BEST OF FREE-PLAY FESTIVAL September 6th-7th: BLACK BASTARD & STARE INTO THE VOID

(SAN FRANCISCO) PlayGround has announced two encore productions stemming from the third annual FREE-PLAY FESTIVAL: BEST OF FREE-PLAY will run September 6-7, at Potrero Stage and simulcast, and will feature BLACK BASTARD by Jon Joseph Gentry (Sep 6th 6pm & Sep 7th at 8pm) and STARE INTO THE VOID AND YOU’LL SEE STARS by Kaz Valtchev (Sep 6th 8pm & Sep 7th at 6pm). These “Best of” productions were chosen from the 11 shows that made up the original three-week “fringe style” Free-Play Festival. Each production will be presented for two admission-free performances at Potrero Stage (18th Street @ Arkansas) with on-demand streaming availability. For more information or to reserve in-person or online tickets, visit https://playground-sf.org/freeplay.

BLACK BASTARD by Jon Joseph Gentry (PlayGround-LA), directed by Shinelle Azoroh
September 6th at 6pm & September 7th at 8pm
“Black Bastard” transports audiences to 1990s Houston in a humorous, heartfelt coming-of-age tale. Jon, an inquisitive Black boy, develops a love for literature until his family fractures, thrusting him into the role of “man of the house.” A comedic spiral ensues as Jon grapples with his identity. An inciting confrontation propels Jon’s search for his absent father, exploring themes of masculinity and self-actualization through artful techniques and nostalgic references. Queer. Southern. Creole. The piece contends that all humans are collective “bastards” on an eternal quest for selfhood and someplace to call home amid constantly evolving identities.

AN AWARD-WINNING PRODUCTION! Black Bastard made a resounding impact during its debut at the 2024 Hollywood Fringe Festival. The production sold out all five of its performances and won two prestigious awards: the Soaring Solo Social Impact Award, recognizing its excellence in solo theatre and its transformative social message, and the Best of Asylum Overall Winner, acknowledging its commercial success, artistic merit, and development potential.

Jon Joseph Gentry, described by a Hollywood agent as an “overeducated” actor, was born and raised in Houston, Texas. He earned his BA in English from Harvard, where he served as President of BlackCAST. He holds an MFA in Acting from the American Conservatory Theater. As a teaching artist, he co-directed “Child Life” with UCSF Children’s Hospital and led acting workshops across the Bay Area. He currently teaches Michael Chekhov Acting Technique at the Los Angeles Performing Arts Conservatory. His regional theater credits include roles in Clybourne Park, A Christmas Carol, and Romeo and Juliet. On screen, he appeared in TEN, Behold a Lady, Meeting Matt Damon and voiced Preston Garvey in Fallout 4, gaining viral fame.

STARE INTO THE VOID AND YOU’LL SEE STARS by Kaz Valtchev (PlayGround-SF)
September 6th at 8pm & September 7th at 6pm
Luna is on a camping trip with her friends, waiting to watch a meteor shower,sounds relaxing right? Except she’s a ball of anxiety being haunted by the ghost of her friend, Jenn, while her living friends have planned an intervention for her marijuana use. As the night goes on, everyone in the friend group reveals more secrets surrounding Jenn’s suicide and they learn more about Jenn, each other, and the nature of trauma and healing.

Kaz Valtchev (he/they) has worked onstage, backstage, and front of stage for various theaters in the Bay area including Cal Shakes, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, Bindlestiff Studios, and many others. He has been a part of the PlayGround Writer’s Pool for the past two years and has been an actor and stage manager for PlayGround in the past as well. He has had short plays produced with the Pear Theater, the Queer AF Festival, and Left Coast Theater Company. He also had an original monologue published in the anthology, WE-US: Monologues for Gender Minority Characters.

Schedule By Date:
Friday, September 6, 2024
6:00 PM: BLACK BASTARD by Jon Joseph Gentry
8:00 PM: STARE INTO THE VOID AND YOU’LL SEE STARS by Kaz Valtchev

Saturday, September 7, 2024
6:00 PM: STARE INTO THE VOID AND YOU’LL SEE STARS by Kaz Valtchev
8:00 PM: BLACK BASTARD by Jon Joseph Gentry

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 and with initial sponsorship from SFSU’s Creative Writing Program. Early participating artists included Prince Gomolvilas, Garret Jon Groenveld, Daniele Nathanson, Sandra Rodgers, 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 pandemic of 2020 and has also presented at the San Francisco Main Library, Freight & Salvage, Zeum, ACT’s Costume Shop, and Thick House, as well as co-producing with such notable Bay Area theatres as SF Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Impact Theatre, San Jose Stage, and Magic Theatre, among others. PlayGround first brought its work to NYC 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. 

Over 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 theater 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, BATCC’s Paine Knickerbocker Award for ongoing contributions to Bay Area theater, 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 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 theater 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 https://playground-sf.org.