PlayGround presents Season 33

prePLAY

“The Trial Run”
October 18, 2026 2pm PT
PlayGround Playspace & Simulcast

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

“AMERICA 250: The Dreamers, The Builders, & The Leaders”
October 19, 2026 7pm PT
Ashby 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, Julie Berthold, Tim Bishop, Linda B Breaux-Smith, Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, John Brown, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Ben Cain, Sidney Glass & Eleanor Clement Glass, Joan Cleveland, Sheila Collins, Marilyn Berg Cooper, Logan Varas De Valdes, Betsy Dudak, Cathy Earnest, Ann Ehrmann, Krystyna Finlayson, Michael Tonjum & Jan Gilman, Hollis Greenwood, Elizabeth Groenewegen, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Brandy T Jones, Roxy Jones, Jacqueline Whittier Kubicka, Emily Kuroda, Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Le Blanc, Alice Lehmann, Karen & Matt Levesque, Kristy Lin Billuni, Melinda Lopez, Linda G Marks, Dolores Martinez, Dr. Sheila McCormick, Yvonne McIntyre, Cynthia L Morishige, Dan Morley, Molly Noble & Bob Guilbault, Annette Oliveira, Emily Brauer Rogers, George Rose, Jessica June Rowe, Michelle Ruscetta, John J. Ruskin, Miyoko Sakatani, Jennifer Schultz & Eric Rosenzweig, Mark Sherstinsky, Nancy W. Smith, Stan Stone, Cathy M Stonie, Mary Lou Torre, Kim Tram, Vicki Victoria, Dr. Eidell Wasserman, Bex White, Janine Wilburn, and Cindy Womack. Thank you! 

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

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!

prePLAY – Oct 18

The Trial Run
by Daniel Martinez Jr.
Dax…………..Justin Lopez
Sebastian………….James Aaron Oh
Cassie…………….Krystle Piamonte
Kyle……………..Doonie Love
Desma & Stage Directions……………April Ballesteros

Monday Night PlayGround-SF – Oct 19

There’s a Believer Born Every Minute
by Maury Zeff
Directed by Ben Chau-Chiu
Assistant Directed by Ruby June Campbell
Father.……………….Michael Barrett Austin

Land of Opportunity
by KT Frances Hartline
Directed by Jessa Brie Moreno
Phyllis Schlafly………………..Mary Baird

The Infiltrator
by Kimberly Ridgeway
Directed by Norman Gee
Mary Bowser…………….Jacinta Kaumbulu

Kabocha Pie: The American Spirit
by Sophie Ruf
Directed by Tessa Corrie
Takeko (Ta-Chan)……………….Miyoko Sakatani

Eleanor
by Deborah Yarchun
Directed by Jim Kleinmann
Eleanor………………..Maryssa Wanlass

Lady Liberty is Deadass
by Daniel Martinez Jr.
Directed by Elio Amador
Lady Liberty………………Krystle Piamonte

Stage Manager – Raphael Louis Buenaventura

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

KT FRANCES HARTLINE (Land of Opportunity), she/her, is a Berkeley-based playwright and screenwriter. After working as a New York City public school teacher, she was editor for two New York-based magazines and wrote for Oakland and Parents Press. Her plays have appeared in festivals around the country, including It’s Alarming, a Heideman Award finalist which premiered in Playground’s Monday Night Series. Her screenwriting accolades include AFF Second Rounder and Finalist in the International PAGE Awards. She is now a Top Tier member of Roadmap Writers’ Career Writer Program. Her greatest joy is squeezing into a hardcore punk show and watching the son she homeschooled absolutely shred on drums.

DANIEL MARTINEZ JR. (Lady Liberty is Deadass), he/him, is an award winning playwright and actor based in San Jose, CA. This is his third season in the Writers Pool and he feels so lucky to get to write stories with some amazing people. Daniel recently debuted his one-act play, Vodka Cran. Daniel has also been featured in Best of Playground. Daniel debuted his latest one-man play, What’s in a Name?, in Playground’s Solo Festival this past January. Daniel was also recently named a semi-finalist in Nosotros’ Ya Tu Sabes Monologue Slam, for his comedic monologue “Honey Walnut Shrimp.” He’s excited you’re here!

