PlayGround & Potrero Stage present

Potrero Stagers Launch Party

May 1st 2021 7pm-8:15pm PT

via Zoom Live Stream

The Slutty Virgin
written & performed by Caroline Hawthorne

Analog Theatre / The Forum Collective / The Chikahan Company present
This Is Not Moose & Tweety
directed by Ely Sonny Orquiza
created by Rebecca Pingree, Elissa Beth Stebbins, Julius Rea & Ely Sonny Orquiza
performed by Elissa Beth Stebbins & Ely Sonny Orquiza

Beethoven and Misfortune Cookies
by Joni Ravenna
performed by Rayshawn Chism

PlayGround presents
Perfect
by Jonathan Luskin
directed by M. Graham Smith
Charlie…………………………………………………………………………..Julia McNeal
Morgan…………………………………………………………………Stephanie Prentice
Mark……………………………………………………………………………..Aaron Wilton
Jeanine………………………………………………………………………….Elena Wright

Golden Thread Productions presents
25th Anniversary Highlights

Not One Of Us
Written & performed by Diane M. Barnes

The Moonrisers presents
The Adventures of Levitia Artorius Lammersby
by Christopher Robin Magee
directed by Melissa Ortiz
Levitia…………..…………………………………………………………Jamie Lee Hart
Newscaster…………………………………………………………….Sara-Jean Bartky

The Bride
Written & performed by Chris Steele AKA Polly Amber Ross

Theatre Cultura presents
Corazón of a Latina
written & directed by Linda Amayo-Hassan
featuring Michelle Navarette & April Ballesteros

PlayGround presents
La Planchada
by Eteya Trindad
directed by Tessa Corrie
Ramón……………………………………………………………………….Hugo E. Carbajal
Lola………………………………………………………………………………….Gisela Feied
La Planchada…………………………………………………………………..Carla Pantoja

Poltergeist Theatre Project presents
The Julie Cycle
adapted by Chris Steele
from August Strindberg’s Miss Julie
originally directed by Giselle Boustani-Fontenele
featuring Chris Steele, Britt Lauer & Jaq Wolfe

Kunoichi Productions presents
The Tale of Princess Kaguya
by Ai Aida
Directed by Keiko Shimosato Carreiro
Co-directed by Nick Ishimaru
Featuring Carolyn Hu Bradbury, Nick Ishimaru & Sara Matsui-Colby

Proud and Bothered
by Marga Gomez

Artistic Leaders Roundtable
Linda Amayo-Hassan, Theatre Cultura
Keiko Shimosato Carreiro, Kunoichi Productions
Livia Gomes Demarchi, Latinx Mafia
Jim Kleinmann, PlayGround
Christopher Magee, The Moonrisers
Ely Sonny Orquiza, The Chikahan Company
Julius Rea, The Forum Collective
Rebecca Pingree, Analog Theatre
Leigh Rondon-Davis, The Forum Collective
Chris Steele, Poltergeist Theatre Project
Torange Yeghiazarian, Golden Thread Productions

Stage Manager/Sound Engineer – Sarah Gasser
Visual Consultant – Colin Johnson

We wish to express our gratitude to the Performers’ Unions:
ACTORS’ EQUITY ASSOCIATION
AMERICAN GUILD OF MUSICAL ARTISTS
AMERICAN GUILD OF VARIETY ARTISTS
SAG‐AFTRA
through Theatre Authority, Inc. for their cooperation in permitting the Artists to appear on this program.

BIOGRAPHIES

LINDA AMAYO-HASSAN (Panelist; Playwright, Director, Corazón of a Latina), she/her/hers, Artistic Director of Theatre Cultura, PlayGround Writers Pool and Equity Actor. Linda’s play, LA VIDA LOBO was in Best of PlayGround 23. ¡CHEER! and CORAZÓN OF A LATINA participated in PG’s Incubator showcase. STOLEN SISTERS, the Pear Theatre One Act Fest and LATINO SOULS will be in Back of the Yards Workshop Festival.

APRIL BALLESTEROS (Actor, Corazón of a Latina), she/her/hers, is an actor, director, and stage manager. She is the Associate Artistic Director for Theatre Cultura and Artistic Learning & Development Associate at the California Shakespeare Theater. Her most recent credits, both via Zoom and in-person, include: Corazón of a Latina and Cheer! Story of a Dreamer (Theatre Cultura). 

