PlayGround Chicago presents Season 1

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

Topic: “Holiday Spirit“

January 2, 2023 7pm CT

Simulcast & On-Demand via Vimeo Live

The Sacred Duty of Ornaments
by Karissa Murrell Myers
Directed by Brooke-Erin Smith
Fox ………………………….. Melissa Ortiz
Starfish ………………… Benjamin Kelly
Joseph …………….. Anthony Rutowicz
Rabbit …………….. Hannah Lynn Kato

A New Year’s Eve Carol
by Matt Schutz
Directed by Joel Willison
Clarke …………… Ashley Graham
Past ………………… Sheri Flanders
Present …………….. Krystal Mosley

A Christmas Sacrifice
by Kym Fraher
Directed by Manny Buckley
Ted ………………….. Aldo Billingslea
Franklin ……….. Willie E. Jones III
Randy ……………………. Chanell Bell
Isabelle ………………… MiKayla Boyd

Darkest of Days
by Rammel Chan
Directed by Brian Balcom
Actor 1 ……….. Braedyn Youngberg
Actor 2 ……………. Christian Haines

Ellison Grants a Wish
by Emma S. Rund
Directed by Leanna Oliveira
Zion ……………………… Mi Kang
Reese …………….. Dakota Pariset
Ellison ………….. Andrew Liliana
Arcadia ……………. Jordan Zelvin

For the Man Who Has Everything
by Ryan Stevens
Directed by Charlique Rolle
Mary of Nazareth …………. Carina Lastimosa
Mary Magdalene (Mags) ……. Thea Anderson
Jesus ……………………………… Bacilio Mendez II

Stage Manager: Sarah Gasser

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

PlayGround is a member of Theatre Bay Area and Theatre Communications Group,
and an Associate Member of the National New Play Network (NNPN).

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!

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.

THANK YOU TO PLAYGROUND MEMBERS!

We would like to thank PlayGround members Dr. Elaine Baskin & Kenneth R. Krechmer, Sidney Glass & Eleanor Clement Glass, Kenneth C. Clews, Paulette Donsavage & Deeje Cooley, Sunny Da Silva, Carole Florian, Ms. Kristy Lin Billuni, Mr. Scott Mullen, Ms. Vicki Oswald, Michelle Ruscetta, Kathryn Ryan, Andrew Trott, and Dr. Eidell Wasserman for their contribution.

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 simulcast access to twenty-four (24) Monday Night PlayGround performances, weekly, October 10, 2022-May 1, 2023, with extended on-demand viewing. Click here to become a member.

Biographies

PLAYWRIGHTS

RAMMEL CHAN (Darkest of Days), he/him, is a writer and actor based in Chicago. His short plays have premiered at the Gift Theater and his fiction has appeared in Asimov’s, Riksha, Empyrean Literary Magazine and the Tiger Moth Review. In 2023, his full-length play “House of the Deaf” will be read as part of the Gift Theater’s In The Work series. As an actor, he has performed at Steppenwolf, Goodman Theater, Second City, Writers Theatre, Lookingglass and the late Victory Gardens, among others. On screen credits include The Red Line, Crisis, Patriot and the indie comedy feature I Used To Go Here.

KYM FRAHER (A Christmas Sacrifice), she/her, is a playwright who also spends her time helping children develop their communication skills as a speech therapist in Early Intervention. She has participated in the Writing lab for Women’s Theater Alliance, Workshop Theater’s Writer’s Intensive, SPARK Creative Works virtual showcase, and The Magnetic Theatre’s One Act Play Festival 2021. She is eager to continue to explore the human condition through narrative and hopes that her plays help bring new perspectives to others. She thanks her family and especially Clarence, who has encouraged her since the beginning.

