PLAYGROUND-LA’S BEST OF 14TH SEASON ANNOUNCED
LOS ANGELES – PlayGround, a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, is pleased to share the lineup for Best of PlayGround(LA) ‘26. Originally developed among 24 new short plays through PlayGround-LA’s Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, these plays will receive a special one-night encore performance on April 6, 2026 at 7pm PT at The Broadwater Second Stage and simulcast under a unique new media agreement with SAG-AFTRA. Free to stream, watch on-demand, and at the door on show nights (donations gratefully accepted), advanced in-person reservations start at $10. For tickets and more information, visit https://playground-la.org/bestof.
The Best of PlayGround(LA) ‘26 selected plays/playwrights are:
Jesus Christ! by Damian Alejandro Arteaga
Waiting for… the Bus by Esther Banegas Gatica
The Fire Horse by Chil Kong
Dangers of a Kiss by Abel Marquez
Couples Therapy by Mark Sherstinsky
Woosh by Baylee Shlichtman
Plays & Playwrights
Jesus Christ! by Damian Alejandro Arteaga, directed by Collette Rutherford
As Jesus Christ prepares to debut his new image, Judas tries to remove the edge and coolness of this Blasphemous Superstar.
Damien Alejandro Arteaga, he/him, is an accomplished playwright based in Southern California. He has been a member of PlayGround-LA’s Writers Pool since 2023 and has been staged ten times over three seasons. He has also been selected for Best of PlayGround-LA twice with his plays, The Family with a Short Fuse and Friendly Fire. He was also recognized as the winner of the Full Circle Players Emerging Voices Festival with his play, Super Duper Happy Immigrant Funtimeland, which will receive a production in May. His plays have been seen at The Little Fish Theatre, The Redlands Theatre Festival, and Different Strokes PAC. @damian.a.arteaga
Waiting for… the Bus by Esther Banegas Gatica, directed by Andres Agustin Barrera
Susane’s first day in LA is interrupted when she misses her bus, but meets a local vendor, Antonia, who teaches her the way of the city her way.
Ester Banegas Gatica, she/her, a Honduran bilingual playwright, actress, director, and translator. She’s a graduate of Teatro Prometeo from Miami Dade College. She’s obtained a BFA from Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She’s taught and performed with/at: Miami Hispanic International Theatre Festival, Syracuse Stage, the Gluck Foundation, and Fort Worth Fringe. Esther is a recent graduate from the University of California, Riverside with an MFA in writing for the performing arts. She is a Line Producer for Lime Arts productions and part of PlayGround-LA, as well as part of Black Voice News. Follow her work @esteyg
The Fire Horse by Chil Kong, directed by Tom Dang
Before there was North or South Korea, when the land was called Chosan, there was a legend of a horse that, through the love of his farmer friend, saved his little town from invaders.
Chil Kong, he/him, Chil Kong is an inspirational playwright, director, actor and keynote speaker. His speech on “How learning to embrace my mother’s kimchi eyes helped me tell better stories” has inspired leaders and garnered rave reviews at multiple community and leadership events across the country. His gift of storytelling includes working with Disney and Nickelodeon on multiple film and TV projects, but he started in Theater which has served as his creative home, serving as the Artistic Director at Northwest Asian American Theater, Asia On Stage, Lodestone Theater Ensemble, Gerald W. Lynch and Adventure Theater. He continues his artistic career by telling his mother’s stories while creating and directing stores that speak to the plurality of the American experience. @chilkong
Dangers of a Kiss: A Short Play before the Black Cat Tavern Raid by Abel Marquez, directed by Jim Kleinmann
Two strangers meet and fall in love one fateful New Years night at Black Cat Tavern in 1966.
Abel Marquez (Dangers of a Kiss: A Short Play), he/him, is an award-winning freelance Latiné director, dramaturg, playwright, and arts administrator based in Southern California. He has collaborated with organizations including the Los Angeles LGBTQ Center, Center Theatre Group, MACLA, Latine Musical Theatre Lab, Brown and Out Theatre Festival, and more. Abel serves on the KC Theatre Festival Executive Planning Committee, is the Artist Engagement Project Manager for URTA, a Resident Teaching Artist at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, and a Theatre Educator in the San Gabriel Valley.@abe.raw.ham
COUPLES THERAPY by Mark Sherstinsky, directed by Ivan Rivas
A man pleads his innocence, blaming the crime on what’s contained within a small box
Mark Sherstinsky, 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.
Woosh by Baylee Slichtman, directed by Grace Wilkerson
The oldest palm tree in Los Angeles is visited by his friend the Santa Ana wind with an urgent message.
Baylee Slichtman writes weird and magical plays about navigating relationships and autonomy. Most recently, her work was developed or recognized by Great Plains Theatre Commons, Best of Playground-LA, Otherworld Theatre Paragon Play Festival, and Trinity Theatre New Works Festival. MFA UC Riverside, ’27.
