playground festival of new works

20TH Annual
FESTIVAL OF
NEW WORKS
Thick House / San Francisco / June 2–July 10, 2016
FROM THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR
W
ELCOME to the 20th PlayGround Festival of New Works, the Bay Area’s largest showcase
of local playwrights and new plays. From June 2 to July 10, we’ll present more than
a dozen short and full-length plays over forty-six performances and readings, including
our evening of shorts, Best of PlayGround 20 (June 2–19), the world premieres of Katie
May’s A
­ bominable (June 6–July 9) and Ruben Grijalva’s Value Over Replacement (June
13–July 10), curtain raisers by top high school dramatists as part of our 8th annual Young
­Playwrights ­Project (June 9–12), and staged readings of new full-length works (June 11–12
and June 18–19). Over six weeks, the PlayGround Festival offers you a singular opportunity
to sample the very best the Bay Area has to offer in new plays and new voices for the stage!
And, as impressive as the body of work you’ll see tonight is all the work you won’t see—all
that we’ve done just since last year’s festival. Last October, PlayGround selected thirtysix Bay Area writers to be part of the 2015–16 PlayGround Writers Pool. Over the next six
months, these writers created nearly 180 original short plays, of which PlayGround developed just thirty-six (six of which were selected for this year’s Best of PlayGround).
During that same period, PlayGround supported the development of more than a dozen
new full-length plays by past and current festival playwrights: Rachel Bublitz (winner, 2015
June Anne Baker Prize), Victoria Chong Der and William Bivins (2014 Fellowship recipients),
Patricia Cotter (2014 June Anne Baker Prize winner), Zoe Young and Julianne Jigour (Planet
Earth Arts new play commissions), and the Resident Playwrights. And during this festival, you
can witness the seeds of future productions as PlayGround presents public staged readings
of four bold new plays in development by William Bivins, Patricia Cotter, Victoria Chong Der,
and Julianne Jigour (for times and details, visit playground-sf.org/festival/readings.shtml).
From ten-minute plays to full-length commissions, and from staged readings to
premiere co-productions, PlayGround is working harder than ever to provide one-of-a-kind
opportunities for some of the Bay Area’s leading emerging professional playwrights. But our
work is incomplete without the final element that makes a play more than just words on
a page—you, the audience! We’re grateful for your participation and hope that, if you like
what you see today, you’ll share your experience at PlayGround with friends and family
and help us continue to grow this unique community of theatre makers and theatre lovers.
Together, we can ensure the future of the American Theatre... one playwright at a time!
—Jim Kleinmann
WWW.PLAYGROUND-SF.ORG/FESTIVAL
PLAY A PART!
It takes a lot of people to produce a successful PlayGround season and none more important than
you, the members of our audience. Help ensure our continued success and get more involved, as
a volunteer, donor or even Board Member. For more information, call (415) 992-6677.
THANK YOU!
PlayGround gratefully acknowledges the invaluable support of those who
donate their time in support of our efforts, including our Board of Directors, the volunteers of
OneBrick, and the members of the PlayGround Company.
PlayGround
James A. Kleinmann
268 Bush Street #2912
San Francisco, CA 94104
Annie Stuart
Artistic Director
Associate Director
Gwen Loeb
(415) 992-6677 (office)
(415) 704-3177 (fax)
info@playground-sf.org
www.playground-sf.org
Development Director
Cass Brayton
Publications Editor
Gary Carr, Rising Moon
Marketing & Publications
Publicist
Board of Directors
Regina Guggenheim
Chair
James A.Kleinmann
President
Kate Clarvoe
Molly Noble
Patrick O’Brien
Aaron Loeb
Geetha Reddy
Maya L. Tussing
Patrick Reilly
Vice President
Treasurer
Beverly Butler
Secretary
David G. Steele
PLAYGROUND
James A. Kleinmann, Artistic Director
20TH ANNUAL
PLAYGROUND FESTIVAL
OF NEW WORKS
JUNE 2 – 19, 2016
BEST OF PLAYGROUND 20
A program of short plays by six of the Bay Area’s best emerging
writers, the cream of the crop selected from the 2015–16 season
of PlayGround Monday Nights at Berkeley Repertory Theatre.
JUNE 6 – JULY 9, 2016
ABOMINABLE
or The Misappropriation of Beverly Onion by Forces Beyond Her Control
by Katie May
JUNE 13 – JULY 10, 2016
VALUE OVER REPLACEMENT
by Ruben Grijalva
JUNE 11 – 19, 2016
STAGED
READINGS
New full-length plays in development
Bright Shining Sea by Julianne Jigour (June 11, noon; June 18, 4 pm)
1980 (Or Why I’m Voting For John Anderson) by Patricia Cotter
(June 11, 3 pm; June 18, 1 pm)
Scapegoat by William Bivins (June 12, 11 am; June 19, 3 pm)
Like Me by Victoria Chong Der (June 12, 2 pm; June 19, noon)
The PlayGround Festival is made possible in part through the generous support of: Actors’
Equity Foundation, Bernard Osher Foundation, Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the
Jewish Community Federation and Endowment Fund, Dramatists Guild Fund, The Fleishhacker
Foundation, John H. Gilman, Grants for the Arts/SF Hotel Tax Fund, Lenore & Howard Klein
Foundation, Zandra Faye LeDuff, Jill Matichak, Kenneth Rainin Foundation,
San Francisco Arts Commission, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust,
Wells Fargo, and Zellerbach Family Foundation. Special thanks to the William &
Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Shubert Foundation.
