PlayGround-LA’s 2019-20 Writers Pool, Company & Season

Posted by on September 11, 2019

PlayGround-LA, Los Angeles’s leading incubator for a new generation of playwrights, is pleased to announce the thirty-six playwrights selected for the 2019-20 PlayGround-LA Writers Pool. Over the course of the upcoming season (PlayGround-LA’s eighth), these writers will generate over 150 original short plays, of which 36 will be developed as part of Monday Night PlayGround, a monthly script-in-hand staged reading series. Each month, PlayGround-LA announces a topic and invites members of the Writers Pool to submit original ten-minute plays inspired by the topic and written in just four-and-a-half days. The top six scripts are staged by leading local directors and actors and presented before a live audience on second Mondays, October-March, at the Broadwater Main Stage in Hollywood. The 2019-20 season opens at the Broadwater on Monday, October 14 and continues on November 11, December 9, January 13, February 10 and March 9. PlayGround-LA concludes its eight season with the annual Best of PlayGround-LA Gala, featuring the top six short works from the current season, on Monday, April 20, 2020. Monday Night PlayGround tickets are $30 general admission and PlayGround-LA members ($25/year) receive 50% off general admission and six-admission priority-seating subscriptions ($90, reg. $180). For more information and to purchase subscriptions and tickets, visit https://PlayGround-LA.org/Monday.

The 2019-20 PlayGround-LA Writers Pool are: Michael Adams, Amanda Andrei, Rachel Borders, Diana Burbano*, Kathleen Cecchin*, Allie Costa*, Daysha Edewi, Eric Esquivel, Victoria Goring, John Guerra, Elayne Heilveil, Dan Hirsch*, 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, David Meyers, Scott Mullen, Nicholas Pappas*, Emily Rogers, Jessica June Rowe*, Richard Ruyle, Joe Samaniego, Mercedes Segesvary*, Mark Sherstinsky*, Nicki Spencer*, Elizabeth Szekeresh, and Desirée York. * Best of PlayGround Award recipient

In addition, PlayGround-LA has announced the 2019-20 PlayGround-LA Company, a core group of actors, directors and designers whose commitment, participation, and support make PlayGround-LA possible: Sylvia Cervantes Blush, Jordan Carlson, George Coker, Danon Dastugue, 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, Tahmus Rounds, Mae Ruling, Lamar Usher, Carla Vega, and Christina Wren. Together with more than thirty other actors and directors drawn from throughout the greater L.A. theatre community, they help develop and stage the thirty-six original short plays featured in PlayGround-LA’s monthly Monday Night series.

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 nearly 300 Bay Area and Los Angeles early-career writers and has commissioned/developed 80 full-length plays by distinguished PlayGround alumni, premiering 30 of these through PlayGround’s innovative New Play Production Fund. 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.

PlayGround’s alumni have gone on to win local, national and international honors for their short and full-length work, including recognition at the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Lark, Humana Festival, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and New York International Fringe Festival, among others. Directors and actors participating in PlayGround are among some of the most distinguished theatre professionals, regularly working on leading local stages.

2019-20 Season

All performances will take place at the Broadwater Main Stage, 1076 Lillian Way, Los Angeles, CA 90038.

Monday Night PlayGround
October 14, 2019 @ 8PM
November 11, 2019 @ 8PM
December 9, 2019 @ 8PM
January 13, 2020 @ 8PM
February 10, 2020 @ 8PM
March 9, 2020 @ 8PM

Best of PlayGround-LA Gala
April 20, 2020 @ 8PM

For more information, visit http://PlayGround-LA.org or follow PlayGround on Facebook (http://facebook.com/PlayGround.LosAngeles) and Twitter (http://twitter.com/PlayGround_LA).