30+ Theatres Join To Present Live Juneteenth Streamed Reading

San Francisco's new works incubator PlayGround in partnership with Bay Area theatre veteran Aldo Billingslea, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, Planet Earth Arts, and more than 30 leading theatres from the Bay Area and beyond team up to present a Juneteenth livestreamed Zoom reading of Vincent Terrell Durham's thrilling and timely play, Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids.

Taking a stand in support of Black theatre and proclaiming that Black Lives Matter on this historic anniversary, this Bay Area reading will be presented as part of the Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project, a national movement spanning theatres across America. In response to, and in solidarity with, the public outcry and civic uprising over the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and the countless others that came before them, simultaneous free readings of Durham's play will be offered on Juneteenth (June 19th).

Originally co-commissioned by PlayGround and Planet Earth Arts, this bold new play offers keen insight, leavened with humor, to portray the meeting of a well-meaning white liberal couple and Black Lives Matter activists. Presented as part of PlayGround Zoom Fest, the nation's largest livestreamed new works festival, Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids, with direction by Peter J. Kuo and an all-star cast of local and national actors, will be streamed live 7pm PT on Friday, June 19 to celebrate Juneteenth, which commemorates the 1865 reading of the Emancipation Proclamation to enslaved Black people in Texas. The public may stream Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids free, but donations are requested to support a bold Go Fund Me Campaign that aims to raise one million dollars for funding Black theatre projects in America. For information the public may visit PlayGround-sf.org/Juneteenth.

"This collaboration of theatres is exactly what theatre was meant to do: uniting for change, responding to the current moment, raising awareness and resources to support marginalized communities, and amplifying the voices of artists of color," says Aldo Billingslea, producer and leader of Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project. "With a perfect blend of wit, pathos and humor, this play speaks to some of the most pressing subjects of our time-gentrification, white fragility, the sustainability of the planet, the Black Lives Matter movement, and police violence against Black bodies."

The Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project was launched by Aldo Billingslea to center Black theatre artists and new voices, address systemic racism in the theatre industry and push for change, and help raise much needed funds in support of Black Theatres around the country. Theatres across the country are invited to stage their own their own Juneteenth readings of Polar Bears, Black Boys, and Prairie Fringed Orchids; those interested can contact Aldo Billingslea at aldo@playground-sf.org.

In Polar Bears, Black Boys, & Prairie Fringed Orchids, a liberal white couple open the doors of their renovated Harlem brownstone to host a cocktail party for a Black Lives Matter activist, his gay white lover, a sistah named Shemeka, and the mother of a slain 12 year-old black boy. A night of cocktails and conversation sparks emotional debates of topics including under-weight polar bears, Lana Turner, saving the planet, gentrification, racial identity and protecting the lives of black boys.

Co-commissioned and originally developed by PlayGround and Planet Earth Arts, Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids is a 2019 National New Play Network National Showcase of New Plays finalist and was presented in Stanford Repertory Theatre's 2019 Summer Festival in collaboration with PlayGround and Planet Earth Arts. This reading is co-presented by TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Marin Theatre Company, California Shakespeare Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, African-American Shakespeare Company, PlayGround, Planet Earth Arts, Aurora Theatre Company, Center REPertory Company, Central Works, City Lights Theatre Company, Crowded Fire Theater, Custom Made Theatre Company, Cutting Ball Theater, Livermore Shakespeare Festival, Marin Shakespeare Company, National Center for New Plays, Pear Theatre, Perspective Theatre, San Jose Stage Company, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Santa Cruz County Actor's Theatre, Santa Cruz Shakespeare, Silicon Valley Shakespeare, Stanford Repertory Theater, and TheatreFIRST. Additionally, theatres in nearly a dozen other regions including Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, Houston, Seattle, Tampa, San Diego, and Albany, New York are working on mounting readings with local casts.

Aldo Billingslea, producer and leader of Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project, is a professor of Theater at Santa Clara University where he teaches courses in performance and performance studies, including seminars on August Wilson and American Theater from the Black Perspective. He is an Associate Producer at PlayGround, where he is a longtime company member and past board member, and is a past interim Artistic Director and now board member of the Lorraine Hansberry Theater in San Francisco. He was SCU's inaugural Associate Provost for Diversity and Inclusion and served as the Vice President of the 100 Black Men of Silicon Valley. He also serves on the Board of Directors for the Renegade Theater Experiment, and on the advisory board of Gritty City Youth Repertory Theater and on the Board of Regents for Archbishop Mitty High School. As a professional stage actor, he has performed at dozens of theaters nationally and in the Bay Area, and in multiple films.

The Juneteenth Theatre Project has assembled a stellar cast for this livestreamed reading, including Jennifer Bradford, Britney Frazier, Rodney Earl Jackson Jr., Carrie Paff, Patrick Russell, Gabriel Q. Solomon, and Michael Ray Wisely.

Rodney Earl Jackson, Jr. plays Jaquan Wallace, a Black Lives Matter activist. Recently seen in Toni Stone at American Conservatory Theater, Jackson made his Broadway debut in The Book of Mormon and performed at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in the world premiere of Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of the Temptations. Previously, he traveled North America in the first national tour of Motown: The Musical. Jackson is a San Francisco native who built his love and foundation for arts and theatre in public city organizations such as the San Francisco Arts Education Project, San Francisco Recreation and Parks Department, Young People's Teen Musical Theatre Company, and the Ruth Asawa San Francisco School of the Arts. He is the cofounder/artistic director of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Company (SFBATCO), a five-year-old nonprofit whose mission is to produce live theater that authentically reflects the experiences of the Bay Area's historically and currently marginalized communities, while also creating mentorships that aspire to engage a new generation of live theater supporters, housed at the Brava Theater Center.

