PlayGround-LA presents Season 14

PlayGround-LA: Murder Mystery

October 13, 2025 7pm PT
The Broadwater Second Stage & Vimeo Live Simulcast

ACKNOWLEDGING THE LEGACY OF THE LAND WE INHABIT

PlayGround-LA acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Chumash, Tongva, and Kizh (“keech”), the original inhabitants of Los Angeles. As the past and present Indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Chumash, Tongva and Kizh Nation (Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians) have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. We recognize the historic injustice of the forcible removal of the Chumash, Tongva and Kizh people from their ancestral lands, and that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the Ancestors, Elders and Relatives of the Chumash, Tongva and Kizh Communities and by affirming their sovereign rights as First Peoples. We honor the storytellers of the Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians and are grateful for our ability to share and uplift Indigenous stories and those of other historically marginalized communities.

To learn about the legacy of the land you inhabit, visit Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land. To read the complete Land Acknowledgment Policy, click here.

PLAYGROUND-LA’S ANTI-RACIST POLICY

PlayGround-LA recognizes the impact of racial oppression within society and the American Theater and that we have been complicit in White Supremacy culture. Our goal is to co-create safety for our community by identifying and interrupting instances of racism and all forms of oppression when we witness them, through specific actions rooted in the principles of anti-racism and accessibility. In its endeavor to address the implications of our history, PlayGround-LA is committed to its compliance with the following fundamental rights:

• The recognition of inherent dignity and worth of each human being.
• The recognition of equality of all human beings.
• Recognition of rights of ethnic, racial, cultural, linguistic and religious groups.
• Equality and non-discrimination.

PlayGround-LA’s Anti-Racist Policy applies to: all members of the PlayGround-LA community, including employees, independent contractors, volunteers, audience members, donors, and general members of the community.

To read the complete Anti-Racist Policy, click here.

Maid for Murder
by Michael P. Adams
Directed by Jim Kleinmann 
Mabel……………Summer Broyhill

The Candlestick
by Paris Herbert-Taylor
Directed by Frieda de Lackner
The Candlestick………Tahmus Rounds

Alice, Up Against It
by Steve Harper
Directed by Gabi Mayorga 
Alice………………..Krystal Mosley

Ruby and Max
by Mildred Inez Lewis
Directed by Cybelle Kaehler
Ruby………………Janet Song

Play Time
by Abel Marquez
Directed by Andy Lowe
Edgar……………..Charles Gonzales
Mom………….Krystal Mosley

Couples Therapy
by Mark Sherstinsky
Directed by Ivan Rivas  
Guy……………..Mark Jacobson

Stage Manager – Devin Harris

This performance is produced under agreement with SAG-AFTRA.

PlayGround is a member of Theatre Bay Area, A.R.T.-New York, League of Chicago Theatres, and Theatre Communications Group.

This program is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD & NEW PLAY COMMISSION

Following tonight’s performance, we invite your participation in the Best of PlayGround-LA People’s Choice Award. Through the People’s Choice Award, our audience can play a direct impact in furthering the career of a promising new playwright. To vote, make a People’s Choice Award tax-deductible donation on behalf of your favorite play(s)/playwright(s) from the evening. Every donated dollar counts as a vote while directly supporting PlayGround-LA’s New Play Commissioning program.

Cast your vote for your favorite play(s) by making a People’s Choice donation via Zelle (info@playground-la.org), Venmo (our account ID is @playgroundsf and if they ask for the last four digits of the phone, it’s 8541) or on our website at https://playground-la.org/monday). Add a note/memo with your gift (you can use the donor acknowledgment section when donating on our website) to indicate your favorite play(s) or email your selection to boxoffice@playground-sf.org.

At the end of the next two weeks, we’ll tally up the top vote-getter and recipient of this year’s PlayGround-LA New Play Commission, a full-length expansion and adaptation of their award-winning Best of PlayGround-LA Gala short play. It’s a powerful way of showing your support for new writers and their work, while helping PlayGround-LA continue doing what we do!