KIMBERLY RIDGEWAY (The Infiltrator), she/her, is an award-winning playwright, director and actor. Kimberly’s most recent commissioned play Snowbound: A Holiday Tale, which she co-wrote with Playground Writer’s Pool member Richard Perez, has its World Premiere in December 2025. Kimberly is the Artistic Associate at Altarena Playhouse, a Brady Fellow Recipient for her play Soulmates (3Girls Theatre), the 2024 recipient of the Theatre Bay Area Arts Leadership Residency, and the 2024 winner of the June Anne Baker Prize.

SOPHIE RUF (Kabocha Pie: The American Spirit), she/her, is an Oakland-based theater fanatic. This is her 2nd year in SF Playground’s Writers Pool, and her 1st year in the Playwright Residency program. Her new play Girlies will be performed on 11/29 as part of Playground’s PrePlay series. By day she is an architect and origami enthusiast. Her favorite playwrights are Paula Vogel and Wendy Wasserstein.

DEBORAH YARCHUN (Eleanor), she/her, has been produced or developed at Ensemble Studio Theatre, Alleyway Theatre, The Civilians’ R&D Group, The New Harmony Project, Northern Stage, The William Inge Center, and theaters across the U.S. and Canada. Deborah is a resident playwright at New Dramatists and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. Her honors include two Jerome Fellowships at The Playwrights’ Center, a Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellowship, an EST/Sloan Commission, Dartmouth’s Neukom Literary Arts Award for Playwriting, the Kernodle Award, and the Kennedy Center’s Jean Kennedy Smith Playwriting Award. She earned her M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. More about her work at DeborahYarchun.com.

MAURY ZEFF (There’s a Believer Born Every Minute), he/him, has been produced across the US and Europe, and published in American Fiction, Crab Orchard Review, and elsewhere. He won the Clark-Gross Novel Award and was shortlisted for the Pushcart Fiction Prize, Ink Slinger Playwriting Award, Acacia Fiction Prize, and Tobias Wolff Fiction Prize. Maury earned an MFA from the University of San Francisco, is a nationally ranked Scrabble player, and won third place in the O. Henry World Championship Pun-off in Austin. His full-length play Dada Teen Musical: The Play was produced at the Berkeley City Club in 2025.

ACTORS

MARY BAIRD (Land of Opportunity; “Phyllis Schlafly”), she/her, recently read A Wayward Tale at the SF 2026 PlayGround Gala. An ARC member seen in Outside The Box readings of: Greater Clements, The Welkin, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot, The Children, Recipe, Shakespeare and the Zombie Plague of 1598 and The Ferryman. Film – Still Life, U-Tube – Who is Sarah Kidder and An Evening With Ellen Clark Sargent. Worked off and on Broadway, Nationally, Regionally, B St., ACT, Berkeley Rep, Shotgun, Marin Shakespeare, SF Shakespeare, Capital Stage, Center Rep, La Jolla, McCarter and Long Wharf.

APRIL BALLESTEROS (The Trial Run; “Desma & Stage Directions”), she/her, is an actor, director, educator, and stage manager. She is currently a teaching artist at the Berkeley Repertory Theater and worked in the Artistic Learning Department at the California Shakespeare Theater for nearly a decade. She has worked with the San Francisco Playhouse, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Shotgun Players, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, and San Francisco Bay Area Theater Company, to name a few. She earned a BA in Theatre Arts from California State University, East Bay, and hails from East Los Angeles.

MICHAEL BARRETT AUSTIN (There’s a Believer Born Every Minute; “Orson Welles”), he/him, is a longtime PlayGround member and a veteran of countless MNPs and many PlayGround Festivals. Recent performances include Once at Berkeley Playhouse, The Bridge workshop at TheatreWorks’ New Works Festival, Fallen Angels at The Aurora (SFBATCC nomination for featured performance), A Christmas Carol at Center Rep and Chinglish at SF Playhouse (SFBATCC nomination for principal performance). Michael toured America with The National Theatre for Children and Italy with Shakespeare at Stinson, and has appeared on television, film and in many commercials. He is a longtime member of PlayGround and a contributing player with ARC, an alumnus of Just Theater and TheatreFirst, and the proud husband of Emily and father to Lucy. www.michaelbarrettaustin.com

