PlayGround-LA presents Season 13

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

“The American Experiment”
October 14th, 2024 7pm PT
Broadwater Second Stage & Vimeo Live Simulcast

ACKNOWLEDGING THE LEGACY OF THE LAND WE INHABIT

PlayGround-LA acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the Chumash, Tongva, and Kizh (“keech”), the original inhabitants of Los Angeles. As the past and present Indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Chumash, Tongva and Kizh Nation (Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians) have never ceded, lost, nor forgotten their responsibilities as the caretakers of this place, as well as for all peoples who reside in their traditional territory. We recognize the historic injustice of the forcible removal of the Chumash, Tongva and Kizh people from their ancestral lands, and that we benefit from living and working on their traditional homeland. We wish to pay our respects by acknowledging the Ancestors, Elders and Relatives of the Chumash, Tongva and Kizh Communities and by affirming their sovereign rights as First Peoples. We honor the storytellers of the Gabrieleño Band of Mission Indians and are grateful for our ability to share and uplift Indigenous stories and those of other historically marginalized communities.

To learn about the legacy of the land you inhabit, visit Native-Land.ca | Our home on native land. To read the complete Land Acknowledgment Policy, click here.

PLAYGROUND-LA’S ANTI-RACIST POLICY

PlayGround-LA recognizes the impact of racial oppression within society and the American Theater and that we have been complicit in White Supremacy culture. Our goal is to co-create safety for our community by identifying and interrupting instances of racism and all forms of oppression when we witness them, through specific actions rooted in the principles of anti-racism and accessibility. In its endeavor to address the implications of our history, PlayGround-LA is committed to its compliance with the following fundamental rights:

• The recognition of inherent dignity and worth of each human being.
• The recognition of equality of all human beings.
• Recognition of rights of ethnic, racial, cultural, linguistic and religious groups.
• Equality and non-discrimination.

PlayGround-LA’s Anti-Racist Policy applies to: all members of the PlayGround-LA community, including employees, independent contractors, volunteers, audience members, donors, and general members of the community.

To read the complete Anti-Racist Policy, click here.

Monday Night PlayGround Memberships

We are deeply grateful to our 2024-25 Monday Night PlayGround Members, whose direct support helps to underwrite artists fees for the Monday Night series across all four regions:

Dr. & Mrs. Sam & Naomi Abramovitz, Ms. Linda B Breaux-Smith, Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Ben Cain, Joan Cleveland, Ms. Marilyn Berg Cooper, Logan Varas De Valdes, Krystyna Finlayson, Krystyna Finlayson, Ms. Elizabeth Groenewegen, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Alice Lehmann, Ms. Kristy Lin Billuni, Linda G Marks, Dr. Sheila McCormick, Dan Morley, Ms. Annette Oliveira, Mr. George Rose, Jessica June Rowe, Michelle Ruscetta, John J. Ruskin, Miyoko Sakatani, Mark Sherstinsky, Nancy W. Smith, Stan Stone, Cathy M Stonie, Vicki Victoria, Dr. Eidell Wasserman, and Ms. Cindy Womack. Thank you!

To learn more about the Monday Night PlayGround membership program, click here.

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!

Friendly Fire
by Damian Alejandro Arteaga
Directed by Ivan Rivas
Arturo……….Anthony Rutowicz

This Checkered Flight
by Uma Incrocci
Directed by Frieda de Lackner
Deborah………………….Carolyn Deskin

Just One Person
by Michael P. Adams
Directed by Paris McCarthy
Craig………………..Greg Bryan

A Freeway Runs Through It
by Rhea MacCallum
Directed by Gabi Mayorga
Michael……………..…Gary Poux

Excuse Me, Sir
by Steve Harper
Directed by Jim Kleinmann
Marshall………………Chris Lawson

A Fatal Attack on 9/12
by Jackie Akiko Cloud
Directed by Tanvi Agrawal
Nathan……………..Zaya Kolia

Stage Manager – Henry Parker-Elder

This performance is produced under agreement with SAG-AFTRA.

PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD

Following tonight’s performance, we invite your participation in this month’s People’s Choice Award. Through the People’s Choice Award, our audience can play a direct impact in furthering the career of a promising new playwright. To vote, make a People’s Choice Award tax-deductible donation on behalf of your favorite play(s)/playwright(s) from the evening. Every donated dollar counts as a vote while directly supporting PlayGround-LA’s award-winning incubator programs.