KARISSA MURRELL MYERS (The Sacred Duty of Ornaments), she/her, is a Hapa American theatre artist based in Chicago, where she works as an actor, playwright, producer, and casting director. As a playwright, her work has been developed and/or produced at Strawdog Theatre, Rivendell Theatre Ensemble, American Blues Theatre, The Gift Theatre, Silk Road Rising, Our Perspective: Asian American Plays, and Bramble Theatre Company, where she serves as Artistic Director and Co-Founder. Her stage acting credits include working at Court Theatre, Remy Bumppo, Goodman Theatre, The House Theatre of Chicago, and Renaissance Theaterworks. Television work includes Chicago Med, Chicago PD, The Big Leap, Exorcist, and Electric Dreams. She is the resident Casting Director for Strawdog, and works as freelance casting director and consultant for various theatre companies around the US. In 2020, she was featured as one of the American Theatre Magazine’s “Theatre Workers You Should Know” for her work in casting. MFA in Performance from University of Hawaii, BA in Directing and Acting from Boise State University, and proud graduate of The School at Steppenwolf 2019. More at www.kmurrellmyers.com

EMMA S. RUND (Ellison Grants a Wish), she/her, is a Chicago-based playwright, actor and avid reader, passionate about stories centering women. There are not enough complicated women onstage, and we deserve to be seen in all our complexity. Emma has had the pleasure of workshopping her plays with companies like Chicago Dramatists, Women’s Theatre Alliance, Wayward Sisters, and Playpenn. She has also had the joy of seeing students produce her work at Ball State University and DePaul University.

MATT SCHUTZ (A New Year’s Eve Carol), he/him, is a playwright and actor currently based in Chicago. His play With the Weight of her Fate on her Shoulders was a winner of the New South Young Playwrights Contest, was workshopped at the Horizon Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia and earned him a finalist slot for the Dramatist’s Guild Young Playwright Award. He has developed plays with the University of Iowa, Intrinsic Theatre, the Pride Arts Center, and Inkwell Theater.

RYAN STEVENS (For the Man Who Has Everything), He/They, is a playwright and director currently based in Chicago. They received their MFA in playwriting from UCLA, and their Master’s Degree in Dramaturgy and Bachelor’s in Creative Writing from the University of South Carolina. Stevens is also a participant of the 2019 Great Plains Theatre Conference, 2019 Silver Spring Stage One Act Festival, 2015 Horizon Theatre National Young Playwrights Festival, Boston Court Theatre,The New American Theatre One Act Festival, The Whiskey Radio Hour, and Seoul Players, among others.

ACTORS

THEA ANDERSON (For the Man Who Has Everything, “Mary Magdalene (Mags)”), she/her, is pleased to be a part of this month’s Monday Night Playground! She is a lifelong performer based in Chicago, and a graduate of the Youth Performing Arts School (Louisville, KY) and the University of Louisville (KY). She is a student at the Second City Conservatory and recently completed The Annoyance’s Musical Improv program. Previous credits include Rees’d Lightning (Second City Coached Ensemble Show), In Fraud We Trust (Second City Writing Program ), A Delightful Quarantine (Lucy/Diandra), Prepare Ye! (Reno/featured dancer) bobrauschenbergAmerica (Susan), Brigadoon (Maggie Anderson), The Nutcracker (Clara, Sugarplum, Mirlitons), and Sleeping Beauty (Princess Florina/Bluebird pas de deux).

CHANELL BELL (A Christmas Sacrifice, “Randy”), she/her/hers, is an American storyteller and humanitarian. Previous performances include Fireflies (Northlight), She The People (Second City), Crumbs from the Table of Joy (Raven), POWER Book: IV on STARZ network and NEXT on Fox. Recent nominations include the BTAA Ethel Waters Award for her role as Olivia Grace in Fireflies. In addition to performing, Chanell is dedicated to helping young artists fine tune their craft and has spent years teaching storytellers in countries all over the world.

ALDO BILLINGSLEA (A Christmas Sacrifice, “Ted”), he/him, a long-time PlayGround Company Member, has worked with PlayGround as actor, director, script reader and board member. As an actor, he has worked throughout the Bay with Cal Shakes, TheatreWorks, Marin Theatre Company, Aurora Theatre Company, Center Rep, and Marin Shakespeare. He has served on boards with Arabian Shakespeare, Gritty City Youth Repertory and the Lorraine Hansberry Theatre where he also served as Interim Artistic Director. Aldo is the Father William J. Rewak S.J. Professor of Theatre Arts at Santa Clara University.