JACINTA KAUMBULU (The Infiltrator; “Mary Bowser”), she/her, is a Bay Area actress, voice artist, and vinyl DJ. She is delighted to return to PlayGround SF to play with her community. Theater credits include The House of Bernarda Alba (Oakland Theater Project), The Gull (Shotgun Players) Les Blancs (Oakland Theater Project), The Courtroom (Oakland Theater Project) Fat Ham [understudy] (San Francisco Playhouse), The Black Feminist Guide to the Human Body (Lorraine Hansberry Theater).

JUSTIN LOPEZ (The Trial Run; “Dax”), he/him, is a San Francisco-based artist who is forever surprised and proud to make a career out of pretending. Favorite roles include Mr. Karp (A Chorus Line), General Lamarque (Les Mis), Evita the dead Akita (Rent), and the titular character in Waiting for Godot.

DOONIE LOVE (The Trial Run; “Kyle”), he/him, is a travel-ready multi-hyphenate artist from and based in the SF Bay Area. His work focuses on the intersections of performance, fashion, identity, culture, language, and technology. He earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Performing Arts & Social Justice with a concentration in theatre from the University of San Francisco. Doonie wears many hats: Actor, Writer, Producer, Production Assistant, Dancer, Songwriter, Recording Artist, Broadcaster, Host, and more. Utilizing creative media, he passionately practices storytelling. Love is currently available for interviews for new representation.

JAMES AARON OH (The Trial Run; “Sebastian”),

KRYSTLE PIAMONTE (The Trial Run; “Cassie”; Lady Liberty is Deadass; “Lady Liberty”),

MIYOKO SAKATANI (Kabocha Pie: The American Spirit; “Takeko (Ta-Chan)”), she/her, is a Sag-Aftra-e actor and a proud member of SF PlayGround. Miyoko has performed on SF Bay Area regional and community theatre stages for many years, including writing and performing her own one woman shows. Film credits include the award winning Samuel Goldwyn film “East Side Sushi” (https://www.imdb.com/name/nm5706042/) She is founding director of Playland Productions and is currently working on her memoir of essays titled “I Wasn’t Always Asian.” Deepest love and gratitude to Richard, Shanti and dearest friends.

MARYSSA WANLASS (Eleanor; “Eleanor”), she/they, is a PlayGround company member and local actor, director, and educator. Acting credits include SF Shakes (Much Ado, Pericles, As You Like It, Hamlet, and Winter’s Tale), CalShakes (As You Like It), San Jose Stage (Persuasion), SPARC (As You Like It, Hamlet, Merry Wives of Windsor), Center REPertory Company (Sweat, Enchanted April, Witness for the Prosecution), Woman’s Will (Much Ado, Good Person of Szechuan). She has directed professionally for SF Shakes, Utopia Theatre Project, PlayGroundSF, Shotz, and Advice to the Players. They also teach improv to California’s incarcerated population with Red Ladder, and created a storytelling program for unhoused community members with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival.

DIRECTORS

ELIO AMADOR (Lady Liberty is Deadass), he/they, Elio Amador is a queer Chicane theatre artist based in the Bay Area. He’s glad to be back directing for Monday Night Playground for the third time after having previously completed their directing apprenticeship. They’ve also directed at Theatre Rhinoceros and Chanticleers Theatre. He’s performed with CenterRep, Theatre Rhinoceros, Bindlestiff Studio, NCTC YouthAware, and more. They’ve also been assistant stage management for multiple theaters in the Bay. He is grateful for his loved ones and the greater village that’s supported him.

RUBY JUNE CAMPBELL (There’s a Believer Born Every Minute), she/her, is delighted to be working with and learning from PlayGround-SF as a directing apprentice. Considering herself a theatrical jack-of-all-trades, Ruby’s experience spans classical and new work, in creative, production, and artistic administration roles. She graduated from The University of California, Irvine (B.A. Drama), receiving Honors in Drama for the interdisciplinary artist. Her capstone project and directorial debut was the premiere of fellow student Yebon Park’s full-length musical, You’ll Find Yourself In This Coffee Shop. Ruby June is currently playing Florizel in Half Moon Bay Shakespeare’s production of The Winter’s Tale, running through October 25th.

