November 3rd Monday Night PlayGround-Chicago Playbill

PlayGround-Chicago presents Season 4

MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND

Topic: “Murder Mystery”
November 3, 2025, 7 pm CT
 Chicago Dramatists & 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.

Monday Night PlayGround Memberships

We are deeply grateful to our 2025-26 Monday Night PlayGround Members, whose direct support helps to underwrite artists fees for the Monday Night series across all four regions:

Dr. & Mrs. Sam & Naomi Abramovitz, Sharon Baldwin, Julie Berthold, Tim Bishop, Linda B Breaux-Smith, Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, John Brown, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Ben Cain, Sidney Glass & Eleanor Clement Glass, Joan Cleveland, Sheila Collins, Marilyn Berg Cooper, Logan Varas De Valdes, Betsy Dudak, Cathy Earnest, Ann Ehrmann, Krystyna Finlayson, Michael Tonjum & Jan Gilman, Hollis Greenwood, Elizabeth Groenewegen, Gail Hillebrand & Hugh Barroll, Brandy T Jones, Roxy Jones, Jacqueline Whittier Kubicka, Emily Kuroda, Mr. & Mrs. Douglas Le Blanc, Alice Lehmann, Karen & Matt Levesque, Kristy Lin Billuni, Melinda Lopez, Linda G Marks, Dolores Martinez, Dr. Sheila McCormick, Yvonne McIntyre, Cynthia L Morishige, Dan Morley, Molly Noble & Bob Guilbault, Annette Oliveira, Emily Brauer Rogers, George Rose, Jessica June Rowe, Michelle Ruscetta, John J. Ruskin, Miyoko Sakatani, Jennifer Schultz & Eric Rosenzweig, Mark Sherstinsky, Nancy W. Smith, Stan Stone, Cathy M Stonie, Mary Lou Torre, Kim Tram, Vicki Victoria, Dr. Eidell Wasserman, Bex White, Janine Wilburn, and Cindy Womack. Thank you!

To learn more about the Monday Night PlayGround membership program, click here.

BECOME A MEMBER TODAY!

BIOGRAPHIES

PLAYWRIGHTS

DANIEL ARZOLA (Fak! A Murder Mystery), he/they, is a Mexican-American playwright born and raised in the Chicagoland area. This is their third season in PlayGround Chicago’s Writers Pool. They are always working on several new works and has been a National Playwrights Conference Semifinalist at the O’Neill and a Scratchpad Series Semifinalist at Playwrights Realm.

KIMBERLY DIXON-MAYS (Remainder),

DANA HALL (Last Lick of Justice), she/her, is a Chicago-based, award-winning playwright, actor, and mental health therapist. Her plays have received recognition both nationally and internationally. She is a multi-time finalist for the Lanford Wilson New American Play Festival, a top finalist for AACT NewPlayFest, and a finalist for the Morecambe Fringe John Clarke Memorial Prize, the Hear Me Out Monologue Competition, and the Dramatists Guild Foundation National Fellows Program. A winner of the New Works of Merit Playwriting Contest, Dana is currently in residency with the Dramatists Guild Institute’s Certificate in Dramatic Writing program. Her plays have been published by Next Stage Press, Heuer Publishing, Smith & Kraus, Tiny Scripted, and Stage Plays they’ve been produced by a wide range of theaters across the U.S. and abroad. Dana is a proud member of the Dramatists Guild, Honor Roll!, the League of Professional Theatre Women, and the International Centre for Female Playwrights. She is committed to expanding representation for actors over forty, advocating for playwrights’ rights, and fostering community among emerging writers. DanaHallCreates.com

JAMES HAYAKAWA (Date Night),

MATT SCHUTZ (An Actor Prepares), he/him, is a playwright and actor currently based in Chicago. His play .PDF Preferred was included in PlayGround-Chicago’s Best of Chicago production. 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.