DIANE M. BARNES (Playwright/Actor, Not One of Us), she/her, is an actor, writer and speaker.  Her award-winning solo show, My Stroke of Luck, developed with David Ford, played at The Marsh, numerous theater festivals and internationally.  Not One of Us, a trilogy, is her latest work. A Meisner trained actor, she studied with Anna Deveare Smith and Ann Randolph.

SARA-JEAN BARTKY (Actor, The Adventures of Levitia Artorius Lammersby, “Newscaster”), she/her, is an actor, singer, improviser, writer, producer, and director located in Oakland, California. Sara-Jean has appeared in local commercials as well as in the independent films “Tension” and “EastBay”. She is a founding member of the sketch comedy group Running With Glitter (RWG) and has been in numerous performances across the Bay Area including an appearance in the 2019 SF Sketchfest. Sara-Jean has also been a part of many East Bay stage productions including “Cinderella: A Fairy Tale” at Town Hall Theatre, “Darling Marjorie’s Arboretum”, and “Awesometown”. She continues to write, act in, and produce independent works with her partner and is a proud member of The Tribe Collective.

HUGO E CARBAJAL (Actor, La Planchada, “Ramón”), he/him/his, has been a theatre artist for over 20 years. An actor, director, and teacher. Served as a performer educator with Educational Theatre at Kaiser Permanente in Oakland for 8 years. He has also worked with companies such as Cal Shakes, Hartford Stage, Huntington Theatre, The Alley, SF Mime Troupe, Shotgun Players, Cuttingball Theatre, TeatroVision, and Bay Area Children’s Theatre, among others. Currently a professor of drama at Los Medanos College and CSU Chanel Islands. Currently pursuing a career on TV and Film in Los Angeles. Look for him on shows like SWAT, Good Girls, Brooklyn Nine Nine, and more.

KEIKO SHIMOSATO CARREIRO (Panelist; Director, The Tale of Princess Kaguya), she/they, is a Collective and Board Member with the Tony award winning San Francisco Mime Troupe. Since 1987, she has been an Actor, Designer, Co-Writer and Director with the Company and has been in almost every summer show since. Carreiro has performed at theaters throughout the Bay Area, including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, A.C.T., The Magic Theater, The Aurora Theater, Word for Word, and Center Rep.

RAYSHAWN CHISM (Actor, Beethoven and Misfortune Cookies), he/him, has been acting since 2011. He has appeared in over 20 stage productions throughout Los Angeles. Also he has appeared in multiple web series and short films, which has garnered him 2 awards. Rayshawn is grateful for the opportunity to be part of such an astounding piece.

LIVIA GOMES DEMARCHI (Panelist, Artistic Leaders Roundtable), she/her/hers, is a local Bay Area actor, originally from São Paulo, Brazil. She holds a degree in Theater and Performance Studies from UC Berkeley and has worked at the Magic Theater, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, SF Playhouse, Center Rep, Crowded Fire and Marin Shakespeare. She is a proud member of Playground SF and Latinx Mafia Theater Collective. She is committed to radical representation and inclusion within her own community and the theater beyond.

GISELA FEIED (Actor, La Planchada, “Lola”), she/her/they, is very excited to be a part of the Portrero Stagers Launch Party! In 2019, she graduated from PCPA where she had the pleasure to be in the ensemble for the Crucible, play Toodles from Peter Pan, and Hermia from A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Currently, she is working with Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre in the Ghosted program bringing mental health awareness and tools for mental wellness virtually to high schools across Northern California. Muchas gracias por esta oportunidad!

MARGA GOMEZ (Co-Host; Performer, Proud and Bothered), she/her/they, is a comedian, teaching artist and writer/performer of thirteen solo plays which have been presented nationally and locally. She is an artist-in-residence at Brava Theater. Margas’ online solo performance labs will be starting in May/June. For more information visit HERE! 

JAMIE LEE HART (Actor, The Adventures of Levitia Artorius Lammersby, “Levitia”), she/her/hers, recently relocated to Oregon. She uses live theatre performance, dance, song, documentary theatre, puppets, comedy, and video to explore and inspire action around social and environmental responsibility, milestones and challenges, and spaceship earth perspective for families and children. Her philosophy is rooted in compassion, honesty, humor, and improvisation.

