PlayGround’s 30th Anniversary Season, Writers Pool, Performance Schedule & More!

PlayGround, a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, is pleased to share plans for its 30th Anniversary Season – PlayGround’s signature Monday Night PlayGround, the nation’s longest-running and largest staged reading series – performed in-person and simulcast in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York City and Chicago, October 14, 2024 through April 7, 2025. Each month, PlayGround invites its national Writers Company to generate original short plays inspired by an announced prompt. The top six works in each community are staged by leading local professionals (under a first-in-the-nation SAG-AFTRA agreement) and presented for a live audience and simulcast. At the conclusion of the season, six works from each city are selected and restaged for the annual Best of PlayGround, a launching pad for some of the nation’s top new writers. Initiated in 1994, Monday Night PlayGround has fostered more than 1500 new plays by hundreds of early-career playwrights across the four regions, including notable alumni Lauren Yee, Diana Burbano, Christopher Chen, Jonathan Spector, and Aaron Loeb, among others. Admission to all PlayGround performances is free (donations gratefully accepted). Monday Night PlayGround memberships ($100 tax-deductible) provide reserved seating and extended on-demand access to all 24 performances. For more information or to reserve tickets and purchase memberships, visit https://playground-sf.org/monday.

The 2024-25 Writers Pool includes:

PlayGround-SF: 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-LA: Michael P. Adams, Tamadhur Al-Aqeel, Damian Arteaga, Suzan Averitt, Esther Banegas Gatica, Blaire Battle, Evan Baughfman, Emily Brauer Rogers, Summer Broyhill, Timothy Bryant, Jackie Cloud, Allie Costa, Paris Crayton III, Sandra Cruze, Isabella Dionne, Amy Ellenberger, Lauren Gorski, Rachel Harner, Steve Harper, Aaron Higareda, Michael B. Kaplan, Mikee Loria, Rhea MacCallum, Abel Marquez, Scott Mullen, Peter Pasco, Margo Rofé, Carolina Rojas Moretti, Cara Sanchez, Mark Sherstinsky, Baylee Shlichtman, Jessica Skinner, Maria D. Smith, Lisa Sutton, Adrian A Babatunde Thomas, Evelyn Wu-Coffey.

PlayGround-NY: Claire Abramovitz, Kamila Boga, Tré Calhoun, Todd Cerveris, Maisa Chiang, Chelyn Cousar, Eleanor Evans-Wickberg, Madi Fabber, Aaron Fentress, Saiya Floyd, Bailey Garcia, Dana Leslie Goldstein, Melinda Gros, Patience Haggin, Michael Hagins, Nay Harris, Bram Hartman, Miz Hashimoto, Stanley Hathaway, Ashley Hazzard, Howard Ho, Wade Hollomon, Sio Hornbuckle, LeKee Horton, Uma Incrocci, Nathaniel Johnson, Sohyun Kim, Jenny King, Janelle Lawrence, Danielle Moore, Lyra Nalan, Vicky Pham, Jacob Markx Rice, Katie Ryan, Réal Vargas Alanis, Camron Wright.

PlayGround-Chicago: Daniel Arzola, Kirsten Baity, Zach Barr, Henry Bender, Siah Berlatsky, Kevin Blair, Gabriella Bonamici, Jessie Bond, Anne Brady, Julie Campbell, Donaldson Cardenas, Ana Dalipi, Mikayla De Guzman, Rachel DuBose, Betsy Dudak, Liz Haas, Dana Hall, Toby Inoue, Tanuja Devi Jagernauth, Jerluane Jenkins, alfonzo kahlil, Beth Kander, Juliet Kang Huneke, Alex Kinglsey, Rachel Linton, Alan Maass, Marnie Monogue, Lani Montreal, Dakota Pariset, Mary Parisoe, Andrew Piechota, Jessica Puller, Jay Rehak, Keegon Schuett, Matt, Schutz, Katherine Swan.

PlayGround has also announced the 12 playwright alumni selected for this year’s Resident Playwrights Program, including five playwrights under commission and representing all four regions. Throughout the season, these writers will generate a dozen new full-length plays. 2024-25 Resident Playwrights include Michael P. 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, and Christian Wilburn.

ABOUT PLAYGROUND

PlayGround was founded in 1994 by Jim Kleinmann, Brighde Mullins, and Denise Shama, beginning as a professional-academic partnership in residence at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and with initial sponsorship from SFSU’s Creative Writing Program. Early participating artists included Prince Gomolvilas, Garret Jon Groenveld, Daniele Nathanson, Sandra Hunter, Colman Domingo, Kent Nicholson, Antigone Trimis, Mary Coleman, and Rhonnie Washington. The fledgling organization moved to Project Artaud and A Traveling Jewish Theatre’s new 80-seat black box theatre in 1996, at which time Kleinmann took on sole leadership as PlayGround’s founding artistic director.

