PlayGround’s 28th Season: In-Person & Simulcast

PlayGround, California’s leading playwright incubator and theatre community hub, has announced its 28th season, including the return of the celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series on third Mondays*, Oct-Mar, in-person this year at Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage and live simulcast (October 18, 2021-March 21, 2022). The season also includes an extensive array of new play programming at the company’s San Francisco theatre, Potrero Stage, including the Innovators Showcase (November 16-December 5, 2021), Solo Performance Festival (January 28-February 13, 2022) and Festival of New Works (May 9-29, 2022), featuring the premieres of Rachel Bublitz’ Funny, Like An Abortion and Daysha Veronica’s The Deliverance. PlayGround has also recently announced its 10th season in Los Angeles (PlayGround-LA) and, starting this Fall, its first season in New York (PlayGround-NY). All 2021-22 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.
* January’s Monday Night PlayGround will be the fourth Monday

2021-22 PlayGround Company

PlayGround also recently announced its 2021-22 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 2021-22 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, Evy 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

Members of the PlayGround 2021-22 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*, 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*
* Member, Actors’ Equity Association

Festival Groundbreaker Series

Highlighting this year’s PlayGround Festival (May 9-29, 2022) are two groundbreaking premieres: Will Glickman winner Rachel Bublitz’s Funny, Like An Abortion and Buzzfeed viral video “powerhouse” Daysha Veronica’s The Deliverance. Both works were originally developed as part of the 2021 PlayGround Festival (the second annual PlayGround Zoom Fest).

THE DELIVERANCE by Daysha Veronica
In the midst of a devastating trade war, climate change, and increasing racial tension, an aging and injured black farmer and his family struggle with how to maintain their faith in each other, the land, their history and the future of farming when an investor takes interest in buying their land. The Deliverance is a PlayGround-LA commission.

Daysha Veronica (The Deliverance), she/her, is a playwright, author, digital media producer, MFA candidate at UCLA and a Television Academy Foundation Internship alum. Her plays have been workshopped/performed at UC San Diego, UCLA, Meet Cute LA, Celebration Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop and PlayGround-LA. She has also received recognition/awards for her work from The Kennedy Center, Playwrights Foundation, Kentucky Women Writers Conference, UCLA, UC San Diego, University of Central Florida, and PlayGround-LA. Her digital work has appeared on Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, and The Huffington Post. Social: @DayshaVeronica.

FUNNY, LIKE AN ABORTION by Rachel Bublitz
Monroe finds herself knocked up, and since abortions are illegal in the United States, she throws a surprise abortion party with her best friend Jade. Monroe prepares over twenty at home abortion options for them to sort through, neither will walk away until they select the best of all of these terrible options. But that’s not all! Come on down for juggling, a tap dancing number, and a horrific view at what our future may hold. A comedic two-hander in one scene.

Rachel Bublitz (Funny, Like an Abortion), she/her, is a playwright and mom. She received the 2020 Will Glickman Award for Z Space’s world premiere production of her play Ripped. Other plays include Burst (developed with PlayGround, Utah Shakespeare Festival, MACH 33 Festival from Caltech and Pasadena Playhouse, and more), The Night Witches (commissioned and produced by Egyptian YouTheatre, published with Dramatic Publishing), and Let’s Fix Andy (developed at the Wyoming Theater Festival, finalist for the 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival). She was awarded the June Anne Baker Prize from PlayGround in 2015. When she isn’t writing, she’s chasing after her two viking-like kids. RachelBublitz.com.

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 and is launching our first East Coast hub this year with the launch of PlayGround-NY.

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. Visit https://playground-sf.org for more information.

2021-22 Season Calendar

Monday Night PlayGround
@ Berkeley’s Freight & Salvage & Live Simulcast
https://playground-sf.org/monday
October 18, 2021, 7pm
November 15, 2021, 7pm
December 20, 2021, 7pm
January 24, 2022, 7pm
February 21, 2022, 7pm
March 21, 2022, 7pm

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 16- December 5, 2021

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 2021 lineup will be announced on September 21.

PlayGround Solo Performance Festival
https://playground-sf.org/solofest
@ Potrero Stage & Live Simulcast
January 28-February 13, 2022

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 28-February 13, 2022, performed live at Potrero Stage and simulcast online, with nine double-bill performances over three weeks. Applications for the 5th annual Solo Fest are being accepted from California-based artists through October 31, 2021.

PlayGround Festival of New Works
https://playground-sf.org/festival
@ Potrero Stage & Live Simulcast
May 9-29, 2022

The yearly Festival of New Works, now in its 26th 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 2022 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.