Company in the News Mar-2025

See what PlayGround-Chicago Writers and Company Members are up to this March!

Vivian Delgadillo is in pre-production for her debut short film, in which she will star as the principal actor and creator. A crowdfunding campaign will be launching soon—check out the pitch deck!

Dakota Pariset is keeping busy this spring! He’ll be performing in Lincoln Lodge’s monthly show The Process on March 1 (tickets here), as well as making his PlayGround-Chicago playwright premiere with A Cold War, directed by Rashaad A. Bond. He is also: Self-producing microChicago’s third microplay series, Orange Line, an ongoing project leading up to The ‘L’ Cycle (March–April) and in development with DaughterBoy Collective to mount a touring apartment production of Constellations by Nick Payne and Lungs by Duncan Macmillan as part of The Apartment Series.

Henry Bender, from the PlayGround-Chicago writers pool, is serving as Assistant Director for Kitty James and Destiny’s Trail to Oregon, currently running at Factory Theater through March 29. More info & tickets here.

Kevin Blair’s new absurdist play DING, DING, HONK HONK! will have readings produced by Theatre L’Acadie on March 25 & 31. Performances are at Redtwist Theatre & Facility Theatre and are Pay-What-You-Can | Showtime: 7 PM.

Juliet Kang Huneke’s TYA play Hannah and Halmoni Save the World! opens March 30 and runs through May 4 at Filament Theatre in Chicago. More info & tickets here.

Diana Simonzadeh is thrilled to announce that Necro 101 is an official selection at the Santa Monica International Film Festival! She played Dr. Mabel Myrtlewood-Sinclair, a professor of Necromancy. Check out the announcement here! Diana is also in production for two new short films filming this March.

Katherine Swan’s play Some Other Woman Like Me was named a Semi-Finalist in the Bay Street Theatre’s Title Wave New Works Festival. More info & tickets here (use promo code VALERIE at checkout).

Valerie Butler-Newbern has been cast as Suzanne in Trapped, part of Gray Matters, a festival of short plays about love, aging, and renewal by Judy Schindler. Performances are April 25 – April 27 at Dreamers YOLO Theatre, 5419 N Lincoln, Chicago.

Jay Rehak’s short play Grand Canyon Time, originally written for PlayGround-Chicago’s February prompt, has been selected by Open Door Playhouse for their 2025 Father’s Day Show in June 2025. The play tells the touching story of an aging father who asks his daughters to take him on one last trip to the Grand Canyon. Fans of John Prine’s “Angel from Montgomery” will recognize the play’s poignant final words: “To believe in this living is just a hard way to go.”

Andrea Conway-Diaz performed multiple ensemble roles in the world premiere staged reading of She Too Bad For History by Coquie Hughes, a play about the women of the Black Panther movement. The reading took place on Saturday, February 23 at the Beverly Arts Center as part of the BAC’s Amplified Voices Series.