PLAYGROUND-LA’S 15th SEASON

PlayGround, a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, is pleased to share plans for its 33rd anniversary season. The season announcement coincides with the release of the 2026-27 Writers Pools, 112 early-career playwrights in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago, who will participate in PlayGround’s signature incubator program, Monday Night PlayGround, developing more than 600 new short plays this season of which 96 will be staged by the four communities over the course of 16 public events, all performed in-person and simulcast under a first-in-the-nation SAG-AFTRA agreement. New for this year: PlayGround’s first prePlay Table Reading Series! Four PlayGround alumni in each PlayGround City will receive a public table read of an evening length play with a paid cast and  live broadcast (schedule and details below).PlayGround has also announced the 40 playwright alumni selected for this year’s Resident Playwrights Program, including five playwrights under commission and representing all four regions.

The 2026-27 Season will feature more than 120 public performances of new works by PlayGround playwrights, ranging from fringe-style full productions to a Hitchcock-inspired holiday show, and from new solo performance to developmental staged readings and premieres of bold new full-length plays. Taken altogether, PlayGround’s 33rd Season represents the nation’s largest celebration of new playwrights and new works and stands as a true celebration of the vitality and promise of the American Theatre. 

Following the conclusion of the Monday Night series, PlayGround presents Best of PlayGround, a celebration of the top new playwrights and works from the season, in Los Angeles (April 5), New York (April 12), Chicago (April 19) and San Francisco (May 29-30).

2026-27 PlayGround-Los Angeles Company

PlayGround also recently announced its 2026-27 Company, including the Writers Pool, Resident Playwrights and Artist Company. These 160+ artists will fuel PlayGround’s incubator programs over the next season, fostering the development of more than 150 original short and full-length plays.

The PlayGround-Los Angeles 2026-27 Writers Pool includes: 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, Joy Regullano, Teddy Alexis Rodriguez, Cara Sanchez, Mark Sherstinsky, Baylee Shlichtman, Evelyn Wu-Coffey

2026-27 Los Angeles Resident Playwrights: Michael P. Adams, Damian Arteaga*, Esther Banegas Gatica**, Rachel Harner, Jonathan Josephson, Mildred Inez Lewis, Cara Sanchez, Baylee Shlichtman; Daysha Veronica, Jennie Webb

* Playwrights under commission for the 2026-27 season
** June Anne Baker Award Winner

In addition, PlayGround is pleased to welcome new and returning members of the PlayGround-Los Angeles Artist 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

* Emeritus

About PlayGround-Los Angeles

The mission of PlayGround-Los Angeles is to support the development of new local voices for the theatre, with a core commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion. Founded in 2012, PlayGround-LA is the first sister company to PlayGround. It has been recognized as a premier arts service organization by the California Arts Council and Los Angeles County Department of Arts & Culture, serving the next generation of Los Angeles playwrights, directors, performers, producers and new innovative theatre companies.

PlayGround was founded in 1994 by Jim Kleinmann, Brighde Mullins, and Denise Shama, beginning as a professional-academic partnership in residence at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and with initial sponsorship from SFSU’s Creative Writing Program. Early participating artists included Prince Gomolvilas, Garret Jon Groenveld, Daniele Nathanson, Sandra Hunter, Colman Domingo, Kent Nicholson, Antigone Trimis, Mary Coleman, and Rhonnie Washington. The fledgling organization moved to Project Artaud and A Traveling Jewish Theatre’s new 80-seat black box theatre in 1996, at which time Kleinmann took on sole leadership as PlayGround’s founding artistic director.

The company was in residence at Berkeley Repertory Theatre from 2003 until the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and has also presented at the David Brower Center, the San Francisco Main Library, Freight & Salvage, Zeum, A.C.T.’s Costume Shop, and Thick House, as well as co-producing with such notable Bay Area theatres as San Francisco Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Impact Theatre, San Jose Stage, and Magic Theatre, among others. PlayGround first brought its work to New York City with the 2008 co-production of Garret Jon Groenveld’s Missives, followed by the 2009 NY International Fringe Festival hit co-production of Aaron Loeb’s Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party, 2013 NY International Fringe Festival co-production of Katie May’s Manic Pixie Dream Girl. PlayGround celebrated its 25th anniversary with a one-night program of original short musicals at NYC’s Theatre Row in 2019.

