Monday Night PlayGround-LA January 11th PlayBill

Posted by on January 8, 2021

PlayGround-LA presents Season 9

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

Topic: “Reunification”

January 11, 2020 7pm PT

via Zoom Live Stream

How Coyote and Rabbit Almost Became One (Again)
by Jerome Joseph Gentes
Directed by Jesus Reyes
Coyote….……………………………………..……………………….Jackie Marriott
Rabbit……………………………….……………….…………..…….Christine Liao

Twenty-Four and Me
by Uma Incrocci
Directed by Paris McCarthy
Mia.……………………………….………….……………………….Mae Ruling
Mike………………………………………..………..…….………..Josef Bette

Your! Amazing! Galaxy!
by Amanda L. Andrei
Directed by Jully Lee
Tour Guide……………………………………………….………………..Stephanie T. Keefer
Physicist…………………………………….…………….………………..Tiana Randall-Quant
Volunteer…………………………….……….….………………………Christina Wren
Anti-Volunteer…….………………………………………………………Christina Wren

The Reunification Tango
by Scott Mullen
Directed by Reena Dutt
Brad………………………………………………………………………Tahmus Rounds
Kelsie…………………………………..………………………………….Krystal Mosley

Far From Man
by Evan Baughfman
Directed by Frieda de Lackner
Hurley…………………………………………………………….…….Zach Kumaishi
Flora………………..…………..……………………….………………Carolyn Deskin
Fred…………………………………………………..……..………..Julio Hanson

The Devil Anse and Ole Ran’l
by Nicholas C. Pappas
Directed by Jim Kleinmann
Ole Ran’l McCoy…………………………………………………Debba Rofheart
Devil Anse Hatfield………………………………………………William Warren

Sarah Gassher – Stage Manager & Sound Designer

Colin Johnson – Visual Designer

BIOGRAPHIES

PLAYWRIGHTS
AMANDA L. ANDREI (Your! Amazing! Galaxy!), she, is a Filipina Romanian American playwright currently residing in Los Angeles by way of Virginia/Washington DC. Her plays are epic, irreverent, and medicinal, and include Lena Passes By (Quarterfinalist 2020 Screencraft Stage Play Competition), Black Sky (Winner 2020 Parity Productions Prize; Recipient of Madison New Works Lab Residency; Finalist 2020 Burnham Award, Semifinalist 2019 Screencraft Stage Play Competition; Finalist 2020 New American Voices Festival). Her upcoming plays include CULTURE NIGHT through the Echo Young Playwrights Group (Feb 2021) and MAMA, I WISH I WERE SILVER through the Vagrancy Writers Group (May/June 2021).

EVAN BAUGHFMAN (Far from Man), his writing success has been as a playwright, his original plays finding homes in theaters worldwide. Evan has also found success writing horror fiction, his work found most recently in anthologies by Black Hare Press, Blood Song Books, and Grinning Skull Press. Additionally, Evan’s adapted a number of his short stories into screenplays, of which “The Tell-Tale Art,” “A Perfect Circle,” and “The Creaky Door” have won awards in various film festival competitions. Evan’s first short story collection, The Emaciated Man and Other Terrifying Tales from Poe Middle School, is published through Thurston Howl Publications.

JEROME JOSEPH GENTES (How Coyote and Rabbit Almost Became One (Again)), he, is a Standing Rock Lakota and registered A’aninin from the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation who is also a PlayGround board member. A software designer, playwright, and creative producer, he studied Nonfiction Writing at Columbia University. His company TigerBear Productions is committed to telling new stories from new voices in new ways. He was a 2012 Pushcart Prize nominee for poetry, and his writing appeared in Fourteen Hills, Rougarou, Verbatim, and other venues.

UMA INCROCCI (Twenty-Four and Me), she, is a writer, actress and lyricist, and glad to be back for her third year with PlayGround LA. She co-wrote the rock musical Mother Eve’s Secret Garden of Sensual Sisterhood and the Hallmark Channel movies, “Nature of Love” and “A Christmas Carousel.” Her short plays have been performed all over the country.

SCOTT MULLEN (The Reunification Tango), he, is a playwright and screenwriter, whose thrillers THE SUMMONING and IN BROAD DAYLIGHT aired on TV One. His short plays have been produced hundreds of times around the world. An evening of his comic plays, A NIGHT OF S.M., had a two-week run in Hollywood.