MIKAYLA BOYD (A Christmas Sacrifice, “Isabelle”), she/her is a Chicago-based dancer, actor, writer. She is a junior at the Latin School of Chicago and a Flag Girl on the South Shore Drill Team. Her previous performances include: Voice of Good Hope (City Lit Theatre), American Blues #ENOUGH Showcase 2021, Metamorphoses (Latin School of Chicago), Emma’s Child (City Lit Theatre), Spike Heels (Latin School of Chicago), American Blues #ENOUGH Showcase 2022, American Blues Youth Playwright Showcase ‘21/‘22, On Fred Gray Ave (City Lit Theatre) as well as stage managing the Winter Dance Company Recital and Adv. Acting Company Production of Lawrence and Holloman at her school. She enjoys the arts, studying medicine/indigenous cultures, and plans to attend university in following years.

SHERI FLANDERS (A New Year’s Eve Carol, “Past”), she/her, is an actor, writer, and comedian based in Chicago, IL who teaches improv and musical improv at the Second City Training Center, and is an alumnae of the Infinite Sundaes, Second City’s Musical House Ensemble who wrote and staged the satirical musical A Better Brother’s Grimm. Her other works include Choice the Musical, and several screenplays and sketch shows with the musical sketch duo Flanders. A graduate of the Second City Conservatory, Music program and the iO Improv and Music programs, She is represented by NV Talent.

ASHLEY GRAHAM (A New Year’s Eve Carol, “Clarke”), she/her, is an actor from Spartanburg, South Carolina. She was last seen as Michelle in Campfire Repertory Theatre’s production of Elastic Mind by Christian Alexander. She has a BA in Theatre from the University of South Carolina and is about a year into the Chicago artistry scene. This is her third time performing in Monday Night PlayGround and she couldn’t be more excited to tell another beautiful story!

CHRISTIAN HAINES (Darkest of Days, “Actor 2”), he/him, loves Playground! Past PGSF shows include Sapience, Anna Considers Mars, Value Over Replacement and tons of Monday Nights. Other credits include Straight White Men (MTC) Reginald and Ruckus, The Moonrisers (Moonrisers), Operation Ajax (Little Fish ), Jihad Jones (Perspective) Death of a Salesman, This is Our Youth (ATSF) and a bunch more. Currently he is doing a bunch of student films, studying with UCB and trying to figure out LA. He holds an MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory and loves his wife, Melissa Ortiz. https://amiosco.wixsite.com/christianhaines

WILLIE E. JONES III (A Christmas Sacrifice, “Franklin”), he/him, graduated from the University of Minnesota/Guthrie Theatre BFA Actor Training Program. He has performed on stages such as The Globe and Morsani Hall. As a playwright, his plays have received workshops and readings at the likes of The Lorraine Hansberry Theater and Millsap College. He is the former Co-Director of Theatre at CFCArts and is the former Artistic Director of Stage Door Theatre. He was also the Executive Producer of the “Blackness Is…” Theatre Arts Festival in collaboration with The Guthrie. He is the Artistic Director of the Juneteenth Theatre Justice Project and is the founding actor/manager of the Jones Classical Theatre Company.

MI KANG (Ellison Grants a Wish, “Zion”), she/her, is thrilled to be working with PlayGround! She made her professional Chicago theatre debut in The Chinese Lady at TimeLine Theatre earlier this year and reprised her role at Indiana Repertory Theatre. Mi is a recent Northwestern MFA Acting graduate and select school credits include: Dance Nation, Peerless and Hedda Gabler. Mi was previously based in Seattle where select credits include: John (ArtsWest Playhouse), The Journal of Ben Uchida (Seattle Children’s Theatre), Jane Eyre, A Tale for Time Being (Book-It Repertory Theatre), and The Great Inconvenience (Annex Theatre). She is represented by Stewart Talent.