KATHERINE SWAN (The Hand, 1903), she/her, is thrilled to be back at Playground for another season. Her plays have been performed or developed at A Red Orchid Theatre (Chicago), The Road (Los Angeles), The William Inge Theatre Festival (Kansas), the Reboot Festival (London), Blueprint Festival (Atlanta), Playground Chicago, and other theatres nationally and internationally. Her work is anthologized by Smith & Kraus in their collections Best Ten-Minute Plays and Best Women’s Monologues. She is a 2025-26 Resident Playwright with Playground Chicago and a Dramatists Guild member.

ACTORS

ANDREA CONWAY-DIAZ (Remainder, “Sherry”), she/her, is thrilled to be part of PlayGround Chicago’s Monday Night Series once again. She recently participated in a staged reading called “She Too Bad For History” at the Beverly Arts Center in conjunction with Amplified Voices. Andrea performed six roles with different voices for the reading! Andrea has been cast in a two-person play called “Life Sentence” as part of Gray Matters Play Festival. Andrea was also in the cast of 7 Guitars, which was nominated for 6 Jeff Awards, including Best Ensemble.

CARMIA IMANI (An Actor Prepares, “Sara”), 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 holds a BFA in Acting with a minor in New Works for the Stage from Ball State University.

ILSA MORALES (Date Night, “Danielle”), 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.

WILLIAM C. THOMPSON (Last Lick of Justice, “Sargeant Buck”), 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, Netflix’s Easy, and two major motion pictures, as well as numerous short films. He is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA and Actors Equity Association, and is represented by The Rock Talent Agency. He is delighted to be a PlayGround-Chicago Company member.

BRAEDYN YOUNGBERG (Fak! A Murder Mystery, “Detective Cue“), he/him, is thrilled to be returning to PlayGround-Chicago and support 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.

JORDAN ZELVIN (The Hand, 1903, “Lillian”), she/they, is a Chicago teaching artist and proud company member of PlayGround Chicago with a love of improv, collaboration, and storytelling. Some of her favorite Chicago credits include The Tale of the Whale (NTYA), Wake Up, Brother Bear! (NTYA), Across the Sand: A Passover Theatrical Experience (NTYA), Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins (Strawdog Theatre Company), Failure: A Love Story (Oil Lamp Theater), Treasure Island (Oil Lamp Theater), Chicago Women’s Funny Festival (Stage 773), and various comedy shows at The Second City, The Annoyance Theatre & Bar, and iO Theater where she is a company member of Malarkey Comedy performing in ComedySportz, Improvised DCOM, and Two Birds 1 Scone every Thursday-Saturday. She’s thrilled to be back with PlayGround Chicago and supporting free and accessible theatre.

 

DIRECTORS

DEVIN CHRISTOR (An Actor Prepares), he/him, is a director that focuses on plays that critique hegemonic masculinity. Since receiving his B.A in Drama from the University of North Texas he has traveled the country working for several professional theaters to observe established directors and study the ecology of regional theater in America. Credits include: 1919 (Steppenwolf), Julius Caesar & God of Carnage (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Into the Side of a Hill (Flint Repertory Theater “New Works Festival”), Freeze Out (Trinity Repertory Company “America Too” Festival), and Oba (Triangle Rainbow Productions “LGBTQ Short Play” Festival), The Gift of the Magi (American Players Theatre), A Raisin in the Sun (Beverly Arts Center).

SPENCER DIEDRICK (Fak! A Murder Mystery), he/him, is a Chicago-based director, dramaturg, and advocate for original & underappreciated voices. Recent directing credits include THEY BROKE UP (Avalanche Theatre), The Hatmaker’s Wife (Theatre EVOLVE), The Delivery (Inclusive Playwright Project / Trap Door Theater), Black Cat Lost (Red Tape), Desire Desire Desire (Eclipse), and Fragmented (Our Perspective). His work has also been seen at Steep, Shattered Globe, Broken Nose, American Blues, TimeLine, Griffin, Raven, and Emerald City. Regional: Lewiston/Clarkson, Once (The GhostLight Theatre), Mycelium, Tomato Tattoo (PlayGround-San Francisco). He is a proud company member of Playground-Chicago and eternally thankful for friends, family, and community.

