PlayGround Zoom Fest Developmental Readings Announced!
PlayGround has announced the 4 selected plays that will be developed with professionally-presented readings as part of this year’s Zoom Fest! The three-week online Festival (May 10-30) is the culmination and celebration of PlayGround’s yearly programming, cultivating exciting new voices for the American Stage and presenting fully-staged digital premieres alongside dynamic new works in development. This year’s digital live-streaming festival includes four developmental staged readings: ADULTING by Misao McGregor, directed by Jully Lee; THE DELIVERANCE by Daysha Veronica, directed by Tyler Thomas; FUNNY, LIKE AN ABORTION by Rachel Bublitz, directed by Giovanna Sardelli; and 7 SECRETS OF TEACHING ONLINE by Evelyn Jean Pine, directed by Tracy Ward. Each reading will be presented live for one-night only, with on-demand accessibility for up to one week for pre-registered guests. Following the coming launch of the Potrero Stagers membership program, all Stagers will receive unprecedented and ongoing digital access to all PlayGround’s archived and upcoming Festival programming to stream from the comfort of their home! For the first time, all of PlayGround’s Festival programming will be fully admission-free (donations gratefully accepted), welcoming theater lovers near and far to join in the celebration regardless of financial status. For more information and to reserve tickets, visit https://playground-sf.org/zoomfest. See below for playwright bios, play synopses, and a calendar of these events!
Working since the pandemic and shelter-in-place order was officially announced to ethically employ artists and maintain contracts during this time of crisis, PlayGround coordinated with SAG-AFTRA for the first-ever Zoom Fest to develop an agreement for the employment of over 140 actors under #FairWage terms and is thrilled to collaborate again with the largest professional performance union to bring this year’s Zoom Fest to your screens while ethically compensating our artist community. Originally formalized for PlayGround’s Zoom presentation of the Monday Night PlayGround season finale on April 6, 2020, this groundbreaking partnership between PlayGround and SAG-AFTRA has allowed PlayGround to gainfully employ artists in their creation of world-premier Zoom content, and facilitates the breadth of their programming for the upcoming Zoom Fest and beyond. This Festival stands as a community celebration of the new works PlayGround has incubated and championed from their inception, and a hopeful reminder that even in the most uncertain of times, the stories we share and the communities they form shape our culture and our lives.
PlayGround, the Bay Area’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’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 local playwrights in the development and staging of more than 950 original short plays and 80 new full-length plays, with 5 more commissions currently in development. PlayGround also operates Potrero Stage, a state-of-the-art 99-seat black box theatre in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, home to some of the Bay Area’s leading new play developers and producers, including PlayGround, Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, and Playwrights Foundation. For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org.
For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/zoomfest or call (415) 992-6677.
PLAYGROUND ZOOM FEST
READING DESCRIPTIONS, ARTIST BIOS, and DATES
ADULTING by Misao McGregor (May 10 @ 7PM PDT)
Synopsis: Adulting is an ensemble piece that takes a look into the personal lives of a diverse group of individuals who find themselves having to navigate their divergent personalities and experiences together at a faculty gathering for the prestigious private high school Brighton. Centering the experiences of women and non-binary humans of color within professional settings, this play explores the respectability politics that go into sustaining institutionalized forms of racism, homophobia, classism, and misogyny.
Misao McGregor (she/they) is a singer/songwriter and playwright from Los Angeles and is currently based in Louisiana. They earned their BA in Theater and Music from Connecticut College in 2018 and have been a member of PlayGround-LA since 2019. Misao was also a Resident Playwright for PlayGround’s 2020-21 Season. Her work has previously been produced in Connecticut, Seattle, and Los Angeles, and in June of 2020, Misao founded Sacrosanct, a community blog that amplifies the voices and art of queer, trans, & non-binary BIPOC.
THE DELIVERANCE by Daysha Veronica (May 14 @ 7PM PDT)
Synopsis: In the midst of a devastating trade war, climate change, and increasing racial tension, an aging and injured black farmer and his family struggle with how to maintain their faith in each other, the land, their history and the future of farming when an investor takes interest in buying their land. The Deliverance is a PlayGround-LA commission.
