PlayGround-LA presents Season 15

prePLAY

“Cry Now, Laugh Later”
October 11, 2026 4pm PT
The Broadwater Black Box & Vimeo Live Simulcast

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

“AMERICA 250: The Dreamers, The Builders & The Leaders”
October 12, 2026 7pm PT
The Broadwater Black Box & 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.

prePLAY – October 11

Cry Now, Laugh Later
By Aaron Higareda
MEL (Melpomene)…………..Jeff Torres
THALIA…………..Gabi Mayorga
THE PLAYWRIGHT…………..Andrew Perez
Stage Directions…………..Mae Ruling

Monday Night PlayGround-LA – October 12

Ralph Lazo for Class President
by Damian Alejandro Arteaga
Directed by Larry Mayorquin
Ralph…………..Charles Gonzales

Ay Dolores!
by Esther Banegas Gatica
Directed by Tiana Randall-Quant
Dolores…………..Alejandra Jaime

Private
By Blaire Battle
Directed by Jim Kleinmann
Chelsea…………..Alexia Jasmene

En la Brega
by Baylee Shlichtman
Directed by Jesus A. Reyes
Frank…………..Andrew Santiago

Sugar and Spice
by Maya De La Torre
Directed by Ivan Rivas
Josefina…………..Gabi Mayorga

The Woman Rebel
by Amy Ellenberger
Directed by Cybelle Kaehler
Margaret…………..Melissa Alce

Stage Manager – Devin Harris

This performance is produced under agreement with SAG-AFTRA.

PlayGround is a member of Theatre Bay Area and Theatre Communications Group.

This program is supported, in part, by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Department of Arts and Culture and the National Endowment for the Arts.
   

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND-LA PEOPLE’S CHOICE AWARD & NEW PLAY COMMISSION

Following tonight’s performance, we invite your participation in the Best of PlayGround-LA 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 New Play Commissioning program.

Cast your vote for your favorite play(s) by making a People’s Choice donation via Zelle (info@playground-la.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 playground-la.org/monday). 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 next two weeks, we’ll tally up the top vote-getter and recipient of this year’s PlayGround-LA New Play Commission, a full-length expansion and adaptation of their award-winning Best of PlayGround-LA Gala short play. 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

DAMIEN ALEJANDRO ARTEAGA (Ralph Lazo for Class President), is an accomplished Mexican playwright from Southern California. He has been a member of PlayGround-LA’s Writers Pool since 2023 and has been staged with them 11 times over the course of three seasons. He has also been selected as Best of PlayGround-LA 3 years in a row. He is also currently under commission with Playground-LA to develop a full length parody musical. He was recognized as a 2026 O’Neill Playwright Conference Semi-Finalist with his play, “The Hole.” Currently he is a 2026 Signpost Fellow and is officially being mentored by Kristoffer Diaz. Damian’s play “Super Duper Happy Immigrant Funtimeland” was produced as part of Full Circle Players Emerging Voices Festival. His play “Friendly Fire” was staged for the Hell or High Water festival at Different Strokes PAC, for which he was awarded as an Audience Favorite, and his piece received an encore performance. Other theaters where his work has been performed include The Redlands Theatre Festival, Little Fish Theatre, and the Morgan Wixson Theatre. When not writing plays, he is writing interactive gaming experiences. He is a writer for “NukeItFromOrbit,” a new sci-fi role-playing game, and he also collaborates with Shewstone Publishing to create various tabletop adventures set in Enchanted England.

ESTHER BANEGAS GATICA (Ay Dolores!) is a bilingual Honduran playwright, screenwriter, actor, producer, and translator whose work exists to uplift the authentic experiences of U.S. immigrants and women, including her own. She’s part of the PlayGround LA writers pool, with various plays selected as “Best of” and a 2026 winner of the June Anne Baker Award. Esther is an MFA Playwriting and screenwriting graduate of the University of California, Riverside, where she was a Gluck Fellow for the arts. She works for the social-justice-focused Black Voice News as a writer and podcast content coordinator. She is a founding board member of the World Builders Incubator as well as a writer developing a solutions-based TV pilot set in the future, imagining a world post-successful immigration reform. For more visit estherbanegasgatica.com or IG: esteyg

BLAIRE BATTLE (Private) is an award winning playwright whose work has been produced in theaters in California, New York, Texas, Virginia, Alabama, and whatever state the internet is considered to reside in. In addition to theater, she is the co-founder of production company, The Stranger Kind, where you can find her queer post apocalyptic radio play, sci fi rock opera concept album, space fantasy webcomic, transgender hiking short film, or any number of other forthcoming genre mashups. @blaire.battle on ig, or @thestrangerkind on all platforms.

