In memory of PETER F. SLOSS

We are saddened to share the news that longtime PlayGround friend, supporter and subscriber Peter Sloss passed away this past Sunday. Peter and his wife, Rebecca Martinez, had been attending the Monday Night series and Festival since 2002 and were the force behind PlayGround's successful relocation to Berkeley Rep in 2003. A passionate advocate for the theatre, Peter had served as a trustee of Berkeley Rep for many years and just last year had his full-length play, Hamlet in England, presented as part of Z/Magic Mondays at the Magic Theatre. He will be sorely missed.

PlayGround dedicates the 2007-08 Monday Night PlayGround series in residence at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Peter's memory.

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New PlayGround-KQED PODCAST!

PlayGround and KQED released today the third short play podcast in their successful online collaboration through KQED's The Writers' Block. Tom Swift's The Beginning, featuring PlayGround Company member Gabriel Marin and PlayGround regular John Patrick Moore and directed by PlayGround Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann, was a highlight of the 2004-05 season and was featured in the 2005 Best of PlayGround Festival.

About the play: In The Beginning, Swift explores the sweet, awkward and sometimes painful moments at the beginning of a new relationship. In the end, can you choose whom you fall in love with or does love choose you?

About the playwright: Tom Swift is a three-time PlayGround Emerging Playwright Award winner and the recipient of the 2006 PlayGround Fellowship. He received a degree in acting from Northwestern University in 1984. His adaptation of the movie Chinatown, Isaiah 43:20, was staged at the University of San Francisco in 2005, directed by Ellen Sebastian Chang. Swift's full-length play, The Marthamenides, received a staged reading at Theater Rhinoceros in 2004. In real life he serves as Captain of the Financial Avengers, an investment management firm that he founded with his sidekick, The Oracle.

To stream or download The Beginning, click here.
To hear or learn more about other PlayGround-KQED podcasts, click here.

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PlayGround Line-Up at SF THEATER FEST!

On Sunday, July 22, PlayGround will reprise two of the short plays from this year's Best of PlayGround Festival for the fourth annual San Francisco Theater Festival at Yerba Buena Gardens: Richard Weingart's Isle of Dogs, Part II and Daniel Heath's Seagull, featuring performances by PlayGround Company members Liam Vincent and Anthony Nemirovsky, directed by PlayGround Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann.

Come enjoy this special FREE encore performance, beginning promptly at 1:15pm in the climate-controlled Forum at Yerba Buena Center, off Third Street between Mission and Howard, in San Francisco. This is our fourth consecutive appearance and it's always packed and a great time! Don't miss it!

For more information about this year's SF Theater Festival, click here. Interested in volunteering for the PlayGround Information table? Click here to drop us an email!

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Featured COLLABORATION: Kenn Rabin & Lee Sankowich

Beginning this month and continuing in future issues of PlayGround e-News, we share the story of a theatrical collaboration between artists that had its beginnings at PlayGround.

Kenn Rabin has been a PlayGround playwright since 2001 and is a three-time PlayGround Emerging Playwright Award winner and recipient of the 2004 PlayGround Fellowship. In 2004, his Best of PlayGround Festival play, Reunion, was directed by Robin Stanton. Later that same year, Kenn had a chance to collaborate in the Monday Night PlayGround series with then-Marin Theatre Company Artistic Director (and PlayGround Company member) Lee Sankowich who had long admired Kenn’s work. As a result of their collaboration, Lee initiated Marin Theatre Company’s first full-length play commission and awarded it to Kenn, the result of which (Found Objects) was given a staged reading under the direction of Lee at Marin Theatre Company last winter. New Marin Theatre Company Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis recently announced the expansion of their new works series, including a multi-week workshop presentation of Kenn’s full-length play this October, directed this time by Robin Stanton. Of this fortuitous string of events, Kenn Rabin has said: "None of this would have happened if Lee and I had not become both collaborators and friends through PlayGround."

Stay tuned for news of other PlayGround-nurtured collaborations and, if you'd like to be considered for future "Featured Collaboration" columns, please email us your stories.

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PlayGround Audience SURVEY!

PlayGround is conducting a brief online audience survey through iContact to learn more about your participation and opinions. You'll receive a separate email from PlayGround with instructions on how to participate in this survey and we very much encourage you to do so. It should take you less than five minutes to complete. Thank you in advance!