JIM KLEINMANN (The Hand, 1903, Artistic Director & Co-Founder), he/him, co-founded PlayGround in 1994, along with playwright Brighde Mullins and director Denise Shama, and has served as Artistic Director since 1996. For PlayGround, he has provided artistic and administrative leadership for the past twenty-eight seasons, developing PlayGround’s unique array of new playwright and new play incubator programs, including Monday Night PlayGround, the PlayGround Festival of New Works, the full-length play Commissioning Initiative, the New Play Production Fund, Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, and most recently the Innovator Incubator. For PlayGround, he has directed more than one hundred short and full-length plays, including works by Garret Jon Groenveld, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, Lauren Yee, Katie May, and many others. Recent directing and dramaturgy credits include David Steele’s Vignettes on Love and Ruben Grijalva’s Value Over Replacement. He is a veteran arts administrator with more than thirty years of experience, including stints leading Traveling Jewish Theatre, Smuin Ballet and Berkeley Symphony, and received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

KAELI MENO (Remainder), they/she, is a queer and Chamorro theater professional. Kaeli has assistant directed on the Thanksgiving Play (Steppenwolf) She has also previously worked on Emma with First Folio Theater, That Long Damn Dark, Drowning Girls, and many more with the University of Alaska Anchorage.They graduated with a dual degree in History and Theatre from the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2020.

LEANNA OLIVEIRA (Date Night), she/here, earned her Bachelor’s degree in Theatre from the University of Central Florida and her Master’s Degree in Directing at Roosevelt University in Chicago, Illinois. After teaching and directing for 8 years in South Florida, she moved to Chicago to pursue a career in theatre. Some of her recent directing credits include: The Siren Song of Stephen Jay Gould (Haven), She Kills Monsters YA Edition, Antigone, Medea, Peter & the Starcatcher, Much Ado About Nothing (Lake Worth Playhouse), A Christmas Story (Lake Worth Playhouse), Mycelium (PlayGround-Chicago), Raisin Girls (PlayGround-Chicago), Not Unusual (PlayGround-Chicago), Ellison Grants a Wish (PlayGround-Chicago).

KENDALL PHILLIPS (Last Lick of Justice), she/they, is a Chicago-based director and playwright. Originally from Houston, they fell in love with the Chicago theatre scene. Currently they’re studying Theatrical Directing at Columbia College Chicago. Two of their ten-minute plays have been published; Third Skeleton on the Left in the University of Greenwich and Columbia College Chicago collaborative anthology “Renaissance,” and Emergency Use Only, in Fresh Words- An International Literary Magazine in their Contemporary One Act Plays anthology series.

PRODUCTION & STAFF

JIM KLEINMANN (Artistic Director & Co-Founder), he/him, co-founded PlayGround in 1994, along with playwright Brighde Mullins and director Denise Shama, and has served as Artistic Director since 1996. For PlayGround, he has provided artistic and administrative leadership for the past twenty-eight seasons, developing PlayGround’s unique array of new playwright and new play incubator programs, including Monday Night PlayGround, the PlayGround Festival of New Works, the full-length play Commissioning Initiative, the New Play Production Fund, Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, and most recently the Innovator Incubator. For PlayGround, he has directed more than one hundred short and full-length plays, including works by Garret Jon Groenveld, Aaron Loeb, Geetha Reddy, Lauren Yee, Katie May, and many others. Recent directing and dramaturgy credits include David Steele’s Vignettes on Love and Ruben Grijalva’s Value Over Replacement. He is a veteran arts administrator with more than thirty years of experience, including stints leading Traveling Jewish Theatre, Smuin Ballet and Berkeley Symphony, and received his MFA from the Yale School of Drama.