MAYA DE LA TORRE (Sugar and Spice) is a playwright and performer based in Los Angeles. She holds a Master’s Degree in Classical Acting from the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art and is an alumni of the Miranda Family Fellowship. She is very excited to be entering PlayGround-LA’s Writer’s Pool for the second season, and hopes you enjoy the show!

AMY ELLENBERGER (The Woman Rebel), is a writer, actress, producer and arts education leader. She is a founding member and recent artistic director of the LA based site specific theatre company Chalk Rep. She currently works for the American Film Institute Conservatory. She holds a BFA from Otterbein University and an MFA from UC San Diego.

BAYLEE SHLICHTMAN (En la Brega) writes plays about love, autonomy, and magic in the mundane. Recently, her work has been featured with Full Circle Players Emerging Voices, EST/ LA Winterfest, and Afterlife Fest at the Flea Theatre. Her work has been produced or developed with AlterTheatre Ensemble, Breath of Fire Latina Theatre Ensemble, Curtis Theatre, Flamboyán Theatre, Great Plains Theatre Commons, New Relic Theatre, PlayGround-LA, UC Irvine, Urbanite Theatre, The Vagrancy Theatre, and The Workshop Theatre among others. She is currently under commission with PlayGround-LA for her full-length play GOOD ROMANS. MFA, UC Riverside ’27.

ACTORS

MELISSA ALCE (The Woman Rebel), is a PlayGround and ShotzSF company member. Favorite roles: Yazmin in Water by the Spoonful, Anna in Anna Considers Mars, and Masha in The Seagull. She received her MFA from the National Theater Conservatory and studies at John Rosenfeld Studio where she’s also a TA. She sends thanks to her family, friends, and husband for their love and support.

CHARLES GONZALES (Ralph Lazo for Class President), actor of voice, screen, and stage makes his return to the PlayGround. His most recent credits included characters in Fallout 76 and an animated film titled Kayara. Trained at UNLV and continued learning with Areté Actors Workshop under Michael Yavnieli, he is practiced in Shakespeare and contemporary theatre. His excitement whenever joining The PlayGround stage is always on display because of the unique opportunity to work on projects from new voices.

ALEJANDRA JAIME (Ay Dolores!), is an actor based in Los Angeles, California. Recent credits and include Blackforest gummy bears, Lowe’s, and Latasha Harlens (2025). Excited to be back with the playground fam! Let’s have fun! @alejandra_jay_

ALEXIA JASMENE (Private), is a long time PlayGround performer. A Chicago theatre actor who has now found herself in LA the past 6 years has been a journey but PlayGround is a place of reprieve to tell new stories that matter. You can hear Alexia’s voice as Valeria in HBO Max’s “Veneno” for the English Dub and see her as Sophie in the YouTube short series “Jessie & Sophie”. She has performed with Celebration Theatre in “Tales of the Trancestors” two years writing and performing as Dawn Langley Simmons and has performed with PlayGround many times. You can catch her doing stand up and poetry throughout the LA area and an occasional music performance.

GABI MAYORGA (Cry Now, Laugh Later, Sugar and Spice) is a Mexican American actress, director and DIY filmmaker. She received her BFA from The Theatre School at DePaul University where she studied acting. She’s performed on stages across the country and is a proud member of the PlayGround-LA community. She recently co-wrote and acted in “Paper Flower”, a short film about the immigrant experience and acted in a commercial this past holiday season.

ANDREW PEREZ (Cry Now, Laugh Later), is an actor and Jack-of-All-Trades based in Los Angeles. He’s choreographed fights for dozens of productions, has narrated nearly 200 audiobooks, and has performed all over from LA to Tampa to Bahrain. You can find his photography, bullwhips, demos, and more at andrewjperez.com

MAE RULING (Cry Now, Laugh Later), is an actor, filmmaker, and SAG-AFTRA member. Having grown up in Indiana, she has called the City of Angels home for over a decade. Her short film, “Carole & Clark,” premiered at the Pasadena International Film Festival earlier this year. The other short film she’s written and starred in, “You Can’t Follow Me,” is currently in post-production. Mae has been a member of PlayGround LA since 2016. It’s her creative home and favorite playground. She also plays flute in the Burbank Community Band.

ANDREW SANTIAGO (En la Brega), an OG raised by his Puerto Rican abuela in pre-hipster Brooklyn, is now living his acting, comedy and writing dreams out in LA. He’s a member of the Maude-team-turned-weekend-team Moon Goon at the UCB Theater, where he also recently debuted his solo show “Who’s My Daddy?” His recent credits include Apple’s The Studio, CBS’s NCIS, and the feature film Unstoppable.