BIOGRAPHIES

PLAYWRIGHTS

MICHAEL P. ADAMS (Maid for Murder), he/him, has been with PlayGround-LA since 2019. His short play Love Language of Origin was selected as the Best of the Best of the 2023-24 season. This month, his full-length play MLES2GO received a workshop production at The Ohio State University at Mansfield. He is currently developing a new play with The Road Theatre in North Hollywood. Michael is a graduate of the MFA program at San Jose State University.

STEVE HARPER (Alice, Up Against It), he/him, recently performed his one-person show SNOW: [black man. whiteout conditions.] as part of The Unerasable Solo Fest in Los Angeles and at PlayGround’s Solo Fest in San Francisco. Steve is a playwright, TV writer, producer and actor. Plays include Black Lives / Blue Lives [co-written with Bill Mesce, Jr.] (The Theater Project, NJ), Urban Rabbit Chronicles (Georgia Southern University), and True Adventures for Men (developed at The Road Theatre in L.A.) Many of his short plays have been produced around the country including: Bless Me, Father (Vivid Stage), For the Dark-Skinned Movie Going People of The World (The Fire This Time Festival), The Political Machine (Lower Depth Theater Ensemble). Steve was Co-Executive Producer for the CBS series Tracker and for the CW series Stargirl, and he’s written for God Friended Me, Tell Me Your Secrets, American Crime, and Covert Affairs. His collection, A Few Short Plays to Save the World was published by Laughing Panda Press and won the 2023 Independent Press Award. Steve is a graduate of Yale, the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard and the Juilliard playwriting program. www.harpercreates.com

PARIS HERBERT-TAYLOR (The Candlestick), she/her, is a writer and producer developing for film, television, and stage. Her Christmas movie 12 Dares Of Christmas is available to stream on Peacock.

MILDRED INEZ LEWIS (Ruby and Max), she/her, writes for stages, screens and podcasts. Recent projects include Through Water Into Blood (Transformation Theatre, United Nations General Assembly Healing Arts Week, MultiStages) and Aretha and the G-Man (IAMA festival). Juked will premiere at Asheville’s Wortham Arts Center in November.

ABEL MARQUEZ (Play Time), he/him, is an award winning freelance Latiné director, writer, and arts administrator. He has worked with organizations such as MACLA (San Jose), Center Theatre Group (Los Angeles), Latine Musical Theatre LAB (New York), and more. He is currently a Resident Teaching Artist at Segerstrom for the Arts (Orange County CA), assists with the American College Theatre Festival, and is Project Manager for URTA (New York).

MARK SHERSTINSKY (Couples Therapy), he/him, has been in the PlayGround family since the 20th century! He’s excited to be part of an evening of even more murders at the PlayGround-SF ‘A Very Hitchcock Christmas’ show in December! Mark recently completed his full-length play The Mission (PlayGround-LA People’s Choice commission). Other staged plays include The Sound of Invasion (Towne Street Theatre, Los Angeles); The Things We Do for Love (Strange Rx, San Francisco); and The Valley (Pittsburgh New Works Festival). Mark’s radio play No Tree aired on Shoestring Radio Theatre (KXSF, San Francisco) and his short play Silver Linings was published in RipRap Journal.

ACTORS

SUMMER BROYHILL (Maid for Murder), she/her, is an actor, dancer, singer, educator, and writer. She has performed on Broadway (Hairspray), National tours (Rodgers + Hammerstein’s Cinderella, Hairspray), Off-Broadway, and in numerous regional productions and short films. Her solo play DREAM Lover debuted at the San Francisco Solo Play Festival in 2022. She is a proud third-year member of the PlayGround-LA Writers Pool, where six of her short plays have been produced with two, Glue and Thirteenth Night, winning the People’s Choice Award. Her play Every Blow was included in the Best of PlayGround(LA) ’25 and is currently being made into a film. Her work has also been seen at Loud Fridge, CCAE, The Rosin Box Project, and The Old Globe’s Camp Studio. MFA: Old Globe/ University of San Diego Graduate Acting Program. summerbroyhill.com, @summerbroyhill on Instagram.

