PlayGround-LA’s Season 10 Writers Pool, Season & Auditions

PlayGround-LA, Los Angeles’s leading incubator for a new generation of playwrights, is pleased to share plans for our tenth season and a return to in-person performance. The company has recently announced the Season 10 Writers Pool, competitively selected from open applications of short plays. Over the course of the upcoming 2021-22 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 11 and, to ensure maximum audience accessibility and safety, the entire 2021-22 season will have both in-person and digital live stream viewing options. PlayGround-LA concludes its tenth season with the annual Best of PlayGround-LA Gala, Monday, April 11, 2022, featuring a curated selection with input from audiences and Company members alike of the top six short works from the current season. In addition to PlayGround-LA, we are also offering streaming access to this year’s PlayGround (SF) and PlayGround-NY seasons, with all events admission-free. Tickets for the 2021-22 are now available at https://tickets.playground-sf.org. For more information, visit https://PlayGround-LA.org/Monday.

2021-22 Writers Pool & Company

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 2021-22 PlayGround-LA Writers Pool includes: returning writers Michael P. Adams, Evan Baughfman, Rachel Borders, Emily Brauer Rogers, Diana Burbano, Bridget Connelly, Allie Costa, Lauren Gorski, Briggs Hatton, Elayne Heilveil, Susan C. Hunter, Uma Incrocci, Julianne Jigour, Starina Johnson, Arthur Keng, Mildred Inez Lewis, Rhea MacCallum, Eliza McGowan-Stinski, Scott Mullen, Nicholas C. Pappas, Jessica June Rowe, Richard Ruyle, Mark Sherstinsky, Ayesha Siddiqui, Nicki Spencer, and Daysha Veronica, as well as new members Brianna Barrett, Malick Ceesay, Sarah Congress, Aaron Higareda, M.J. Kang, Ken Levine, Tahirih Moeller, Joni Ravenna, Eric Reid, and Sean Wong-Westbrooke. In addition, PlayGround-LA is pleased to 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, Josef Bette, Sylvia Cervantes Blush, Jordan Carlson, Jordan Covington, Frieda de Lackner, Carolyn Deskin, Rogelio Douglas III, Julio Hanson, Mark Jacobson, Kurt Kanazawa, Stephanie T. Keefer, Christopher Gary Lawson, Jully Lee, Christine Liao, Jackie Marriott, Gabi Mayorga, Paris McCarthy, Rondrell McCormick, Krystal Mosley, Tiffany Mualem, 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.

Auditions 

PlayGround will be holding open auditions for this season of performances via online video appointment (reservation required) on Sunday, September 12th, 3pm-5pm PDT. For more information and to schedule an audition slot, visit https://playground-la.org/audition.

About PlayGround-LA

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 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.

2021-22 Season

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).

Monday Night PlayGround
October 11, 2021 @ 7PM PT
November 8, 2021 @ 7PM PT
December 13, 2021 @ 7PM PT
January 10, 2022 @ 7PM PT
February 14, 2022 @ 7PM PT
March 14, 2022 @ 7PM PT

Best of PlayGround-LA Gala
April 11, 2022 @ 7PM PT

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

For more information, visit http://PlayGround-LA.org or follow PlayGround on Facebook (https://facebook.com/PlayGround.LosAngeles), Twitter (https://twitter.com/PlayGround_LA) and Instagram (https://instagram.com/playgroundlatheatre). For information on our sister programs, visit PlayGround and PlayGround-NY.