JEFF TORRES (Cry Now, Laugh Later),  Jeff Torres is a Mexican-American writer, director, and actor based in Los Angeles.

DIRECTORS

CYBELLE KAEHLER (The Woman Rebel), is a film and theatre director who strives to tell meaningful queer and female focused stories, often focusing on social issues. She has directed and written several plays and short films, and has served in various crew positions in both film and theatre. Her recent projects include directing and producing the new play “Restoration” at Hollywood Fringe, as well as directing “Alice in Wonderland” at the Morgan-Wixson Theatre Youth Education Series. Her latest short film, Tombé, won Best Student Film at the Los Angeles Cinema Festival of Hollywood and at LA Sun Film Fest. She has worked at theater companies including South Coast Repertory, New Swan Shakespeare Festival, and PlayGround-LA. She graduated from UC Irvine with degrees in Drama and Film, where she was co-president of Brick Theatre Company, a student collective focused on LGBTQ+ works.

JIM KLEINMANN (Private, Artistic Director), 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.

LARRY MAYORQUIN (Ralph Lazo for Class President), he/him/his, is excited to be working with PlayGround LA for the first time! Larry is currently on the East West Players Staff as the Education Coordinator and has most recently directed D.A.F.U.Q. -Dating Advice for Useless Queers at the Hollywood Fringe (Sydney Exchange Award Winner, Best Solo Show Nominee, Best World Premiere Nominee). Previous directing credits include The Last Play By Rickerby Hinds (Latino Theatre Company -assistant director), PATSY! ( East West Players – assistant director) Elf! The Musical (Covina Center for the Performing Arts), Caminos: A Mother’s Journey (Diversity Scholarship Award Winner, Pick of the Fringe winner, Best Drama Nominee) amongst others.

TIANA RANDALL-QUANT (Ay Dolores!), has been with the company since 2018 as an actor and has been an associate producer since 2022. Tiana is a second generation Angeleno fighting the false narrative that LA is not a theatre town. They are pro-trans, pro-DEI, pro-Palestine. All of their creative work this year is dedicated to their late brother Dominic “Dom Poniac” Quant, who was killed in January in an act of senseless gun violence.

JESUS A. REYES (En la Brega), is the Director of Learning & Community Partnerships at Center Theatre Group and is part of the Artistic and Education teams. He produces community workshops, the Community Tour, and supports with new play development and commissions.

IVAN RIVAS (Sugar and Spice), he/him, Ivan Rivas is a Los Angeles based theatre director and producer who works primarily with Rogue Machine Theatre, PlayGround-LA, and the Downtown Repertory/Sierra Madre Shakespeare Festival. He is a proud alum of USC School of Dramatic Arts and Directors Lab West.

PRODUCTION

PARIS MCCARTHY (Executive Producer) 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.

SCARLETT REDMOND (Casting Director), she/her, is a Los Angeles-based SAG-AFTRA Actress, Voiceover Artist, and Casting Associate. Training: Emerson College (BFA), Stella Adler (NYC), John Rosenfeld Studios, and UCB LA. She’s a proud pup mama to a scruffy rescue named Chester Cheeseman and loves coffee, estate sales, and true crime podcasts. She’s a member of the PlayGround-LA Company.

DEVIN HARRIS (Stage Manager), he/him, is overjoyed to be starting his second season with PlayGround LA! Having recently graduated USC with a degree in climbing ladders, he’s happy to be working in the theater! You may have seen his work lighting up the Zephyr, Carrie Hamilton, or honestly half of the fringe venues at this point. Thanks to Mom, Dad, and Maya for the endless support!

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 playground-la.org.

COMING SOON

STREAMING SOON:

APPLICATIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED!

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, 2025 & October 11, 2026.

GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, & FOUNDATION DONORS

Adobe • Alameda County Arts Commission • Art Space Development Corporation • Berkeley Civic Arts • Berlanti Family Foundation • Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund • California Office of the Small Business Advocate • Fleishhacker Foundation • Google • Grants For The Arts • Hechale Productions • Illinois Arts Council • KFF • Kenneth Rainin Foundation • Koret Foundation • LA County Arts Commission • Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation • The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund • National Endowment for the Arts • Negley Flinn Charitable Foundation • New York State Council on the Arts • News Corp • NIAC • Nvidia • Ronald Whittier Family Foundation • SF Shines • The Shubert Foundation • SS&C Technologies • State Compensation Insurance Fund

SEASON SPONSORS ($5000+)

Emilie & Gordon Brooks, Daniel Cohn & Lynn Linton,  Keith Goldstein & Donna Warrington, Jim Kleinmann & Lara Gilman, Jackie Kubicka, Craig Moody, Darryl Wilburn, Janine Wilburn

