Company in the News Nov-2025
See what PlayGround-LA Writers and Company Members are up to this November including: Mike Adams, Andrés Agustín Barrera, Evan Baughfman, Jacqueline Castañeda, Sylvia Cervantes Blush Allie Costa, Jordan Don, Jon Gentry, Matthew Henerson, Edward Hong, Jonathan Josephson, Stephanie T. Keefer, Tony Kim, Tiana Randall-Quant, Teddy Alexis Rodriguez, Debba Rofheart, Mark Sherstinsky, Janet Song.
Mike Adams, Jordan Don and Jo Yuan will be featured in Double Take Actors Collective One Act Play Reading Festival Nov 7-9. FOUR BRAND NEW WORLD PREMIERE one act plays all produced, written, directed and starring the Double Take Actor’s Collective. Come join us! Playground LA members Michael Adams, Jo Yuan, and Jordan Don are writing/performing. Jo is starring in Michaels play Happy Merry on Friday 8pm and Saturday 2pm. Jordan is a main producer of the festival and starring in OT @ Pirate Pollys on Saturday 8pm and Sunday 2pm. Follow our Instagram and You can get your tickets HERE.
Mike Adams’ full-length play “Love Language of Origin” will receive a reading as part of Centre Stage’s New Play Festival in Greenville, SC on November 21st. This is an expansion of a short play that was written for Playground-LA’s 2023-24 season. FIND OUT MORE HERE.
Andrés Agustín Barrera is performing and stage managing in three shows at UCLA’s 2025 Bruin Fringe Festival! Catch him Nov 6–8 as a fairy in The Real Wenches of Shakespearia by Sam Jones, then return Nov 13–15 to see him as a revolutionary squirrel in Squirrevolution by Zen Rame and stage managing MEAT by Cypress Cai. Find out more information HERE.
Evan Baughfman’s short play, TEN MINUTES TO GO is now available for listening. TEN MINUTES TO GO has been produced by Broken Arts Entertainment for their audio play series, “The Future: Season 2”! What is TEN MINUTES TO GO about? “Strangers, Grant and Theresa, sit next to each other on rollercoaster, QuikStryke. However, this is no ordinary coaster. It is designed to kill its riders, unhappy individuals who have paid for the opportunity to die in a state of euphoria. As the ride’s rockets charge, Grant and Theresa make a connection in their final moments of life.” Please, give the play a “go” over there on BAE’s YouTube channel!
Jacqueline Castañeda will be performing in a Zoom reading of Virgin Creek: A Modern Mircale Play, written by Samantha Vargas and directed by Adriana Rodriguez Burciaga, on Saturday, November 8 at 7pm. The reading is part of The Larking House’s lineup of newly developed plays through their playwright’s intensives. Synopsis: Mari feels stuck in life and is unsure how to proceed until she receives a voicemail from her estranged best friend, Rina. She suggests that they return to the place they grew up, a now abandoned New Mexico mining town called Virgin Creek, a place that neither woman can remember despite their best efforts. The two visit landmarks of their past lives, telling stories, and asking questions that they hope the town offers answers to.
Sylvia Cervantes Blush is directing a new musical development written by Tony Estrada, Nerris Nassiri, and Patti Vasquez under producers Con Ganas and Blind Toe Productions. “LABOR OF LOVE” is a boundary-pushing comedy about Jorge, a newly arrived, overly optimistic undocumented Mexican worker, searching for his place in the world, who falls for the ambitious, straight shooting daughter of an ultra-conservative presidential candidate. If you would like to be in the Pasadena audience on Sat. Nov 8th, we’d love to get new eyes and ears on the story. Reserve tickets HERE.
Allie Costa recently appeared in a variety of films, including Synthetic Hearts and Some Old Story. Her play Remembrance, which began at PlayGround-LA, had its first international production in The Bahamas, courtesy of Shakespeare in Paradise. The Truth is Out There was produced at Gi60 in New York City. This Little Tree was selected for the Gimme A Minute Play Festival, taking place this winter in Long Island. Her monologue Power Pose was published in Type Cast, a new anthology from Purple Light Productions. For more information, visit http://www.alliecosta.com and http://www.imdb.me/alliecosta
Jon Gentry stars as Remy Washington in MONSTERS OF THE AMERICAN CINEMA at Urbanite Theatre in Sarasota, FL from October 31-December 7. Synopsis: Remy Washington, a Black man and widower, has inherited both a drive-in movie theater and the responsibility of raising Pup, his late husband’s straight, white teenage son. The two forge a strong bond around a shared love of classic American monster movies, but when Remy discovers that Pup has been tormenting a gay classmate, their relationship begins to fracture, and the real horrors surface. Beneath the flickering glow of the drive-in screen, MONSTERS OF THE AMERICAN CINEMA becomes a haunting, funny, and unexpectedly tender tale of fatherhood and loss that the Los Angeles Times hails as “exhilarating.” More information available here!
Matthew Henerson is appearing in the world premiere of BESIDE MYSELF, by Paul Slade Smith at North Coast Repertory in San Diego through October 5. This production then transfers to the Laguna Playhouse where it will run from October 30 – November 16. He also continues to recur as Special Agent Carl Laughlin on NCIS: ORIGINS. lagunaplayhouse.com
Edward Hong will be costarring in the NBC sitcom Happy’s Place, with his episode airing on November 28th 8pm ET/PT!
Jonathan Josephson‘s 53rd produced play “Corinth the Dead Pirate” will receive its world premiere as part of the Bite-Sized Theatrical Spooktacular at Theatre 154 Christopher Street. His short marshmallow comedy “Chubby Bunny” will receive its 32nd production at Leyden High School in Franklin Park, Illinois. His Romeo & Rosaline & Shylock & Zombies mash-up “These Violent Delights” (PlayGround Table Read 2023-24) will have a staged reading with Theatricus on December 6. He’s also making progress on two new plays with the PlayGround-LA Playwrights Residency (The Right to Arm Bears) and Colony Theatre Lab (newly titled Slick as Thieves). [jonathanjosephson.com]
Stephanie T. Keefer can be seen on NCIS Tuesday, Nov. 4th.
Tony Kim is going to be in Ojai at the Film Festival Nov 9 performing a staged reading for the annual script winner Losing Nelson. Everyone’s favorite living Frieda, the De Lackner, is directing. Stop by and say hi, those guys put on a cool festival.
Tiana Randall-Quant helped write, curate, and associate direct Ammunition Theatre Company’s presentation of “I am an American” happening Nov 6th, 7th and 8th. at REDCAT’s NOW Fest. Learn more HERE.
Teddy Alexis Rodriguez, PhD will be directing the production of Anon(ymous) by Naomi IIzuka at Fullerton College!
Debba Rofheart can be seen as Head Cook and Brunelda, on stage now in Open Fist Theatre Company’s world premiere of AMERIKA or The Man Who Disappeared. The show is an adaptation of Franz Kafka’s unfinished novel. Find more information HERE.
Mark Sherstinsky’s short play Shadow of an Uncle Nick will have its world premiere at PlayGround’s fourth annual A Very Hitchcock Christmas in San Francisco on December 6 and 7. Get your tickets HERE.
Janet Song will be reading in a free one night only event “Can Comedia Help Us Understand California’s Past?” on Thursday, November 20 at LA Plaza de Cultura y Artes. Find more information HERE.