Playground Will Host 30th Anniversary Gala

One of the nation’s oldest, most respected, and largest developer of new works for the theatre, PlayGround marked its third decade of incubating new plays by hosting simultaneous parties in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco on Monday, September 16, 2024. The PlayGround 30th Anniversary Gala events, which were also livestreamed, featured a starry array of playwright alumni, including many of the busiest names in theatre today. Notable gala attendees included Tanika Baptiste, Carson Becker, Ben Cain, Josh Costello, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Howard Ho, Jully Lee, Mildred Inez Lewis, Aaron Loeb, Richard Perez, Shariba Rivers, Geetha Reddy, Jacob Marx Rice, Diana Simonzadeh, Jonathan Spector, Jon Tracy, and Jennie Webb. 

“I don't know if I would be a playwright today if it weren’t for PlayGround,” said surprise guest Jonathan Spector, PlayGround alumni member and playwright of Eureka Day, which makes its Broadway debut this season. “I remember that first Monday Night reading. It was the first time I had my work read in front of an audience and hearing the audience laugh at what I wrote I was hooked.”  

The PlayGround 30th Anniversary Gala celebrated the company’s launching over 350 significant new playwrights and more than 1,500 new plays onto The National Theatre scene by playwrights including Lauren Yee, Jonathan Spector, Geetha Reddy, Diana Burbano, Cleavon Smith, and hundreds of others. Highlighting the many accomplishments of its expanding company and prestigious alumni, this event came at a key moment, as the organization emerges post-pandemic with an expanded national presence and reach. Thanks to PlayGround’s commitment to radical accessibility, the program now offers its signature short play program, Monday Night PlayGround, in four major theatre hubs: the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, with all programs offered admission-free and simulcast online in a first-in-the-nation partnership with SAG-AFTRA. The company has also forged deeper ties to the San Francisco Bay Area artistic community through a growing suite of locally presented programs at PlayGround’s home theatre, Potrero Stage.  

“We are so grateful to our PlayGround community for helping us raise the vital funds to continue our work developing new plays, launching some of the nation’s most significant new writers,” said PlayGround Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann. “Thanks to these generous gifts, we will be able to continue offering Pay-What-You-Will and free programming to the communities of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City, which collaborate in fostering innovative new voices in theatre today.”  

PlayGround’s 30th Anniversary Gala commemorated PlayGround’s legacy by honoring 30 distinguished playwright alumni: Linda Amayo-Hassan, Esther Banegas Gatica, Cass Brayton, Diana Burbano, Patricia Cotter, Bailey Jordan Garcia, Dana Leslie Goldstein, Prince Gomolvilas, Ruben Grijalva, Garret Jon Groenveld, Julianne Jigour, Nina Ki, Molly Olis Krost, Mildred Inez Lewis, Aaron Loeb, Daniel Martinez, Jr., Daniele Nathanson, Evelyn Jean Pine,Ken Prestininzi, Geetha Reddy, Jacob Marx Rice, Carolina Rojas, Jessica June Rowe, Jonathan Spector, Nicki Spencer, Tom Swift, Malachy Walsh, Jennie Webb, Christian Wilburn, and Maury Zeff. Funds raised at the event enable PlayGround to create more opportunities for working artists across the country, establishing a national network for promising new voices.  

The gala events included cocktail receptions, welcome from PlayGround Board Chair Stephanie Prentice, four-course gourmet meals, an excerpt from PlayGround member Michael P. Adams’ Love Language of Origin, directed by PlayGround Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann and performed by Louel Señores, Isabel To, and Ron Campbell, a Fund-a-Need auction that raised critical funds to support programming, followed by dessert and a closing toast.  

PlayGround’s 30th anniversary stands as a true celebration of the vitality and promise of the American Theatre. It also launches PlayGround’s 30th anniversary season, which kicks off with the Monday Night PlayGround series presented in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, featuring 36 playwrights in each city developing new works. PlayGround’s signature incubator program, running October 2024 through March 2025, will create more than 600 new short plays of which 144 will be staged by the four communities over the course of 24 public events, all performed in-person with professional actors, live on stage and simulcast. 

The season also launches its Resident Playwrights Program, in which 12 selected playwright alumni are offered posts, including five commissions. The 30thanniversary season will also feature more than 100 public performances of works by PlayGround playwrights, offering the public a range of shows from fringe-style productions to a Hitchcock-inspired holiday event, new solo performances, developmental staged readings, and premieres of bold new full-length plays.  

In the spring, Best of PlayGround will offer the public the top selections from the season, with performances in Los Angeles (April 14, 2025), New York (April 28, 2025), Chicago (May 5, 2025) and San Francisco (May 24-25, 2025). The company also presents the PlayGround Festival of New Works, featuring developmental staged readings and premieres, including bold new plays by top high school dramatists. The season wraps up with its Third Annual One PlayGround Festival, a two-and-a-half-day event and conference that brings together the national PlayGround community for workshops, panels, and performances, May 30-June 1, 2025. For more information on its 30th anniversary season, please visit playground-sf.org, playground-la.org, playground-ny.org, or playground-ch.org.  

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