PlayGround’s Season 29: In-Person & Simulcast!

PlayGround, California’s leading playwright incubator and theatre community hub, has announced its 29th season, including the return of the celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series on third Mondays,* October – March, in-person this year at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage and live simulcast (October 10, 2022-March 20, 2023). The season also includes an extensive array of new play programming at the company’s San Francisco theatre, Potrero Stage, including the Free-Play Festival (August 26-28, 2022), an extended run of Joyful Raven’s BREED OR BUST (September 9-24, 2022), Innovators Showcase (November 7-27, 2022), a “Twisted” Holiday Show (December 9-24, 2022), Solo Performance Festival (January 27-February 12, 2023) and Festival of New Works (May 8-28, 2023), featuring the premieres of Lauren Gorski’s THE BRAMFORD and Christian Wilburn’s STARLIGHT. In addition, PlayGround will celebrate its national presence with a hybrid in-person/online gala fundraiser, the One PlayGround Gala, on September 19, 2022 in San Francisco, Los Angeles, NYC and Chicago. PlayGround has also recently announced its 11th season in Los Angeles (PlayGround-LA), its 2nd season in New York (PlayGround-NY), and starting this Fall, the 1st season in Chicago (PlayGround-CH). All 2022-23 programming is available for both in-person and online viewing (in-person attendees must provide proof of vaccination and wear masks) and is admission-free. To reserve tickets, visit https://tickets.playground-sf.org or call (415) 992-6677. *October’s Monday Night PlayGround will be the second Monday, October 10; November’s Monday Night PlayGround will be at Potrero Stage.

2022-23 PlayGround Company

PlayGround also recently announced its 2022-23 Company, including the Writers Pool, Resident Playwrights and Artist Company. These 150+ artists will fuel PlayGround’s incubator programs over the next season, fostering the development of more than 150 original short and full-length plays.

The PlayGround 2022-23 Writers are: Monique Hafen Adams, Barbara Anderson, Esther Banegas Gatica, Nicole Bruno, Madeleine Butler, Allie Costa+, Jediah Craig, Cherielyn Ferguson, Ipsheeta Furtado, Bailey Jordan Garcia+, Lauren Gorski,+ Aaron Higareda+, Sam Hurwitt, Tejahra Jacobs, Lisa Kang, Ruth Kirschner, Anne Yumi Kobori+, Steve Koppman, Jennifer Le Blanc+, Kristy Lin Billuni, Justin Lopez+, David MacFadden-Elliott, Daniel Martinez, Alanna McFall+, Bacilio Mendez II, Matthew Morishige, Vicky Pham, Bridgette Portman, Alexis Roblan, Jessica Rowe+, Anthony Sampson Semandiris, David Schweidel, Susan Sher, Marissa Skudlarek, Alexis Standridge, Max Tachis, Lisa Thompson, Eteya Trinidad, Michael Tuton, Kaz Valtchev, Daysha Veronica+, Michael Waterson, Christian Wilburn+, Maggie Wilson+, Maury Zeff
+ Resident Playwright

Members of the PlayGround 2022-23 Company are: 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, Bacilio Mendez II, Sam Misner, Brady Morales-Woolery, Lisa Morse, Molly Noble, Joseph Patrick O’Malley, Karen Offereins, Annete 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

Auditions

PlayGround holds general auditions once each year, generally in the late summer/early fall. PlayGround invites Bay Area-based actors (union or non-union) to sign up for our 2022 online general auditions, Saturday, September 17, 10am-12pm PT, in prep for our 2022-23 Monday Night PlayGround series. BIPOC, trans/gender non-conforming, differently-abled, and actors of all ages encouraged.

Auditions will be conducted online via Zoom live stream and actors will sign up for one 10-minute slot. Actors will be provided with a Zoom link on the day of the audition and should plan to arrive online at least 5 minutes before the scheduled time. Actors should prepare one (1) dramatic or comedic theatrical monologue with a secondary contrasting monologue and/or musical selection (to be sung acapella) available on request. Once you have signed up, please submit your headshot and resume via the PlayGround Audition page, https://playground-sf.org/audition. For questions, please email jim@playground-sf.org.

Festival Groundbreaker Series

Highlighting this year’s PlayGround Festival (May 8-28, 2023) are two groundbreaking premieres: Lauren Gorski’s The Bramford and Christian Wilburn’s Starlight. Both works were originally developed as part of the 2022 PlayGround Festival.

THE BRAMFORD by Lauren Gorski

Through recreating the iconic horror Rosemary’s Baby under the magical roof of the Bramford apartment, neighbors Gloria and Betty unknowingly bring the characters of the novel–Rosemary, Guy, and Satan–to life. With this power, what else in the Bramford might be waiting to come to life?

Lauren Gorski (The Bramford), she/her, has a Master’s in Professional Writing with emphasis in Stage and Screen from the University of Southern California. She writes fiction, poetry, screenplays, and stageplays. Her fiction and poetry have been featured in “apt”, “Badlands”, “Jersey Devil Press”, “Underground Voices”, and elsewhere. Her plays have been performed for the Hollywood Fringe, PlayGround (including the Best of Festival), PianoFight’s ShortLived series, and more. She is a past playwright-in-residence with PlayGround San Francisco. She is also the Comics & Film Editor of Exposition Review, a multi-genre digital literary journal.

STARLIGHT by Christian Wilburn

A rare autoimmune disorder has forced Sasha to live most of her life in books, and in dreams. However, when a mysterious book called Starlight brings her dreams to life, and potentially gives her a destiny, reality and dreams blend into a story that explores the transcendent mystery of chronic illness.