PLAYGROUND
James A. Kleinmann, Artistic Director
BEST OF PLAYGROUND 20
A FESTIVAL OF NEW WORKS BY NEW WRITERS
THE RIVER GOD
by Madeleine Butler
directed by Jeffrey Lo
BOYS BEWARE
by Kirk Shimano
directed by Katja Rivera
OPHY’S APOTHECARY
by Karen Macklin
directed by Reena Dutt
— INTERMISSION —
I’M REALLY SORRY ABOUT THIS
by Patricia Cotter
directed by Tracy Ward
DIGGING DITCHES IN FRESNO
by Isaac Ontiveros
directed by Jim Kleinmann
THE LUNATICS
by Joshua Williams
directed by Jim Kleinmann
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Costume Designer
Kate Boyd
Josh Senick
Jocelyn Leiser Herndon
Casting Director
Properties Artisan
Production Manager
Annie Stuart
Ting Na Wang
Marcus Marotto
Stage Manager
Production Assistant/Dresser
Publicist
Louel Señores
Melissa Kallstrom
Gary Carr
* Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union
of Professional Actors and Stage Managers
CAST
(in order of appearance)
THE RIVER GOD
Erowyn/Joan. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rinabeth Apostol*
The River God/Sam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nican Robinson
The Prime Minister. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Douglas Giorgis*
The Emperor/Offstage Voice . . . . . . . . . . . Dodds Delzell*
Jenny. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morgan J. Booker
BOYS BEWARE
Jimmy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nican Robinson
Ralph. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Phillis
The Announcer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dodds Delzell*
OPHY’S APOTHECARY
Anna . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephanie Prentice*
Ophy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rinabeth Apostol*
Boy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Phillis
I’M REALLY SORRY ABOUT THIS
Julia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morgan J. Booker
Siri . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephanie Prentice*
Robert. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Douglas Giorgis*
Male Siri. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nican Robinson
DIGGING DITCHES IN FRESNO
Maria Rosa, Jr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Rinabeth Apostol*
Maria Rosa, Sr. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Stephanie Prentice*
THE LUNATICS
Tom. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Douglas Giorgis*
Arthur. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dodds Delzell*
Stanley. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Michael Phillis
Francine. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Morgan J. Booker
*Member of Actors’ Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers.
This Theatre operates under an agreement with Actors’ Equity Association,
the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States.
The following topics were the initial inspiration for this year’s festival plays:
THE WATER PLAYS (October, 2015): The River God
THE 1960S: NEW FRONTIERS (January, 2016): Boys Beware; The Lunatics
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (February, 2016): I’m Really Sorry About This
SHE WORKS HARD FOR THE MONEY: WOMEN AT WORK (March, 2016 – WomenArts Night):
Digging Ditches in Fresno; Ophy’s Apothecary
MANIC PIXIE PRODUCTIONS
in association with
PLAYGROUND and SYMMETRY THEATRE COMPANY
present
ABOMINABLE
or The Misappropriation of Beverly Onion
by Forces Beyond Her Control
by Katie May
directed by Chloe Bronzan
Jim Kleinmann, dramaturg
CAST
Fate. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nican Robinson
Luck. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Amy Resnick*
Beverly Onion. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Lisa Morse*
Mr. Hortaman, Dean, and Others. . . Chad Deverman*
Mrs. Hortaman, Doris, and Others . . . . . . Gwen Loeb*
Abominable Snowman . . . . . . . . . . Steven Westdahl
The play will be performed without intermission.
Running time is approximately 90 minutes.
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Costume Designer
Kate Boyd
Josh Senick
Jocelyn Leiser Herndon
Casting Consultant
Properties Artisan
Production Manager
Annie Stuart
Katie May
Marcus Marotto
Stage Manager
Publicist
Louel Señores
Gary Carr
An Equity-approved project.
* Member, Actors’ Equity Association.
This production is made possible in part through the generous support of: the PlayGround
New Play Production Fund, Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation , Zandra Faye LeDuff, Jill
Matichak, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, and the many generous supporters of
the Abominable Premiere Indiegogo crowd-funding campaign.
WHO’S WHO
PLAYWRIGHTS
WILLIAM BIVINS’s (Scapegoat) productions
include The Apotheosis of Pig Husbandry, The
Education of a Rake, The Position, The Afterlife
of the Mind, Pulp Scripture, and Ransom, Texas.
He has won, among others, the Bay Area ­Theatre
Critics Circle Award for Original Script and the
Hyperion Project Original Play Competition.
He is a two-time recipient of the PlayGround
Emerging Playwright Award and is currently a
PlayGround Resident.
MADELEINE BUTLER (Best of PlayGround: The
River God) completed her third season with
PlayGround in 2016. Her short plays include
A Beautiful Evening and The River God (Monday Night PlayGround), as well as The Box and
A Comfortable Life (Playwrights’ Center of San
Francisco Sheherezade Festival). She is working
on a full-length play, along with other creative
writing projects.