CAROLINE HAWTHORNE (Playwright/Actor, The Slutty Virgin), she/her, is an actor, singer, and comedian from Los Angeles, CA. She has performed in everything, from opera to musicals to Shakespeare. Her one woman show “The Slutty Virgin” premiered in the Playground Solo Festival in January. She has also written satire for The Nordly and The Broadway Beat.

JIM KLEINMANN (Panelist), he/him, co-founded PlayGround in 1994, along with playwright Brighde Mullins and director Denise Shama, and has served as Artistic Director since 1996. For PlayGround, he has provided artistic and administrative leadership for the past twenty-four seasons, developing PlayGround’s unique array of new playwright and new play incubator programs, including Monday Night PlayGround, the PlayGround Festival of New Works, the full-length play Commissioning Initiative, the New Play Production Fund, Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, and most recently the Innovator Incubator. For PlayGround, he has directed more than one hundred short and full-length plays, including works by Garret Jon Groenveld, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, Lauren Yee, Katie May, and many others. Recent directing and dramaturgy credits include David Steele’s Vignettes on Love and Ruben Grijalva’s Value Over Replacement. He is a veteran arts administrator with more than thirty years of experience, including stints leading Traveling Jewish Theatre, Smuin Ballet and Berkeley Symphony, and received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

CHRISTOPHER MAGEE (Panelist, Artistic Leaders Roundtable), he/him, is the Artistic Director for The Moonrisers. He is from Montana.

JULIA MCNEAL (Actor, Perfect, “Charlie”), she/her/hers, (AEA/SAG-AFTRA): Bay Area credits: A.C.T., Magic Theatre, Shotgun Players, Aurora Theatre, San Francisco Playhouse, Pacific Alliance Theatre, Actors Theatre of San Francisco, and PlayGround. Film/TV: The Unbelievable Truth; Flesh and Bone; Law and Order; Law & Order: SVU. Julia is a proud member of ARC and of the PlayGround Company. For more information visit HERE! 

MICHELLE NAVARRETE (Actor, Corazón of a Latina), she/her/Chingona, is a Theatre Artist, both on and off the stage. Born and raised in SF and the Bay Area, she fell in love with performing and storytelling at an early age. From singing out to her Abuelitas favorite rancheras and belting out showtunes, she has always followed her fire within. After receiving her BFA in Theatre Arts from Marymount Manhattan College, she continued her career in NYC performing and producing theatre. In the Bay Area, she has worked with TheatreFirst (Company Collective Member), Cal Shakes, Custom Made Theatre, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, Impact Theatre, Faultline Theatre, Theatre Cultura, to name a few. She is also a proud member of Latinx Mafia (For more information visit HERE!). As a performer, Educator and activist, she has made theatre and the performing arts part of her life and part of her message.

ELY SONNY ORQUIZA (Panelist; Director/Actor, This Is Not Moose & Tweety), he/him, is a Queer Filipino multidisciplinary theater maker based in San Francisco, Bay Area. Through theater and the performing arts Orquiza explores the role of the Asian diaspora, Asian American experience, ancestral ghosts, and the politics of Queer/ness for the American stage. He champions new works by BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) artists, examines previously untold folklore, and advocates for undiscovered works highlighting narratives of intersectional identities. He believes in the remarkable power of equity and representation in storytelling to bridge the divide and differences amongst us.

MELISSA ORTIZ (Director, The Adventures of Levitia Artorius Lammersby), she/her, is a PlayGround Company member & Ambassador.  Most recently she played Gemma in FLIGHT, written by Neiry Rojo for PlayGround’s Solo Fest.  Up next:  Ariel, in Rubin Grijalva’s Shoot Me When… at SF Playhouse . Thanks to her family and her husband, for their love and support.

CARLA PANTOJA (Actor, La Planchada, “La Planchada”), she/her, she/her, was born and raised in the South Bay. She is an actor, fight director, teaching artist, and mom of two. In 2020 she was in the acting company at Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She is a resident artist with San Francisco Shakespeare Festival and Member Representative on Dueling Arts International’s board.

