PlayGround Chicago presents Season 2

BEST OF PLAYGROUND (CHICAGO) ’24

April 29, 2024 7pm CT

Theater Wit & Simulcast

ACKNOWLEDGING THE LEGACY OF THE LAND WE INHABIT

PlayGround-Chicago acknowledges that we are on the unceded ancestral homeland of the people of the Council of Three Fires, including the Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Odawa, the original inhabitants of the Chicago metropolitan area. As the past and present Indigenous stewards of this land and in accordance with their traditions, the Council of Three Fires 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 Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Odawa 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 Council of Three Fires Communities and by affirming their sovereign rights as First Peoples. We honor the storytellers of the Ojibwe, Potawatomi and Odawa and are grateful for our ability to share and uplift Indigenous stories and those of other historically marginalized communities. In working with artists and audiences from all over the country, PlayGround-Chicago asks that each member of the PlayGround-Chicago community representing a different geographical space respectfully acknowledge the legacy of the land they inhabit.

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-Chicago’s Anti-Racist Policy

PlayGround 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 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’s Anti-Racist Policy applies to: all members of the PlayGround community, including employees, independent contractors, volunteers, audience members, donors, and general members of the community.

To read the complete Anti-Racist Policy, click here.

Therapy with the Vampire
by Tanuja Devi Jagernauth
Directed by Eileen Dixon
Dracula………………………….Scott Gryder
Meghna Choudry…….……Carmia Imani

The Sea and Its Keeper
by Zach Barr
Directed by Manny Buckley
The Sea………………….Diana Simonzadeh
Ida Lewis…..…….Valerie Butler-Newbern

1994: Stealing the Scream
by J.S. Puller
Directed by Kendall Phillips
David……………………Braedyn Youngberg
Lindsey………………………..Ashley Graham
Gerard O’Neill……………………..Eric Geller
Earth…………………………….Sheri Flanders

1994: clinton files
by alfonzo kahlil
Directed by India Nicole Burton
Prisoner 1.……………………….Sheri Flanders
Prisoner 2………………………..Shariba Rivers
Prisoner 3.………………………..Carmia Imani

Weekend at Wilson’s
by Daniel Arzola
Directed by Jim Kleinmann
Woodrow………………..Braedyn Youngberg
Edith…………………………………Rachel Wade
Nurse…………………….Andrea Conway-Diaz
AI…………………………William C. Thompson

Mycelium
by Juliet Kang Huneke
Directed by Joel Willison
Reishi.………………………..…Peter Stielstra
Lingzhi...……………………Skylar Frishman
Viv……...……………………..…….Emily Zhang

Stage Manager: Michelle Levinson

This live stream is produced under a SAG-AFTRA New Media Agreement.

PlayGround is a member of Theatre Bay Area, League of Chicago Theatres, A.R.T./New York and Theatre Communications Group.

People’s Choice Award

Following tonight’s performance, we invite your participation in this month’s 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’s award-winning incubator programs.

Cast your vote for your favorite play(s) by making a People’s Choice donation via Zelle (info@playground-sf.org), Venmo (our account ID is @playgroundsf and if they ask for the last four digits of my phone, it’s 8541) or on our website at https://tickets.playground-sf.org/TheatreManager/1/online?donationquick=16 (you can also visit the Monday Night PlayGround page for the People’s Choice donation button). Add a note/memo with your gift to indicate your favorite play(s) or email your selection to boxoffice@playground-sf.org.

At the end of the week, we’ll tally up the top vote-getter and automatic semi-finalist for our season-ending Best of PlayGround. It’s a powerful way of showing your support for new writers and their work, while helping PlayGround continue doing what we do!

THANK YOU TO PLAYGROUND MEMBERS!