PATRICIA COTTER (Best of PlayGround: I’m
Really Sorry About This; 1980, or Why I’m Voting
For John Anderson) is an Emmy Award winning,
Groundling Theater Alum. Awards: American
Academy of Arts Letters, Richard Rodgers Award,
Heideman Award Finalist. Plays: Rules Of Comedy, 39th Humana Festival of New American
Plays, 2015; The Anthropology Section (2015),
The Actors Theatre of Louisville; The Surrogate, (The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s 2016
National Playwrights Conference finalist); will
be produced in 2017 by The Centenary Stage
Company, directed by Molly Noble. Her June
Anne Baker Prize commission, 1980 (Or Why I’m
Voting For John Anderson) will premiere at PlayGround’s Festival Staged Readings.
VICTORIA CHONG DER (Like Me) has written
for several Bay Area companies and received a
2014 PlayGround Fellowship. Victoria is a PlayGround Resident Playwright and a member of the
Playwrights Foundation’s Resident Playwright
Initiative. She has a BA in Creative Writing from
Oberlin College.
RUBEN GRIJALVA (Value Over Replacement) is
a San Francisco-based playwright and filmmaker.
His full-length plays include Foresight (2010) and
Value Over Replacement (2016), a Playground
commission, 2015 O’Neill National Playwrights
Conference finalist, and 2016 Edgerton Foundation New Play Award winner. Short plays include
Value Over Replacement and Mr. Wong’s Goes
to Washington, both Best of PlayGround selections. His films include the award winning short
Shadow Ball (2007) and the upcoming short film
adaptation of Value Over Replacement.
JULIANNE JIGOUR (Bright Shining Sea), a
California native, has had staged readings and
productions in the Bay Area, Los Angeles, Aspen,
and New York. She has received screenwriting
funding from the Steeltown Entertainment Project and the Sloan Foundation. Julianne earned
her MFA in dramatic writing from Carnegie
Mellon University. She is a member of the PlayGround–LA Writers Pool.
KAREN MACKLIN’S (Best of PlayGround: Ophy’s
Apothecary) plays have been staged in readings
and productions in San Francisco, New York, and
Seattle with companies such as Actors Theater
SF, PlayGround, SF Playhouse, and Nylon Fusion
Theatre. She has an MFA in Creative Writing, and
has been a finalist for the Kennedy Center ACTF,
Humana Festival, and Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She was also the recipient of the 2016 June
Anne Baker Prize.
KATIE MAY (Abominable) Plays include Abominable (The Lark, NYC), Manic Pixie Dream Girl
(fringeNYC), and many others. May’s dramatic
works have been produced in Arizona, Idaho,
California, Philadelphia, Chicago, and New York.
She is the recipient of fellowships from the Virginia C. Piper Center, Women in Film Foundation
LA, and is a PlayGround Emerging Playwright
Award winner. May holds an MFA in Playwriting
from ASU.
ISAAC ONTIVEROS (Best of PlayGround: Digging
Ditches in Fresno) was born in Santa Maria, California, and has lived and worked in Oakland for
most of his adult life. Isaac is a life-long multimedia artist, has written and co-authored many
articles, is involved in organizing efforts to stop
the violence of militarism, policing, and imprisonment, and currently works as a labor union
researcher.
KIRK SHIMANO (Best of PlayGround: Boys
Beware) is returning for his third Best of PlayGround. His work has been presented by
PianoFight, Wily West Productions, and the San
Francisco Olympians. His Portal: The Musical will
be performed at San Francisco Theater Pub in
July, and his The Princess and the Porn Star is in
development as part of the Custom Made Theater Company’s Undiscovered Works series.
JOSHUA WILLIAMS (Best of PlayGround: The
Lunatics) is a writer, director, translator, and
graduate student at UC Berkeley. His plays have
been developed or produced at UC Berkeley,
CU–Boulder, Princeton University, SUNY Buffalo,
Capital Fringe Festival, Theatre Intime, New
York Musical Theatre Festival, CAP 21, Ars Nova’s
ANT Fest, and PlayGround-SF. jdmwilliams.com
VOR PRODUCTIONS
in association with
PLAYGROUND
present
VALUE OVER REPLACEMENT
by Ruben Grijalva
directed by Jim Kleinmann
CAST
Edward “Chip” Fuller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jomar Tagatac*
Jack Fuller, Dan Drake. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Alex Shafer*
Young Chip, Alex Fuller, Danny Briggs. . . . . . . . Martha Brigham*
Emily Fuller. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Melissa Ortiz*
Mike Clawson, Congressman, and Others. . . . . . Christian Haines*
Peggy Briggs, Congresswoman, and Others. . . Stephanie Prentice*
Running time is approximately 120 minutes
with one 15-minute intermission.
Value Over Replacement Player (VORP): A statistic that attempts to quantify the
­marginal utility of a given player by comparing his production to that of a hypothetical
“replacement” player, who is an average fielder and a below-average hitter.
Lighting Designer
Sound Designer
Costume Designer
Kate Boyd
Josh Senick
Jocelyn Leiser Herndon
Casting Consultant
Properties Artisan
Production Manager
Annie Stuart
Ting Na Wang
Marcus Marotto
Stage Manager
Publicist
Gary Quinn
Gary Carr
An Equity-approved project.
* Member, Actors’ Equity Association.
This production is made possible in part through the generous support of: the PlayGround
New Play Production Fund, Edgerton Foundation New Play Award, Lenore & Howard Klein
Foundation, Zandra Faye LeDuff, Jill Matichak, The Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust,
and the many generous supporters of the Value Over Replacement Premiere Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign.