REBECCA PINGREE (Panelist, Artistic Leaders Roundtable), she/her/hers, is a Berkeley-based actor, singer, and theatre maker. She’s a company member of TheatreFirst’s T1 Collective, PlayGround’s Acting Company, and the co-founder (w/Elissa Beth Stebbins) of Analog Theatre. Pingree is also a grateful member of the peer resource exchange group Producing in Pandemic, and BAARJ (Bay Area Artists for Racial Justice). 

STEPHANIE PRENTICE (Actor, Perfect, “Morgan”), she/her, is a Bay Area native, and has been an AEA member for almost 20 years. She is frequently seen in Monday Night PlayGround, appeared in Best of PlayGround 19 and 20, and has performed in three full-length Festival of New Works plays. Stephanie, a PG company member since 2015, also serves on the PG Board of Directors, is a co-chair of the PG Ambassadors, and is casting director for TheatreFIRST in Berkeley.

JONI RAVENNA (Playwright, Beethoven and Misfortune Cookies), she/her, is an award-winning playwright, published author, TV writer and journalist, and has had scores of productions of her plays over the last several years. Look for Beethoven and Misfortune Cookies onstage this summer at the Austin Public Theatre and virtually in the international SOS Festival.  For more info:  HERE! and/or HERE!

JULIUS REA (Panelist, Artistic Leaders Roundtable), he/him, is a playwright, curator and performer. In addition to writing as a freelance journalist, he obtained a degree in Philosophy at San Francisco State University. He is a part of Crowded Fire Theatre’s 2020-21 Resilience and Development Lab, leading up to a new play production in their 2021 Rough Reading Series. In 2018, he co-founded a journalism theatre company, The Forum Collective. 

LEIGH RONDON-DAVIS (Panelist, Artistic Leaders Roundtable), they/them, is a Bay Area-based performer, dramaturg, and director. Leigh has worked for many local theaters including Aurora Theatre, Curran, Playwrights Foundation, Magic Theatre, and West Edge Opera. They are a Resident Artist at Crowded Fire and a Company Member with Shotgun Players and Oakland Theater Project.

ELISSA BETH STEBBINS (Actor, This Is Not Moose & Tweety), she/her, is a Bay Area based actor and teaching artist. In 2020, she co-founded Analog Theatre with Rebecca Pingree as part of PlayGround’s Innovator Incubator program. She has performed and taught all around the bay, with companies like Berkeley Rep, TheatreWorks, Shotgun Players, SF Playhouse, Crowded Fire and Cutting Ball, among others. Her passion for education is both for others and herself, so after earning her BA in Theater Arts and English at Santa Clara University, she has continued to train whenever and however possible, including two long stints with Shakespeare and Company in Massachusetts, and the three month ATELIER Mask Movement Theatre in Italy.

CHRIS STEELE (Panelist; Writer/Performer, The Bride; Writer/Performer, The Julie Cycle), they/them, is a queer trans-nonbinary performance artist, writer, activist, and horror enthusiast. Their work centers on highlighting queer narratives throughout history and combating bigotry and white supremacy. They’re a co-founder of Poltergeist Theatre Project: a queer theater collective, and their award-winning drag personas Polly Amber Ross/Peter Pansexual can be found on instagram @pollyandpeter.

LIAM VINCENT (Co-host), he/him, has been a professional actor in the bay area for the last 25 years. From 2018-2020 he was the host of Drivetime trivia which won the 2020 Webby award for people’s voice winner. He was recently appointed PlayGround’s first Director of Growth.

AARON WILTON (Actor, Perfect, “Mark”), he/him/his, is elated to be working with PlayGround again where he is part of the acting company.  Notable stage productions include George Street Playhouse’s Inspecting Carol (with Peter Scolari & Dan Lauria), Aurora Theatre Company’s John Gabriel Borkman (with Karen Grassle) and the lead in Hudson Stage Company’s After All (with Broadway’s Walter Charles & Susan Pellegrino).

ELENA WRIGHT (Actor, Perfect, “Jeanine”), she/her, is a bay area actor, fight choreographer, teacher, and director.  She has performed with Theatreworks, SF Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, Marin Shakespeare, Capital Stage, Symmetry Theatre, California Shakespeare Theatre, Shotgun Players, Pacific Repertory Theatre, B Street Theatre, Seattle Shakespeare, Foothill Theatre, and Commonwealth Shakespeare among others. She is a company member of Playground, Symmetry Theatre, and Actors Equity. She holds an MFA in acting from the University of Washington and a BS in theatre from Northeastern University.

