PlayGround Announces the Eighth Annual Solo Performance Festival
PlayGround has announced the lineup for its eighth annual PlayGround Solo Performance Festival, a curation of the best in Bay Area solo performance, running January 24-February 9, 2025 (Fri-Sun), presented live at San Francisco’s Potrero Stage and simulcast online. The festival of new solo work features 18 double-bill performances by twelve California artists over three weeks, including Diana Brown, Ben Chau-Chiu, Elijah Jalil Paz Fisher, Safiya Fredericks, Jon Gentry, Steve Harper, Ric Iverson, Lucy London, Daniel Martinez Jr., Aaron Pang, Tansu Philip, and Miyoko Sakatani. This year’s festival was competitively selected from open applications, and is a direct extension of PlayGround’s mission and commitment to the discovery of bold new voices for the stage and the development of innovative and timely original content. Tickets are free with donations gratefully accepted, directly supporting our artists. For more information or to purchase tickets, visit https://playground-sf.org/solofest.
Schedule of Performances and Show Synopses:
Safiya Fredericks in The Birthday Girl!
1/24 at 7 pm, 1/25 at 4 pm & 1/26 at 1 pm This show has been described as a comical drama/dark comedy/dramedy. It takes place over the course of a day where I am trying to have a celebratory birthday rather than a “spend the day alone” kind of day. In my attempt to do this there is an underlying tone of grief which some years takes more of a front seat than others. “My parents are dead.” Throughout the meticulously planned day there are run ins with various characters, stories of past dates all the while looking forward to a night out with my best friend, which paints a clearer picture of what it’s like to be a single gal navigating life solo. There’s a lot of music sung or played and a simple set would be nice if possible depending on what is available in the space.
Jon Gentry in Black Bastard
1/24 at 7pm, 1/25 at 7pm, & 1/26 at 1pm Black Bastard is a poignant exploration of identity and becoming, told in phases that move through the intricacies of growing up as the black sheep navigating queerness and fatherlessness in the South. Through literature, clowning, self-discovery, and original song, the production invokes 90s nostalgia in a jambalaya of memoir, embodied character transformation, and socio-cultural commentary. The show confronts stereotypes about absent Black fathers while exploring broader themes of identity, expression, and our collective search for belonging and ultimately home.
Elijah Jalil Paz Fisher in The SKiBiDi M’FiN BiBiDi EXPERIENCE
1/25 at 4pm, 1/26 at 4pm, & 1/31 at 7pm THE SKiBiDi M’FiN BiBiDi EXPERiENCE is a one-person, musical, and athletic performance that wrestles with the comedic and sophisticated absurdity of modern-day existence through the examination of addiction, expectation, and the English language in an ever-evolving quest for understanding, knowledge, and wisdom. Its form spans multiple genres from an epic poem to a rap waltz to a performance art installation to a contemporary hip-hop dance piece. Most notably, THE SKiBiDi M’FiN BiBiDi EXPERiENCE aims to motivate the audience to look up from their phones and discuss what a cultural reset looks like amongst the middle class.
Daniel Martinez Jr. in What’s in a Name?
1/26 at 4pm, 2/1 at 7pm, & 2/2 at 1pm What’s In a Name? is the story of Gregory. He’s in his 30s and has worked hard his entire life to be successful. He wakes up, goes to work, comes home, and repeats. One day, he visits a medium who leaves their clients with their greatest attribute tattooed to their forehead. To his horror, and on the eve of his big promotion, Gregory looks in the mirror to see CUMDUMP tattooed on his forehead. A peculiar situation! Gregory grapples with the consequences of his choice, and the highs and lows of coming to terms with their true nature. This play explores the concept of living your life for yourself and on your own terms, and not living your life for other people.