ACTORS
RINABETH APOSTIOL* (Best of
PlayGround: The River God,
Ophy’s Apothecary, and Digging
Ditches in Fresno) is happy to
be part of Best of 20, her fourth
festival! She most recently
appeared in Dogeaters (Magic)
and the world premieres of Monstress (A.C.T.) and The Cable Car Nymphomaniac
(FOGG) and has performed with various regional
theatres, and several local Bay Area stages. She
can be seen this summer in the world premiere
of Hearts of Palm with Central Works. Proud
company member of Ferocious Lotus, AEA, and
SAG-AFTRA.
MORGAN J. BOOKER (Best of
PlayGround: The River God, I’m
Really Sorry About This, and
The Lunatics) is a local actress,
singer/songwriter, educator and
activist from Oakland, CA. She
graduated from California Institute of the Arts with a BFA in
theater acting (Class of 2015). There she had the
privilege of workshopping her one woman show
Borderline, at the Bootleg Theater in Los Angeles. She is currently teaching theater and social
justice in the Bay Area, and performing.
MARTHA BRIGHAM* (Value Over
Replacement: Young Chip, Alex,
etc.) Stage credits include The
How and the Why (Aurora Theatre Company), Stupid Fucking
Bird (SF Playhouse), The Tall
Girls (La Jolla Playhouse).
She graduated from the Lee
Strasberg Theatre Institute and studied with
Steppenwolf West under alumnus Tom Irwin, and
LA’s comedy improv group, The Groundlings.
DODDS DELZELL* (Best of PlayGround: The River God, Boys
Beware, and The Lunatics) is
ecstatic to be part of The Best
of PlayGround 20!! He has
appeared in more shows than he
can remember over the last 25+
years throughout the Bay Area
and cherishes being a part of the PlayGround
Company! He has a BFA from University of North
Carolina School of the Arts and is a Proud Member of Actors Equity Association.
CHAD DEVERMAN* (Abominable: Mr. Hortaman, Dean, etc.)
has been an actor and educator for over ten years. He has
performed with such Bay Area
theatre companies as ACT,
San Jose Repertory, TheatreWorks, CalShakes, San Francisco
Playhouse, Aurora Theatre, Capital Stage Company, Cutting Ball Theatre, and B Street Theatre.
Training: BFA, New York University.
DOUGLAS B. GIORGIS* (Best of
PlayGround: The River God, I’m
Really Sorry About This, and
The Lunatics) has performed on
stages across the country from
Off-Broadway (La Mama, Musicals Tonight!) and Indie Theatres
(Retro Productions Company
Mem­ber, Boomerang) in New York, to Regional
Houses (Barnstormers-NH, Alliance Theatre-GA,
Arizona Theatre Co-AZ), and local Bay Area Companies (Marin Theatre Company, San Jose Rep,
Aurora, 3 Girls Theatre), and is a PlayGround
Company Member). www.douglasgiorgis.com
CHRISTIAN HAINES* (Value Over
Replacement: Clawson, Con­­gress­man, etc.) loves working with
PlayGround! He is the founding
Artistic Director of Amios in NYC
and the Producing Artistic Director of ShotzSF in San Francisco.
He holds an MFA in acting from
the National Theatre Conservatory. Much love
and to family, friends and Melissa.
GWEN LOEB* (Abominable:
Female Actor) has performed
locally with ACT, Marin Theatre Company, San Francisco
Shakespeare, Aurora Theatre
Company, Shotgun, Center Rep,
FoolsFURY, Central Works, Playwrights Foundation, and more.
Recent roles include the Nurse in Romeo &
Juliet, Mrs. Bennet in Pride & Prejudice, Pauline
in A Bright New Boise, and Flo in the movie The
Boat Builder with Christopher Lloyd.
LISA MORSE* (Abominable: Beverly Onion) Local: Marin Theatre
Company, Shakespeare Santa
Cruz, Just Theatre, Playwrights
Foundation. Regional Theatre:
Missouri Rep, The Kennedy Center, Boston Playwrights, and
others. Off-Broadway: Lincoln
Center, CSC, and P.S. 122. Recent roles include
Mom in Down a Little Dirt Road; Miss Finknagle
in the film Miss Finknagle Succumbs to Chaos;
and Lisa in Hella Love Oakland.
MELISSA ORTIZ* (Value Over
Replacement: Emily) is a PlayGround and ShotzSF company
member. She received her MFA
in Acting from the National Theater Conservatory in Denver,
CO. Favorite roles: Edward in
Cloud 9, Echo in Eleemosynary,
Rhonda in Surf City. She’d like to thank her family and her husband for their love and support.
MICHAEL PHILLIS (Best of PlayGround: Boys Beware, Ophy’s
Apothecary, and The Lunatics)
is an award-winning actor,
playwright, filmmaker, and edu­
cator. His work has been seen
on many Bay Area stages, as
well as in New York, LA, and
film festivals all over the world. www.michaelphillis.com
STEPHANIE PRENTICE* (Best of
PlayGround: Ophy’s Apothecary,
I’m Really Sorry About This, and
Digging Ditches in Fresno; Value
Over Replacement: Peggy, Congresswoman, etc.) is excited to
be returning to the PlayGround
Festival for her third straight
year! Other performing credits include: San
Francisco Playhouse, 42nd Street Moon, and
Shotgun Players. Stephanie is a proud Equity
member, a member of the voice faculty at Santa
Clara University, and also serves on the Artistic
Development Board at TheatreFIRST in Berkeley.
