PlayGround presents Season 31

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

“Dreams & Nightmares”
November 18th, 2024 7pm PT
Potrero Stage & 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, Ms. Linda B Breaux-Smith, Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, John Brown, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Ben Cain, Joan Cleveland, Ms. Sheila Collins, Ms. Marilyn Berg Cooper, Logan Varas De Valdes, Krystyna Finlayson, Krystyna Finlayson, Ms. Elizabeth Groenewegen, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Brandy Jones, Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Le Blanc, Alice Lehmann, Ms. Kristy Lin Billuni, Linda G Marks, Dr. Sheila McCormick, Dan Morley, Ms. Annette Oliveira, Mr. George Rose, Jessica June Rowe, Michelle Ruscetta, John J. Ruskin, Miyoko Sakatani, Mark Sherstinsky, Nancy W. Smith, Stan Stone, Cathy M Stonie, Vicki Victoria, Dr. Eidell Wasserman, and Ms. Cindy Womack. Thank you!

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

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!

Dream Wedding
By Kristy Lin Billuni
Directed by Molly Noble
Jean……………..Rebecca Pingree
Lyla……………..Kali Honeywood
Pauli……………..Emily Keyishian

but what, tell me
By Garret Jon Groenveld
Directed by GG Grilli
One……………..Patrick Russell
Him……………..Leon Goertzen

Knock Knock
By Daniel Martinez Jr.
Directed by Elio Amador
Jenny……………..Natalia Delgado
Camila……………..L. Duarte
Alan……………..Chris Reber

Small Cat Negotiable
By Nino Greene
Directed by Jim Kleinmann
Kathleen……………..Isabel Anne To
Jeremy……………..Khary Moye
Rental Agent/Chorus……………..Kelly Rinehart

Let’s Try This Again
By Jennifer Le Blanc
Directed by Aldo Billingslea
Rob……………..Patrick Russell
Denise……………..Zoe Chien
Martha……………..Maryssa Wanlass

Moeʻuhane
By Laura Domingo
Directed by Kimberly Ridgeway
Actor 1……………..Karen Offereins
Actor 2……………..Eiko Moon-Yamamoto
Actor 3……………..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

LAURA DOMINGO (Moeʻuhane), 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.

NINO GREENE (Small Cat Negotiable), he/him, recently completed both a mid-life crisis and an MFA in Creative Writing at San Francisco State University. His first full-length play, YOU DON’T HAVE TO CRY, was a semi-finalist at the Ashland New Play Festival 2024, a quarter-finalist at the Screencraft Stage Play Competition 2023, and received staged readings at the Greenhouse Festival in San Francisco and the Shawnee Playhouse in Delaware. He received the Marcus Scholarship for Creative Writing for MEN TALKING IN ROOMS, the culminating project for his degree at SF State. He is a newly minted member of the SF PlayGround Writers Pool.

GARRET JON GROENVELD (but what, tell me), he/him, is a poet and playwright in San Francisco (MFA in Poetry/MA in Playwriting from SFSU), and who also studied with Edward Albee at the University of Houston. A founding writer of PlayGround, his plays include DISBELIEF, SACRIFICE, MISSIVES, THE SERVING CLASS, THE HUMMINGBIRDS and THE EMPTY NESTERS.

JENNIFER LE BLANC (Let’s Try This Again), 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 SPARC. www.jenniferleblanc.com New Play Exchange: https://newplayexchange.org/users/18502/jennifer-le-blanc

KRISTY LIN BILLUNI (Moeʻuhane), she/her, writes plays about queer triumph and proud outcasts. With roots in sex work, queer activism, and sex ed, she has earned her living for twenty years as The Sexy Grammarian, teacher of bold, free, turned-on writers. A proud member of the San Francisco PlayGround Writer’s Pool, and a Brady Fellow, Kristy’s prized stage credits include productions at an HIV clinic in the Castro and a leather bar in Chelsea. She and her wife had a dream wedding nearly twenty-five years ago.

DANIEL MARTINEZ JR (Knock Knock), he/him, is an award winning playwright based in San Jose, CA. This is his third season in the Writers Pool and the water is still ~warm~. Daniel’s short plays have had several staged readings through PlayGround SF. Daniel’s newest one-act play, Vodka Cran, was recently featured in Mountain Community Theater’s New Works Festival. Daniel’s newest one man play, “What’s in a Name?”, will be premiering at PlayGround’s Solo Performance Festival in January 2025. Daniel loves writing and sharing stories with all of you- THANK YOU for watching! During the day, Daniel manages a film school for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

ACTORS

ZOE CHIEN (Let’s Try This Again, “Denise”; Associate Producer), 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 Casting and Producing Director of 3Girls Theatre Company, and is a PlayGround Associate Producer this season. 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.