Aaron Pang in Herein Lies The Truth
1/26 at 7pm, 2/1 at 4pm, & 2/2 at 7pm Herein Lies the Truth is a solo performance, part theater, part standup, in the vein of storytellers like Mike Birbiglia and Derek Del Gaudio. When people see my cane, they have the instinctual urge to ask “what happened?” – this show answers that question. This show tells two stories of how I became disabled: the first is a sweet lie, a feel-good story of triumph, love, and satisfaction; the second the truth, something messy, morally gray, and unsatisfying. The stories walk through my journey to find love and sex in this disabled body through online dating and sex work. It explores the structures of stories we tell about disabled people, and challenges the audience to examine their own biases and wants for “inspirational disabled stories” by playing with their delicate understanding of what truth could be. They are caught red-handed wanting the “inspirational story,” and the show ends by giving them the choice to hear a happy ending or a sad ending. So far, every audience has chosen the happy ending. The audience feels delight, mistrust, doubt, and self-reflection through the series of stories presented. I’m sharing something vulnerable and f**king with you along the way.
Ben Chau-Chiu in Lucky Chances
1/26, 2/1, & 2/9 at 7pm Lucky Chances is a collection of romantic tales and meet cutes, some real and some imagined, told in storybook fashion to the audience. This piece explores love, relationships, and intimacy, and how each of those evolve over time as we meet potential, or realized, partners.
Ric Iverson in Period. New Paragraph.
1/25, 2/2 at 7pm, & 2/9 at 1pm This is a follow up to last year’s award winning solo work, Ric Iverson is Alive and Well and Living in Milpitas. Surviving cancer was a huge part of that show. Being recently diagnosed with Stage IV Prostate Cancer, Ric’s just not sure where this new version is taking him…but it’s definitely still a musical!
Steve Harper in SNOW (Black man / White out Conditions)
1/31 at 7pm, 2/1 at 4pm, & 2/2 at 1pm During a mid-pandemic drive from Reno to L.A., Steve is just trying to make it home (from his husband’s house in Nevada) when a freak snow storm turns the trip into a near-death experience. The journey is harrowing, absurd, thought-provoking and funny, touching on issues of race, loss, grief, death, and loneliness. Snow: Black man. White out Conditions reveals sharp truths about modern life, mortality, faith and what it means to survive.
Miyoko Sakatani in I Wasn’t Always An Asian
2/2, 2/8, & 2/9 at 4pm Miyoko takes us on a funny and sometimes serious look at what it means to be Asian-American and more specifically, Japanese-American. The performance is a mix of biography, stand-up, storytelling, and an impersonation of an iconic Japanese-American woman. She will take us on a journey of how the Japanese-American’s rose from the depth of exclusion, anti-Asian laws and imprisonment to economic and educational success as “model minorities.” And how Japan’s cultural exports influenced and contributed to the lives of the Japanese in America. She also gives the audience a look into how America’s traditional cinematic and theatrical history deeply influenced her perspective and place in America, and why there are so few notable Japanese-Americans in the performing arts compared to other Asian cultures.
Lucy London in Grasping at Straws
2/2 at 4pm, 2/8, 2/9 at 7pm Grasping at Straws: Reflections on an Activist Trajectory explores the contradictions and nuances of changemaking through storytelling, poetry, movement, song, meditation, and community building. Lucy’s performance brings audiences along on her evolving theory of changemaking, from championing individual sustainability in high school as “the straw girl,” to focusing on systems change and living in Indigenous-led resistance camps fighting the Line 3 tar sands pipeline in Minnesota during the summer of 2021. Through sharing these experiences, Lucy hopes to prompt personal and community reflection and collective healing. Grasping at Straws considers the question: how do we recognize our agency among waves of other people’s theories of change, navigate the inherent and ever-present contradictions of changework, and acknowledge our interconnectedness with all things?
Tansu Philip in Most Achieved Person
2/7 at 7pm, 2/8 at 4pm, & 2/9 at 1pm Most Achieved Person is a follow-up to Paratha, exploring familiar themes while charting new territory. In this piece, Tansu once again serves as the narrator, but instead of revisiting her Indian-American identity and travels to India, she invites you into her life over the past two years. It’s a candid and humorous look at taking on too much, burning out, and ultimately finding relief in medication. This comedy emphasizes the value of community and mental health, delivering a relatable and hilarious journey. It also features Bollywood dancing!