We are deeply grateful to our 2023-24 Monday Night PlayGround Members, whose direct support helps to underwrite artists fees for the Monday Night series across all four regions: Sam & Naomi Abramovitz, Tanvi Agrawal, Linda Amayo-Hassan, Sharon Baldwin, Jaisey Bates, Tim Bishop, Ms. Linda B Breaux-Smith, Emilie Brooks, Robyn Brooks, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Ben Cain, Julie Campbell, Sidney Glass & Eleanor Clement Glass, Joan Cleveland, Ms. Marilyn Berg Cooper, Sandra Cruze, Dodds Delzell, Hillary DeMartino, Sharon Ebehardt, Ann Ehrmann, Ms. Cherielyn Ferguson, Krystyna Finlayson, Sheri Flanders, Conde Freeman, Michael Fried, Dr. Jan Gilman, Lara Gilman, Michael Tonjum & Jan Gilman, Hollis Greenwood, Ruben Grijalva, Regina Guggenheim, Dana Hall, Rachel Harner, Sharlene Hartman, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Lucy Hsu, Brandy T Jones, Ms. Anne M. Krause, Emily Kuroda, Douglas Le Blanc, Ms. Kristy Lin Billuni, Mr. John Lindner, Jonathan Luskin & Leslie Katz, Rhea MacCallum, George Maguire, Brian Markley, Linda Marks, Dr. Sheila McCormick, Bacilio Mendez II, Ms. Cynthia L Morishige, Dan Morley, Molly Noble & Bob Guilbault, Annette Oliveira, Maryl Olivera, Ms. Vicki Oswald, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Mrs. Elizabeth Poston, Madeline Puccioni, Mr. George Rose, Jessica June Rowe, Michelle Ruscetta, John J. Ruskin, Kathryn Ryan, Miyoko Sakatani, Louel Senores, Mark Sherstinsky, Nancy W. Smith, Stan Stone, Cathie Stonie, Mr. Richard Dana Swart, Mary Lou Torre, Kim Tram, Jeffrey Trescott, Michael E Tuton, Dr. Eidell Wasserman, Michael Waterson, Bex White, Christian Wilburn, Janine Wilburn, and Maury Zeff. Thank you!

A Monday Night PlayGround membership is a tax-deductible donation and directly supports the more than 400 artists involved in a Monday Night PlayGround season. Members are guaranteed tickets and live online access to twenty-four (24) Monday Night PlayGround performances, weekly, October 10, 2022-May 1, 2023, with extended on-demand viewing through our Monday Night PlayGround Member Library. Click here to become a member.

Biographies

PLAYWRIGHTS

DANIEL ARZOLA (Weekend at Wilson’s), he/they, is a Mexican-American playwright born and raised in the Chicagoland area. They frequently work on several productions in regional theaters and is currently working on several new works, including a new play recently selected as a National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist at the O’Neill and a brand new musical that combines American folk music with various genres of Latin music. They also work as a director, frequently working on new play developments.

ZACH BARR (The Sea and Its Keeper), they/them, is a multidisciplinary theatre artist based in Chicago. They are currently a member of the Three Brothers Theatre Playwrights Residency. Zach’s play NEW OLEANNA received a reading at Red Theater in September 2023, and their adaptation of WINNIE-THE-POOH received a staged reading at the Den Theatre in July 2022. Additionally, Zach is the creator of the video essay series AND NOW THEY SING, discussing the history of the performing arts (youtube.com/@andnowtheysing). They are aro/ace.

TANUJA DEVI JAGERNAUTH (Therapy with the Vampire), she/her, is an Indo-Caribbean playwright and dramaturg who believes in the necessity of creation during times of destruction. In 2016, she shifted career paths from Traditional East Asian Medicine to theatre in hopes of practicing four frameworks for collective liberation and wellness through theatre: self/community care, harm reduction, trauma awareness, and body positivity. Inspired by healing justice and PIC abolition, Tanuja employs comedy, magical realism, the fantastic and the absurd to raise questions around how we heal and fight back against internal and external oppressions and build a prison- and police-free world.

ALFONZO SOLOMON KAHLIL (1994: clinton files), he/they, is a poet, playwright, and performance artist, raised on the W(b)estside of Chicago, who believes whatever doesn’t kill you, makes for great art. Dramatist of SCORPIO & THE NEW / NEW TESTAMENT, alfonzo’s art utilizes the polyphony of spoken word and performance as a medium to explore the realm of the profane, the profound, the sacred, and the taboo of the interpersonal. alfonzo holds a BFA in theatre from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and is represented by Stewart Talent. alfonzo was previously seen in The Island (Court u/s John), Allegiance (Goodman), The Dream Engine (Kirby), Track 13 (Young Fugitives), The Seekers (Bushwick), Lectures (Cloud), EFFICIENCY (Dixon), HOLD UP, CANNABITCHES, and CHICAGO FIRE.

JULIET KANG HUNEKE (Mycelium), she/her, is a playwright and performer who is passionate about theatre that is larger than life. Juliet graduated from Northwestern University in 2022. Most recently, she was awarded the ReImagine: New Plays in TYA grant to develop her new play for young audiences, HANNAH AND HALMONI SAVE THE WORLD!. Other writing credits include: MECHANICALS (production, Impostors Theater Co Footholds Vol. 4), CENTERVILLE NEW JERSEY HAS A PROBLEM WITH TROUT (production, Vertigo Productions), HOME FOR THE SUMMER (workshop, American Music Theatre Project), and THE WILD (workshop, Jewish Theatre Ensemble). When she’s not acting or writing, Juliet teaches silly theatre classes at Chicago Children’s Theatre.

