Playwright Incubator PlayGround-NY Announces Season 2

PlayGround-NY, the first East Coast expansion of the celebrated California-based playwright incubator, has shared plans its second season. The company will shortly announce the Season 2 Writers Pool, 36 early-career NYC-based playwrights competitively selected from more than 90 applications received this summer.

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 monthly script-in-hand staged reading series that is at the core of PlayGround's multi-tiered writer development process. Each month, PlayGround 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 are staged by leading local directors and actors and presented this year online for a live (virtual) audience, beginning on Monday, October 24 and continuing on fourth Mondays through March.

PlayGround-NY concludes its second season with the annual Best of PlayGround-NY, Monday, April 24, 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 satellite locations in NYC and Chicago, with live performances from this past season's Best of, testimonials, and a four-course gourmet dinner. All proceeds will support the Monday Night series and artist compensation.

In addition to PlayGround-NY, we are also offering streaming access to this year's PlayGround (SF), PlayGround-LA 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-NY.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 Writers Pool of returning and new writers will be announced by September 1, 2022.

In addition, PlayGround-NY is pleased to welcome inaugural the PlayGround-NY Company, a core group of actors and directors whose commitment, participation, and support make PlayGround-NY possible: Jen Anaya, Rebecca Aparicio, Julia Brothers, Nathaniel Claridad, Sarah Guilbault, Neal Gupta, Tyler Kent, Kalina Ko, Nico Krell, Austin Ku, Jully Lee, MeeWha Lee, Norm Munoz, Graceson Abreu Nuñez, Betsy Rosen, Abigail Rosen, Alex Shafer, Rebecca White.

PlayGround-NY will be holding open auditions for this season of performances via online video appointment (reservation required) on Sunday, September 25, 12pm-2pm ET. For more information and to schedule an audition slot, visit https://playground-ny.org/audition.

PlayGround-NY is the second 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 by nearly 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, 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 online via Vimeo live stream and will also be available on-demand for pre-registered guests. To ensure maximum accessibility, admission is free (donations gratefully accepted). Advance reservations are required and registered guests will receive a Vimeo Live link within 24 hours of the performance.

One PlayGround Gala

• September 19, 2022 @ 8:30-11pm ET

Monday Night PlayGround

• October 24, 2022 @ 7pm ET / 4pm PT

• November 28, 2022 @ 7pm ET / 4pm PT

• December 26, 2022 @ 7pm ET / 4pm PT

• January 23, 2023 @ 7pm ET / 4pm PT

• February 27, 2023 @ 7pm ET / 4pm PT

• March 27, 2023 @ 7pm ET / 4pm PT

Best of PlayGround-NY

• April 24, 2023 @ 7PM ET / 4pm PT

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

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