BEN CHAU-CHIU (There’s a Believer Born Every Minute), they/them, is a Bay Area director, actor, and producer. They’ve directed with The Marsh, Plethos Productions, Teatro de las Tías, and PlayGround-SF, where they’re a company member. They’ve assisted directed productions at A.C.T., Cal Shakes, and SF Playhouse. Other companies they’ve worked with include SF Shakes, Shotgun Players, Lamplighters, 42nd Street Moon, Marin Shakes, and Palo Alto Players. More of their work can be seen at benchauchiu.com

TESSA CORRIE (Kabocha Pie: The American Spirit), she/her, is a Queer, Latinx, and Neurodivergent Theater Director homegrown from the Bay Area. Her passion is new play development that amplifies underrepresented narratives. She is the former Casting Director of PlayGround SF and freelance directs through the East and South Bay. Her credits include work at TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Palo Alto Players, The Pear Theatre, Cutting Ball Theatre, The Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, More Más Marami Arts, and Poltergeist Theatre Project

NORMAN GEE (The Infiltrator), he/him, is the Artistic Director of Oakland Public Theater (OPT), and Associate Producer with PlayGround-SF where he regularly directs. Norman also acts with companies including A.C.T., SF-Shakes, San Jose Stage, Livermore Shakes /SPARC & SF Mime Troupe. Last year Gee produced OPT’s INVENTORY/James Baldwin Abroad, celebrating Baldwin’s centennial, a final project with recently deceased playwright Richard Talavera. There is a memorial honoring Richard at the Mission Cultural Center in SF on Oct.26. November Norman performs in My Obsession with HamletMachine at Dance Mission, and possibly a new work with Word For Word at ZSpace-SF in Spring 2026.

JIM KLEINMANN (Eleanor; 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.

JESSA BRIE MORENO (Land of Opportunity), she/her, directs new and devised work. Credits include Mechanics of Love (Crowded Fire), The Rainmaker (San Jose Stage Company), The Participants (THEATREFIRST), the immersive, devised world premiere of Dave Eggers’s The Circle at SJSU, and her own The Last Night of the Barbary Coast at SOMArts. At OakTechRep she directed 20+ plays and toured student work to Stanford and Edinburgh. She co-authored Do Your Lessons Love Your Students? (Routledge, 2024) and leads Tahoe Expedition Academy as Head of School. The Canon produced by Laney’s Fusion Theater Company marked her first turn at non-devised solo playwriting.

PRODUCTION

RAPHAEL LOUIS BUENAVENTURA (Stage Manager), he/him, is a Bay Area–based stage manager, production manager, and director with extensive experience across new works, festivals, and independent theatre. Known for their calm leadership, rigorous organization, and artist-first approach, Raphael specializes in supporting bold, queer, and ensemble-driven storytelling. Recent credits include work with SF Playground, Theatre Rhinoceros, Bindlestiff Studio, and JT Presents, as well as serving as Executive Director of SF Eagle Players. Raphael thrives in fast-paced rehearsal rooms and brings grounded, joyful professionalism to every process.
For collaborations: rsd.buenaventura@gmail.com

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 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 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 October 1, 2025 & October 11, 2026.

GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, & FOUNDATION DONORS

Adobe • Alameda County Arts Commission • Art Space Development Corporation • Berkeley Civic Arts • Berlanti Family Foundation • Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund • California Office of the Small Business Advocate • Fleishhacker Foundation • Google • Grants For The Arts • Hechale Productions • Illinois Arts Council • KFF • Kenneth Rainin Foundation • Koret Foundation • LA County Arts Commission • Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation • The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund • National Endowment for the Arts • Negley Flinn Charitable Foundation • New York State Council on the Arts • News Corp • NIAC • Nvidia • Ronald Whittier Family Foundation • SF Shines • The Shubert Foundation • SS&C Technologies • State Compensation Insurance Fund

SEASON SPONSORS ($5000+)