AMY RESNICK* (Abominable: Luck) New York
credits include Lincoln Center, ­Synchronicity Place, HERE,
Cherry Lane, Barrow Theatre,
and Westbeth Theatre. Regional
credits: Mark Taper Forum,
Berkeley Rep, Arena Stage and
many more. With world premieres by Aaron Sorkin, Stephen
Belber, Claire Chafee, Leigh Fondakowski, Carlos Lacamara, Moises Kaufman, Steve Yockey,
Wendy Macleod, Allison Moore, Geetha Reddy,
and Jon Jory.
NICAN JAMES ROBINSON (Best
of PlayGround: The River God,
Boys Beware, and I’m Really
Sorry About This; Abom­inable:
Fate) Recent credits include
performing as an ensemble
member in Artist Repertory
Theater’s Cuba Libre, where he
assisted choreographer Maija Garcia (Chi-Raq,
FELA!), and several appearances in Monday Night
PlayGround with PlayGround–SF. Robinson is currently rehearsing for several plays that premiere
in summer, 2016.
ALEX SHAFER* (Value Over
Replacement: Dan/Jack). Alex
is delighted to be working once
again with PlayGround. He has
performed throughout the Bay
Area for many years and was
most recently seen as Colonel
Thomas McKean in 1776 at ACT,
and in Shotgun Players’ Coast of Utopia Trilogy,
playing several roles.
JOMAR TAGATAC* (Value Over
Replacement: Chip) is excited
to be part of this festival.
Recent credits include Dogeaters, Every Five Minutes and
The Happy Ones (Magic Theater); Monstress (ACT); Life is
A Dream (CalShakes); and Rights
of Passage (New Conservatory Theater). He
has performed workshops with Magic Theatre,
Marin Theater Company, Playwrights Foundation, ­Aurora’s GAP, ACT, and Oregon Shakespeare
Festival. He received his MFA from American
­
Conservatory Theater.
STEVEN WESTDAHL (Abominable: The Abominable Snowman)
Locally: Un-Scripted Theater,
SF Shakespeare Festival, SF
Theatre Pub, Naked Empire
Bouffon Co., SF Neo-­
Futurists,
SF Olympians Festival, SF Fringe
Festival. He is an alumnus of
the PlayGround writers pool. His short play
Frankenstein’s Grandmother was produced and
published as part of the Best of PlayGround festival 2015.
DIRECTORS
CHLOE BRONZAN* (Abominable) is Artistic Director of Symmetry Theatre Company,
where she has staged Carnival Round the Central ­Figure, The Language Archive (KQED Top
10 Bay Area Theatre Productions of 2013), and
the Bay Area premiere of Lauren Gunderson’s
Emilie: La Marquise Du Chatalet Defends Her
Life Tonight (BATCC Nomination, Best Director). Other local directing credits include The
Importance of Being ­Earnest, Much Ado About
Nothing, and The Heiress. NYC credits include
The Lover at Flea Theater (Broadway World
nomination, Best Director). After Abominable,
her upcoming directing projects include As You
Like It at Petaluma Shakes and The Birds with
Symmetry. Chloe is a proud member of Actors’
Equity Association.
REENA DUTT (Best of PlayGround: Ophy’s Apothecary) is a member of Lincoln Center’s Directors
Lab (NYC). Dutt’s directing credits include working with: (LA) Theatre of NOTE, Sacred Fools
(winner of Fast & Loose fest 2010), The Blank,
2Cents, Fierce Backbone, The Vagrancy; (SF)
Piano-Fight Production; (NYC) Disha Theatre; and
Off-Chance Productions, a media collective she
co-founded). For film, she directed 3 Puffs Of
Gold (currently traveling the festival circuit) and
was a finalist for New Filmmakers Los Angeles:
On Location competition. She is also a graduate
of the Media Arts program at the University of
Arizona, Tucson, and the acting program at William Esper Studio, New York City.
Support PlayGround’s Capital Campaign as we move into Thick House
JIM KLEINMANN (Best of PlayGround: Digging
Ditches in Fresno and The Lunatics; Value Over
Replacement) co-founded PlayGround in 1994
and has served as Artistic Director since 1996.
For PlayGround, he has provided artistic and
administrative leadership for the past twentyone seasons, developing PlayGround’s unique
array of new playwright and new play incubator
programs, including Monday Night PlayGround,
the Best of PlayGround Festival, the full-length
play Commissioning Initiative, the New Play Production Fund, and most recently the PlayGround
Film Festival. During his tenure, he has directed
more than 100 short plays by some of the Bay
Area’s best new playwrights, including Lauren
Yee, Geetha Reddy, Aaron Loeb, Trevor Allen, and
Garret Jon Groenveld, among others, and has
commissioned and developed over 60 full-length
plays by these writers. He originally directed
and dramaturged Ruben Grijalva’s Value Over
Replacement for the 2014 PlayGround Festival.
Kleinmann is a veteran arts administrator with
more than twenty years of experience, including
stints leading Traveling Jewish Theatre, Smuin
Ballet and Berkeley Symphony. He is a graduate
of the Yale School of Drama.