Diana Brown in VERTIGO-BUT NOT THE MOVIE by Susan Lily Jackson
2/7 at 7pm, 2/8 at 7pm, & 2/9 at 4pm Lily reveals her unexpected connection to Vertigo–but not the movie--the chronic condition. Is there humor after being diagnosed? Yes, because now she can’t clean the house: PPPD and all its variations are explored in this informative/amusing/eye opening exposure of what it’s like to be dizzy all the time.
Performances by date:
Friday, January 24, 2025, 7pm
Safiya Fredericks in THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!
Jon Gentry in BLACK BASTARD
Saturday, January 25, 2025, 4pm
Elijah Jalil Paz Fisher in THE SKIBIDI M’FIN BIBIDI EXPERIENCE
Safiya Fredericks in THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!
Saturday, January 25, 2025, 7pm
Jon Gentry in BLACK BASTARD
Ric Iverson in PERIOD. NEW PARAGRAPH.
Sunday, January 26, 2025, 1pm
Safiya Fredericks in THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!
Jon Gentry in BLACK BASTARD
Sunday, January 26, 2025, 4pm
Elijah Jalil Paz Fisher in THE SKIBIDI M’FIN BIBIDI EXPERIENCE
Daniel Martinez Jr. in WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Sunday, January 26, 2025, 7pm
Ben Chau-Chiu in LUCKY CHANCES
Aaron Pang in HEREIN LIES THE TRUTH
Friday, January 31, 2025, 7pm
Steve Harper in SNOW (BLACK MAN / WHITE OUT CONDITIONS)
Elijah Jalil Paz Fisher in THE SKIBIDI M’FIN BIBIDI EXPERIENCE
Saturday, February 1, 2025, 4pm
Aaron Pang in HEREIN LIES THE TRUTH
Steve Harper in SNOW (BLACK MAN / WHITE OUT CONDITIONS)
Saturday, February 1, 2025, 7pm
Daniel Martinez in WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Ben Chau-Chiu in LUCKY CHANCES
Sunday, February 2, 2025, 1pm
Steve Harper in SNOW (BLACK MAN / WHITE OUT CONDITIONS)
Daniel Martinez Jr. in WHAT’S IN A NAME?
Sunday, February 2, 2025, 4pm
Miyoko Sakatani in I WASN’T ALWAYS AN ASIAN
Lucy London in GRASPING AT STRAWS
Sunday, February 2, 2025, 7pm
Aaron Pang in HEREIN LIES THE TRUTH
Ric Iverson in PERIOD. NEW PARAGRAPH.
Friday, February 7, 2025, 7pm
Tansu Philip in MOST ACHIEVED PERSON
Diana Brown in VERTIGO-BUT NOT THE MOVIE by Susan L. Jackson
Saturday, February 8, 2025, 4pm
Miyoko Sakatani in I WASN’T ALWAYS AN ASIAN
Tansu Philip in MOST ACHIEVED PERSON
Saturday, February 8, 2025, 7pm
Diana Brown in VERTIGO-BUT NOT THE MOVIE by Susan L. Jackson
Lucy London in GRASPING AT STRAWS
Sunday, February 9, 2025, 1pm
Tansu Philip in MOST ACHIEVED PERSON
Ric Iverson in PERIOD. NEW PARAGRAPH.
