PlayGround-LA Celebrates the “Holiday Spirit” for December 12 Monday Night PlayGround
“Bah,” said Scrooge, “Humbug.” ― A Christmas Carol
Playwright incubator PlayGround-LA has announced the selected plays and playwrights for its third Monday Night PlayGround staged reading event of its 11th season. Thirty-seven Los Angeles writers had just four-and-a-half days to generate their original scripts inspired by the prompt “HOLIDAY SPIRIT” as they vied for one of six slots in the latest round of this year’s Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, to be presented live at the Broadwater Theaters and simulcast online on December 12th at 7pm PT. The evening will feature works by Esther Banegas Gatica, Evan Baughfman, Summer Broyhill, Bailey Jordan Garcia, Julio Hanson, and Jessica June Rowe. PlayGround-LA’s sister companies, PlayGround SF, PlayGround NY and – new this year! – PlayGround Chicago will present their own interpretations of the theme on December 19, December 26, and January 2, respectively. All PlayGround programs in all four regions are being performed under SAG-AFTRA New Media agreements, providing union wages and protections for all performers. Monday Night PlayGround is admission-free (donations gratefully accepted) and advance reservations are required. For the complete schedule or to reserve tickets, visit https://playground-la.org/monday.
PlayGround-LA’s celebrated Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series on second Mondays will be once again held in-person this year, at Broadwater Theaters and live simulcast (October 17, 2022 – March 13, 2023). Each month, PlayGround-LA announces a topic and writers have just four-and-a-half days to generate their original ten-page script. The top six scripts are matched with directors and a cast of leading local professionals and rehearsed for just ninety minutes on the day of the performance. Following a brief technical rehearsal to add sound and other design elements, the six short plays are performed as script-in-hand staged readings for an in-person and live-stream viewing audience. Audience members can also experience the thrill of being a producer through the monthly People’s Choice Awards, helping to determine which plays and playwrights go on for consideration in PlayGround-LA’s annual short play showcase, Best of PlayGround-LA. Advance reservations are required. Admission is free but donations are gratefully accepted and directly support artist compensation. Proof of vaccination and masks are required for in-person performance at Broadwater Theaters.
PlayGround-LA’s 2022-23 Writers Pool, the thirty-seven Los Angeles-based writers competitively selected to participate in the monthly series, are: Michael P. Adams, Monique Aldred, Steve Apostolina, Jaisey Bates, Evan Baughfman, Summer Broyhill, Emily Brauer Rogers+, Joe Luis Cedillo, Allie Costa, Bailey Jordan Garcia, Lauren Gorski, Mason Greer, Julio Hanson, Briggs Hatton, Aaron Higareda, Uma Incrocci, Starina Johnson, M.J. Kang, Michael Kaplan, Ross Tedford Kendall, Arthur Keng, Keyanna Khatiblou, Ethan LaCaro, Mildred Inez Lewis, Rhea MacCallum+, Liza McGowan, Scott Mullen, Peter Pasco, Lina Patel, Joni Ravenna, Jessica June Rowe+, Mark Sherstinsky, Ayesha Siddiqui, Nicki Spencer, Jennie Webb, Karl Williams
Supporting PlayGround-LA playwrights and the Monday Night series are the members of the PlayGround-LA Company, representing some of Los Angeles’ leading directors, actors, designers, and stage managers. The 2022-23 PlayGround-LA Company includes: Jahnavi Alyssa, Julia Belanova, Josef Bette, Sylvia Cervantes Blush, Ben Cain, Hugo Carbajal, Jordan Carlson, Jordan Covington, Frieda de Lackner, Hillary DeMartino, Carolyn Deskin, Rogelio Douglas III, Danny Gomez, Christian Haines, Julio Hanson, Mark Jacobson, Alexia Jasmene, Kurt Kanazawa, Stephanie T. Keefer, Emily Kuroda, Christopher Gary Lawson, Jully Lee, Christine Liao, Lea Madda, Jackie Marriott, Gabi Mayorga, Paris McCarthy, Rondrell McCormick, Sherry Michaels, Krystal Mosley, Melissa Ortiz, Tansu Philip, Gary Poux, Tiana Randall-Quant, Maiya Reaves, Jesus Reyes, Ivan Rivas, Debba Rofheart, Tahmus Rounds, Mae Ruling, Collette Rutherford, Anthony Rutowicz, Lamar Usher, Carla Vega, William Warren, Charlotte Williams, Christina Wren, Demetrius Wren
PlayGround-LA is the first regional expansion of the celebrated Bay Area playwright incubator and theatre community hub, PlayGround (SF). PlayGround, California’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s, Los Angeles’, New York’s and now Chicago’s best new playwrights, including the monthly Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, annual PlayGround Festival of New Works, full-length play commissions and support for the production of new plays by local playwrights through the New Play Production Fund. To date, PlayGround has supported over 250 early career playwrights, developing and staging more than 1,000 of their original short plays through the Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned 90 new full-length plays by 60 of these writers through its Commissioning Initiative and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 34 plays at theatres of every size, including three that have gone on to NYC and other major theater communities. Most recently, PlayGround renovated and relaunched the former Thick House Theater in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill as Potrero Stage, a state-of-the-art center for new plays, home to PlayGround’s expanding artistic programs and some of the Bay Area’s most distinguished new play developers and producers. Over the past twenty-seven years, PlayGround has served to identify some of the most important new local voices for the theatre. PlayGround’s alumni have gone on to win local, national, and international honors for their short and full-length work, including recognition at the Humana Festival, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The Lark’s Playwrights’ Week, New York International Fringe Festival, and others. PlayGround received the 2009 Paine Knickerbocker Award for outstanding contributions to Bay Area theatre, 3 BATCC Awards for Best Original Script for PlayGround commissions, a 2014 National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing (founder of the Tony Awards®), and a 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.
WHAT: PlayGround-LA Continues Season 11 of its Celebrated Monday Night PlayGround Series with original short plays by Esther Banegas Gatica, Evan Baughfman, Summer Broyhill, Bailey Jordan Garcia, Julio Hanson, and Jessica June Rowe, inspired by the prompt “Holiday Spirit”.
WHERE: Broadwater Second Stage, 6320 Santa Monica Boulevard, Los Angeles CA 90038
WHEN: Monday, December 12, 2022 at 7pm PT
Additional Season Dates:
January 9
February 13
March 13
TICKETS: Admission is free (donations gratefully accepted) but advance reservations are required. To reserve tickets for in-person or online viewing, visit https://tickets.playground-sf.org. COVID PROTOCOLS: Proof of vaccination and masks are required for all in-person attendees.