TORANGE YEGHIAZARIAN (Panelist, Artistic Leaders Roundtable), she/her, is the Founding Artistic Director of Golden Thread Productions, the first American theatre company focused on the Middle East where she launched such visionary programs as ReOrient Festival, New Threads, Fairytale Players, and What do the Women Say?, and timely initiatives such as Islam 101 and Project Alo? Torange has been recognized by Theatre Bay Area and is one of Theatre Communication Group’s Legacy Leaders of Color. She was honored by the Cairo International Theatre Festival and the Symposium on Equity in the Entertainment Industry at Stanford University. A playwright, director, and translator, Torange contributed a case study chapter to “Casting a Movement”, forthcoming from Routledge, 2019. Her translation and stage adaptation of Nizami’s “Leyla Majnun” is published on Gleeditions.com. She has been published in The Drama Review, American Theatre Magazine, AmerAsia Journal, and contributed to Encyclopedia of Women Islamic Cultures and Cambridge World Encyclopedia of Stage Actors. At Golden Thread, Torange directed OH MY SWEET LAND by Amir Nizar Zuabi, and the premieres of OUR ENEMIES: LIVELY SCENES OF LOVE AND COMBAT and SCENIC ROUTES by Yussef El Guindi, THE MYTH OF CREATION by Sadegh Hedayat, TAMAM by Betty Shamieh, STUCK by Amir Al-Azraki, VOICE ROOM by Reza Soroor, and adapted the poem, I SELL SOULS by Simin Behbehani for the stage. Torange was a member of the artistic team that developed BENEDICTUS, a collaboration among Iranian, Israeli, and American artists. She received a Gerbode-Hewlett Playwright Commission Award for ISFAHAN BLUES, a co-production with African American Shakespeare Company, and a commission from the Islamic Cultural Center of Northern California to write THE FIFTH STRING: ZIRYAB’S PASSAGE TO CORDOBA. Other plays include 444 DAYS, WAVES, and CALL ME MEHDI, included in the anthology “Salaam. Peace: An Anthology of Middle Eastern-American Drama,” TCG, 2009. Born in Iran and of Armenian heritage, Torange holds a Master’s degree in Theatre Arts from San Francisco State University.

PRODUCTION

SARAH GASSER (Resident Stage Manager & Sound Designer) joined PlayGround in 2017 and has staged managed for the Monday Night PlayGround series and PlayGround Festival. She stagemanages for companies around the Bay Area, including Brava and Bay Area Children’s Theatre. In her administrative capacities, she assists with PlayGround’s marketing, social media, communications, and website, as well as serving as assistant to the Artistic Director.

COLIN JOHNSON (Visual Designer) is a multi-hyphenate production artist who has sullied the grounds of the Bay Area arts since 2008. His work has been produced or featured at PlayGround, Pianofight, The Circus Center Cabaret, San Diego Comic-Con, Image Comics, Potrero Stage, Pint-Sized Plays, The Olympians Festival, Shotz, Shotgun Players, The Curran, and various theatre, radio and film venues throughout the country. He is the Artistic Director of Awesome Theatre, Chief Creative Officer at Troubleshoot Productions and an Instructor / Director / Designer at Circus Center. He makes movies until he gets too frustrated and makes theatre until he has panic attacks.

THE COMPANIES

ANALOG THEATRE’s mission is to create collaborative, out-of-the-box, multidisciplinary, multi-sensory storytelling, devising performances that rely on performing skills and collective acts of actor-audience imagination, rather than literal representations of reality onstage. Rather than competing with film to faithfully reproduce realism, Analog seeks to create rich settings, stories, and characters from empty space and bring alive objects that are inanimate. We believe simpler styles of storytelling can provide a catalyst for increased hope and imagination that is gravely needed in the world today. We use bodies, voices, instruments, audience interactions, improvisation, poetry, puppetry, maskwork, and mime, to create back-to-basics theatre magic.

THE CHIKAHAN COMPANY strives to develop the unique voice of and uplift the robust Filipinx narratives and artistries, and advocate its influence to the American theater, exploring Filipinx hxstory, politics, psychology, and diaspora through the craft of theater and the performing arts. Reclaiming and revealing the multifaceted cultures of the Filipinx community is a fundamental vision of the Chikahan Company in order to amplify the complex and dynamic narratives that have long been pushed to the margins and to actively challenge the stereotypes about our kapamilya (people), our kwento (story), and our kasaysayan (hxstory).