J.S. PULLER (1994: Stealing the Scream), she/her, is a playwright and author from the Windy City, Chicago. She is an award-winning member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and has written about the social-emotional benefits of arts education with the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. She is the author of two novels, CAPTAIN SUPERLATIVE and THE LOST THINGS CLUB, both published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. She also has several published plays, including: WOMEN WHO WEAVE (Playscripts, Inc.), PERSEUS AND MEDUSA – IT’S ALL GREEK TO ME! (Lazybee Scripts), and THE DEATH OF ROBIN HOOD (Stage Rights).

ACTORS

VALERIE BUTLER-NEWBERN (The Sea and Its Keeper, “Ida Lewis”), she/her, loves the art of storytelling in commercials, film and theater. You may have seen her in recently in Cano Health or Aspen Dental commercials. She continues to hone her craft by training at Acting Studio Chicago, The Green Room and Vagabond School of the Arts. Valerie is a native Chicagoan, a strong believer in lifelong learning and remains a resident of Chicago.

ANDREA CONWAY-DIAZ (Weekend at Wilson’s, “Nurse“), she/her/hers, is thrilled to make her PlayGround Theater debut and in the staged-reading of The Origin of Zeke Wolf. Andrea has participated in several theater productions and staged readings in and around Chicago including Voice of Good Hope, Thirteen Days and Emma’s Child at City Lit Theater, Creating Arthur at Theater Wit, and a staged reading by Jeff Sweet called Rappuccini’s Pizza. She has appeared in several independent films and is also a voiceover actor. Andrea is represented by Gill Talent Network and Chicago Talent Network.

SHERI FLANDERS (1994: clinton files, “Prisoner 1”), she/her, is a Chicago based writer, comedian, and actor whose work has been featured in many publications including McSweeney’s, The Chicago Sun-Times and The Chicago Reader. She has performed at the Black Women in Comedy Laff Festival in New York City and in many reputable and disreputable establishments in Chicago.

SKYLAR FRISHMAN (Mycelium, “Lingzhi”), they/she,  is so excited to be back with PlayGround! They have been acting for over fifteen years, and they are currently working with PlayGround, Corn Productions, Explore Assemblies, and more!

SCOTT GRYDER (Therapy with the Vampire, “Dracula”), he/him, most recently joined the cast of the national television show Svengoolie as the devilishly ingratiating, and slightly grating, sly trickster lMP (WCIU). Other appearances include the Jeff-Award Winning Buyer & Cellar (Pride Films & Plays) and Jesus Christ Superstar (Lyric Opera Chicago). He has performed in a multitude of cabarets, including SIMPLY SCOTTY (with Nick Sula), WOZ: A Rock Cabaret, and Life Is A Cabaret – The Music & Words of Kander & Ebb, at Davenport’s, Skokie Theatre, and Auditorium. MeTV’s Green Screen Adventures earned him three National Daytime Emmy Awards. www.thescottgryder.com

CARMIA IMANI (Therapy with the Vampire, “Meghna Choudry”; 1994: clinton files “Prisoner 3”), she/her, is a Chicago-based theatre artist who is passionate about advocating for radical change and integrating anti-racist theatre practices into her artistry and work. Her regional credits include: brother sister cyborg space (u/s) (Raven Theatre), Skeleton Crew, Death of a Salesman (The Black Rep), and Much Ado About Nothing (u/s) (Commonwealth Shakespeare Company). Carmia has participated in new work readings and workshops with Pocket Theatre VR, The Artistic Home, Obsidian Theatre Festival, and PlayGround-Chicago where she is also a Producing Fellow. She is a proud graduate of Ball State University where she holds a BFA in Acting.

ISLA MORALES (1994 Stealing the Scream, “Carmen”) she/her, is a Chicago-based comedian and actress. She is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory program and an improv performer for the Otherworld theater. When she isn’t performing on stage you can find her co-hosting her podcast and YouTube channel Relatable Nerds.

DAKOTA PARISET (1994: Stealing The Scream, “Pal”), he/him, is a Chicago actor from Beaver Crossing, Nebraska. Thanks to PG-Chi for another opportunity! Other work includes: The Lightbulb Factory, BYOT, Chicago Dramatists, City Lit, Unheard of Company and Collaboraction. Additional thanks to The Artistic Home and to my family – Love you to the Moon and back!

SHARIBA RIVERS (1994: clinton files, “Prisoner 2″) she/her, is happy to join PlayGround Chicago again. Recent credits: Notes from the Field (TimeLine Theatre), The Nacirema Society (Goodman Theatre), Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (Arts Center of Coastal Carolina), and Trouble in Mind (Timeline Theatre)). She was recently featured in “The People Issue” of The Chicago Reader and was listed in Newcity Stage as one of its “Players 2023” for theatre. TV credits include Chicago Med, The Chi, Chicago Fire, Empire, and Chicago PD. Film credits include Smoking Gun!, Okie, and Start Without Me. Shariba is a member of AEA and SAG-AFTRA and is represented by Gray Talent Group. www.sharibatheactor.com

DIANA SIMONZADEH (The Sea And Its Keeper, “The Sea”), she/her, is thrilled to participate in PlayGround-Chicago’s Monday Night Reading! Theatre credits include: The Corpse Washer at Actors Theatre Louisville’s 43rd Humana Festival of New American Plays; Perfect Mendacity at Asolo Rep; Night Over Erzinga and Scorched at Silk Road Rising; Homebody/Kabul at Steppenwolf Theatre; and Return To Haifa at Next Theater. Film work includes: Necro 101; The Glass House; Qwerty; The Cancer Card; Oops! I’ve Been Driven Mundane; The Reunion; The Origins of Wit and Humor; and Remote Viewing. She is a recipient of an Equity Jeff Award.

 PETER STIELSTRA (Mycellium, “Reishi”), he/him, is a Chicago based actor and singer. He is glad to be returning to the Playground. Recent credits include HERSHEL AND THE HANUKKAH GOBLINS (Max/Guitarist) with Strawdog, THE THREEPENNY OPERA (Ensemble, u/s Macheath) with Theo Ubique Cabaret Theatre, and GIRLFRIEND (Mike) with PrideArts. Before moving to Chicago from San Francisco, some of his favorite credits include: AS YOU LIKE IT (Orlando u/s and ensemble) with the San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, THE HOUSE OF THE SPIRITS (Barrabas) at UC Berkeley.

WILLIAM C. THOMPSON (1994: Stealing The Scream, “Pal”), he/him, has worked on stage, film, radio, television, & street theatre since he was sixteen. Since moving to Chicago in 2016, he has appeared in Chicago Fire, Chicago PD, and Netflix’s Easy, two major films “For Prophet,” & “The Christmas Pitch,” as well as numerous short films, an international law firm’s training programs, the SAG-AFTRA Senior Radio Players, and “At The Table” staged readings. He is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity Association. William is represented by The Rock Talent Agency and is delighted to once again be a part of PlayGround-Chicago.

RACHEL WADE (Weekend At Wilson’s, “Edith”), she/her, is an actor, writer, and comedian from Des Moines, IA. She studied theatre at The University of Iowa and made the move to Chicago shortly after in 2022. Since moving she has enjoyed taking classes, meeting new artists, teaching early education theatre, working on short films, and Chicago hot dogs. She is currently a member of the Conservatory Program at The Second City and performs with her improv group Communal Beverage. Rachel’s interests lie in new work, stories about complicated people, exploring relationship dynamics through comedy, and creating with friends. Enjoy the show!

BRAEDYN YOUNGBERG (Weekend At Wilson’s, “Woodrow”), he/him, is thrilled to be joining PlayGround-Chicago in their mission to develop local playwrights! Regional theatre credits include “Don Armado” (Loves Labors Lost), “Roderigo” (Othello), and “Antonio” (Twelfth Night) with Marin Shakespeare Company, “Orlando, et al” (As You Like It) with SF Shakes, “The Monster” (Young Frankenstein) with Spreckels PAC, and “Brad Majors” (The Rocky Horror Show) with Sixth Street Playhouse. Braedyn has trained locally with The Second City and iO Chicago, as well as regionally with Shakespeare & Company.

EMILY ZHANG (Mycelium, “Viv”), she/her, is a Chicago based actor and is excited to be doing this reading with PlayGround! Recently, she was seen in The Red Fortune Cookie with Bramble Theatre, The Mall The Mall The Mall at Greenhouse Theater Center, Woo Girls at the Factory Theatre, and understudied in Among the Dead at Jackalope Theatre. Other credits include When the Sun Melts Away with Token Theatre and Flush with Campfire Repertory. She has a B.A. in Theatre from Northwestern University and is represented by Gray Talent Group.