CHARLES GONZALES (Play Time), he/him, Charles Gonzales is an actor and voice actor making his return to PlayGround-LA. His most recent voice work is in Fallout 76 and Disney’s Intertwined. Currently training at the Arete Workshop and represented in Voice Over and Commercials. He’s excited to be back at PlayGround-LA to bring these works to life!

MARK JACOBSON (Couples Therapy), he/him, is thrilled to return to PlayGround! On stage, Mark was most recently seen in The Engagement Party at the Geffen, dir. Darko Tresnjak. On screen, he can be seen as a Supporting Lead opp. Morgan Freeman and Josh Hutcherson in 57 Seconds, opp. Kelsey Grammer in The 12 Days of Christmas Eve, in the upcoming seasons of Apple’s Platonic and ABC’s The Conners, as well as Welcome to Chippendales (Hulu), Obliterated (Netflix), This Is Us (NBC), FBI (CBS), The Rookie (ABC), and 9-1-1 (FOX), among others. That said, his greatest roles are father to Jada and husband to Victoria.

KRYSTAL MOSLEY (Alice, Up Against It, Play Time), she/her, is Midwestern at heart, Krystal comes all the way from Los Angeles and is happy to be in Lawerenceville, Georgia. Classically trained, Krystal’s favorite stage performances to date include “Intimate Apparel” (Palmbeach Dramaworks),“10 Virgins” (Chicago Dramatist), “Orpheus and Eurydice” (Chicago Opera Theater), “Ruined” (Eclipse Theatre), “A Doll’s House” (Definition Theatre Company) and MacBeth(Polarity Ensemble Theatre). Krystal has a Bachelor of Fine arts Degree in Theatre from the University of Illinois at Chicago. She also recently graduated from the conservatory program at Second City Comedy, as well as Upright Citizen’s Brigade. Krystal can currently be seen on CBS’s “Young and the Restless” as well as the upcoming Indie Feature “The Neon Highway” starring Beau Bridges. Krystal is looking forward to working in the next Emmy Award comedy series or anything opposite Quinta Brunson.

TAHMUS ROUNDS (The Candlestick), he/him, has been a stage and television actor for over 30 years, and was a Blue Man in Blue Man Group Chicago. His tv credits include How I Met Your Mother, Bones, and 911Lonestar. Tahmus is very excited to be in this 13th season of PlayGround-LA!

JANET SONG (Ruby and Max), she/they,  loves working with writers on new plays, having participated in numerous readings around town. Her recent theatre credits include Stains (Great Plains Theatre Commons), Three (Playwrights’ Arena), Kim’s Convenience (Laguna Playhouse). For on-camera and voiceover credits, please visit janetsong.com

DIRECTORS

FRIEDA DE LACKNER (The Candlestick), she/her, is a director and producer who works in film and theatre. She is passionate about telling stories that make a positive difference. Her latest short film, 172 Push-Ups, is an adaptation of Scott Mullen’s play and stars PlayGround actors Krystal Mosely, Christina Wren, Jahnavi Alyssa, Jon Gentry, and Jonathan Wray. It has screened at festivals across the country and will screen at Poppy Jasper in April. She is delighted to have been a PlayGround member since 2013.