Cast your vote for your favorite play(s) by making a People’s Choice donation via Zelle (info@playground-sf.org), Venmo (our account ID is @playgroundsf and if they ask for the last four digits of the phone, it’s 8541) or on our website at https://tickets.playground-sf.org/TheatreManager/1/login?donationquick=23). Add a note/memo with your gift (you can use the donor acknowledgment section when donating on our website) to indicate your favorite play(s) or email your selection to boxoffice@playground-sf.org.

At the end of the week, we’ll tally up the top vote-getter and automatic semi-finalist for our season-ending Best of PlayGround. It’s a powerful way of showing your support for new writers and their work, while helping PlayGround-LA continue doing what we do!

BIOGRAPHIES

PLAYWRIGHTS

JACKIE AKIKO CLOUD (A Fatal Attack on 9/12) is a half-Japanese writer whose high-concept dramedies aim to show that hope can be found in even the darkest of circumstances. She is a proud alumna of Yale University’s undergraduate and USC’s Screenwriting MFA programs. Jackie is currently doing the festival circuit with her latest short and recently finished her first manuscript– a coming-of-age mystery about a teenage girl investigating her father’s death in the attacks on 9/11, inspired by her own personal loss.

UMA INCROCCI (This Checkered Flight), has been a member of the PlayGround Writing Pool since 2018. Her play “To Keep and Bear” had a workshop at the New Ground Theater Festival at the Cleveland Playhouse in June 2024. Her short plays have been performed around the country, and recently, in Adelaide, Australia. You can catch her TV movies “Romance with a Twist,” “Nature of Love,” and “A Christmas Carousel” on the Hallmark Channel.

STEVE HARPER (Excuse Me, Sir) ‘s plays plays include Black Lives / Blue Lives [written with Bill Mesce, Jr.], Urban Rabbit Chronicles, The Escape Artist’s Children, Princeton Theory, and True Adventures for Men. His work has been developed with Classical Theatre of Harlem, Lower Depth Theater Ensemble, The Road Theater Company, Vivid Stage, Northwestern University, and New York Theatre Workshop. Steve has written for the TV shows: Tracker, Stargirl, God Friended Me, and American Crime. His collection, A Few Short Plays to Save the World won the 2023 Independent Press Award. Education: Yale, the A.R.T. Institute at Harvard and the Juilliard playwriting program. www.harpercreates.com

RHEA MACCALLUM (A Freeway Runs Through It) is an award-winning playwright, screenwriter and script consultant, whose plays have been produced across the US and six continents. ASKING FOR IT, adapted from her play, won Best Comedy at the 2023 Die Laughing Film Festival. Her play INDEPENDENCE DAY won Best Drama at the LADmatters Film/Theatre Festival and 7th DISORDER won TADA’S One Act Playwriting Contest. Rhea’s work has been published by Smith & Kraus, Heuer, and Pioneer Drama. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild, ICWP, ALAP, and PlayGround-LA’s Writer’s Pool. BA: USC; MFA in Playwriting: Actors Studio Drama School, New School University. @rheaplaywright rheamaccallum.com

ACTORS

GREG BRYAN (Just One Person, “Craig”), has done plays locally at the Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Laguna Playhouse, Boston Court Pasadena, among others, and has been seen onscreen in YOUNG SHELDON, MOSQUITO COAST, GOLIATH, EUPHORIA, TRUE DETECTIVE. This is his 25th year working with PlayGround.

CAROLYN DESKIN (This Checkered Flight, “Deborah”) is currently represented by LemonLime Agency and Puddle Management.

ZAYA KOLIA (A Fatal Attack on 9/12, “Nathan”) is an Assyrian actor from the Bay Area. He was raised in Pleasanton, CA where he started performing in the local theaters and improv show troupe.

CHRIS LAWSON (Excuse Me, Sir, “Marshall”) was born in New York City and has always been a lover of stage and film. He has been acting and modeling for most of his adult life.

GARY POUX (A Freeway Runs Through It, “Michael”), as always, feels blessed to join his PlayGround family onstage again.

ANTHONY RUTOWICZ (Friendly Fire, “Arturo”) has been trucking for some time. More recently can be seen in the feature film ‘Hanky Panky’, currently on Tubi and AppleTV.