Carrie Paff, who will be playing Molly Castle, has been seen at Theatre for a New Audience, 59E59 Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Arizona Theatre Company, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Center REPertory Company, Marin Theatre Company, and San Francisco Playhouse. Her voice can be heard in Pixar's Finding Dory, The Good Dinosaur, and Lamp Life. Playing Peter Castle, Michael Ray Wisely's film and TV credits include "13 Reasons Why," "Nash Bridges," "Sasquatch 7," "Trauma," and The Man Next Door. He has performed Off-Broadway in Ideation at 59E59 Theater and onstage at leading Bay Area theatres including American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Magic Theatre, Aurora Theatre Company, Center REPertory Company, San Jose Stage, and 42 Street Moon.

Britney Frazier performs as Shemeka Davis. An actor, playwright, and teaching artist, Frazier has appeared on Bay Area stages including Berkeley Repertory Theatre, American Conservatory Theater, Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Cutting Ball Theater, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, and the Ubuntu Theater Project. She has directed shows at TheatreFirst, assistant directed shows at Custom Made Theatre Company, and her plays include Obeah, Dysphoria, Laveau, and Pressure High. Patrick Russell, who plays Tom, has been seen on Bay Area stages including American Conservatory Theater, California Shakespeare Theater, Marin Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre Company, Magic Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Center REPertory Company, and Marin Shakespeare Company, and Shotgun Players. Russell's film credits include the feature film Being Us, the web series SanFranLand, short films The Secret Life of a Hotel Room and We Were Awesome, and the award-winning animated short film Rapunzel's Etymology of Zero.

Performing as Rita Dupree, Jennifer Bradford's stage performances include roles at City Lights Theatre Company, Jewel Theatre Company, Arabian Shakespeare Festival, and Children's Musical Theatre of San Jose. After graduating with an MFA from the Professional Acting School at the University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign she spent several years working and performing in Chicago. Her last two seasons in the Bay Area have included teaching at her alma mater, Santa Clara University, and working with the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre. She is a member of The Ambassadors Circle, a collective that inspires, connects and equips others to #DoMoreGood. Gabriel Q. Solomon plays Elijah Dupree. Solomon is a 5th grader from Campbell, California. He performed as a "Rising Star" in the "Kids on Broadway" program of Children's Musical Theater of San Jose and appeared his school's production of Aladdin Jr.

Vincent Terrell Durham (Playwright) is a scriptwriter, author and poet who first honed his storytelling skills as a stand-up comic in comedy clubs across the country. His plays include The Fertile River; Vol. 1, A Post Racial America; and Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids, among others. Polar Bears, Black Boys & Prairie Fringed Orchids was co-commissioned and developed by PlayGround and Planet Earth Arts and is a 2019 National New Play Network National Showcase of New Plays finalist and Eugene O'Neill semifinalist.

Peter J. Kuo (Director) currently serves as the Associate Conservatory Director at American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), where he serves as the Chair of the Staff Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee. He is a theatre director, producer, writer, and educator focusing on raising the visibility of marginalized communities. Recently directing Madhuri Shekar's In Love and Warcraft entirely on Zoom, he is a huge proponent for Live Video Theatre and its ability to be accessible to all. Named as one of TCG's "Rising Leaders of Color" in the Round 3 cohort, he is also a co-founder of Artists at Play, an Asian American theatre collective that produces Los Angeles premieres of works for Asian Americans. His direction credits include productions at East West Players, HB Studios, Orange County Playwrights Alliance, and Metamorphosis Theatre Company, and has assistant directed productions at Oregon Shakespeare Festival, American Conservatory Theater, Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Rattlestick Playwrights Theater, The Theatre @ Boston Court, and Williamstown Theatre Festival. Peter's written works have had workshops and performed in public readings with East West Players; Yes, and... Productions; Metamorphosis Theater Company; Artists at Play; and Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Midnight Projects.

PlayGround, the Bay Area's leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area's 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 local playwrights in the development and staging of more than 950 original short plays and 80 new full-length plays, with 5 more commissions currently in development. PlayGround also operates Potrero Stage, a state-of-the-art 99-seat black box theatre in San Francisco's Potrero Hill neighborhood, home to some of the Bay Area's leading new play developers and producers, including PlayGround, Crowded Fire, Golden Thread, and Playwrights Foundation.

PlayGround Zoom Fest, is a five-week livestreamed new works festival that has gathered leading voices in American Theatre including Lauren Yee, Jonathan Spector, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, Kent Nicholson, acclaimed actors, theatre journalists, designers, and more from across the country, to present and discuss a panoply of new works and celebrate PlayGround's quarter-century anniversary. Coordinated under a groundbreaking agreement with SAG-AFTRA, this livestreamed festival will provide paid #FairWage employment for more than 140 actors, all suffering work lost due to the COVID-19 crisis. While many performers have seen their stage and film careers evaporate in recent weeks, and playwrights and designers have lost their income sources while stage productions are put on hold, PlayGround has forged ahead to commission new works and gainfully employ actors and designers from across the country to create content for this unprecedented event. PlayGround Zoom Fest transformed PlayGround's popular Festival of New Works into an online program of more than 30 real-time livestreamed performances, including three fully-produced Zoom Premiere Presentations, as well as readings of new works, films, and roundtables, for more than 50 distinct offerings. Other upcoming events include the Zoom Premiere Presentation of Best of PlayGround 24 (June 13 & 14), a collection of 10-minute plays developed in the 2019-20 reading series by Tom Bruett, Melissa Keith, Martha Soukup, Addie Ulrey, Leela Velautham, and Christian Wilburn.

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