Company in the News November-2022

See what PlayGround-LA Writers, Alumni, and Company Members are up to this November!

Michael P. Adams’s play “Liberal State,” originally written for PlayGround’s “Fearless” theme, is being produced as part of the John DeSotelle Studio Series Festival in NYC. The festival runs from November 4-6. Learn more here.

Evan Baughfman’s play, LETHAL VACATION, a mash-up of famous holiday movies, will be a part of Force of Nature Productions’s holiday show, “Best of Christmas RUSH”. The show runs only for three days (November 18th – November 20th) at L.A.’s Studio Stage. Learn more here.

Julia Belanova is appearing as Cathy in the German TV show “X-Factor,” now airing on RTL2! Hosted by legendary Star Trek actor, Jonathan Frakes, the spooky drama has a similar format to American classic “The Twilight Zone.” Learn more here.

Ben Cain is working in Toronto on a new series called “Beacon 23”.

Allie Costa can be heard on the latest episode of Filament, streaming wherever you listen to podcasts. She recently lent her voice to an animated film which is now in post-production. She can also be heard in The Kit Bull Story, which just screened at the Astoria Film Festival, and Piecing Together the Portraits of You, which just screened at the Mystic Film Festival. Her play Drop in the Ocean is currently running in Colorado as part of 23:59, a collection of plays about the climate crisis. Her script Boxes Are Magic, which began at PlayGround-LA, won second place in a playwriting competition. Learn more about Allie on her website and on her IMDb page.

Unfinished, a new initiative by Lime Arts Productions designed to help early career writers complete an unfinished script, has launched its pilot program with two playwrights and their outstanding pieces: Dena Igusti’s First Sight: A Queer Indonesian Love Story, and Esther Banegas Gatica’s Una Cita en el Salon. Follow limeartsproductions on Instagram to see the release of the FREE staged readings in the last week of November!

Starina Johnson’s monologue, Hebe, has been selected for The PlayGround Experiment’s 4th annual Faces of America Monologue Festival. Saturday, November 19th, 2022. Learn more here.

Stephanie T. Keefer is performing in Ensemble Studio Theatre’s weekend of one acts on Nov. 5-7. She also has a role in season 3 of DEAD TO ME on Netflix. For more about Stephanie’s work, visit her IMDb page.

Mildred Inez Lewis’s monologue PURITY, UNPLEDGED is part of The PlayGround Experiment’s 4th annual Faces of America Monologue Festival. A review of her monologue can be found here. Her dark comedy BONWIT TELLER’S REVENGE will appear in The Workshop Theatre’s Out of the Hat festival. Her full-length comedy THE MUSEUM ANNEX continues at Central Works in Berkeley

M.J. Kang has been announced to be one of seven commissioned playwrights around the U.S. for Theater J’s Expanding The Canon. Theater J is a nationally-renowned, professional theater that celebrates, explores, and struggles with the complexities and nuances of both the Jewish experience and the universal human condition. Learn more here.

Joni Ravenna and her writing partner, Joshua T. Zellner, met with Impossible Dream Entertainment last month. Impossible Dream Ent. is headed up by Yvette Yates and Sean Redick, producers of “GET OUT” BLACK KKKLANSMAN and DAYSHIFT with Jamie Foxx. Impossible Dream Ent. will be helping Joni and Josh develop their contest winning full- length screenplay, “The Secret Notes of Professor Thomas” (which is based on Joni’s award- winning stage play, “Beethoven and Misfortune Cookies.”) Playground Solo Fest produced the play virtually in 2021

Maiya Reaves will be playing Margaret Alexander in The Williams Project’s production of The Amen Corner in Seattle at The Langston Hughes performing arts center in Seattle Washington. This is the first production of The Amen Corner to ever be performed in Seattle Washington and the show will run from November 4th- November 20th. Learn more here.