In 2002, PlayGround launched its first full-length play commissioning programs, the June Anne Baker Prize and the PlayGround Fellowship. The June Anne Baker Prize, established by PlayGround supporter John H. Gilman in memory of his late wife, honors the top female playwright each year, representing a gifted new comedic or political voice for the stage, and includes a full-length play commission. The PlayGround Fellowship honors a distinguished PlayGround alumnus and also includes a full-length play commission. PlayGround additionally awards three Alumni Commissions per year to previously commissioned PlayGround playwrights. The resulting new works are presented as public staged readings as part of The Best of PlayGround Festival.
In 2006, PlayGround launched its Commissioning Initiative, through which PlayGround expanded its commissioning efforts to five per year (now six per year) and began supporting full production through strategic partnerships and a co-production fund.
2010 Commissions
Stiff Competition by Cass Brayton (2010 PlayGround Fellowship)
Is grieving a private matter, a public ritual, or opportunity knocking,
dressed in a shroud? In this black comedy, the Chilblain family, facing
the imminent demise of its matriarch, struggles after one of its members
signs the family up to compete on the reality TV series, “Such Sweet
Sorrow.” Not everyone wants the family’s impending vigil and
grief televised in a bid to bury their departed with the stars at a famous
Hollywood park, following a televised service of remembrance. The tears
of some family members, blended as they are with stardust and dollar signs,
must contend with the needs of others for whom, inexplicably, privacy remains
an enduring value when it comes to matters of the clan.
Book Club! The Musical by Geetha Reddy
Based on the controversy that erupted when New Yorker writer Jonathan Franzen
was invited and then dumped from Oprah’s Book Club following comments
about his ambivalence about the distinction, Book Club! The Musical
explores the forbidden love between a popular black TV talk show host and
a painfully intellectual novelist. Their relationship complicated by the
competing worlds of TV producers, book agents, radio talk show hosts, and
The Book Club itself, will these two lovers be able to overcome the “great
gulf” between TV and books?
A Marriage by Tom Swift
Based on the riotously funny and moving Best of PlayGround Festival 2005
and 2010 winners, The Beginning and The New Season,
A Marriage follows the course of the marriage between two gay men with
seriously different tastes and personalities. Relevant to the battle over
gay marriage today, A Marriage follows the marriage of one odd
couple from beginning to end.
Naked by Diane Sampson (2010 June Anne Baker Prize)
Naked explores what can happen when a comment made privately by a person
of stature is taken — rightly or wrongly — to be politically
incorrect, even intolerant, and made public. Jean Remner, a celebrated playwright
and humanitarian, finds her life crumbling after saying something that can
be construed to contradict everything she has stood for. How does such an
event affect not only Jean, but others close to her, and where, in fact,
does the truth — if there is such a thing — lie?
Christina Walters is a Blowjob Whore by Malachy Walsh
(2010 PlayGround Fellowship)
“Christina Walters Is A Blowjob Whore” is the name of the blog
just-turned-13 Sarah has created. And that doesn’t sit well with her
mother, Oona, a high powered executive in the midst of a career crisis.
But when Oona’s ex-husband (and Sarah’s father) fails to show
up at a rendezvous at a local playground to talk to the teenager about her
virtual writings, the confrontation between mother and daughter turns into
a heated exploration of what childhood is and isn’t, what's real and
what’s not, what’s safe and what’s truly dangerous.
A Bid to Save the World by Erin Bregman
John Jacob O'Reilly Smitherton, founder and head banker of John Jacob O'Reilly
Smitherton International, is not a crook. In fact, on the first day of the
New Year he wakes up with the resolution to use his enormous fortune to
buy world peace. With the help of Karen, his brilliant servant/housekeeper/barista/secretary/family
tutor, he sets off in search of a voice the whole world can rally behind.
This children's play showcases a world where one happenstance thing always
leads to another, and a moment of total world peace can be achieved through
the simple act of singing a song.
Valley of Sand by Trevor Allen*
A dark, digital comedy. Joseph Bailey, a fifth generation Californian and
an aging computer industry pioneer, forms his own start up and with the
help of an unscrupulous venture capitalist creates a new cutting edge silicon
chip for a groundbreaking, handheld quantum computer. As a birthday present,
he gives the beta version to his young son, Peter. This black box takes
the boy on a virtual journey through the ages of sand, tracing his own family’s
history in the Santa Clara Valley and following its transformation from
the Valley of Heart’s delight into the Silicon Valley of today. The
ensuing interracial love story and multigenerational saga spans the time
of the Missions and the Quicksilver Mines through the creation of the Hayes
Mansion and destruction of the orchards to the cosmic discoveries at the
Lick Observatory and the rise of the information age, culminating in a stunning
upset in a VIP lounge at the Shark Tank hockey arena during sudden death
overtime.
* A co-commission with San Jose Repertory Theatre
All 2010-11 commissions will be presented to the public as staged readings during the 2011 Best of PlayGround Festival, scheduled for May 2011. To sign up for updates on these readings and other festival activities through PlayGround's monthly email newsletter, click here.
For more information on these or other PlayGround-commissioned plays, contact
PlayGround Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann.