mean To Do Me Harm (San Francisco Playhouse) and Eureka Day (Aurora Theatre Company). Other credits include the Magic Theatre, Crowded Fire Theater, Shotgun Players, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Tabia African-American Theatre Ensemble, Berkeley Playhouse, and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Charisse modeled for the world renowned figurative artist, Richard MacDonald on the Grand Coda, which was recently unveiled in Shenzhen, China. Charisse is a graduate of SJSU and is a company member at Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre.

AUTUMN MIRASSOU (Pretty Maids All in a Row, “Dora”), she/her, is most known for her work on NBC’s Law and Order: Organized Crime as Maureen Stabler. Her work has also been seen off and off off Broadway at the American Theater of Actors (Me Four, Bare Truth) and The Culture Project (Rhinoceros). Other credits: American Hero, Whistle in Mississippi: the Lynching of Emmett Till, Glass Cannon, Misread, The Power Source, and Everyone Else Has. She is grateful to be back in the Bay, getting to play!

SOREN OLIVER (Welcome to Monte’s, “Monte”), he/him, has been a PlayGround company member for a long time and has been working in Bay Area theatre since 1977.

KRYSTLE PIAMONTE (Lord Goose, “Little Bo Peep”), 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

REBECCA PINGREE (The Old Man, “Jewel”), she/her, opens Into the Woods at Berkeley Playhouse this weekend, playing The Baker’s Wife. She’s a regular Director/Performer at Mask Mondays at Standard Deviant, and is currently developing Bud & This is Not Moose & Tweety with Analog Theatre (which she co-founded with Elissa Beth Stebbins) which will be featured as part on Playground’s Innovator Incubator Showcase in the coming weeks. Rebecca holds an MFA in Collaborative Theatremaking from Rose Bruford, and is a proud member of PlayGround, TBA, TheatreFirst’s T1 Collective, and BAARJ (Bay Area Artists for Racial Justice). ( ), she/her/hers, opens Into the Woods at Berkeley Playhouse this weekend, playing The Baker’s Wife. She’s a regular Director/Performer at Mask Mondays at Standard Deviant, and is currently developing Bud & This is Not Moose & Tweety with Analog Theatre (which she co-founded with Elissa Beth Stebbins) which will be featured as part on Playground’s Innovator Incubator Showcase in the coming weeks. Rebecca holds an MFA in Collaborative Theatremaking from Rose Bruford, and is a proud member of Playground, TBA, TheatreFirst’s T1 Collective, and BAARJ (Bay Area Artists for Racial Justice).

PATRICK RUSSELL (Gently Down, “Man”), he/him, has performed in theaters across the Bay Area including A.C.T., TheaterWorks, Cal Shakes, SF Playhouse, Magic Theater, Shotgun Players, Marin Shakespeare, and Aurora. Notable credits include Noises Off, As You Like It, Frost/Nixon, and Fool for Love. As a director, Patrick most recently directed The Arsonists at UC Berkeley. Patrick is a lecturer of Acting and Movement at UC Berkeley and SF State, and the Movement Instructor for ACT’s San Francisco Semester Program. He is also the co-founder of The Actors Space, an actor training program and acting company in SF.

MIYOKO SAKATANI (Pretty Maids All in a Row, “Mary”), she/her, is a Bay Area actor~singer. Her favorite past shows include, Uncle Vanya, Distracted, Vanya, Sonia, Masha and Spike and You Can’t Take it With You. She performed in the Free Speech Movement and a lead understudy for The Great Wave for Berkeley Rep. Films include the award winning East Side Sushi and A Hundred Blocks (A full list of film credits on IMDb/Miyoko Sakatani). Miyoko performed her own solo piece at the Marsh Theater about her family’s immigration and internment. She is the founding director of Playland Productions.

MARYSSA WANLASS (Welcome to Monte’s, “Ginger”), 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, PlayGround, Shotz, and regionally for Advice to the Players.

