Season 28 Monday Night PlayGround In-Person & Online Represents “Rebirth” of Live Theatre!

“Perhaps that is where our choice lies—in determining how we will meet the inevitable end of things, and how we will greet each new beginning.” – Elana K. Arnold

On the eve of the return to in-person theatre and the company’s expansion to New York, Bay Area playwright incubator PlayGround has chosen the prompt of “rebirth” as inspiration for the opening Monday Night PlayGround of Season 28. Thirty-six San Francisco Bay Area writers have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original scripts inspired by the prompt as they vie for one of six slots in the first round of this year’s Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, presented live at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage and simulcast online on October 18th at 7pm PT. PlayGround’s sister companies, PlayGround LA and PlayGround NY will present their own interpretations of the opening theme on October 11th and October 25th, respectively. And, new this year, all PlayGround programs in all three regions are being performed under SAG-AFTRA New Media agreements, providing union wages and protections for all performers. Monday Night PlayGround is admission-free (donations gratefully accepted) and 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: “Fearless”, “Reunification”, and “Lore.” 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.
* January’s Monday Night PlayGround will be the fourth Monday

Earlier this month, PlayGround announced its 2021-22 Writers Pool, the thirty-six Bay Area-based writers competitively selected to participate in the monthly series. These writers 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*
* Member, Actors’ Equity Association

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.

2021-22 Monday Night PlayGround Season Calendar
October 18, 2021 7pm PT in-person at Freight & Salvage and simulcast via Vimeo Live
November 15, 2021 7pm PT in-person at Freight & Salvage and simulcast via Vimeo Live
December 20, 2021 7pm PT in-person at Freight & Salvage and simulcast via Vimeo Live
January 24, 2022 7pm PT in-person at Freight & Salvage and simulcast via Vimeo Live
February 21, 2022 7pm PT in-person at Freight & Salvage and simulcast via Vimeo Live
March 21, 2022 7pm PT in-person at Freight & Salvage and simulcast via Vimeo Live

For tickets and more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/monday.