NICHOLAS C. PAPPAS (The Devil Anse and Ole Ran’l), he, is a playwright, dramaturge, and director. Plays include: Including Shooter (publisher: Playscripts), The Ballad of 423 and 424 (Heideman Award; Actor’s Theatre of Louisville), Fatty (Berkeley Rep’s Ground Floor), and The Dreams in Which I’m Dying (Deborah Aquila Reading Series). Published by Dramatics Magazine and Playscrips. He has directed at San Francisco Playhouse, Moorpark College, SFSU, and others. Dramaturgy: Center Theatre Group, San Francisco Playhouse, Berkeley Rep, South Coast Rep, and TheatreFolk. A graduate of San Francisco State University’s MFA program, he teaches at Moorpark College and is currently in development on several television and film projects.

ACTORS
JOSEF BETTE (Twenty-Four and Me, “Mike”), originally from Chicago, IL, LA transplant since 2011. He is happy to be part of the PlayGround LA community since 2019 and his film credits include “Chasing the Blues” and “Parked” on Amazon Prime.

CAROLYN DESKIN (Far From Man, “Flora”)

JULIO HANSON (Far From Man, “Fred”), he, (SAG-AFTRA) is an entertainer and educator in Los Angeles, dedicating years to bridging African-American and Panamanian roots through music, theatre, dance, and languages. Julio has performed with Grammy-recognized artists Toni Braxton, Prince, Kelis, and La Ley to name a few. Julio has appeared in many feature films, stage productions, and television. Julio is a graduate of UCLA, CSUDH, and CSULA and has a Doctorate in Education from Pepperdine University researching the Power of Artistic Activism. Julio is an advisory board member of The Young Shakespeareans and the founder of The Artistic Activist Collective.

STEPHANIE T. KEEFER (Your! Amazing! Galaxy! “Tour Guide”), she, is a classically trained actor based in Los Angeles. She works in film, television, theater and voice over. At U.C., Irvine, she had the good fortune to study with legendary Polish theatre director Jerzy Grotowski. Her short film, “ONE DANCE,” was broadcast nationally on CBS and FOX, and Stephanie has gone on to write, direct and produce other short films that have been seen in various film festivals nationally. Catch her on Amazon Prime in the sci-fi rom com “A GIRL, A GUY, A SPACE HELMET.”

ZACH KUMAISHI (Far From Man, “Hurley”), he, is a 2020 graduate of UCLA’s school of theater, film, and television, and can’t wait to participate in his second run of PlayGround’s virtual readings. A bay area native but LA resident, Zach has spent his quarantine hard at work, sitting in front of a variety of screens, doing martial arts in empty rooms of his apartment, and finding the best place in his quarantine bubble to take a nap.

CHRISTINE LIAO (How Coyote and Rabbit Almost Became One (Again) “Rabbit”), she, played Waverly Jong in Sierra Madre Playhouse’s Joy Luck Club in Fall 2019. Her best known role thus far is as the waitress/clerk in the comedy sketch, The ABC Who Can’t Read Chinese. You can also find her in Fine China on HBO platforms as part of the HBO APA Visionaries 2020 winners.

JACKIE MARRIOTT (How Coyote and Rabbit Almost Became One (Again) “Coyote”), she, is an award winning actress who has worked for 20 plus years in Theater, commercials and film. She is a member of SAG/AFTRA and is also a writer and producer for the sketch comedy group “The Deuces Wild Duo” and most currently a writer and producer for a web series “ In Deez Streets”. Favorite theater role: Ruth younger from “A Raisin in the sun.” You can follow her @iamjackiemarriott for exciting updates!

KRYSTAL MOSLEY (The Reunification Tango, “Kelsie”) comes all the way from Chicago, currently residing in LA and is super excited about the production this evening! Some of her credits include: 10 Virgins with Chicago Dramatist, Ruined with Eclipse Theatre and Blood Wedding with Pursuit Productions. She would like to thank the PlayGround-LA cast, friends and family for their continued support!

TIANA RANDALL-QUANT (Your! Amazing! Galaxy! “Physicist”), she, is a Los Angeles raised actor working to challenge the idea that “LA is not a theatre town”. As always, she is so excited to get to play with and experience the new works of this PlayGround-LA season. Recent credits include “What We Might Do in the Shadows” with New Online Theatre and “Fairyland Foibles” with The Wallis Studio Ensemble, both of which are available for viewing on Youtube. She can also be found making fun comedy content with The 354 Squad on Youtube and Patreon.

DEBBA ROFHEART (The Devil Anse and Ole Ran’l, “Ole Ran’l McCoy”), is an LA-based actor and a proud PlayGround-LA company member, and an Open Fist Theatre Company member. Most recently, she was seen in OFTC’s “The Book of Life,” by Judy Klass, in “Political Popups,” and as Jennet Jourdemayne in 2nd Star to the Right’s production of “The Lady’s Not for Burning.” She holds a BFA in Theatre Performance, from the University of Florida. Thank you for keeping theatre alive and supporting Zoom theatre!

