PlayGround Celebrates the Season of Love with its February Prompt “What the World Needs Now…”

“What the world needs now is love, sweet love. It’s the only thing that there’s just too little of. What the world needs now is love, sweet love. No not just for some, but for everyone.” – Songwriters: Hal David, Burt Bacharach. Original Recording Artist: Jackie DeShannon.

PlayGround has announced the topic for its next round of Monday Night PlayGround, taking place on February 21, 7pm PST, live at Freight & Salvage and simulcast online. The evening will feature six original short plays inspired by the prompt “What the World Needs Now…”, drawn from Hal David and Burt Bacharach’s 1965 hit song—recorded and made famous by Jackie DeShannon. PlayGround’s sister companies, PlayGround LA and PlayGround NY will present their own interpretations of the theme on February 14th and February 28th, respectively. As part of PlayGround’s commitment to radical accessibility, Monday Night PlayGround is admission-free (donations gratefully accepted). Advance reservations are required. For the complete schedule or to reserve tickets, visit https://playground-sf.org/monday.

The 28th season of PlayGround’s celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series on third Mondays, Oct-Mar, will be once again held in-person this year, at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage and live simulcast (October 18, 2021-March 21, 2022). Each month, PlayGround announces a topic and writers have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-page script. Recent topics have included: “Not So ‘Silent Night’”, “Whodunnit”, “Rebirth”, “Fearless”, and “Reunification.” The top six scripts are matched with directors and a cast of leading local professionals and rehearsed for just ninety minutes on the day of the performance. Following a brief technical rehearsal to add sound and other design elements, the six short plays are performed as script-in-hand staged readings for an in-person and live-stream viewing audience on third Mondays, October through March. Audience members can also experience the thrill of being a producer through the monthly People’s Choice Awards, helping to determine which plays and playwrights go on for consideration in PlayGround’s annual short play showcase, Best of PlayGround. Advance reservations are required. Admission is free but donations are gratefully accepted. Proof of vaccination and masks are required for in-person performance at Freight & Salvage.

PlayGround’s 2021-22 Writers Pool, the thirty-six Bay Area-based writers competitively selected to participate in the monthly series, are: Linda Amayo-Hassan+, Cass Brayton+, Tom Bruett+ Rachel Bublitz+, Madeline Butler, Vanessa Cassandras, Reg Clay, Victoria Evans Erville, Jessica Fechtor, Ipsheeta Furtado, Akaina Ghosh, Linda Maria Giron, Garret 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+, Neiry Rojo, Kevin Rolston, Annette Roman, Rebecca Schweitzer, Susan Sher, Marissa Skudlarek, Alexis Standridge, Chris Steele, Shruti Tewari, Lisa Gaye Thompson, Eteya Trinidad+, Madison Wetzell, Christian Wilburn+, Daysha Veronica+, Maury Zeff
+ Resident Playwright

Supporting PlayGround playwrights and the Monday Night series are the members of the PlayGround Company, representing some of the Bay Area’s leading directors, actors, designers, and stage managers. The 2021-22 PlayGround Company includes: 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, 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, Molly 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, 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 1,000 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-seven 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.

WHAT: PlayGround celebrates love with its February Monday Night PlayGround, featuring six original short plays inspired by the prompt “WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW…”.

WHERE:   Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St, Berkeley, CA & Simulcast Online

WHEN:     February 21, 2022 7pm PST               

Additional Season Dates:
March 21, 2022 7pm PT in-person at Freight & Salvage and simulcast via Vimeo Live

TICKETS: Admission is free (donations gratefully accepted) but advance reservations are required. To reserve tickets for in-person or online viewing, visit https://tickets.playground-sf.org.