CYBELLE KAEHLER (Ruby and Max), she/her, is a film and theatre director who strives to tell meaningful queer and female focused stories, often focusing on social issues. Her projects include directing and producing the new play “Restoration” at Hollywood Fringe, as well as directing “All The Things She Never Said” in the Morgan-Wixson Theatre New Works Festival and “Alice in Wonderland” in the Morgan-Wixson Theatre Youth Education Series. Her latest short film, Tombé, won Best Student Film at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood and at LA Sun Film Fest. Upcoming: Matilda the Musical Jr with Sophie Dance Westside Players, and What Happened While Hero Was Dead at the Art of Acting Studio. cybellekaehler.com insta: @cybellerose

JIM KLEINMANN (Maid for Murder, Artistic Director & Co-Founder), he/him, co-founded PlayGround in 1994, along with playwright Brighde Mullins and director Denise Shama, and has served as Artistic Director since 1996. For PlayGround, he has provided artistic and administrative leadership for the past twenty-eight seasons, developing PlayGround’s unique array of new playwright and new play incubator programs, including Monday Night PlayGround, the PlayGround Festival of New Works, the full-length play Commissioning Initiative, the New Play Production Fund, Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, and most recently the Innovator Incubator. For PlayGround, he has directed more than one hundred short and full-length plays, including works by Garret Jon Groenveld, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, Lauren Yee, Katie May, and many others. Recent directing and dramaturgy credits include David Steele’s Vignettes on Love and Ruben Grijalva’s Value Over Replacement. He is a veteran arts administrator with more than thirty years of experience, including stints leading Traveling Jewish Theatre, Smuin Ballet and Berkeley Symphony, and received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

ANDY LOWE (Play Time), he/him, “California Young Playwrights” winner seeing production of his play at the Old Globe at age 18. Founded SDAsian American Repertory Theater; Directed & Produced ten seasons as AD till 2005. Inaugural Coordinator of La Jolla Playhouse’s “Theatre-In-Residence Program” 2007-12. Company performer/puppeteer for Asian Story Theatre 1998-2009. Director of Production & Casting for East West Players the past 12 years. Director/Developer of new works; notably “Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along-Blog” Live (2011), and R&D experiences for Disney Imagineering. Fight Director for productions at Laguna Playhouse, UCR, USC, Ovation Nominated for MAN OF GOD. Puppeteer for KAPWA JAM coming to Long Beach Public Access

GABI MAYORGA (Alice, Up Against It), is an actress, director and DIY filmmaker. She received her BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University and acted on stages in Chicago, Cincinnati, North Carolina and LA. She’s directed and produced a series of short films and loves being part of the PlayGround-LA directing family.

IVAN RIVAS (Couples Therapy), he/him, has directed at theaters in NYC and all across LA including Rogue Machine at the Matrix, Zephyr, 24th Street Theatre, Los Angeles LGBTQ Center, Whitmore/Lindley, PRT, The Broadwater, and the historic Pico House. Assistant directed at CTG and The Old Globe. And lovingly served as a Teaching Artist at the Pasadena Playhouse and Oregon Shakespeare Festival (also in the acting company). He is a proud alum of the USC school of Dramatic Arts and Directors Lab West.

PRODUCTION

JIM KLEINMANN (Artistic Director & Co-Founder), he/him, co-founded PlayGround in 1994, along with playwright Brighde Mullins and director Denise Shama, and has served as Artistic Director since 1996. For PlayGround, he has provided artistic and administrative leadership for the past twenty-eight seasons, developing PlayGround’s unique array of new playwright and new play incubator programs, including Monday Night PlayGround, the PlayGround Festival of New Works, the full-length play Commissioning Initiative, the New Play Production Fund, Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, and most recently the Innovator Incubator. For PlayGround, he has directed more than one hundred short and full-length plays, including works by Garret Jon Groenveld, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, Lauren Yee, Katie May, and many others. Recent directing and dramaturgy credits include David Steele’s Vignettes on Love and Ruben Grijalva’s Value Over Replacement. He is a veteran arts administrator with more than thirty years of experience, including stints leading Traveling Jewish Theatre, Smuin Ballet and Berkeley Symphony, and received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

PARIS MCCARTHY (Executive Producer) is thrilled to be taking on the role of Executive Director this season. She holds a BA from Saint Louis University and an MFA from UNLV but truly PlayGround is where she has found her artistic home in 2013.