The cast of Best of PlayGround(LA) ‘26 includes Jahnavi Alyssa, Brianna Barrett, Julia Belanova, Greg Bryan, Jackie Castañeda, Greg Cuellar, Kyla Garcia, Edward Hong, Mark Jacobson, Tony Kim, Vivi Le, Krystal Mosley, and Anthony Rutowicz.
About PlayGround
PlayGround was founded in 1994 by Jim Kleinmann, Brighde Mullins, and Denise Shama, beginning as a professional-academic partnership in residence at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and with initial sponsorship from SFSU’s Creative Writing Program. Early participating artists included Prince Gomolvilas, Garret Jon Groenveld, Daniele Nathanson, Sandra Hunter, Colman Domingo, Kent Nicholson, Antigone Trimis, Mary Coleman, and Rhonnie Washington. The fledgling organization moved to Project Artaud and A Traveling Jewish Theatre’s new 80-seat black box theatre in 1996, at which time Kleinmann took on sole leadership as PlayGround’s founding artistic director.
The company was in residence at Berkeley Repertory Theatre from 2003 until the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and has also presented at the San Francisco Main Library, Freight & Salvage, Zeum, A.C.T.’s Costume Shop, and Thick House, as well as co-producing with such notable Bay Area theatres as San Francisco Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Impact Theatre, San Jose Stage, and Magic Theatre, among others. PlayGround first brought its work to New York City with the 2008 co-production of Garret Jon Groenveld’s Missives, followed by the 2009 NY International Fringe Festival hit co-production of Aaron Loeb’s Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party, 2013 NY International Fringe Festival co-production of Katie May’s Manic Pixie Dream Girl. PlayGround celebrated its 25th anniversary with a one-night program of original short musicals at NYC’s Theatre Row in 2019.
PlayGround’s first ongoing regional expansion came in 2012 with the launch of PlayGround-LA at West Hollywood’s Zephyr Theatre. In 2018, PlayGround-LA relocated to Hollywood’s Broadwater Theaters (home of Sacred Fools Theater Company), where the company continues to present its Monday Night series. PlayGround expanded to NYC in 2021 and Chicago in 2022, with in-person performances (and simulcasts) beginning in the Spring of 2023, at NYC’s Producers Club and Chicago’s Theater Wit, respectively.
Over its 30 year history, PlayGround has grown into a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, providing unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s and, more recently, Los Angeles’, New York’s, and Chicago’s best new playwrights through innovative programs such as the monthly Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, annual PlayGround Festival of New Works, full-length play commissions, playwright residencies and production support through the New Play Production Fund.
To date, PlayGround has developed and staged more than 1,500 original short plays through Monday Night PlayGround and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned and/or developed several hundred new full-length plays by PlayGround alumni through its Commissioning Initiative, Playwrights Residency and Alumni Programs and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 40 full-length plays at theatres of every size, including many that have gone on to NYC and other major theater communities across the country.
In 2017, PlayGround launched Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, a 99-seat state-of-the-art performance venue to serve as a shared community resource for dozens of local companies and hundreds of artists. New programs in residence at Potrero Stage like the Free-Play Festival, Solo Performance Festival, and Innovator Incubator provide opportunities for local and national artists to self-determine and showcase their work in San Francisco at little to no cost.
More than 350 early-career playwrights have gotten their start at PlayGround, including Lauren Yee, Jonathan Spector, Geetha Reddy, and Cleavon Smith, helping to expand and deepen the canon of American Theatre. PlayGround’s alumni have gone on to win local, national, and international honors for their short and full-length work, including recognition at the Steinberg Awards, Glickman Awards, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and New York International Fringe Festival, among others. PlayGround serves one of the largest theatre artist networks in the nation, connecting hundreds of Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York artists in support of a common vision: the development of bold and diverse new voices and new works.
This work has not gone unnoticed. PlayGround has received numerous awards, including Playwrights Foundation’s Inaugural New Play Champion Award, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle’s Paine Knickerbocker Award for ongoing contributions to Bay Area theatre, and American Theater Wing’s National Theater Grant. In 2016, Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann was recognized by Theatre Bay Area as one of the Bay Area’s top 40 leaders. Three of PlayGround’s commissioned plays have won the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle award for Best New Play, and three have had subsequent productions in NYC. Four of the past five Will Glickman Award winners for best new play are PlayGround alumni. When other theatre companies think of producing new work, PlayGround artists are often their first call. As a result of PlayGround’s strong leadership, planning, and a willingness to take bold risks with high payoff, the new play ecosystem has been utterly transformed by PlayGround. For more information, visit PlayGround-LA.org.
For more information, visit PlayGround-LA.org or follow PlayGround on Facebook (facebook.com/playground.la/) and Instagram (instagram.com/playgroundlatheatre/). For information on our sister programs, visit PlayGround-SF, PlayGround-NY and PlayGround-Chicago.
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