CHRISTIAN WILBURN (Welcome to Monte’s, “Basil”), he/him, Christian Wilburn is a Bay Area actor, who graduated with BA in Theater and Dance from Santa Clara University. Professionally, he’s performed at Monday Night PlayGround, PlayGround Zoom Fest and PianoFight. He has also done workshop readings as a part of Potrero Stage, Marin Theatre Company, and Berkeley Rep.

DIRECTORS

TESSA CORRIE (Lord Goose), 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, HillbarnTheatre, Pear Theatre, Shotgun Players, TheatreFirst, The Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, More Más Marami Arts, Poltergeist Theatre Project, PianoFight, AmiosWest, and Our Digital Stories.

DOYLE OTT (Welcome to Monte’s), he/him, has performed, directed and taught with companies including Make A Circus, Splash Circus Theatre, Prescott Circus, Playground, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, San Francisco Circus Center, Antenna Theatre, Golden Thread, and the San Francisco Playwright’s Foundation, As Artistic Director at Children’s Fairyland in Oakland he has overseen the creation of two new performance spaces, written and directed over 30 plays, and developed Fairyland’s professional Theatre for the Very Young. A member of Actors Equity and a certified Feldenkrais practitioner. Doyle h lectures in theatre and dance at Sonoma State University, where he is currently directing Eurydice at Sonoma State.

JIM KLEINMANN (Pretty Maids All in a Row; 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-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.

PETER J. KUO (Gently Down), he/him, is a theatre director, producer, writer, and educator focusing on raising the visibility of marginalized communities. Born and raised in Southern California, he currently resides in San Francisco where he is the Director of the Conservatory at American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), where he serves on the Staff EDI Committee. Recently directing Madhuri Shekar’s In Love and Warcraft entirely on Zoom, he is a huge proponent for Live Video Theatre and its ability to be accessible to all. He earned his MFA in Directing at The New School for Drama in New York City. Named as one of TCG’s Rising Leaders of Color in the Round 3 cohort, he is also a co-founder of Artists at Play, an Asian American theatre collective that produces Los Angeles premieres of works for Asian Americans.

LANA RICHARDS (This Old Man), she/her, is a director focused on new work development, site specific work, and adaptation. She likes big plays about small things, the tender awkwardness of growing up, and stories that connect people to place. She has been in residence at The Dragon’s Egg, Access Theater, and The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center and is an alumna of Connecticut College where she studied theater and environmental studies. Training: SITI Company, The Michael Chekhov Association, Bread and Puppet, Complicite, and the National Theater Institute for Advanced Directing. Recent credits: My Girl (co-developer) at Dixon Place, Arabella at Planet Connections Theater Festivity, Ithaca at The Electric Lodge, and Eurydice (Sarah Ruhl) at Connecticut College.

KATJA RIVERA (A Cow Named Bo), she/her, studied theater at LACC Theatre Academy and Drama Studio London at Berkeley. Bay Area acting credits include: Shotgun Players, Magic Theatre, Theatre Rhinoceros, Center Rep. Directing credits include Shotgun Players, Douglas Morrison, CustomMade Theatre, RPE (Danville), PlayGround and TheatreFIRST. She is a proud member of AEA, Shotgun Players, PlayGround and Latinx Mafia.

PRODUCTION & STAFF

ANNIE STUART (Associate Artistic Director), she/her, 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.

JAMES GOODE (Sound Designer), he/him, has worked with a number of Bay Area theater companies, including 6NewPlays, African-American Shakespeare Co., Altarena Playhouse, Anton’s Well, Center REP, Custom Made, Hillbarn Theatre, New Conservatory Theatre Center, Oakland Theater Project, Palo Alto Players, PlayGround, Playwrights Foundation, Stage 1, Theater of Others, and Theatre Rhinoceros. Goode is also a composer, musician and songwriter, and has collaborated with actors, animators, choreographers, curators, visual artists, writers, and others on a wide variety of projects, including films, gallery and museum installations, live performances, music videos, podcasts, and radio dramas. https://jamesgoodesound.com

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 Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Jersey Lily. She is thrilled to be a part of Monday Night PlayGround.