TAHMUS ROUNDS (The Reunification Tango, “Brad”), he, has appeared in many television shows, including “How I Met Your Mother,” “Bones,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “Parks and Recreation,” “Criminal Minds” and “911 Lonestar.” Among other theatre credits, he is a former Blue Man in Blue Man Group, performing over 1000 shows in Chicago, Boston and New York. He is excited and honored to be a member of PlayGround-LA.

MAE RULING (Twenty-Four and Me, “Mia“), she, is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA. Mae has appeared in multiple short films as the girl who eventually takes control of her life and in a feature film as a literal dream girl named Gorgeous. Her most recent role was a tenacious reporter in a pilot. Currently, Mae is working on a play about Civil War spies, but she won’t tell you any details just yet. She is thrilled to have the chance to play and grow as a part of the PlayGround-LA company.

WILLIAM WARREN (The Devil Anse and Ole Ran’l, “Devil Anse Hatfield”), he, is a native of Gary, Indiana. He began his journey at the famed Second City Theater Improvisation Workshop in Chicago, Ill. William who is an actor and vocalist has performed in various musical productions, toured Canada with the Platters and performed as a backup vocalist with recording artist Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo of The Fifth Dimensions, Stephanie Mills, Deniece Williams and Phillip Bailey of Earth Wind and Fire, among others. William is currently collaborating on a production of Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and recently appeared in August Wilson’s Seven Guitars at The Long Beach Playhouse, the critically acclaimed The Little Foxes at Antaeus Theatre: Towne Street Theatre; IN RESPONSE; THE FERTILE RIVER at Baylor University, and 2019 NAACP Theatre Award nominee PERIPHERY at The Hudson Theatre.

CHRISTINA WREN (Your! Amazing! Galaxy! “Volunteer/Anti-Volunteer”), she, is an NYU alum and has written and produced several indie features and series as well as content for Travel Channel, HGTV, PBS and Discovery Digital. You can soon hear her voice fighting zombies in Netflix’s anime series, “Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas,” directed by Zack Snyder. Currently, she plays a feisty computer programmer in the thriller series, “LA Macabre” on Amazon Prime.

DIRECTORS
FRIEDA DE LACKNER (Far From Man), she, is a director/producer/actor/writer for both film and theatre. Her film, Meeting Matt Damon, began as a play, written by Ron Burch, at PlayGround LA. She co-produced the feature, Hold On, which was released in theaters December 2019 and will be streaming soon. She is delighted to be a company member for Playground LA! Before moving to LA, she worked for over ten years with Kaiser Permanente’s Educational Theatre Programs.

REENA DUTT (The Reunification Tango), she, is a director based on the West coast, and her work was most recently seen with Greenway Court Theatre, prior to COVID at Sacred Fools as an LA Times Critic’s Pic, and will be seen in May 2021 online via East West Players. She is a member of Lincoln Center Directors lab, and was part of the Bridging the Collective 2020 mentorship. She is a Drama League New York Directing Fellowship semi-finalist for 2020. More info at www.ReenaDutt.com.

JULLY LEE, (Your! Amazing! Galaxy!), she, is the artistic director of COLD TOFU, the nation’s first and longest running Asian American improv company, as well as a resident director with PlayGround-LA. She has also directed with PlayGround-SF, Company of Angels, Exposition Review, hereandnow, East West Players, Los Angeles Female Playwrights Initiative (LAFPI), The Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights (ALAP), Playwrights’ Arena, Artists At Play, The Road Theatre, EST-LA, and Center Theatre Group in their Library Readings Series. As an actor, recent TV/film credits include S.W.A.T., Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, Veep, The Kominsky Method, This Is Us and Henry Danger. jullylee.com

JIM KLEINMANN (The Devil Anse and Ole Ran’l), he, 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-four 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 (Twenty-Four and Me), she, has worked with PlayGround LA for 7 years first as an actor, then director, and now Associate Artistic Director. She freelances as a script reader but her finest achievement of 2020 is her daughter Clover.

JESUS A. REYES (How Coyote and Rabbit Almost Became One (Again)), he, has directed The Refugee Hotel by Carmen Aguirre for East LA College @elactechicaltheatre IG, Mima by Remi Mark for The Blank Theatre’s YPF and as Community Partnerships Director at CTG commissioned short plays by Diana Burbano, Juan E. Carrillo, D’Lo, Forrest Hartl, Judy Soo Hoo, and Julie Taiwo-Oni. A longtime PlayGround director.

About PLAYGROUND-LA

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 950 original ten-minute plays by 250 Bay Area and Los Angeles early-career writers and has commissioned/developed more than 80 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 Gala. The 9th annual Best of PlayGround Gala will take place on Monday, April 12, 2021, via Zoom live stream. PlayGround-LA is a fiscally sponsored project of PlayGround. For more information, visithttp://playground-la.org.