SCARLETT REDMOND (Casting Director), she/her, is a Los Angeles-based SAG-AFTRA Actress, Voiceover Artist, and Casting Associate. Training: Emerson College (BFA), Stella Adler (NYC), John Rosenfeld Studios, and UCB LA. She’s a proud pup mama to a scruffy rescue named Chester Cheeseman and loves coffee, estate sales, and true crime podcasts. She’s a member of the PlayGround-LA Company.

DEVIN HARRIS (Stage Manager), he/him, is overjoyed to be starting his second season with PlayGround LA! Having recently graduated USC with a degree in climbing ladders, he’s happy to be working in the theater! You may have seen his work lighting up the Zephyr, Carrie Hamilton, or honestly half of the fringe venues at this point. Thanks to Mom, Dad, and Maya for the endless support!

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 250 Bay Area and Los Angeles early-career writers and has commissioned/developed more than 100 full-length plays. In the process of staging those works, PlayGround has helped to identify some of the leading emerging writers and, at the same time, has engendered the creation of a true community of theatre artists, bringing together hundreds of local actors, directors and playwrights. Each month, Oct-Mar, PlayGround-LA announces a topic to the thirty-six writers of the PlayGround-LA Writers Pool. Writers have four-and-a-half days to generate their original short plays and the top six are cast with leading local professionals and rehearsed for just 1.5 hours before being presented as script-in-hand staged readings on the second Monday of the month via Zoom live stream. At the end of each season, six of the thirty-six works developed in the Monday night series are selected for a one-night celebration, the Best of PlayGround. The 13th annual Best of PlayGround Gala will take place on Monday, April 14, 2025, live at the Broadwater Theaters and simulcast via Vimeo Live. For more information, visit http://playground-la.org.

OPPORTUNITIES WITH PLAYGROUND

STREAMING SOON

PLAYGROUND CONTRIBUTORS

PlayGround is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the many individuals, foundations, corporations and government agencies whose contributions make our work possible. This list reflects gifts of $125 or more committed between February 1, 2024 & February 17, 2025.

GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, & FOUNDATION DONORS

Alameda County Arts Commission • Amazon • Art Space Development Corporation • Avenue Greenlight • Berkeley Civic Arts • Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund • California Arts Council • Creative Capacity Fund • Disney • Grants For The Arts • KFF • Koret Foundation • Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture • LA County Arts Commission • Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation • The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund • Negley Flinn Charitable Foundation • NIAC • Nvidia • Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation • Rye Financial Services • San Francisco Arts Commission • The Shubert Foundation • The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

SEASON SPONSORS ($5000+)

Lara Gilman & Jim Kleinmann

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500+)

Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, Daniel E. Cohn & Lynn Brinton, John H. Gilman, Isabella Johnson, Nitin

PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)

Randy Adams, Meriko Borogove, Jediah Craig, David Goldman, Keith Goldstein & Donna N. Warrington, Regina Guggenheim, Just Play Productions, Linda Kremer, Ronald Whittier Family Foundation, Daniele Nathanson, Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock, John J. Ruskin, Tom Swift, Malachy Walsh & Heather Robison, Anonymous

PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)

Linda Ayres-Frederick, Phoenix Theatre SF, Jim Brayton & Debbie Marr, Richard Davis – Lowell, Paulette Donsavage, Kate Hecht, Toby Inoue, Diane Leonard, Molly Noble & Bob Guilbault, Diane Sampson, Marian Scheuer Sofaer & Abraham D. Sofaer, Jon & Susan Sweedler, Janine Wilburn, Maury Zeff, Anonymous (2)

PATRON ($250-$499)

Nina Ball & Jon Tracy, Ruben & Keli Grijalva, Patience Haggin, Brandy T Jones, Abbe S. Kalos & Kitt Saginor, Dr. Gary W.  London, Rebecca Martinez, Christopher Reber, Chris & Cindy Redburn, JM Solberg, Anonymous (2)

ASSOCIATE MEMBER ($125-$249)

