Company in the News June-2021

See what PlayGround-LA Writers, Alumni, and Company Members are up to as we get ready for Season 10 starting in October 2021.

Jully Lee will be reading the role of Yuri Kochiyama in YURI & MALCOLM, a play by Tim Toyama presented by HowlRound and The LA Writers Center on June 5 at 11am PT (2pm ET). She will also be performing in the live storytelling family event at The Garry Marshall Theatre on June 5 & 6 at 9:30am. As a director, Jully is directing readings of new works by Nam Nguyen with The Song Collective (6/25), GUMIHO by Nina Ki (6/28), HERE IS WHERE by Vasanti Saxena with The Road Theatre (July 16), and in The Blank Theatre’s Young Playwrights’ Festival (July 23). Check jullylee.com for more info and updates!

Jennie Webb’s new play DEAD PEOPLE’S DISHES, directed by Margaret Shigeko Starbuck, will be part of the Playwrights Union FIRST PEEK 2020, presented June 13 at 4:30 pm live on Zoom. The reading features actors Makeda Declet, Amir Levi, Michelle Gillette, Pia Shah, Tania Verafield, Charlotte Munson, Scott Keji Takeda & Leah Cevoli and is part of a weekend of readings, also including works by Playwrights Union writers Stephanie Alison Walker, Deb Hiett, Marlow Wyatt and Abbey Fenbert.

Allie Costa has a recurring role in the series My Big Fat Blonde Musical, which is up for Emmy consideration for Outstanding Short Form Comedy, Drama, or Variety Series! Allie also had a cameo in the new musical Public Domain, which just had its West End debut. Allie’s play A Novel Idea was recently produced at both the Atlantic Acting School NYU 2 festival and at Bangkok Community Theatre, and her script Clean Slate is currently in pre-production, with Allie as both writer and director. For more information on any of Allie’s projects, click HERE.

Elayne Heilveil was delighted when she opened an unexpected package in the mail and discovered “THE BEST Women’s Monologues from New Plays 2020” from Applause Theatre and Cinema Books. Last she heard publication was stopped during the pandemic and she thought it would never see the light of day. Just released, it is the third anthology that her work appears in for 2020 (Along with The Best Men’s Stage Monologues, and The Best Women’s Stage Monologues (30th anniversary Editions ) by Smith and Kraus. This marks her 13th inclusion in The Best Of… anthologies. The latest release called ‘Jump’ originated from a play and prompt from Playground LA.