PlayGround’s Best of 30th Anniversary Season Announced
PlayGround, a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, is pleased to share the lineup for Best of PlayGround(SF) ‘25. Originally developed among thirty-six new short plays through PlayGround’s Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, these plays will receive a two-night encore performance on May 24 & 25, 2025 at 7pm PT at Potrero Stage and simulcast under a unique new media agreement with SAG-AFTRA. Free to stream, watch on-demand, and at the door on show nights (donations gratefully accepted), advanced in-person reservations start at $10. For tickets and more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/bestof.
The Best of PlayGround(SF) ‘25 selected plays/playwrights are:
The Case of the Missing Messenger by Madeleine Butler
Ratification Panic Room by Jediah Craig
Grandma’s First Festivus by Laura Domingo
Twas the Launch Before Christmas by Carl Andrew Johnson
The Trial Run by Daniel Martinez Jr.
An Emblem of Christmas by Bridgette Dutta Portman
2025 Honorable Mentions:
I’ve Looked at Clouds that Way by KT Frances Hartline
Conversation by Nino Greene
PLAYS AND PLAYWRIGHTS
The Case of the Missing Messenger by Madeleine Butler
It may seem like a simple tragedy, but Sergeant Venerdi Officer Fabbro of the Verona detective bureau uncover a darker crime.
Madeleine Butler, she/her, has had various plays staged for Monday Night PlayGround including A Beautiful Evening, The Story of Our Lives (People’s Choice Award), The River God (Best of PlayGround 2016), The Last Pirogue, Beshert, Stuck, and The Case of the Missing Messenger. Her short plays have also been staged by Playwright’s Center of San Francisco, FABUM (Washington, D.C.), Drama with Friends, and 3 Girls Theatre, including an episode of a collaborative serial radio drama. She has regularly attended the Kennedy Center Playwriting Intensive since 2021 and studies playwriting on an ongoing basis with Anthony Clarvoe.
Ratification Panic Room by Jediah Craig
This is true: On January 6, 2021, as rioters stormed the Capitol, congressional aides took it upon themselves to remove the boxes containing the electoral votes, preventing them from being destroyed, and in doing so preserved the ratification of the election and with it our democracy at large.
Jediah Craig, he/him, is a member of the Playground SF Writers Pool, Playwright’s Center of San Francisco, and Theatre Bay Area. He lives in Berkeley with his very patient family, who humor him as he stumbles through “this writing thing,” secretly hoping it’s just a phase.
Grandma’s First Festivus by Laura Domingo
At Grandma’s first Festivus celebration, the “Airing of Grievances” takes an unexpected turn.
Laura Domino, she/her, is a Native Hawaiian/Filipina writer and actor based in 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.
Twas the Launch Before Christmas by Carl Andrew Johnson
Two soldiers, a silent night, and a naughty surprise.
Carl Andrew Johnson, he/him, is a recent addition to PlayGround-SF, with a passion for writing satire, speculative fiction, and comedy. While taking screen and stage playwriting courses at Berkeley City College, he was encouraged by his instructor to submit his work to local theater groups. His writing often draws from personal experiences, blending humor and thought-provoking elements, with the goal of ensuring that audiences leave with both a smile and something to ponder.
The Trial Run by Daniel Martinez Jr.
A grieving husband goes to an AI facility where his husband’s consciousness has been uploaded to the latest AI Droid and, in doing so, discovers a messy secret his husband never told him.
Daniel Martinez Jr., 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?, premiered 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.
An Emblem of Christmas by Bridgette Dutta Portman
Lex, a struggling screenwriter, has had enough of formulaic Christmas movies. But does art imitate life?
Bridgette Dutta Portman, she/her, is a playwright, novelist, and teacher. She is president of the Pear Theatre board of directors and a member of the Pear Playwrights’ Guild and the Dramatists’ Guild. She received the 2023 June Anne Baker Prize from PlayGround and is currently developing a full-length commission, RIVALS OF MARS. She teaches composition and creative writing at UC Berkeley.
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.
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