PlayGround’s first ongoing regional expansion came in 2012 with the launch of PlayGround-LA at West Hollywood’s Zephyr Theatre. In 2018, PlayGround-LA relocated to Hollywood’s Broadwater Theaters (home of Sacred Fools Theater Company), where the company continues to present its Monday Night series. PlayGround expanded to NYC in 2021 and Chicago in 2022, with in-person performances (and simulcasts) beginning in the Spring of 2023, at NYC’s Producers Club and Chicago’s Theater Wit, respectively. 

Over its 33 year history, PlayGround has grown into a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, providing unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s and, more recently, Los Angeles’, New York’s, and Chicago’s best new playwrights through innovative programs such as the monthly Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, annual PlayGround Festival of New Works, full-length play commissions, playwright residencies and production support through the New Play Production Fund.

To date, PlayGround has developed and staged more than 1,500 original short plays through Monday Night PlayGround and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned and/or developed several hundred new full-length plays by PlayGround alumni through its Commissioning Initiative, Playwrights Residency and Alumni Programs and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 40 full-length plays at theatres of every size, including many that have gone on to NYC and other major theater communities across the country. 

In 2017, PlayGround launched Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, a 99-seat state-of-the-art performance venue to serve as a shared community resource for dozens of local companies and hundreds of artists. New programs in residence at Potrero Stage like the Free-Play Festival, Solo Performance Festival, and Innovator Incubator provide opportunities for local and national artists to self-determine and showcase their work in San Francisco at little to no cost. 

More than 375 early-career playwrights have gotten their start at PlayGround, including Lauren Yee, Jonathan Spector, Geetha Reddy, and Cleavon Smith, helping to expand and deepen the canon of American 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 Steinberg Awards, Glickman Awards, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and New York International Fringe Festival, among others. PlayGround serves one of the largest theatre artist networks in the nation, connecting hundreds of Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York artists in support of a common vision: the development of bold and diverse new voices and new works. 

This work has not gone unnoticed. PlayGround has received numerous awards, including Playwrights Foundation’s Inaugural New Play Champion Award, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle’s Paine Knickerbocker Award for ongoing contributions to Bay Area theatre, and American Theater Wing’s National Theater Grant. In 2016, Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann was recognized by Theatre Bay Area as one of the Bay Area’s top 40 leaders. Three of PlayGround’s commissioned plays have won the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle award for Best New Play, and three have had subsequent productions in NYC. Four of the past five Will Glickman Award winners for best new play are PlayGround alumni. When other theatre companies think of producing new work, PlayGround artists are often their first call. As a result of PlayGround’s strong leadership, planning, and a willingness to take bold risks with high payoff, the new play ecosystem has been utterly transformed by PlayGround. For more information, visit playground-sf.org.

2026-27 PlayGround-LA Season Calendar

Monday Night PlayGround
Round 1: October 12 (LA), October 19 (SF), October 26 (NY), November 2 (Chicago)
Round 2: November 23 (LA), December 7 (SF), November 30 (NY), December 14 (Chicago)
Round 3: January 11 (LA), January 18 (SF), January 25 (NY), February 1 (Chicago)
Round 4: March 1 (LA), March 8 (SF), March 22 (NY), March 15 (Chicago)

Best of PlayGround
April 5, 2027 (LA)
April 12, 2027 (NY)
April 19, 2027 (Chicago)
May 29-30, 2027 (SF)

PlayGround-LA prePlay New Play Reading Series
10/11/26 4pm PT: Aaron Higareda’s Cry Now, Laugh Later
11/22/26 4pm PT: Baylee Shlichtman’s Symbiotic
1/10/27 4pm PT: Daysha Veronica’s BreathLESS
2/28/27 4pm PT: Jennie Webb’s Women, Birds, Stars)

All programs will be offered both in-person and online this year and are all admission free. Tickets and Monday Night PlayGround memberships go on sale September 18, 2026.

Venue:
Monday Night PlayGround-Los Angeles performances
Broadwater Second Stage: 6320 Santa Monica Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90038

For more information, visit playground-la.org
For information on our sister programs, visit PlayGround-SF, PlayGround-CH and PlayGround-NY.