DIRECTORS

TANVI AGRAWAL (A Fatal Attack on 9/12) they/them, is a producer, director, and MBA student at UCLA, specializing in entertainment and technology. They grew up in NYC, where their passion for theater blossomed at a young age. After acting for nearly a decade, Tanvi transitioned to directing at UC Berkeley’s Department of Theater and Performance studies (TDPS). They assisted many productions in the SF Bay Area before participating in PlayGround’s Directing Apprenticeship. They now also serve as a Board Member.

JIM KLEINMANN (Excuse Me Sir; Artistic Director & Co-Founder), he/him, 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-eight 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.

FRIEDA DE LACKNER (This Checkered Flight) she/her, directs both theatre and short films. Her latest short film, 172 Push-Ups, is an adaptation of Scott Mullen’s play, which was developed at Playground LA, and stars Playground actors Krystal Mosely, Christina Wren, Jon Gentry, and Jonathan Wray. It screens at the San Jose International Short Film Festival on Oct 25 and at the Ojai Film Festival on Nov 4. She is delighted to have been a Playground member since 2013.

PARIS MCCARTHY (Just One Person) is thrilled to be taking on the role of Executive Director this season. She holds a BA from Saint Louis University and an MFA from UNLV but truly PlayGround is where she has found her artistic home in 2013.

IVAN RIVAS (Friendly Fire), he/him/el, is a resident director at Downtown Rep/Sierra Madre Shakespeare Festival and company member of Rogue Machine Theatre. He is a proud alum of USC School of Dramatic Arts and Directors Lab West.

PRODUCTION

HENRY PARKER ELDER (Stage Manager) is a director, comedian, and storyteller based in Los Angeles. He studied theater and film at USC, where he had the opportunity to work on a myriad of student films, plays, and comedy shows with remarkable artists and mentors. This is his first show with Playground LA, and he is thrilled to bring these wonderful plays to life!

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 1,000 original ten-minute plays by 250 Bay Area and Los Angeles early-career writers and has commissioned/developed more than 100 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. The 13th annual Best of PlayGround Gala will take place on Monday, April 14, 2025, live at the Broadwater Theaters and simulcast via Vimeo Live. For more information, visit http://playground-la.org.

COMING SOON VIA SIMULCAST

PLAYGROUND CONTRIBUTORS

PlayGround is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the many individuals, foundations, corporations and government agencies whose contributions make our work possible. This list reflects gifts of $125 or more committed between October 1, 2023 & October 14, 2024.

GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, & FOUNDATION DONORS

Alameda County Arts Commission • Amazon • American Rescue Plan Act & CARES Act • Art Space Development Corporation • Avenue Greenlight • Berkeley Civic Arts • The Bernard Osher Foundation • Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund • California Arts Council • California Humanities • California Nonprofit Performing Arts Grant Program • Creative Capacity Fund • Disney • Grants For The Arts • KFF • Koret Foundation • LA County Arts Commission • Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation • The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund • Negley Flinn Charitable Foundation • NIAC • Nvidia • NYSCA-A.R.T./New York Creative Opportunity Fund • Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation • Planet Earth Arts • Rock Paper Scissors Landscape Inc. • Rye Financial Services • San Francisco Arts Commission • The Shubert Foundation • The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation

SEASON SPONSORS ($5000+)

Dan Cohn & Lynn Brinton, Paul Haahr, Lara Gilman & Jim Kleinmann

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500+)

Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, John H. Gilman, Sam Latham, Anonymous

PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)

Randy Adams, Meriko Borogove, David Goldman, Keith Goldstein & Donna N. Warrington, Just Play Productions, Linda Kremer, Ronald Whittier Family Foundation, Daniele Nathanson , Nitin, Molly Noble and Bob Guilbault, Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock, John J. Ruskin, Tom Swift, Malachy Walsh and Heather Robison, Janine Wilburn, Anonymous

PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)

Linda Ayres-Frederick, Phoenix Theatre SF, Hillary DeMartino, Paulette Donsavage, Regina S. Guggenheim, Ms. Kathryn A Hecht, Diane Leonard, Kathy Roberts & Aaron Loeb, Dr. Gary W. London, Diane Sampson, Marian Scheuer Sofaer & Abraham D. Sofaer, Jeffrey Trescott, Anonymous