Dr. & Mrs. Sam & Naomi Abramovitz, Ms. Portia F. Bock, Cass Brayton, Thomas Patrick Broyhill, Joyce Dieda, Clint Fleener, Michael Fried, Gina Harris, Stanley William Hathaway, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Tanuja Devi Jagernauth, Jean Jensen, Gregg Le Blanc, Mildred Inez Lewis, Pam MacKinnon, Clover Rutkowski, Mark Peters, Ms. Jessica Rofé, Margo Rofé, Carolina Rojas Moretti, Kathy Sarconi, Stan Stone, Bex White, Susannah Wise & Scott Lebus, Anonymous

To contribute to PlayGround, visit https://playground-sf.org/contribute or contact PlayGround Associate Director of Development Lana Richards at lana@playground-sf.org or by phone at (833) 992-6677.

PLAYGROUND-LA WRITERS POOL

Michael P. Adams, Damian Alejandro Arteaga, Esther Banegas Gatica, Blaire Battle, Evan Baughfman, Summer Broyhill, Tim Bryant, Allie Costa, Maya De La Torre, Amy Ellenberger, Rachel Harner, Steve Harper, Paris Herbert-Taylor, Grace Hoffman, Edward Hong, Chil Kong, Mildred Inez Lewis, Mikee Loria, Abel Marquez, Kelsea Mayfield, Scott Mullen, Peter Pasco, Joy Regullano, Teddy Alexis Rodriguez, Cara Sanchez, Mark Sherstinsky, Baylee Shlichtman, Adrian A. Babatunde Thomas, Evelyn Wu-Coffey.

PLAYGROUND-LA COMPANY

Nemma Adeni, Tanvi Agrawal, Jahnavi Alyssa, Tamiah Bantum, Brianna Barrett, Jerome Beck, Julia Belanova, Josef Bette, Sylvia Cervantes Blush, Summer Broyhill, Ben Cain, Hugo Carbajal, Jackie Castañeda, Jordan Covington, Paris Crayton III, Greg Cuellar, Tom Dang, Frieda de Lackner, Hillary DeMartino, Carrie Deskin, Rogelio Douglas, Angel Dumapias, Asa Fris, Natasha Galano, Kyla Garcia, Eric Geller, Jon Gentry, Danny Gomez, Charles Gonzalez, Cassie Grilley, Christian Haines, Julio Hanson, Matthew Henerson, Edward Hong, Mark Jacobson, Alejandra Jaime, Alexia Jasmene, Cybelle Kaehler, Kurt Kanazawa, Stephanie Keefer, Tony Kim, Zaya Kolia, Dean Koya, Emily Kuroda, Chris Lawson, Vivi Le, Christine Liao, Andy Lowe, Lea Madda, Jackie Marriott, Gabi Mayorga, Paris McCarthy, Carene Mekertichyan, Sherry Michaels, Krystal Mosley, Rachel Needleman, Melissa Ortiz, Peter Pasco, Andrew Perez, Kevin Phan, Tansu Philip, Gary Poux, Tiana Randall-Quant, Maiya Reaves, Scarlett Redmond, Jesus Reyes, Ivan Rivas, Debba Rofheart, Tahmus Rounds, Mae Ruling, Collette Rutherford, Anthony Rutowicz, Richard Ruyle, Isabel Siragusa, Janet Song, Angela Sonner, Grace Su, Jeff Torres, Mark Anthony Vallejo, Carla Vega, William Warren, Charlotte Williams, Jonathan Wray, Jo Yuan.

PRODUCTION & STAFF

Jim Kleinmann, Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Paris McCarthy, Executive Producer
Andy Lowe, Associate Producer
Gabi Mayorga, Associate Producer
Scarlett Redmond, Casting Director

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
https://facebook.com/PlayGround.losangeles
https://twitter.com/PlayGround_LA
https://instagram.com/playgroundlatheatre
www.playground-la.org

c/o PlayGround
3286 Adeline St #9
Berkeley, CA 94703-2485