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 is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the many individuals, foundations, gifts of $125 or more committed between March 1, 2021 & March 21, 2022.

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 • First Republic Bank • 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+)

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

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500–$4,999)

John H. Gilman, Regina S. Guggenheim, Linda Kremer, Anonymous

PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)

Dr. Elaine Baskin & Kenneth R. Krechmer, Mr. William Bivins, Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, Sidney Glass & Eleanor Clement Glass, Thalia Dorwick, Keith Goldstein & Donna N. Warrington, Tish and Steve Harwood, Mrs. Frannie Pope Hohman, Lara Gilman & Jim Kleinmann, Karen Mauney-Brodek, Nitin, Diane Sampson, Sharon Simpson, Marian Scheuer Sofaer & Abraham D. Sofaer, David Cost and Kate Stechschulte, Anonymous (5)

PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)

Mr. Thomas Patrick Broyhill, Karen Chakmakian, Paulette Donsavage & Deeje Cooley, Mr. Richard Dixon, Michael Fried, Barbara Goodyear & Stephen Rosenfield, Ruben and Keli Grijalva, Ms. Kathryn A Hecht, Jofish Kaye & Erin Marie Panttaja, Diane Leonard, Gwen Loeb & Doyle Ott, Ray Riegert, Michele and John Ruskin, Nancy Spencer & Hardy Callcott, Oren & Justin Stevens, Mr. Malachy Walsh, Susannah Wise & Scott Lebus, Maury Zeff

PATRON ($250-$499)

Sharon Baldwin, Wendy Bear, Cass Brayton, Ruth & Robert Brayton, In memory of Susan Bruett, Karen Catlin, Lily L Chow, Laurie Cohen, David Cramer, Ms. Doris Davenport, Mr. Richard Davis – Lowell, Maggie Dewan-Smith, Ms. Lynda Divito, Mr. Mark Andrews, Krystyna Finlayson , Ms. Jessica Forbess, Sarah Gasser, Justin and Oren Stevens, Keith Goldstein, Eileen Grady, Joan & Donald Green, Vicki Hamilton, Daryl Anthony Harper, Becky Harris, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Margaret and Cory Johnson – UCSF Essential Worker’s Program, Roxy Jones, Ray and Carla Kaliski, Jonathan Luskin and Leslie Katz, Michael Lutz, Brittany S Mellerson, Three Kurtics and a Morse, Bud & Donna Ogle, Chris Potter & Lisa Mammel, Annie Stuart & June Palladino, Lisa R. Taylor, Liam Vincent, Ms. Rosalinde Westil, Christian Wilburn, Janine Wilburn, Joanne Chow Winship, Anonymous (3)

ASSOCIATE MEMBER ($125-$249)

Mary E. Baird, Julie  Birdsong, Gwendolyn Marie Boozé, Nancy Rivera Brooks, Jessica Forbess, Gina Harris, Joanne Kobori, Gregg Le Blanc, Ms. Lisa A. Mammel, Cecily T. Martin, Trynne Miller & David Prince, Doug Peckler & Evelyn Jean Pine, Ms. Madeline Daly Puccioni, Kathy J Reynolds, Kary Schulman, Rebecca Schweitzer, Jeunée Simon, Kurt Taylor & BJ Olsen, Lisa Gaye Thompson, Jeffrey Trescott, Mr. Darryl Wilburn, Janine & Darryl Wilburn, Kelli Wong, Anonymous (3)

Become a PlayGround contributor!

DONATE

PLAYGROUND COMPANY

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
Lana Richard, Associate Director of Development
Jacque Bugler, Production Manager
Brittany Mellerson, Resident Designer
Sarah Gasser, Resident Stage Manager & Assistant to the Artistic Director
Daniel Benitez, 2021-22 Producing Fellow
Emlyn Doolittle, 2022 Producing Fellow
Bacilio Mendez II, 2022 Producing Fellow
Caroline Portante, 2021-22 Producing 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

www.PlayGround-sf.org
3286 Adeline St #8
Berkeley, CA 94703-2485
info@playground-sf.org
(415) 992-6677