JEFFREY LO (Best of PlayGround: The River
God) is a Filipino-American playwright and director based in the Bay Area, recipient of the Leigh
Weimers Emerging Artist Award, an Emerging
Artist Laureate from Arts Council Silicon Valley,
and TBA Director’s TITAN Award. His plays have
been produced and workshopped at The Bindle­
stiff Studio, City Lights Theatre, and Custom
Made. His play Writing Fragments Home was a
finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival and
semi-finalist for the O’Neill National Playwrights
Conference. Recent directing credits include
Pear Theatre, Palo Alto Players, Los Altos Stage,
Dragon Productions, and Renegade Theatre
Experiment. He has worked with Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Rep, and is a company
member of Ferocious Lotus and PlayGround. He
is Casting Associate and Company Manager at
TheatreWorks Silicon Valley.
KATJA RIVERA (Best of PlayGround: Boys
Beware) is an actor/director who originally hails
from Los Angeles, but now resides in Berkeley
She is an artistic associate with Shotgun Players and PlayGround-SF, and is a proud member
of AEA. Next up: Animal, (show #2 in Shotgun Player’s Champagne Reading Series), and
Real Women Have Curves at Douglas Morrison
Theatre.
TRACY WARD (Best of PlayGround: I’m Really
Sorry About This) is an award-winning freelance
director based in the Bay Area, focusing on New
Works for the American Theater. Upcoming: The
Thrush and the Woodpecker by Steve Yockey at
Custom Made in August. Recent work includes:
Arctic Requiem at Z Below, The Dragon Play
(two Top Ten lists in the Bay Area), and What
Every Girl Should Know at Impact Theatre. Other
productions include work at AlterTheatre, Shotgun Players/Encore Theater, ODC, and Z Space.
She is a proud company member of PlayGround.
www.tracyward.org
DESIGNERS
KATE BOYD (Lighting Designer) designs scenery and lighting in the Bay Area. She recently
designed sets for The Most Dangerous Highway in the World with Golden Thread. She
also designed lights for Bare Flag’s Demetrius
Unbound, sets for Aurora’s Mud Blue Sky and
Rapture, Blister, Burn as well as both sets and
lights for Golden Thread’s Isfahan Blues. She has
also worked with Merola Opera, SF Conservatory
of Music, Company C Ballet, Center Rep, Magic
Theatre, Marin Theater and for Theaterworks.
Kate is Chair of Performing Arts at Lick-WIlmerding High School and teaches stagecraft and
design. She was a recipient of the Gerbode
Design Fellowship.
JOCELYN LEISER HERNDON (Costume Designer)
is pleased to be returning for her third PlayGround Festival of New Works. Her 16-year
Bay Area career has taken her to San Francisco
Shakespeare Festival, 42nd Street Moon, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, The Aurora Theatre,
Marin Theatre Company, Marin Shakespeare
Company, Pacific Repertory Theatre, Encore
Theater, San Francisco Playhouse, Campo Santo,
The Joe Goode Dance Group, Shotgun Players,
Napa Valley Repertory Theatre, Shakespeare at
Stinson, Impact Theatre and Word For Word.
J­
ocelyn holds an MFA in Costume Design from
UCSD and has taught costume and fashion design
at the middle school, high school, and college
levels.
JOSH SENICK (Sound Designer) is completing his
sixth year designing for PlayGround. Originally
from Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Josh has a BA in
Music and Theater from Case Western Reserve
University and the Cleveland Institute of Music
and an MFA in Sound Design from the California
Institute of the Arts.
TING NA WANG (Properties Artisan, Best of
PlayGround, Value Over Replacement) Ting Na
is a freelance set designer, painter and props
designer who was born and raised in Taiwan. She
received her BA Art-Studio Practice degree from
San Jose State University in 2013. Some of her
favorite works include scenic design for Catch22 (LASC), Love’s Labour’s Lost (SVS); props
design for Into The Woods (PAP), Uncle Vanya
(PT), and Dead Man’s Cellphone (LASC). Outside
her life in the theater, she is an art teacher at
Drawn2Art Los Altos, and a collector/­reseller of
mid-­century modern designs.
Donate today: http://playground-sf.org/contribute
PRODUCTION STAFF
CASS BRAYTON (Publications Editor), is an
original member of the Sisters of Perpetual
Indulgence, San Francisco’s radical drag street
theatrical troupe. For the past decade, he has
edited annual anthologies of PlayGround’s best
plays. Two of his works, The Boy Who Did Not
Listen to His Mother and I’d Like to Buy a Vowel,
have been in Best of PlayGround festivals. Bodhisattva by Lagoon was published in 35 in 10:
Thirty-Five Ten-Minute Plays.
GARY CARR (Publicist) is a writer, publicist, and
owner of Rising Moon Marketing & Public Relations. He has worked with numerous Bay Area
theatre companies, musicians and other performing artists for the past 13 years. His book,
The Girl Who Founded Nebraska and Other Stories, was recently published by EXIT Press.
MELISSA KALLSTROM (Production Assistant/
Dresser, Best of PlayGround) started working at
the Seattle Rep. She enjoyed working in theatre
and decided to try for a career and moved to
San Francisco where she has worked freelance
at different­theatres around the bay. She went
on a domestic tour with Peterpan, then found
work in indie films such as Diary of a Teenage
Girl and When We Rise which will be broadcast
on ABC next season. She also works with ACT
and has very much enjoyed her past two seasons
with them.