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500-$4999)

John Gilman, Regina S. Guggenheim, Kathryn Hecht, Nitin Nitin & Vasugi Kailasam, Jessica June Rowe, Christian Wilburn, Anonymous

PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)

Linda Ayres-Frederick, Anne Brady, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Sheila Collins, Jediah Craig, Jessica Forbess, Greg Gorel, Gina & Steve Harris, Uma Incrocci, J. Lynn Jackson, Jonathan Josephson, Linda Kremer, Lisa Morse & Bruno Kurtic, Molly Noble & Bob Guilbault, Kendall Phillips, Evelyn Jean Pine, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Arthur Rock & Toni Rembe Rock, Kathryn Ryan, Sanjit Sengupta, William C. Thompson, Hector Zavala, Anonymous

PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)

Randy Adams, Tom Bruett, Joy Carlin, Elizabeth Dudak, Leon Goertzen, Philip Gotanda, Martine Kei Green-Rogers, Raymond W Kaliski, Paul Kleinmann, margery kreitman, Kathy Roberts & Aaron Loeb, Bram McGinnis, Mark Peters, Cindy Redburn, John Ruskin, Matt Schwartz, Kurt Taylor, Matt W Wills

PATRON ($250-$499)

Linda Amayo-Hassan, Linda Ayres-Frederick / Phoenix Arts Association Theatre, Summer Broyhill, Ben Cain, Jediah Craig, Clint Fleener, Hechale Productions, Jonathan Josephson, Alex Loddengaard, Alan Maass, Tobi Marcus, Evelyn Jean Pine & Doug Peckler, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Stephanie Prentice, George Rose, John Ruskin, Kathryn Ryan, Kitt Saginor, Kristina Segesvary, Sanjit Sengupta, Mark Sherstinsky, Jerome Solberg, Jon & Susan Sweedler, Mary Lou Torre, Rebecca White, Susannah Wise, Maury Zeff

ASSOCIATE MEMBER ($125-$249)

Ruth Brayton, Cass Brayton, Tim Bryant, Valerie Butler-Newbern, Vilma Contreras, Marilyn Cooper, Deepanshu Dutta, Sharon Eberhardt, Sara Goetz, Patience Haggin, Howard Ho, Karen Levesque, Jack Needleman, Jack Needleman, Sitara Nieves, Stella Rajakumar, Karen Reaume, John Ruskin, Claudia Sarconi, John Schrom, Mary Lou Torre, Donna Young

To contribute to PlayGround, visit 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 Adams, Damian Alejandro Arteaga, Esther Banegas Gatica, Blaire Battle, Evan Baughfman, Summer Broyhill, Tim Bryant, Allie Costa, Maya De La Torre, Honokee Dunn, Amy Ellenberger, Rachel Harner, Paris Herbert-Taylor, Aaron Higareda, Chil Kong, Mikee Loria, Abel Marquez, Jose Medina, Peter Pasco, Richard Perez, Joy Regullano, Teddy Alexis Rodriguez, Cara Sanchez, Mark Sherstinsky, Baylee Shlichtman, Evelyn Wu-Coffey

PLAYGROUND-LA COMPANY

Nemma Adeni, Tanvi Agrawal, Jahnavi Alyssa, Brianna Barrett, Julia Belanova, Josef Bette, Sylvia Cervantes Blush, Summer Broyhill, Ben Cain, Jordan Carlson, Jackie Castañeda, Paris Crayton III, Greg Cuellar, Tom Dang, Frieda de Lackner, Carrie Deskin, L (Leticia) Duarte, Angel Dumapias, Asa Fris, Natasha Galano, Kyla Garcia, Eric Geller, Jon Gentry, Danny Gomez, Charles Gonzalez, Cassie Grilley, Christian Haines, Julio Hanson, Matthew Henerson, Edward Hong, Mark Jacobson, Alejandra Jaime, Alexia Jasmene, Cybelle Kaehler, Stephanie Keefer, Zaya Kolia, Dean Koya, Emily Kuroda, Chris Lawson, Vivi Le, Christine Liao, Andy Lowe, Lea Madda, Julie Marchiano, Jackie Marriott, Gabi Mayorga, Paris McCarthy, Carene Mekertichyan, 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, Janet Song, Angela Sonner, Grace Su, Jeff Torres, Carla Vega, Charlotte Williams, Jo Yuan

PRODUCTION & STAFF

Jim Kleinmann, Co-Founder & Artistic Director
Paris McCarthy, Executive Producer
Andy Lowe, Associate Producer
Gabi Mayorga, Associate Producer
Scarlett Redmond, Casting Director

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