Sunday, February 9, 2025, 4pm
Miyoko Sakatani in I WASN’T ALWAYS ASIAN
Diana Brown in VERTIGO-BUT NOT THE MOVIE by Susan L. Jackson
Sunday, February 9, 2025, 7pm
Lucy London in GRASPING AT STRAWS
Ben Chau-Chiu in LUCKY CHANCES
ARTIST BIOS:
Diana Brown (Performer, VERTIGO-BUT NOT THE MOVIE) is excited to be a part of PlayGround’s Solo Fest, and delighted to continue her collaboration with Susan Jackson. She’s appeared in Jackson’s plays TAKEN, WHEN YOU ARE CALLED, IN SITU, BLESSING HER HEART for which she was nominated for a BATCC award. She appeared in San Francisco and New York in the long-running two-hander DEAD CERTAIN. Diana has performed at the Spoleto Festival and the Capital City Fringe and others She’s half of the touring comedy duo BINGEWATCH. A guest artist with Bay Area TheatreSports and a member of the acting pool with Killing My Lobster.
Ben Chau-Chiu (LUCKY CHANCES) is an actor and director based in the Bay Area. They are a company member and ambassador with PlayGround SF, and have directed and performed with both the SF and NY companies. They’ve also been fortunate to work on multiple productions at A.C.T., Cal Shakes, and SF Shakes. As well as working on shows at Shotgun Players, SF Playhouse, 42nd Street Moon, and Berkeley Rep. benchauchiu.com
Claire Ganem (Director, LUCKY CHANCES) is a Bay Area-based theater director who specializes in new play development. She loves stories that explore feminine rage, queer joy, and the chaos of our rawest deepest emotions. Claire is a current company member and ambassador at PlayGround SF. In addition to PlayGround, her work has been featured at Cutting Ball Theatre. Town Hall Theatre, 3Girls Theatre, Z Below, Pianofight, Left Coast Theatre Company, and Magic Theatre, where she was an artistic direction apprentice during their 2018-2019 season.
Safiya Fredricks (THE BIRTHDAY GIRL!) has been happily navigating the acting world for several years. After studying at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and bumbling around New York, she found her way to a steady career in regional theater. She is the recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Featured Actress for her work in ‘black odyssey’ at CalShakes and was most recently seen in ‘Can I Touch It?’ At Rogue Machine Theatre in Los Angeles. Film/TV credits include Bitter Melon, I’m Charlie Walker, Sorry to Bother You, Book of Boba Fett, and 911.
Elijah Jalil Paz Fisher (THE SKIBIDI M’FIN BIBIDI EXPERIENCE) identifies as a Niggapino, and he is a multidisciplinary performance and recording artist from Richmond, CA. He received his BA in Theater from University of Portland and MFA in Acting from University of Montana. Throughout his work, Elijah expresses himself through songwriting, playwriting, poetry, and choreography. In the Bay, he has worked as an actor with AASC, and with his alma mater, SJND as a teacher/director. As he continues on his journey, Elijah aims to build a massive body of work that highlights the complexity of human existence, especially from his perspective as a Niggapino.
Jon Gentry (BLACK BASTARD) 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. Regional theater credits include roles in Masao and The Bronze Nightingale, A Christmas Carol, and Romeo and Juliet. Onscreen, he appeared in TEN, Behold a Lady, Meeting Matt Damon and voiced Preston Garvey in Fallout 4, gaining viral fame.
Steve Harper (SNOW (BLACK MAN / WHITE OUT CONDITIONS)) is a playwright and actor. Plays: co-writing Black Lives / Blue Lives (The Theater Project, NJ), Urban Rabbit Chronicles (Georgia Southern University), Princeton Theory, and Almost. TV: Tracker, God Friended Me, and American Crime. Acting: Guthrie, CATF, Cincinnati Playhouse. Education: Yale, A.R.T. Institute at Harvard and Juilliard playwriting program.
Ric Iverson (PERIOD. NEW PARAGRAPH.) can write himself out of any situation. Including stage IV prostate cancer. Hopefully.