To get a head start and complete your online survey now, click here.

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Monday Night Series INTRO SUBSCRIPTIONS!

Want to guarantee your seat today for the entire Monday Night PlayGround series, in residence at Berkeley Rep on third Mondays October through March? First-time subscribers save 40% off general admission with our INTRODUCTORY SUBSCRIPTIONS - just $54 for six evenings of some of the most exciting new theatre in town! That's like buying four tickets and getting two more for free! Click below to purchase online or visit our website to print out a downloadable order form.

INTRO Subscription ($54)*
General 6-Performance Subscription ($72)
* Intro sub offer is only good for first-time subscribers and cannot be combined with other offers. Maximum 2 subscriptions per household.

SPECIAL OFFER: Purchase a pair of Intro Subscriptions or renew your 2006-07 subscription before August 1 and receive an additional complimentary ticket good for the October 15 Monday Night PlayGround season opener!

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Applications Accepted for 2007-08 WRITERS POOL!

Always dreamed of growing up to be the next Philip Kan Gotanda or Suzan-Lori Parks?? Dream no more!! As of today, PlayGround is now accepting applications for the 2007-08 Writers Pool, the group of thirty-six emerging playwrights eligible to write for the Monday Night PlayGround series and from whose work we select the plays for next spring's Best of PlayGround Festival!

Applications, consisting of a maximum ten-page play (produced or unproduced), are due by September 1, 2007. For complete details and sample script formats, see the online Submission Guidelines. The 2007-08 PlayGround Writers Pool will be announced on October 1 in preparation for the first monthly topic announcement and the Monday Night PlayGround season opener on October 15, 2007.
more »

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Festival SCRIPTS & Free Shipping!

Preparing for your next audition? Want to really wow 'em with a contemporary comedic or dramatic scene by a hot local playwright? Or maybe you're looking for some good summer reading and you've already finished the latest Michael Chabon novel? Need an innovative selection for your book group?

Why not purchase one of the seven short play compilations in the Best of PlayGround series? Books, each featuring seven plays selected from the Best of PlayGround Festival over the past eleven years, are just $10 each!

SPECIAL OFFER: Purchase Best of PlayGround (2007) before August 1 and shipping is free! Or purchase the first seven volumes and pay just $60. To view video clips of this year's festival performances, click here.

For the complete catalogue, click here. To purchase scripts online, click here.

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Return of the Night of the Living MATCHING GRANT III !

Given that this is the summer of the great tri-quels, we thought it only appropriate to offer our own entry in this ever self-indulgent (but lucrative) category! Do you believe in the mission of PlayGround ("developing significant new local voices for the theatre") and want to know how you can play a part? Finally filed your 2006 tax return and looks like you're actually getting something back? Enjoying double-digit returns on your stock portfolio and not sure what to do with all of those gains? May we suggest you consider a contribution to PlayGround? PlayGround is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit California corporation (federal i.d. 94-3336399) and, as such, your donations are considered fully tax-deductible, to the extent allowed by law.

And now when you give before August 1, 2007, you can help PlayGround match a $10,000 grant from the Miranda Lux Foundation in support of our new Young Playwrights Project in Bay Area high schools. All first-time and increased contributions received between June 1 and July 31 will be applied toward the required match. Help PlayGround to share our unique brand of theatre-making with students throughout the Bay Area... make your gift today!

To make your online secure contribution, click here. To learn about gifting stock, click here. For more information about contributing to PlayGround or the Miranda Lux Foundation challenge grant, click here to email us.

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SHARE PlayGround with a Friend!

Notice that link below that says "Forward to a Friend"? With just a few clicks of the mouse, you can share this e-Newsletter and the magic of PlayGround with a friend. Or type your own email of introduction and add the following url: http://playground-sf.org/newsletter/070711.shtml. We don't recommend you hit the "forward" button on your email reader as this newsletter has your private account information (and it's really such a pain when your friends accidentally "unsubscribe" you from our list...).

Also, to make sure you receive the PlayGround information you want (and don't receive the information you don't want), please click on the "Manage Your Profile" link below. Here, you can check the areas you'd like information on, from playwriting classes, to information on contributing, subscribing, etc.

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Have a great summer!

Jim Kleinmann
Artistic Director
PlayGround
(415) 704-3177 (vm/fax)
jim@playground-sf.org