Emilie & Gordon Brooks, Daniel Cohn & Lynn Linton,  Keith Goldstein & Donna Warrington, Jim Kleinmann & Lara Gilman, Jackie Kubicka, Craig Moody, Darryl Wilburn, Janine Wilburn

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500-$4999)

John Gilman, Regina S. Guggenheim, Kathryn Hecht, Nitin Nitin & Vasugi Kailasam, Jessica June Rowe, Christian Wilburn, Anonymous

PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)

Linda Ayres-Frederick, Anne Brady, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Sheila Collins, Jediah Craig, Jessica Forbess, Greg Gorel, Gina & Steve Harris, Uma Incrocci, J. Lynn Jackson, Jonathan Josephson, Linda Kremer, Lisa Morse & Bruno Kurtic, Molly Noble & Bob Guilbault, Kendall Phillips, Evelyn Jean Pine, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Arthur Rock & Toni Rembe Rock, Kathryn Ryan, Sanjit Sengupta, William C. Thompson, Hector Zavala, Anonymous

PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)

Randy Adams, Tom Bruett, Joy Carlin, Elizabeth Dudak, Leon Goertzen, Philip Gotanda, Martine Kei Green-Rogers, Raymond W Kaliski, Paul Kleinmann, margery kreitman, Kathy Roberts & Aaron Loeb, Bram McGinnis, Mark Peters, Cindy Redburn, John Ruskin, Matt Schwartz, Kurt Taylor, Matt W Wills

PATRON ($250-$499)

Linda Amayo-Hassan, Linda Ayres-Frederick / Phoenix Arts Association Theatre, Summer Broyhill, Ben Cain, Jediah Craig, Clint Fleener, Hechale Productions, Jonathan Josephson, Alex Loddengaard, Alan Maass, Tobi Marcus, Evelyn Jean Pine & Doug Peckler, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Stephanie Prentice, George Rose, John Ruskin, Kathryn Ryan, Kitt Saginor, Kristina Segesvary, Sanjit Sengupta, Mark Sherstinsky, Jerome Solberg, Jon & Susan Sweedler, Mary Lou Torre, Rebecca White, Susannah Wise, Maury Zeff

ASSOCIATE MEMBER ($125-$249)

Ruth Brayton, Cass Brayton, Tim Bryant, Valerie Butler-Newbern, Vilma Contreras, Marilyn Cooper, Deepanshu Dutta, Sharon Eberhardt, Sara Goetz, Patience Haggin, Howard Ho, Karen Levesque, Jack Needleman, Jack Needleman, Sitara Nieves, Stella Rajakumar, Karen Reaume, John Ruskin, Claudia Sarconi, John Schrom, Mary Lou Torre, Donna Young

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 2026-27

Linda Ayres-Frederick, Robyn Brooks, Madeleine Butler, Jediah Craig, Garret Groenveld, KT Frances Hartline, Carl Andrew Johnson, Ruth Kirschner, Greg Lam, Justin P. Lopez, Daniel Martinez Jr, Marissa Martinez, Gillian O’Leary, James Perry, Jan Probst, Richard Raya, Dom Refuerzo, Cathleen Riddley, Kimberly Ridgeway, George Rose, Sophie Ruf, Greg Sigur, Chris Steele, Stan Stone, Lisa Gaye Thompson, Deborah Yarchun, Maury Zeff

PlayGround Resident Playwrights 2026-27

San Francisco: Monique Hafen Adams, Robyn Brooks, Garret Groenveld, KT Frances Hartline**, Vicky Pham, Evy Pine, Sophie Ruf, Stan Stone, Maury Zeff

Los Angeles: Michael P. Adams, Damian Alejandro Arteaga*, Esther Banegas Gatica**, Rachel Harner, Jonathan Josephson, Mildred Inez Lewis, Richard Perez*, Cara Sanchez, Baylee Shlichtman, Daysha Veronica, Jennie Webb

New York: Ash, Tom Bruett, Saiya Floyd, Dana Leslie Goldstein, Bram Hartman, Howard Ho, Wade Lawrence Hollomon, Nina Ki, Uma Incrocci**, Gaurav Mishra, Lyra Nalan