DEVIN CHRISTOR (Executive Producer), he/him, is a director that focuses on plays that critique hegemonic masculinity. Since receiving his B.A in Drama from the University of North Texas he has traveled the country working for several professional theaters to observe established directors and study the ecology of regional theater in America. Credits include: 1919 (Steppenwolf), Julius Caesar & God of Carnage (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), Into the Side of a Hill (Flint Repertory Theater “New Works Festival”), Freeze Out (Trinity Repertory Company “America Too” Festival), and Oba (Triangle Rainbow Productions “LGBTQ Short Play” Festival), The Gift of the Magi (American Players Theatre), A Raisin in the Sun (Beverly Arts Center).

CHARLIE LEVINSON (Stage Manager), they/she, is excited to be stage managing for PlayGround Chicago once again! Credits include: Hamlet 50/50 (Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival); The Magic Flute, Emperor of Atlantis, Hansel and Gretel (Northwestern Opera); The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas (Theo Ubique); Murder for Two, Oliver!, The Mousetrap, and Private Lives (The Winnipesaukee Playhouse), Three Musketeers, Antigone, The Ghost Tour: Staged Reading, Twelfth Night, and Where Did We Sit On The Bus? (Cleveland Play House); A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Saint Joan, and Shakespeare in Love (Ohio Shakespeare Festival).

PLAYGROUND-CHICAGO is the third regional expansion of the celebrated Bay Area playwright incubator and theatre community hub, PlayGround(SF). PlayGround, California’s leading playwright incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s, Los Angeles’, New York’s and now Chicago’s best new playwrights, including the monthly Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, annual PlayGround Festival of New Works, full-length play commissions and support for the production of new plays by local playwrights through the New Play Production Fund. To date, PlayGround has supported over 250 early career playwrights, developing and staging more than 1,000 of their original short plays through the Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned 90 new full-length plays by 60 of these writers through its Commissioning Initiative and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 34 plays at theatres of every size, including three that have gone on to NYC and other major theater communities. Most recently, PlayGround renovated and relaunched the former Thick House Theater in San Francisco’s Potrero Hill as Potrero Stage, a state-of-the-art center for new plays, home to PlayGround’s expanding artistic programs and some of the Bay Area’s most distinguished new play developers and producers. Over the past twenty-seven years, PlayGround has served to identify some of the most important new local voices for the 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 Humana Festival, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, The Lark’s Playwrights’ Week, New York International Fringe Festival, and others. PlayGround received the 2009 Paine Knickerbocker Award for outstanding contributions to Bay Area theatre, 3 BATCC Awards for Best Original Script for PlayGround commissions, a 2014 National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing (founder of the Tony Awards®), and a 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award.

COMING SOON: LIVE & STREAMING

 

PLAYGROUND CONTRIBUTORS

PlayGround is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the many individuals, foundations, corporations and government agencies whose contributions make our work possible. This list reflects gifts of $125 or more committed between October 1, 2024 & October 17, 2025.

GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, & FOUNDATION DONORS

Alameda County Arts Commission • Amazon • Art Space Development Corporation • Berkeley Civic Arts • Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish Community Federation & Endowment Fund • California Arts Council • Fleishhacker Foundation • Grants For The Arts • KFF • Koret Foundation • LA County Arts Commission • Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation • The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund • Negley Flinn Charitable Foundation • NIAC • Nvidia • Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation • Rye Financial Services • San Francisco Arts Commission • SF Shines • The Shubert Foundation

SEASON SPONSORS ($5000+)

Emilie & Gordon Brooks, Dan Cohn & Lynn Brinton, Keith Goldstein & Donna Warrington, Regina Guggenheim, Jim Kleinmann & Lara Gilman, Craig Moody

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500+)

Randy Adams, John Gilman, Kathryn Hecht, Nitin, Jessica June Rowe, Darryl Wilburn, Christian Wilburn, Anonymous

PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)