NATALIA DELGADO (Knock Knock, “Jenny”) was born and raised in the heart of Los Angeles. She has always been a storyteller, no matter where she is and who she’s with, storytelling is her way of connecting with others. 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. Her experience ranges from stage management, to house management, to acting on stage, and assisting backstage. She studied at UCSC where she focused on Theatre and Education, this time was reserved for experimenting 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). She is thrilled to be part of Monday Night PlayGround!

L. DUARTE (Knock Knock, “Camila”) (they/them) is an actor, director & playwright whose recent projects include: Citizen with Word for Word/Z Space, August: Osage County with San Jose Stage Company, Julius Caesar with PacRep, The Review with Theatre Rhinoceros , Helen! With Theatre of Yugen, Into the Beautiful North & The King of Cuba with CentralWorks. Duarte is a graduate of UCLA, UCSC, and has trained with A.C.T, Shakespeare & Co. and BraveMaker Academy. The are a proud TBA and Play Ground Company member. Find a full range of work by Duarte at Casting Networks.

LEON GOERTZEN (but what, tell me, “Him”) has worked at theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles, including East West Players, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Will and Company, Magic Theatre, Asian American Theater Company, San Francisco Mime Troupe, Road Theatre Company, Cutting Ball Theater, PlayGround, Aurora Theater Company, Bay Area Playwright’s Festival, California Conservatory Theatre and New Conservatory Theater.

KALI HONEYWOOD (Dream Wedding, “Lyla”) is thrilled to be a part of SF PlayGround’s Dream Wedding. She is a proud Sacramento native who recently graduated from Sacramento State University, where she starred as Cinderella in the CSUS Theatre Department’s production of Into the Woods. She recently made her professional theater debut in FAIRVIEW at Capital Stage. Kali is grateful to her girlfriend and family for their love and support.

EMILY KEYISHIAN (Dream Wedding, “Pauli”) has performed in theater and film on both US coasts. In the Bay Area, she has appeared with Crescent Moon Theater, Shotgun Players, Marin Theatre Company, Golden Thread, Dragon Theater, Perspective Theatre, Custom Made Theatre, Role Players Ensemble, Town Hall Theatre, and the Eugene O’Neill Foundation, recently performing in New Ross, Ireland. Emily also works as a film actor and recently won the Best Actor award at the Locals Only Film Festival. She co-stars in the film Werewolf Serenade streaming now on Amazon! She is also visual artist and painter. Thanks always to Ed, Harry & Shane. emilykeyishian.com

EIKO MOON-YAMAMOTO (Moeʻuhane, “Actor 2”) is a multi-hyphenate performing artist, ilchom ose and issei, born in Japan with roots in Korea and Hawaii. Eiko is committed to championing historically excluded voices in the American theatre canon and has developed new works with Playwrights Foundation, The Magic Theatre, PlayOn Shakespeare, Z Space, The Ground Floor at BerkeleyRep, San Francisco Playhouse, FaultLine Theater, and Company One. Upcoming: A NOH CHRISTMAS CAROL, Theatre of Yugen, THE TRUER HISTORY OF THE CHAN FAMILY by Eugenie Chan, a vaudeville musical film, 2025. Graduate of UCLA and California College of Arts. Member of SAG-AFTRA. www.eikoyamamoto.com | @eikoyh

KHARY MOYE (Small Cat Negotiable, “Jeremy”) is happy to be back at PlayGround! His previous credits Include Two Trains Running with Marin Theatre, Toni Stone with A.C.T, Six Degrees of Separation with Custom Made Theatre and A Streetcar Named Desire with African American Shakespeare Company. He is always honored to enter the PlayGround with such an amazing cast of actors! He is thankful to his family/friends and girlfriend for always being so supportive of his dreams. A special shout out goes to his father Adrian Clements who always said, “In order to catch A dream, you have To Chase one.” Thank you Dad. Love you.