PATRON ($250-$499)

Nina Ball & Jon Tracy, Chris and Cindy Redburn, Jon & Susan Sweedler, Christian Wilburn, Maury Zeff, Anonymous (3)

ASSOCIATE MEMBER ($125-$249)

Sam & Naomi Abramovitz, Mary E. Baird, Ms. Portia F. Bock, Cass Brayton, Sheila Collins, Joyce Dieda, Clint Fleener, Michael Fried, Mrs. Judith Lynn Garcia, Anonymous, Gina Harris, Ms. Sharlene Hartman, Mr. Stanley William Hathaway, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Tanuja Devi Jagernauth, Ms. Mildred Inez Lewis, Anonymous, Paris McCarthy, Kimberly Ridgeway, Ms. Jessica Rofé, Margo Rofé, Carolina Rojas Moretti, Katie Ryan, Louel Senores, Alex M. Shafer, Christine Sheppard, Stan Stone, Lisa Gaye Thompson, Scott Lebus & Susannah Wise

To contribute to PlayGround, visit https://playground-la.org/contribute or contact PlayGround Associate Director of Development Lana Richards at lana@playground-sf.org or by phone at (833) 992-6677.

PLAYGROUND-LA WRITERS POOL

Michael P. Adams+, Tamadhur Al-Aqeel, Damian Arteaga,Suzan Averitt, Esther Banegas Gatica+, Blaire Battle, Evan Baughfman+, Emily Brauer Rogers+, Summer Broyhill, Timothy Bryant, Jackie Cloud, Allie Costa+, Paris Crayton III, Sandra Cruze, Isabella Dionne, Amy Ellenberger, Lauren Gorski+, Rachel Harner+, Steve Harper, Aaron Higareda+, Michael B. Kaplan+, Mikee Loria, Rhea MacCallum+, Abel Marquez, Scott Mullen+, Peter Pasco, Margo Rofé, Carolina Rojas Moretti+, Cara Sanchez, Mark Sherstinsky+, Baylee Shlichtman, Jessica Skinner, Maria D. Smith, Lisa Sutton, Adrian A Babatunde Thomas, Evelyn Wu-Coffey+

+ Past Best of PlayGround playwright.

PLAYGROUND-LA COMPANY

Tanvi Agrawal, Jahnavi Alyssa, Tamiah Bantum, Brianna Barrett, Jerome Beck, Julia Belanova, Josef Bette, Sylvia Cervantes Blush, Summer Broyhill, Ben Cain, Hugo Carbajal, Jordan Carlson, Jordan Covington, Paris Crayton III, Greg Cuellar, Tom Dang, Frieda de Lackner, Hillary DeMartino, Carolyn Deskin, Rogelio Douglas III, Angel Dumapias, Eliza Frakes, Eric Geller, Jon Joseph Gentry, Danny Gomez, Cassie Grilley, Christian Haines, Julio Hanson, Matthew Henerson, Mark Jacobson, Alejandra Jaime, Alexia Jasmene, Cybelle Kaehler, Kurt Kanazawa, Stephanie T. Keefer, Tony Kim, Dean Koya, Emily Kuroda, Christopher Gary Lawson, Christine Liao, Lea Madda, Jackie Marriott, Gabi Mayorga, Paris McCarthy, Sherry Michaels, Krystal Mosley, Rachel Berney Needleman, Melissa Ortiz, Peter Pasco, Andrew Perez, Kevin Phan, Tansu Philip, Gary Poux, Tiana Randall-Quant, Maiya Reaves, Scarlett Redmond, Jesus Reyes, Ivan Rivas, Debba Rofheart, Tahmus Rounds, Mae Ruling, Collette Rutherford, Anthony Rutowicz, Richard Ruyle, Isabel Siragusa, Janet Song, Angela Sonner, Mark Anthony Vallejo, William Warren, Charlotte Williams, Jonathan Wray

PRODUCTION & STAFF

Jim Kleinmann, Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Paris McCarthy, Executive Producer
Tiana Randall-Quant, Associate Producer
Scarlett Redmond, Casting Associate

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
https://facebook.com/PlayGround.losangeles
https://twitter.com/PlayGround_LA
https://instagram.com/playgroundlatheatre
www.playground-la.org

c/o PlayGround
3286 Adeline St #9
Berkeley, CA 94703-2485