The “One PlayGround” Gala: San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York & Chicago!

Posted by on June 2, 2022

PlayGround Announces Return to In-Person Gala Celebrating ONE PLAYGROUND: Bay Area, Los Angeles, NYC & Chicago on September 19, 2022 / 5:30pm-8pm PDT (7:30pm-10pm CDT / 8:30pm-11pm EDT). In-Person at San Francisco’s Potrero Stage with satellites in LA, NY, Chicago & throughout the country.

On Monday, September 19, PlayGround will host its annual fundraising gala, celebrating the national scope of PlayGround’s programming in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, and, now, Chicago. With the upcoming addition of PlayGround-Chicago this Fall, PlayGround will produce 4 unique Monday Night PlayGrounds, the signature short play program which has run successfully in the Bay Area for almost 30 years, with writers pools in 4 major theatre hubs. The One PlayGround Gala will bring together the Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York and, now, Chicago companies to celebrate PlayGround’s national presence, as we continue to create even more opportunities for working artists across the country and establish a national network for this country’s most promising new voices and their artistic collaborators. The evening will feature performances by artists from San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York, utilizing PlayGround’s well-honed hybrid model of both in-person and live-streamed performance. Individual tickets are $250. Host tickets to the in-person event at San Francisco’s Potrero Stage as well as for small and large gatherings throughout the country are $500 per person (tables of 8 are $4,000) and include a 4-course gourmet meal, recognition on the Host Committee, and free concierge service for remote gatherings. All proceeds support PlayGround’s commitment to developing significant new local voices for the theatre, particularly those historically marginalized including BIPOC, women, LGBTQIA+, and differently abled, helping to launch these artists onto the regional and national scene. For tickets and more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/benefit.

Gala Tickets

$250 ($100 tax-deductible) – General admission seating at San Francisco’s Potrero Stage or satellite location (with remote access to the live event), including 4-course gourmet meal with drinks and live performances

$500 ($350 tax-deductible) — Host seating at San Francisco’s Potrero Stage or satellite location (with remote access to the live event), including 4-course gourmet meal with drinks and live performances, and recognition on the Host committee

$4,000 ($2,800 tax-deductible) — Host table for 8 at Potrero Stage or satellite location (with remote access to the live event). Including all items listed above, and the opportunity to host a PlayGround playwright

PlayGround, California’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the best new playwrights in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, & New York City, 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 Steinberg Awards, Humana Festival, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and The Lark’s Playwrights’ Week, 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.

Potrero Stage is a 99-seat state-of-the-art performance space located in the heart of San Francisco’s Potrero Hill neighborhood, operated by PlayGround, and serving as home to some of the Bay Area’s leading new play developers and producers, including PlayGround, Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, and Playwrights Foundation, among others. While the venue is closed during the COVID pandemic, Potrero Stage will highlight the best in online programming by PlayGround, Potrero Stage resident companies and other Potrero Stage producers. Through the new Potrero Stagers membership program, PlayGround provides opportunities for access to and engagement with some of the Bay Area’s most innovative artists and companies. For more information, visit https://potrerostage.org.

For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org/benefit or call (415) 992-6677.