Christian Wilburn (Starlight), he/him, is a San Francisco based writer whose work blends the deeply personal and the fantastical. Christian has been working with PlayGround frequently over the past three years; being featured in Monday Night PlayGround, Best of PlayGround, and the PlayGround Playwright Residency Program. Christian thanks PlayGround for commissioning this piece based on his short play, Sasha and the Angelier, which won the People’s Choice Award for Best of PlayGround 2021. Christian is a graduate of Santa Clara University and holds an MFA in Writing from the University of San Francisco.

About PlayGround

PlayGround, California’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s (and now Los Angeles’) 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 over 1,000 of their original short plays through the Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned/developed 100 new full-length plays and has directly facilitated the premiere of 33 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. PlayGround began serving the Los Angeles artistic community in 2012 with the launch of PlayGround-LA. In 2021, our first East Coast hub launched as PlayGround-NY. This year brings PlayGround-CH into the fold.

Over the past twenty-eight 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 O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, the Glickman Awards (4 of the past 5 winners), and Bay Area Playwrights Festival, among 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. Visit https://playground-sf.org for more information.

2022-23 Season Calendar

Free-Play Festival @ Potrero Stage & Live Simulcast
https://playground-sf.org/freeplay/
Fri Aug 26, 7pm Pacific – Breed or Bust by Joyful Raven
Sat Aug 27, 5pm Pacific – Tips for Nervous Fliers by Lana Richards
Sun, Aug 28, 2pm Pacific – Lucía Fuentes by J. Lynn Jackson
Sun, Aug 28, 5pm Pacific – Tips for Nervous Fliers by Lana Richards

PlayGround closes out the summer season with a new free festival of new plays by the PlayGround community, FREE-PLAY FESTIVAL, August 26-28, at Potrero Stage and simulcast. The inaugural Free-Play Festival features the return of Joyful Raven’s BREED OR BUST (Aug 26 7pm PDT) following her hit run at the Hollywood Fringe, the premiere of Lana Richards’ TIPS FOR NERVOUS FLIERS (Aug 27 & 28 5pm PDT) and a staged reading of J. Lynn Jackson’s LUCÍA FUENTES (Aug 28 2pm PDT), presented by Miyoko Sakatani and Playland Productions. Admission is free (donations gratefully accepted) but advance reservations are required. The Free-Play Festival is the latest innovation by PlayGround in support of new voices for the stage and is supported by the PlayGround 25th Anniversary Fund.

Joyful Raven in BREED OR BUST (3-week Limited Run)
https://playground-sf.org/breedorbust/
Fri Sep 9 – Sat Sep 24 (Fri/Sat), 7pm Pacific

To breed or not to breed: that is the question award-winning solo show artist Joyful Raven wrestles with in her new updated solo show, a hit at this year’s PlayGround Solo Performance Festival and the Hollywood Fringe. Blending standup and storytelling, Raven recounts her difficult reproductive “choices” and contends with her primal baby making instincts.

Monday Night PlayGround @ Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage & Live Simulcast
https://playground-sf.org/monday
October 10, 2022, 7pm Pacific[Note: This is the second Monday of October.]
November 21, 2022, 7pm Pacific[Note: The live performance for November will take place at Potrero Stage.]
December 19, 2022, 7pm Pacific
January 16, 2023, 7pm Pacific
February 20, 2023, 7pm Pacific
March 20, 2023, 7pm Pacific

The topic is given out and writers have four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-minute plays. The top six are selected, matched with leading Bay Area directors and actors, rehearsed for just an hour-and-a-half and presented on the third Monday of the month. Audiences get an intimate look into the creative process.

Innovators Showcase @ Potrero Stage & Live Simulcast
https://playground-sf.org/incubator
November 7-27, 2022

PlayGround presents a three-week festival of new works by eight up-and-coming theatre companies as the culmination of their participation in PlayGround’s intensive year-long Innovator Incubator. The full 2022 lineup will be announced in September.

A VERY HITCHCOCK CHRISTMAS @ Potrero Stage & Live Simulcast
https://playground-sf.org/incubator
December 9-24 2022

PlayGround invites Bay Area playwrights to participate in the development of our new “Twisted” Holiday Show, scheduled to premiere at Potrero Stage this December. Writers based in the 9- county San Francisco Bay Area region may submit a new short play inspired by this year’s prompt, A VERY HITCHCOCK CHRISTMAS, by 11:59pm on September 5, 2022.

PlayGround Solo Performance Festival @ Potrero Stage & Live Simulcast
https://playground-sf.org/solofest
January 27-February 12, 2023

The PlayGround Solo Performance Festival is PlayGround’s annual celebration of the best in California solo performance. Now going on its fifth year, the next Solo Fest will take place January 27-February 12, 2022, performed live at Potrero Stage and simulcast online, with nine double-bill performances over three weeks. Applications for the 6th annual Solo Fest are being accepted from California-based artists through October 31, 2022.

PlayGround Festival of New Works @ Potrero Stage & Live Simulcast
https://playground-sf.org/festival
May 8-28, 2023

The yearly Festival of New Works, now in its 27th consecutive year, features more than a dozen new works, from ten-minute plays to full-lengths, and from staged readings to off-book premiere presentations. The 2023 Festival will include:

All programs will be offered both in-person and online this year and are all admission free. For tickets or more information, visit https://playground-sf.org or call (415) 992-6677.

For more information, visit https://PlayGround-SF.org or follow PlayGround on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/playground.sf/), Twitter (https://twitter.com/playgroundsf) and Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/playgroundsftheatre/). For information on our sister programs, visit PlayGround-LA, PlayGround-NY and PlayGround-Chicago.