Daysha Veronica (she/her) is a playwright, author, digital media producer, MFA candidate at UCLA and a Television Academy Foundation Internship alum. Her plays have been workshopped/performed at UC San Diego, UCLA, Meet Cute LA, Celebration Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and PlayGround-LA. She has also received recognition/awards for her work from The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Foundation, Kentucky Women Writers Conference, UCLA, UC San Diego, University of Central Florida, and PlayGround-LA. Her digital work has appeared on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, and The Huffington Post. Social: @DayshaVeronica.
FUNNY, LIKE AN ABORTION by Rachel Bublitz (May 17 @ 7PM PDT)
Synopsis: Monroe finds herself knocked up, and since abortions are illegal in the United States, she throws a surprise abortion party with her best friend Jade. Monroe prepares over twenty at home abortion options for them to sort through, neither will walk away until they select the best of all of these terrible options. But that’s not all! Come on down for juggling, a tap dancing number, and a horrific view at what our future may hold. A comedic two-hander in one scene.
Rachel Bublitz (she/her) is a playwright known for telling stories about women, and creating exciting new work for young performers. The Z Space premiere of her play “Ripped” received the Will Glickman Award for the best premiere play in the Bay Area. She’s thrilled to return to PlayGround to develop “Funny, Like An Abortion.”
Other plays include “Burst” (developed at Salt Lake Acting Company, PlayGround, and more), and “The Night Witches” (published with Dramatic Publishing). During the pandemic Rachel tried her hand at a novel, which she’s still developing. Turns out novels have a lot more words than plays. RachelBublitz.com.
7 SECRETS OF TEACHING ONLINE by Evelyn Jean Pine (May 21 @ 7PM PDT)
Synopsis: March 2020: A pandemic rages. College campuses across America close. In a panic, six college professors sign up for a course, the 7 Secrets of Teaching Online. The class is relentlessly upbeat. Yet, grown men weep, careers are destroyed, secrets betrayed, an imposter unmasked, lovers cast out, babies born, families reunite, make-shift desks are littered with take-out boxes, and one lucky professor gets to sleep with the delivery guy. A revenge comedy.
Evelyn Jean Pine’s (she/her) plays wrestle with moments when life feels so new your hair is electric. A June Ann Baker Prize winner, a PlayGround Resident Playwright, and a Djerassi Alum, she writes about Queen Isabella, the Lumiere brothers, and Bill Gates at 20. The Invisible Project, co-written with Katja Rivera, launched the Latinx Mafia’s Staged Reading series this March. Molecule LitMag just published her quick-fire climate change play, North Pole Bedtime. Fourth Wave on Medium publishes her poems. Her one-woman show, Freeloader in the House of Love, won “The Most Compelling Story” award at the Boulder Fringe. www.evelynjeanpine.com
PlayGround Zoom Fest
FESTIVAL READINGS
WHAT: As part of their second annual Zoom Fest, a digital live-stream festival of new works, PlayGround presents four dynamic new plays in development as professionally-rehearsed readings. All performances are fully admission-free, donations graciously accepted, and presented live-stream or on-demand over Zoom. For more information and to reserve tickets, visit https://playground-sf.org/zoomfest.
WHERE: via Zoom Live Stream & On-Demand
WHEN:
May 10 @ 7pm PDT: ADULTING by Misao McGregor, directed by Jully Lee
May 14 @ 7pm PDT: THE DELIVERANCE by Daysha Veronica, directed by Tyler Thomas
May 17 @ 7pm PDT: FUNNY, LIKE AN ABORTION by Rachel Bublitz, directed by Giovanna Sardelli
May 21 @ 7pm PDT: 7 SECRETS OF TEACHING ONLINE by Evelyn Jean Pine, directed by Tracy Ward
HOW: For more information or to reserve tickets, visit https://playground-sf.org/zoomfest.