SARAH GASSER (Resident Stage Manager & Sound Designer) joined PlayGround in 2017 and has staged managed for the Monday Night PlayGround series and PlayGround Festival. She stagemanages for companies around the Bay Area, including Brava and Bay Area Children’s Theatre. In her administrative capacities, she assists with PlayGround’s marketing, social media, communications, and website, as well as serving as assistant to the Artistic Director.

COLIN JOHNSON (Visual Designer) is a multi-hyphenate production artist who has sullied the grounds of the Bay Area arts since 2008. His work has been produced or featured at PlayGround, Pianofight, The Circus Center Cabaret, San Diego Comic-Con, Image Comics, Potrero Stage, Pint-Sized Plays, The Olympians Festival, Shotz, Shotgun Players, The Curran, and various theatre, radio and film venues throughout the country. He is the Artistic Director of Awesome Theatre, Chief Creative Officer at Troubleshoot Productions and an Instructor / Director / Designer at Circus Center. He makes movies until he gets too frustrated and makes theatre until he has panic attacks.

PLAYGROUND-LA CONTRIBUTORS

PlayGround-LA is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the many individuals whose support makes our playwright incubator programs possible. The list below reflects gifts made between October 1, 2019 and October 12, 2020.

Patrons ($250 and above)

Ruth & Robert Brayton, Michael Fried/Planet Earth Arts, Les Ostrov, Two Kids with a Camera, Anonymous (3)

Associate Members ($125-$249)

Laverne Agard, Kathleen Cecchin, Dina Fisher, Becky Harris, Mark V. Jones

Supporting Members ($75-$124)

In memory of Dylan Duncan Wright, Michael Borders, Frieda de Lackner, Susan Hunter Eiden, Mr. Jonathan Josephson, Lara Gilman & Jim Kleinmann, Josh Pritchard, Anonymous (2)

Contributing Members ($25-$74)

Daysha’s Big Sister, Miss Erika Agard, Charline Alexandre, Sylvia & Bill Blush, Diane and Steve Ciesinski, Ms. Frieda de Lackner, Angela Edewi, Elayne Heilveil, Ms. Mildred Inez Lewis, Bette Linderman, Anonymous (2)

Friends (Up to $24)

Chase Abrams, Michael Adams, Brandon Baer, Aldo Billingslea, Rachel Borders, Mind Your Own Business, Diana Burbano, Melissa Chalsma, Carolyn Deskin, Rebecca L. Foster, Jun Hee Han, Miss Ariel Jacobson, Julianne Jigour, Ian Kaye, Mrs. Rosette Laursen, Christopher Gary Lawson, Debra Lee, Erika Lewis, Anonymous, Kerri McCanna, Eliza McNitt, Daniel Melling, Laurel Ollstein, Katie Page, Ms. Adrienne Whitney Papp, Vanessa Parish, Tahmus Rounds, Steven Rubio, Richard Ruyle, LA Thomas, Harriet White, Desireé York, Anonymous (3)

Become a PlayGround-LA contributor!

DONATE

PLAYGROUND-LA WRITERS POOL 2020-21

Michael P. Adams, Amanda Andrei, Evan Baughfman, Rachel Borders*, Diana Burbano*, Kathleen Cecchin*, Bridget Connelly, Allie Costa*, Jerome Joseph Gentes*, Briggs Hatton, Elayne Heilveil, Susan C. Hunter, Uma Incrocci, Julianne Jigour*, Starina Johnson*, Mark V. Jones, Jonathan Josephson*, Ian Kaye, Arthur Keng*, Mildred Inez Lewis, Rhea MacCallum*, Eliza McGowan-Stinski, Misao McGregor*, Scott Mullen*, Nicholas C. Pappas*, Emily Brauer Rogers, Jessica June Rowe*, Richard Ruyle, Joe Samaniego, Mercedes Segesvary*, Mark Sherstinsky*, Ayesha Siddiqui, Nicki Spencer*, Charles Velasquez-Witosky, Daysha Veronica*, and Desiree York

* Best of PlayGround Award recipient

PLAYGROUND-LA COMPANY

Sylvia Cervantes Blush, Jordan Carlson, Frieda de Lackner, Carolyn Deskin, Julio Hanson, Kurt Kanazawa, Stephanie T. Keefer, Christopher Gary Lawson, Jully Lee, Jackie Marriott, Gabi Mayorga, Paris McCarthy, Rondrell McCormick, Krystal Mosley, Tiffany Mualem, Gary Poux, Tiana Randall-Quant, Ivan Rivas, Debba Rofheart, Tahmus Rounds, Mae Ruling, Lamar Usher, Carla Vega, Christina Wren