THE FORUM COLLECTIVE is dedicated to creating a new structure of journalism theatre. Focused on shared governance, its members mirror an editorial board when analyzing a central piece of work in relation to a political, social, or historic trend. This structure allows the company to redefine journalism theatre and detach from traditional hierarchies that have previously excluded marginalized communities. Overall, their multidisciplinary projects blend live performance, visual & audio art, written articles, and digital data compositions. The end result relates to different types of people and learning styles while deeply exploring a central topic. Additionally, the company’s development process focuses on in-depth interviews, research and community outreach to showcase the nuances in the narratives of marginalized groups. This unique mix of structure and intention leads to work that speaks for, to, and with audiences. theforumcollective.com

GOLDEN THREAD PRODUCTIONS, founded in 1996, is the first American theatre company focused on the Middle East. We produce passionate and provocative plays from and about the Middle East that celebrate the multiplicity of its perspectives and identities. We are a developmental catalyst and vibrant artistic home to artists at various stages of their career. We bring the Middle East to the American stage, creating treasured cultural experiences for audiences of all ages and backgrounds. https://goldenthread.org/

KUNOICHI PRODUCTIONS‘ mission is to create bold, innovative multidisciplinary theater with Japanese aesthetics, blending the ancient and the modern, using both comedy and philosophy, while fusing Eastern and Western theatrical elements. “Kunoichi” means “female ninja” or “female warrior.” We produce thought-provoking original plays with Japanese aesthetics, breaking traditions, taboos and gender/cultural assumptions; casting new light on old ideas or old stories; and engaging and challenging our audiences artistically, intellectually as well as politically through the fusion of different art forms – poetry, music, movement, visual arts, storytelling and puppetry. We are committed to supporting local artists with diverse backgrounds and talents, working and growing with them in an experimental, collaborative environment, and to bringing a fresh, multicultural perspective to the Bay Area and beyond. kunoichiproductions.org

LATINX MAFIA’s mission is to empower and support Latinx teatristas by reclaiming, demystifying and recreating Latinx representation in theatre/media. Our vision: To ensure that Latinx representation in theatre and media radically and accurately embraces historically marginalized communities including but not limited to: the LGBTQ+ community, indigenous and Afro-Latinx people, differently-able folx, migrants regardless of immigration status, and the many linguistic backgrounds in Latin America. https://latinxmafia.com

THE MOONRISERS is dedicated to creating new works featuring the bizarre, the magical, and the surreal, that joyously celebrate escapism and embrace comedy of the absurd. To never linger overlong on a success but hurtle forward with new, exciting projects. To plant a seed of levity in our audience that can be carried and shared with others, in abundance. themoonrisers.wordpress.com

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 200 early career playwrights, developing and staging more than 950 of their original short plays through the Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned 85 new full-length plays by 55 of these writers through its Commissioning Initiative and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 30 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.

POLTERGEIST THEATRE PROJECT‘s mission is to reclaim Queer narratives through performance processes that dismantle toxic cultural norms, viscerally immerse audiences, and celebrate the innovation and liberation of Queer folx. Their vision: Theatre that follows you home. Honoring San Francisco’s strong tradition of revolutionary art that ignites the flame of cultural and societal progress, Poltergeist creates radically queer, feminist, intrinsically participatory theater. Whether highlighting work by new artists or subverting and re-framing a problematic public domain play to create a brand new adaptation, Poltergeist seeks to normalize and centralize Other narratives. Focusing on the tenets of inclusivity, representation, and accessibility, Poltergeist seeks to remind this city of its deep roots in queer art. poltergeistproject.org

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. And, now through the 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.

THEATRE CULTURA‘s mission is, first and foremost, to provide the opportunity for local and national Latina theater artists to have a place for their voices to be heard in high quality, deeply invested productions. TC’s intention is create theater that will inspire, inform, challenge, empower, embrace and reflect the lives and communities of Latinas of the SF Bay Area and around the country. Themes of immigration, Latinx and women’s issues will provide the main focus for content. Plays will mostly be original and selected from active, working Latina playwrights from around the country. theatrecultura.org