The company was in residence at Berkeley Repertory Theatre from 2003 until the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and has also presented at the San Francisco Main Library, Freight & Salvage, Zeum, A.C.T.’s Costume Shop, and Thick House, as well as co-producing with such notable Bay Area theatres as San Francisco Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Impact Theatre, San Jose Stage, and Magic Theatre, among others. PlayGround first brought its work to New York City with the 2008 co-production of Garret Jon Groenveld’s Missives, followed by the 2009 NY International Fringe Festival hit co-production of Aaron Loeb’s Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party, 2013 NY International Fringe Festival co-production of Katie May’s Manic Pixie Dream Girl. PlayGround celebrated its 25th anniversary with a one-night program of original short musicals at NYC’s Theatre Row in 2019.

PlayGround’s first ongoing regional expansion came in 2012 with the launch of PlayGround-LA at West Hollywood’s Zephyr Theatre. In 2018, PlayGround-LA relocated to Hollywood’s Broadwater Theaters (home of Sacred Fools Theater Company), where the company continues to present its Monday Night series. PlayGround expanded to NYC in 2021 and Chicago in 2022, with in-person performances (and simulcasts) beginning in the Spring of 2023, at NYC’s Producers Club and Chicago’s Theater Wit, respectively. 

Over its 30 year history, PlayGround has grown into a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, providing unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s and, more recently, Los Angeles’, New York’s, and Chicago’s best new playwrights through innovative programs such as the monthly Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, annual PlayGround Festival of New Works, full-length play commissions, playwright residencies and production support through the New Play Production Fund.

To date, PlayGround has developed and staged more than 1,500 original short plays through Monday Night PlayGround and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned and/or developed several hundred new full-length plays by PlayGround alumni through its Commissioning Initiative, Playwrights Residency and Alumni Programs and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 40 full-length plays at theatres of every size, including many that have gone on to NYC and other major theater communities across the country. 

In 2017, PlayGround launched Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, a 99-seat state-of-the-art performance venue to serve as a shared community resource for dozens of local companies and hundreds of artists. New programs in residence at Potrero Stage like the Free-Play Festival, Solo Performance Festival, and Innovator Incubator provide opportunities for local and national artists to self-determine and showcase their work in San Francisco at little to no cost. 

More than 350 early-career playwrights have gotten their start at PlayGround, including Lauren Yee, Jonathan Spector, Geetha Reddy, and Cleavon Smith, helping to expand and deepen the canon of American 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 Steinberg Awards, Glickman Awards, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and New York International Fringe Festival, among others. PlayGround serves one of the largest theatre artist networks in the nation, connecting hundreds of Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York artists in support of a common vision: the development of bold and diverse new voices and new works. 

This work has not gone unnoticed. PlayGround has received numerous awards, including Playwrights Foundation’s Inaugural New Play Champion Award, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle’s Paine Knickerbocker Award for ongoing contributions to Bay Area theatre, and American Theater Wing’s National Theater Grant. In 2016, Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann was recognized by Theatre Bay Area as one of the Bay Area’s top 40 leaders. Three of PlayGround’s commissioned plays have won the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle award for Best New Play, and three have had subsequent productions in NYC. Four of the past five Will Glickman Award winners for best new play are PlayGround alumni. When other theatre companies think of producing new work, PlayGround artists are often their first call. As a result of PlayGround’s strong leadership, planning, and a willingness to take bold risks with high payoff, the new play ecosystem has been utterly transformed by PlayGround. For more information, visit playground-sf.org.

2024-25 MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND CALENDAR

Monday Night PlayGround
Round 1: October 14 (LA), October 21 (SF), October 28 (NY), November 4 (Chicago)
Round 2: November 11 (LA), November 18 (SF), November 25 (NY), December 2 (Chicago)
Round 3: December 9 (LA), December 16 (SF), December 23 (NY), January 6 (Chicago)
Round 4: January 13 (LA), January 27** (SF), January 20 (NY), February 3 (Chicago)
Round 5: February 10 (LA), February 17 (SF), February 24 (NY), March 3 (Chicago)
Round 6: March 10 (LA), March 17 (SF), March 24 (NY), April 7 (Chicago)

Best of PlayGround
April 14, 2025 (LA)
April 28, 2025 (NY)
May 5, 2025 (Chicago)
May 24-25, 2025 (SF)

VENUES:

PlayGround-SF**: David Brower Center, 2150 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA 94704 (10/17, 12/14, 1/27, 3/17) & Potrero Stage, 1695 18th St, San Francisco, CA 94107 (11/18, 2/17)

PlayGround-LA: The Broadwater, Second Stage
6320 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

PlayGround-NY: The Producers Club
358 W 44th St, New York, NY 10036

PlayGround-Chicago: Theater Wit
1229 W Belmont Ave, Chicago IL 60657

Tickets: Admission to all performances is free (donations gratefully accepted). Monday Night PlayGround memberships ($100 tax-deductible) include reserved seating and extended on-demand access to streaming content, as well as members-only events and members merch.

For more information, visit https://PlayGround-SF.org or follow PlayGround on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/playground.sf/) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/playgroundsftheatre/). For information on PlayGround programs in Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, visit PlayGround-LA, PlayGround-NY and PlayGround-Chicago, respectively.