Susan L. Jackson (Playwright, VERTIGO-BUT NOT THE MOVIE) received the Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle Award for Best Original Play. LEAVING SIMONE: Semi-Finalist for the National Playwrights Conference—Eugene O’Neill Center : Staged- read/produced New York City, Bay Area, Eugene O’Neill Foundation, William Inge Festival, Sydney, London. DEATH BE NOT LOUD! –Best of Capital Fringe—Washington Post positive review. Published: Smith and Kraus, (2017-2024) Finalist: Creede Repertory Theatre; Henley Rose Competition for Female Playwrights; Fusion Theatre Company; Centre Stage; 3Girls Theatre Co. Alum-PlayGround; Mid-America Theatre Conference; Last Frontier Theatre Conference; Powerstories: Voices of Women Festival; Sparks Creative Works, Believability: Shiny Unicorns Productions: Part of the SF Young Playwrights Festival with Lauren Yee.
Lucy London (GRASPING AT STRAWS) is a folk musician, performance artist and opera singer from Petaluma, California. She graduated in 2023 with a degree in performance studies from Northwestern University, where she also studied classical voice and environmental policy. She wrote and created her own solo performance Grasping at Straws: Reflections on an Activist Trajectory, which debuted in Spring 2023. She has performed with international folk ensembles in Delhi, India and Greensboro, North Carolina. She also co-composed and sang the leading role in Fox & Beggar Theatre Company’s Spring 2024 production, The Paper Operetta, that will tour in Fall 2025.
Daniel Martinez Jr. (WHAT’S IN A NAME?) is a playwright and actor from San Jose, CA. Daniel has written and performed two solo shows; Me Again and Round Hole. Daniel has written short plays and written his first full length play through the PlayGround Writers Pool. During the day, Daniel teaches at a film school for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Aaron Pang (HEREIN LIES THE TRUTH) is a storyteller, comedian, and writer living in Iowa City, Iowa. Aaron Pang tells uncomfortable, funny, and challenging stories about disability. He is interested in leading audiences to places they’ve never been. Aaron has appeared on The Moth Radio Hour, Proof by America’s Test Kitchen, and Frictions Media. His essays have appeared on Essay Daily and Michigan Quarterly Review. He has performed with The Moth Mainstage, Infinite Dream Festival, Unruly Storyfest, Slant’d Media, and more.
Tansu Philip (MOST ACHIEVED PERSON) is a queer, Indian-American actor/writer based in Los Angeles. Her solo show PARATHA premiered at PlayGround Solo Fest 2023 and has won awards!
Miyoko Sakatani (I WASN’T ALWAYS AN ASIAN) she/her, is a Sag-Aftra-e stage and screen actor, singer, writer, producer and a proud company member of SF PlayGround. Miyoko has performed on many Bay Area regional and community theater stages over many years, including writing and performing her solo piece, which she performed in PlayGround’s 2024 Solofest. Film credits include the award winning Samuel Goldwyn film “East Side Sushi” (IMDb.com/Miyoko Sakatani). As founding director of Playland Productions, Miyoko has produced and co-directed several short films and stage plays. Miyoko is also a member of a Bay Area all Asian ukulele band who performs regularly and gratuitously for residential care facilities.
Cezar Williams (Director, SNOW (BLACK MAN/WHITE OUT CONDITIONS)) is an award-winning director. Credits: Dancing on Eggshells (Billie Holiday Theatre), Till: A Musical (American Theater Group), The October Storm (Hudson Stage), and Mitchelville (Lean Ensemble Theatre). He is the Artistic Director of the Obie Award winning Fire This Time Festival and an NYU graduate.
PlayGround, a leading national playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s, Los Angeles’, New York’s, and Chicago’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 350 early career playwrights, developing and staging more than 1,500 of their original short plays through the Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned 100 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 36 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, Glickman Awards (including 6 of the last 10), O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and New York International Fringe 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.
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. Originally founded by Thick Description as Thick House in 1999, the theater underwent a significant renovation in 2016 and reopened in 2017 as Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays. The venue hosts more than 100 public performances each year for a combined audience of over 6,000, in-person and simulcast. For more information, visit https://potrerostage.org.