Jahnavi Alyssa, Linda Amayo-Hassan, Meriko Borogove, Anne & Kevin Brady, Summer Broyhill, Madeleine Butler, Sheila Collins, Jediah Craig, Elizabeth Dudak, David Goldman, Greg Gorel, Jonathan Josephson, Linda Kremer, Tobi Marcus, Rebecca Martinez, Molly Noble, Berlanti Family Foundation, Kendall Phillips, Doug Peckler & Evelyn Jean Pine, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Arthur & Toni Rembe Rock, Kathryn Ryan, Miyoko Sakatani, Diane Sampson, Kurt Taylor, William & Sharon Thompson, Jeffrey Trescott, Hechale Productions, Anonymous

PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)

Tanvi Agrawal, Jim Brayton, Ben Cain, Lydia R. Diamond, Philip Gotanda, Toby Inoue, Jacqueline Kubicka, Bram McGinnis, Jenny Rand, Kitt Saginor, Anonymous, Janine Wilburn, Maury Zeff

PATRON ($250-$499)

Linda Ayres-Frederick, Ruth Brayton, Mara Gaudette, Matt Schwartz & Karen Levesque, Alex Loddengaard, Gary London, Alan Maass, Pam Mackinnon, Anonymous, Cindy Redburn, George Rose, Jerome Solberg, Jon & Susan Sweedler, Mia Taylor, Robin Wimsatt

ASSOCIATE MEMBER ($125-$249)

Sharon Baldwin, Marilyn Cooper, Clint Fleener, Wilmina Jensen, Abbe Kalos, Abbe Kalos, Ellen Loebl, Mark Peters, Abigail Rosen, Anonymous, Stephen & Ann Hearn Tobolowsky, Bex White, Susannah Wise

To contribute to PlayGround, visit https://playground-sf.org/contribute or contact PlayGround Associate Director of Development Lana Richards at lana@playground-sf.org or by phone at (833) 992-6677.

DONATE

PlayGround Company

PLAYGROUND-CHICAGO WRITERS POOL

Daniel Arzola, Siah Berlatsky, Andrea Berting, Jessie Bond, Anne Brady, Rachel Chin, Mikayla De Guzman, Kimberly Dixon-Mays, Betsy Dudak,Liz Haas, Dana Hall, James Hayakawa, Toby Inoue, Arti Ishak, Tanuja Devi Jagernauth, Jerluane Jenkins, Jessica Johnson, alfonzo kahlil, Juliet Kang Huneke, Alex Kingsley, Alan Maass, Sydney MacGilvray, Shail Modi, J.S. Puller, Shannon Pritchard, Jay Rehak, Matt Schutz, Katherine Swan.

PLAYGROUND-CHICAGO COMPANY

Manny Buckley, Valerie Butler-Newbern, Devin Christor, Andrea Conway-Diaz, Yvette Corrine, Lynda Cortez, Vivian Delgadillo, Spencer Diedrick, Eileen Dixon, Sheri Flanders, Skylar Frishman, Ashley Graham, Scott Gryder, Charlotte Harris, Carmia Imani, Hannah Lynn Kato, Benjamin Kelly, Charlie Levinson, Beau Malone, Kaeli Meno, Paige Mesina, Ilsa Morales, Alka Nayyar, Leanna Oliveira, Dakota Pariset, Kendall Phillips, Shariba Rivers, Diana Simonzadeh, Brooke-Erin Smith, Peter Stielstra, Tyler Struble, William C. Thompson, Kezia Waters, Karla Wren, Braedyn Youngberg, Jordan Zelvin.

PLAYGROUND STAFF

Jim Kleinmann, Co-Founder & Artistic Director 
Devin Christor, Executive Producer 
Leanna Oliveira, Associate Producer 
Brooke-Erin Smith, Associate Producer 
Karissa Murrell Myers, Casting Director 
Donna Fondjo, 2025-26 Producing Fellow 
Jordan Don, 2025-26 Producing Fellow 
Juliana Morgado Brito, 2025-26 Producing Fellow 
Devin Cunningham, 2025-26 Producing Fellow 

 

www.PlayGround-sf.org
3286 Adeline St #9
Berkeley, CA 94703-2485
info@playground-sf.org
(415) 992-6677