MARCUS MAROTTO (Production Manager) is
pleased to join PlayGround for the fourth year
as Production Manager for the Best Of festival
and feature productions. Marcus has worked
throughout his life in theatre as a stage hand,
carpenter, stage manager, and producer throughout the bay, working at, among others, the Easily
Distracted Theatre, Opera San Jose, and the San
Francisco Lyric Opera.
LOUEL SEÑORES (Stage Manager: Best of PlayGround; Abominable) was actually just here at
the Thick House as part of the cast for The Most
Dangerous Highway in the World (Golden Thread
Productions) but now, after a two-year hiatus from
stage management (because #surgery ­#acting),
Louel is delighted to return to the booth for Best
of PlayGround 20 and Abominable.
LouelSenores.com
ANNIE STUART (Associate Artistic Director) has
served as casting director for PlayGround for the
past sixteen seasons and in 2005 was named the
company’s first Associate Director. As a freelance
casting director, her other credits include Marin
Theatre Company, Center REP, the Bay Area Playwrights Festival, the San Francisco Shakespeare
Festival, Los Angeles Shakespeare Festival,
Brava! for Women In The Arts, Theatre Rhinoceros, and Z Space Studio. For the camera, she
has cast Falcon Crest, An Inconvenient Woman,
Midnight Caller and The Two Mrs. Grenvilles.
Recently she has cast the short independent film
Applications for the 2016-17 PlayGround Writers Pool are being accepted,
now through July 31, 2016. http://playground-sf.org/submit/
2015-16 PlayGround Writers Pool and Resident Playwrights
Zara Benner, William Bivins+, Kathy Boussina, Erin Bregman+, Rachel Bublitz+, Madeleine Butler+,
Amy Claussen, Patricia Cotter+, Roberta D’Alois, Victoria Der+, Nancy Fishman, Jerome Joseph
Gentes, Ruben Grijalva+, Garret Groenveld+, Tanya Grove, Karen Hartline, Colin Johnson, Melissa
Keith, Sang Kim, Elliott Kopstein, Bonnie Kwong, Charley Lerrigo, Karen Macklin+, Katie May+,
Isaac Ontiveros+, Erin Panttaja, Evelyn Pine+, Madeline Puccioni, Jennifer Roberts, Amy Sass+,
Kirk Shimano+, Cleavon Smith+, Nic A. Sommerfeld, Cherie Song, Martha Soukup+, Aimee Suzara,
Steven Westdahl+, Josh Williams+, Davern Wright+, Zoe Young, Maury Zeff+, Lesli Zephyr,
Ignacio Zulueta+
+PlayGround Emerging Playwright Award winner
2015-16 PlayGround Company
Molly Aaronson-Gelb, Patrick Alparone*, Liz Anderson*, Rinabeth Apostol*, Michael Asberry*,
Michael Barrett Austin*, Bethanie Baeyen*, Mary Baird*, Julia Brothers*, Anna Bullard*, Lizzie
Calogero*, Ron Campbell*, Joy Carlin*, Nancy Carlin*, Desdemona Chiang, David Cramer*, Sally
Dana*, Will Dao, Anne Darragh*, Millie DeBenedet, Dodds Delzell*, Carolyn Doyle*, Rebecca J.
Ennals, Michael French, Douglas Giorgis*, Amy Glazer, Cindy Goldfield*, BW Gonzalez*, Margo
Hall*, Rosie Hallett, Eric Fraisher Hayes*, Jessica Heidt, Brian Herndon*, Christen Karle*, Danielle
Levin*, Jeffrey Lo, Gwen Loeb*, George Maguire*, Gabriel Marin*, Julia McNeal*, Sam Misner*,
Mina Morita, Lisa Morse*, Anthony Nemirovsky*, Molly Noble*, Soren Oliver*, Melissa Ortiz*, June
Palladino*, Carla Pantoja*, Louis Parnell*, Michael Phillis*, Rebecca Pingree, Stephanie Prentice*,
Virginia Reed, Cathleen Riddley*, Katja Rivera*, Adrian Roberts*, Stacy Ross*, Adam Roy, Lindsey
Marie Schmeltzer, Josh Senick, Brian Yates Sharber*, Robert Sicular*, M. Graham Smith, Ken
Sonkin*, Teddy Spencer*, Howard Swain*, Jomar Tagatac*, Danielle Thys*, Jon Tracy, Mark Rafael
Truitt*, Liam Vincent*, Maryssa Wanlass, Tracy Ward, Reggie D. White*, Anthony Williams, Aaron
Wilton*, Elena Wright*
*Member, Actors’ Equity Association
Value of Replacement by Ruben Grijalva. She
has taught at San Jose State University, USF, The
Bennett Theatre Lab, Center REP, the College of
Marin, Marin Theatre Company and for Theatre
Bay Area.
PRODUCING COMPANIES
MANIC PIXIE PRODUCTIONS (Producer: Abominable) premiered Katie May’s Manic Pixie Dream
Girl at the A.C.T. Costume Shop in 2013 and subsequently at the New York International Fringe
Festival. MPP has also developed Katie May’s animated short film, Rapunzel’s Etymology of Zero,
adapted from and based on May’s short play of
the same name, originally developed for the
Best of PlayGround.
PLAYGROUND, the Bay Area’s leading playwright
incubator, provides unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s best new playwrights,
including the monthly Monday Night PlayGround
staged reading series, PlayGround Festival of
New Works, Best of PlayGround, full-length
play commissions and support for the production of new plays by local playwrights through
the New Play Production Fund and, PlayGround’s
newest initiative, the PlayGround Film Festival.