HANNAH KATO (The Sacred Duty of Ornaments, “Rabbit”), , is a recent graduate from North Central College, holding degrees in Musical Theatre and Acting. Recent credits include: A Christmas Carol (Drury Lane Theatre), Fishing for the Moon (Northern Sky Theater), Tiny Beautiful Things (North Central College) and a workshop for Mill Girls, a new musical directed by Jess McCleod. Hannah is represented by the wonderful agents at Big Mouth Talent. Thank you so much to everyone at Playground Chicago for this wonderful opportunity! Soli Deo Gloria. hannahkato.com

BENJAMIN KELLY (The Sacred Duty of Ornaments, “Starfish”), he/him, is a proud graduate of Illinois State University, with a B.S. in acting. He is incredibly thrilled to be making his debut at PlayGround-Chicago. At Illinois State, he played Jason/Tyrone in Hand to God, King Edward IV in Richard III and Harry Fatt in Waiting For Lefty. Other roles include Roy Cohn in both parts of Angels in America at Joliet Junior College and original roles in several world-premiere works through Coalescence Theatre Project. Ben is based in Chicago, and you can find him on Instagram at ben13kelly.

CARINA LASTIMOSA (For the Man Who Has Everything, “Mary of Nazareth”), , is a San Francisco Bay Area native, currently residing in Chicago. Chicago credits include world premieres of W.o.W. (Theatre Above The Law), Poison and I Build Giants (The Plagiarists). SF/Bay Area credits include Dogeaters (Magic Theatre), Sisters Matsumoto (Center REPertory Company), A Dreamplay (Cutting Ball Theater), Slaughterhouse-Five (Custom Made Theatre Co.), A Kind of Sad Love Story (Bindlestiff Studio) and as a performer/educator for Kaiser’s Educational Theatre. Carina is a recipient of the Theatre Bay Area TITAN Award and a graduate of Indiana University. Carina is represented by Lily’s Talent Agency. www.carinalastimosa.com

ANDREW LILIANA (Ellison Grants a Wish, “Ellison”), he/him. Born and raised in the southside of Chicago, Andrew is an actor because at the end of the day, he wants to live a life that is full of meaning… and this work, this craft, acting, theatre, all of it… means the absolute world to him. Andrew is incredibly grateful for his training at UNCSA, especially for his educators & classmates — who have inspired and taught him so very much. With storytelling as his greatest passion, Andrew’s personal highlights from drama school include strong, leading roles in plays like “Loneliness of the Long Distance Runner,” “Our Lady of 121st Street” and “Three Sisters.” He is ready to keep evolving and exploring his craft in the professional industry. Shoutout to Mom & Dad, too <3 Thank you, for everything.

BACILIO MENDEZ II (For the Man Who Has Everything, “Jesus”), he/him, remains undefeated.

KRYSTAL MOSLEY (A New Year’s Eve Carol, “Present”), she/her, comes all the way from Chicago, currently residing in LA and is super excited about the production this evening! Some of her credits include: 10 Virgins with Chicago Dramatist, Ruined with Eclipse Theatre and Blood Wedding with Pursuit Productions. She would like to thank the PlayGround-LA cast, friends and family for their continued support!

MELISSA ORTIZ (The Sacred Duty of Ornaments, “Fox”), she/her, recently relocated to Los Angeles from the SF Bay Area. She is the Producing Artistic Director for ShotzLA. Favorite roles include: Ariel in Shoot Me When… (SF Playhouse), Gemma in F L I G H T (PlayGround Solo Fest), Regan in King Lear (SF Shakes), Anna in Anna Considers Mars (PlayGround), and Lizzy in The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (Marin Theatre Company). She is a PlayGround-LA Company Member. Melissa received her MFA from the National Theatre Conservatory. She loves her family and insanely talented husband.

DAKOTA PARISET (Ellison Grants a Wish, “Reese”), he/him, is a Chicago actor and multi-disciplinary artist originally from Beaver Crossing, Nebraska. He’s stoked to be playing at the Playground again! Chicago credits include work with City Lit Theater, Pale Horse Playhouse, Collaboraction, Silk Road Rising, Unheard of Company, BYOT Productions(company member) and The Lightbulb Factory(ensemble/founding AD), and readings with readings for Movies: Live!, Stage Left and Chicago Dramatists. Thanks again to the folks at Playground for the opportunity!