Playwright Incubator PlayGround-LA Announces 11th Season Of New Plays

PlayGround-LA, Los Angeles's leading incubator for a new generation of playwrights, has shared plans for its eleventh season. The company has recently selected the Season 11 Writers Pool, competitively chosen from open applications of short plays.

Over the course of the upcoming 2022-23 season, these writers will generate over 150 original short plays, of which 36 will be developed as part of Monday Night PlayGround, a celebrated monthly script-in-hand staged reading series that is at the core of PlayGround's multi-tiered writer development process. Each month, PlayGround-LA announces a topic and invites members of the yearly Writers Pool to submit original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic and written in just four-and-a-half days.

The top six scripts, selected by a panel of PlayGround-LA Company members, are staged by leading local directors and actors and presented before an audience on second Mondays, October-March. The season kicks off on Monday, October 17 and, to ensure maximum audience accessibility and safety, the entire 2022-23 season will have both in-person and digital live stream viewing options.

PlayGround-LA concludes its eleventh season with the annual Best of PlayGround-LA, Monday, April 10, 2023, featuring a curated selection with input from audiences and Company members alike of the top six short works from the current season.

PlayGround now operates programs and companies in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York City, and - new this year - Chicago. In recognition of PlayGround's national presence, PlayGround will host an integrated hybrid in-person/online fundraising gala, the One PlayGround Gala, on Monday, September 19 at the Broadwater Plunge in Los Angeles, Potrero Stage in San Francisco, and at remote locations in NYC and Chicago.

In addition to PlayGround-LA, we are also offering streaming access to this year's PlayGround (SF), PlayGround-NY and PlayGround-Chicago seasons, with all events admission-free. Tickets for the 2022-23 seasons are now available at https://tickets.playground-sf.org. For more information, visit https://PlayGround-LA.org/Monday.

PlayGround is dedicated to the development of new and revolutionary voices for the stage, and considers long-term development strategies and building multi-year relationships a key part of that process. Yearly submissions for the Writers Pool are open to all local writers, and an intentional eye towards cultivating a continuing class of writers from the year's prior Pool in balance with recruiting new talent keeps each yearly Pool a dynamic entity.

The 2022-23 PlayGround-LA Writers Pool includes: returning writers Michael P. Adams, Evan Baughfman, Emily Brauer Rogers, Allie Costa, Lauren Gorski, Briggs Hatton, Aaron Higareda, Uma Incrocci, M.J. Kang, Starina Johnson, Arthur Keng, Mildred Inez Lewis, Rhea MacCallum, Scott Mullen, Joni Ravenna, Jessica June Rowe, Mark Sherstinsky, Ayesha Siddiqui, and Nicki Spencer, as well as new members Monique Aldred, Steve Apostolina, Jaisey Bates, Bailey Garcia, Summer Broyhill, Joe Cedillo, Mason Greer, Julio Hanson, Michael Kaplan, Ross Kendall, Keyanna Khatiblou, Ethan LaCaro, Liza McGowan, Peter Pasco, Lina Patel, Jennie Webb, and Karl Williams.

In addition, PlayGround-LA will welcome back the PlayGround-LA Company, a core group of actors, directors, and designers whose commitment, participation, and support make PlayGround-LA possible: Jahnavi Alyssa, Julia Belanova, Josef Bette, Sylvia Cervantes Blush, Harrison Butler, Ben Cain, Hugo Carbajal, Jordan Carlson, Jordan Covington, Frieda de Lackner, Hillary DeMartino, Carolyn Deskin, Rogelio Douglas III, Danny Gomez, Christian Haines, Julio Hanson, Mark Jacobson, Alexia Jasmene, Kurt Kanazawa, Stephanie T. Keefer, Emily Kuroda, Christopher Gary Lawson, Jully Lee, Christine Liao, Lea Madda, Jackie Marriott, Gabi Mayorga, Paris McCarthy, Rondrell McCormick, Sherry Michaels, Krystal Mosley, Tiffany Mualem, Melissa Ortiz, Tansu Philip, Gary Poux, Tiana Randall-Quant, Maiya Reaves, Jesus Reyes, Ivan Rivas, Debba Rofheart, Tahmus Rounds, Mae Ruling, Collette Rutherford, Anthony Rutowicz, Lamar Usher, Carla Vega, William Warren, Charlotte Williams, Christina Wren, and Demetrius Wren. Together with more than thirty other actors and directors drawn from throughout the greater L.A. theatre community, they help develop and stage the thirty-six original short plays featured in PlayGround-LA's monthly Monday Night series.

PlayGround will be holding open auditions for this season of performances via online video appointment (reservation required) on Sunday, September 11, 3pm-5pm PT. For more information and to schedule an audition slot, visit https://playground-la.org/audition.

PlayGround-LA is the first regional expansion of the celebrated Bay Area playwright incubator and theatre community hub, PlayGround. PlayGround was launched in San Francisco in 1994 by co-founders Jim Kleinmann, Brighde Mullins, and Denise Shama. In 1996, Kleinmann became PlayGround's first Artistic Director. Since its founding, PlayGround has developed and staged over 1,000 original ten-minute plays more than 300 Bay Area and Los Angeles early-career writers and has commissioned/developed 100 full-length plays by distinguished PlayGround alumni, premiering 34 of these through PlayGround's innovative New Play Production Fund. In the process of staging those works, PlayGround has helped to identify some of the leading emerging writers and, at the same time, has effectuated the creation of a true community of theatre artists, bringing together hundreds of local actors, directors and playwrights.

PlayGround's alumni have gone on to win local, national and international honors for their short and full-length work, including recognition at the O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Lark, Humana Festival, the Glickman Awards, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and New York International Fringe Festival, among others. Directors and actors participating in PlayGround are among some of the most distinguished theatre professionals, regularly working on leading local stages.

All performances will take place live at The Broadwater Theaters, 1178 Lillian Way, Los Angeles, and will be simulcast via Vimeo live stream. Tickets are available now. To ensure maximum accessibility, admission is free (donations gratefully accepted).

One PlayGround Gala

• September 19, 2022 @ 5:30-8PM PT

Monday Night PlayGround

• October 17, 2022 @ 7PM PT

• November 14, 2022 @ 7PM PT

• December 12, 2022 @ 7PM PT

• January 9, 2023 @ 7PM PT

• February 13, 2023 @ 7PM PT

• March 13, 2023 @ 7PM PT

Best of PlayGround-LA

• April 10, 2023 @ 7PM PT

To reserve tickets, visit https://tickets.playground-sf.org.

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