Chicago: Anne Brady, Betsy Dudak*, Dana Hall, Toby Inoue**, alfonzo solomon kahlil, Alex Kingsley, Bacillio Mendez II, Shail Modi, J.S. Puller, Matt Shultz, Katherine Swan

* Playwrights under commission for the 2026-27 season
** June Anne Baker Award Winner

PlayGround Company

Linda Amayo-Hassan, Liz Anderson, Michael Asberry, Michael Barrett Austin, Mary Baird, April Ballesteros, Tanika Baptiste, Rolanda D. Bell, Aldo Billingslea, Julia Brothers, Lizzie Calogero, Ron Campbell, Nancy Carlin, Joy Carlin*, Ben Chau-Chiu, Zoe Chien, Tessa Corrie, David Cramer, Will Dao, Anne Darragh, Roshni Datta, Natalia Delgado, Dodds Delzell, Carolyn Doyle, Leticia Duarte, Michael French, Claire Ganem, Norman Gee, Douglas B. Giorgis, Linda Giron, Amy Glazer*, Leon Goertzen, Cindy Goldfield, Gabriel Grilli, Rudy Guerrero, Karina Gutierrez, Rosie Hallett, Matthew Hanjoong, Eric Fraisher Hayes, Brian Herndon, J Jha, Christian Jimenez, Jacinta Kaumbulu, Emily Keyishian, Jennifer King, Tessa Koning-Martinez, Randy Lee, Danielle Levin, Jeffrey Lo, Gwen Loeb, Charisse Loriaux, George Maguire*, Melanie Marshall, Alicia Mason, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong, Julia McNeal, Brittany Mellerson, Eiko Moon-Yamamoto, Brady Morales-Woolery, Carolina Morones, Lisa Morse, Khary L. Moye, Sakura Nakahara, Molly Noble, Karen Offereins, James Aaron Oh, Annette Oliveira, Soren Oliver*, Ely Sonny Orquiza, Doyle Ott, June Palladino*, Louis Parnell, Jed Parsario, Krystle Piamonte, Rebecca Pingree, Stephanie Prentice, Virginia Reed*, Lana Richards, Cathleen Riddley, Kimberly Ridgeway, Katja Rivera, Stacy Ross*, Katie Rubin, Patrick Russell, Miyoko Sakatani, Louel Senores, Robert Sicular*, Dave Sikula, Jeunee Simon, M. Graham Smith, Ken Sonkin*, Chris Steele, Jenna Stein-Corman, Howard Swain*, Jomar Tagatac, Emilie Talbot, Danielle Thys, Isabel Anne To, Jon Tracy, Mark Rafael Truitt, Maryssa Wanlass, Tracy Ward, Christian Wilburn, Wayne Wong, Elena Wright, Hector Zavala

* Company Member Emeritus

PlayGround Staff

Jim Kleinmann, Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Lana Richards, Director of Development
Jonathan Josephson, Director of Marketing & Communications
Stephanie Prentice, Education Director
Katja Rivera, MNP Associate Producer
Zoe Chien, MNP Associate Producer & Casting Director
Brittany Mellerson, Resident Designer & Technical Director
Carolyn Doyle, Box Office Manager
Blaire Battle, 2026-27 Producing Fellow
Ben Chau-Chiu, 2026-27 Producing Fellow
Amanda Ng, 2026-27 Producing Fellow
Savaun Stokes, 2026-27 Producing Fellow
Sissi Chen, 2026-27 Directing Apprentice
Karl Hawkins, 2026-27 Directing Apprentice
Anna Item, 2026-27 Directing Apprentice

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

Christian Wilburn, Chair
James A. Kleinmann, President
Julia Brothers, Vice President
Ben Cain, Vice President
Nitin, Treasurer
Alex Kingsley, Secretary
Stephanie Prentice, Immediate Past Chair

Linda Ayres-Frederick
Tanvi Agrawal
Derek S. Chan
Regina Guggenheim, Chair Emeritus
Howard Ho
J. Lynn Jackson
Kendall Phillips
Jessica June Rowe
Hector Zavala

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instagram.com/playgroundsftheatre
playground-sf.org

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