KAREN OFFEREINS (Moeʻuhane, “Actor 1”), she/her, is a company member of PlayGround and was last seen on stage in Quicksand Club Sketch Comedy. Recent credits include EVOLUTION (Ferocious Lotus, where she is also a company member), How to Transcend a Happy Marriage (Custom Made Theatre Company), Elevada (Shotgun Players), and Two Mile Hollow (Ferocious Lotus). Past credits include Phèdre (Cutting Ball Theater), The Potrero Nuevo Project (PlayGround), The Rules (SF Playhouse), The Mousetrap, Top Girls, and Our Town (Shotgun Players), The Pain and the Itch (Custom Made Theatre Company), and Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Big Funk, and No Exit (AtmosTheatre).

REBECCA PINGREE (Dream Wedding, “Jean”) 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).

CHRIS REBER (Knock Knock, “Alan”) has been acting since before cell phones. He remember cursive. Chris has performed in many places around the country and has been in the Bay Area for the last ten years. He’s worked at TheatreWorks SV, SF Playhouse, Hillbarn and Jewel Theatre Company. He is thrilled to be a part of PlayGround this Monday night.

KELLY RINEHART (Small Cat Negotiable, “Rental Agent/Chorus”) is thrilled to be back at PlayGround for her first Monday Night event. She was last seen in Love Letters at the Pear Theatre and in Pipeline with the African-American Shakespeare Company. She has also worked with Altarena, Contra Costa Civic Theatre, Custom Made, Dragon, Hillbarn, Palo Alto Players, Ragged Wing, SF Olympians Festival, and Those Women Productions, among others. Her day jobs include being a speech-language pathologist specializing in AAC (augmentative alternative communication) and a teaching artist doing improv with youth in long-term hospital stays.

PATRICK RUSSELL (Let’s Try This Again, “Rob”; but what, tell me, “One”) 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.

ISABEL ANNE TO (Small Cat Negotiable, “Kathleen”; Moeʻuhane, “Actor 3”), 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 (Let’s Try This Again, “Martha“) 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).

DIRECTORS

ELIO AMADOR (Knock Knock), he/they, is a cohort artist with AlterTheater. They are excited to be directing for PlayGround for the first time. He has also been seen working around the Bay Area as a teaching artist, actor, and playwright since moving here in 2021. They are grateful for everyone who believes in and supports them.

ALDO BILLINGSLEA (Let’s Try This Again), he/they, has been a long time PlayGround Company Member who has been an actor, director, and board member with PlayGround. He is the founder of the Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project and is the Father William J. Rewak S.J. Professor of Theatre Arts at Santa Clara University.

GG GRILLI (but what, tell me), he/him, is an actor, director, writer, producer, filmmaker, and teacher. He’s worked at theaters in the Bay Area, New York City, and around the country for over three decades. Recent projects include directing FUDDY MEERS and THE DROWSY CHAPERONE at the Lesher Center with his students from Bentley School. He was the Founding Artistic Director of BrickaBrack, a multidisciplinary ensemble company, from 2012 – 2020. PlayGround member since 2007! GG is currently devising ON THE FLIP SIDE with students for the 2024 Edinburgh Fringe. www.gggrilli.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.

MOLLY NOBLE (Dream Wedding), she/her, is an actor, director and teacher. She is a proud member of PlayGround. You can learn more about her work at www.mollynoble.com

KIMBERLY RIDGEWAY (Moeʻuhane), she/her, is an award winning playwright, director, and actor. Her impressive portfolio includes writing, producing, and directing the full-length stage plays Prospect Place, No More Secrets, The Confession and The Gigolo Chronicles. Kimberly is a Brady Fellow Recipient (3Girls Theatre) for her play Soulmates, the Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Art Leadership Residency Grantee (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.

PRODUCTION

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

NORMAN GEE (Associate Producer), he/him, is Artistic Director of Oakland Public Theater (OPT) and is an Associate Producer with PlayGround-SF. Norman works with Bay Area companies including A.C.T., SF-Shakes, Word for Word, Lorraine Hansberry, TheatreWorks, Shotgun Players, CentralWorks, Oakland Theater Project, the San Jose Stage Company, and the SF Mime Troupe. Most recently Gee produced, directed & acted in OPT’s INVENTORY/James Baldwin Abroad, celebrating that writer’s centennial. Norman also just finished the film IN THE MIDST OF THEM, playing Pastor Blue.

KATJA RIVERA (Associate Producer), she/her, is a theater artist/massage therapist/Abuela, who originally hails from Los Angeles. She’s a Shotgun Players Company member and an associate producer for PlayGround-SF. Recent shows: Yerma (Shotgun), La Vida Lobo (Theater Cultura), and References To Salvador Dali Make Me Hot, (Custom Made Theatre). Special thanks to Angela Wall for the French pronunciations.

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

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www.playground-sf.org

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