To date, PlayGround has supported nearly 200
local playwrights in the development and staging of over 700 original short plays and 55 new
full-length plays, including more than a dozen
that have since premiered in the Bay Area.
PlayGround alumni have gone on to win local,
national and international honors for their short
and full-length work, including recognition at
the O’Neill National Playwrights Conference,
Humana Festival, Sundance Festival, Source
Festival, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Aurora
Theatre’s Global Age Project, Internationalists
Playwriting Prize, and New York International
Fringe Festival, among others. More information
at http://PlayGround-sf.org.
SYMMETRY THEATRE COMPANY’s (Co-Producer:
Abominable) mission is to create professionally
produced theatre that will excite, stimulate
and challenge our audiences. The plays we
choose will always have at least as many female
­characters as male, and in any given show there
will always be at least as many Equity contracts given to women as to men. In addition
we will produce plays that acknowledge that
women’s stories are as important as men’s and
in so doing we will hope to bring about further
awareness to the public and the theatre community at large of the need for more “balance
on the boards.”
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MONDAY NIGHT PLAYGROUND
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begins . . .
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Sept.–March,
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of PlayGround.”
–SF Chronicle
PLAYGROUND: We grow playwrights | 415.992.6677 | playground-sf.org
PLAYGROUND CONTRIBUTORS
PlayGround is deeply grateful for the generous contributions of the many individuals, foundations,
corporations, and government agencies whose support makes our work possible. This list reflects
gifts of $25 or more committed between May 1, 2015 and May 31, 2016.
GOVERNMENT, CORPORATE, AND FOUNDATION DONORS
Actors’ Equity Foundation • ADP • Alameda County Arts Commission • Amazon • Berkeley
Civic Arts • The Bernard Osher Foundation • Bill Graham Supporting Foundation of the Jewish
Community Federation and Endowment Fund • Blackrock • Creative Capacity Fund • Dramatists
Guild Fund • East Bay Community Foundation • Electronic Arts • Financial Avengers, Inc. • The
Fleishhacker Foundation • Google Inc. • Grants For The Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund •
Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust • IBM Corporation • Kenneth Rainin Foundation •
Lenore & Howard Klein Foundation • The Leo J. & Celia Carlin Fund • Negley Flinn Charitable
Foundation • Phillips 66 • San Francisco Arts Commission • The Shenson Foundation • The
Shubert Foundation • Stanford University • Sustainable World Coalition/ Planet Earth Arts •
Theatre Communications Group • The Tournesol Project • Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund •
The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation • Wells Fargo • WomenArts • Yahoo, Inc. • Zellerbach
Family Foundation
INDIVIDUAL SUPPORTERS
SEASON SPONSORS ($5000+)
Judy & Ruben Grijalva, Carole & Ted Krumland, Zandra Faye LeDuff, Fred M. Levin & Nancy
Livingston, Aaron Loeb & Kathy Roberts, Anonymous
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ($2500–$4,999)
Beverly Butler, John H. Gilman, Regina S. Guggenheim, Jill Matichak, Diane Sampson,
Anonymous (3)
PRODUCERS CIRCLE ($1000-$2499)
Adriana Clark, Kate & Anthony Clarvoe, Daniel E. Cohn & Lynn Brinton, Larry Davis, Lara Gilman
& Jim Kleinmann, Yumi Nam, Patrick J. & Kate O’Brien, Melissa Ortiz & Christian Haines,
Patrick Reilly, Bob & Sara Stevenson, Michael Tonjum & Jan Gilman, Maya Lis Tussing & Darren
Adkinson, Anonymous (3)
PLAYWRIGHTS CIRCLE ($500-$999)
William Bivins, Maurice Bolmer, Emilie T. & Gordon C. Brooks, Amy Claussen, John Ford,
Mitchell Gaynor, David Grijalva, Dana Harrison, Jofish Kaye, Paul & Pamela Kleinmann, Deborah
Santana, David Schneiderman, Russell Stanaland, Tom Swift, Lisa & James Taylor, Elizabeth
Werter & Henry Trevor, Harry Wong, Anonymous (2)
PATRON ($250-$499)
Wendy Bear, David Beery & Norman Abramson, Kathleen J. Burke & Ralph Davis, Ruben Grijalva,
Roxy Jones, Meghan Martin, Toni Martin & Michael Darby, Julie Pepper, Cindy & Chris Redburn,
Martha Richards, Marsha Roberts, Bruce & Diane Shimano, Jon and Susan Sweedler, Susannah
Wise & Scott Lebus, Maury Zeff, Meg Zweiback & Zack Wasserman
ASSOCIATE MEMBER ($125-$249)
Kathy Boussina, Cass Brayton, Joy Carlin, Susan & Jeff Dunn, Sharon Eberhardt & Perrin Meyer,
Steven Flannes, Douglas Giorgis, Carolyn Holm, Kurt & Dianne Kleinmann, Gwen Loeb & Doyle
Ott, George Maguire, Cecily T. Martin, Jane Martino, Michael Poplardo, Madeline Puccioni,
Dylan Russell, Kirk Shimano, Anna Shneiderman, Carol Solfanelli, Annie Stuart & June Palladino
SUPPORTING MEMBER ($75-$124)
Tim Bishop, Chris Boas, Adrian Bozzolo, Linda Brewer, Bruce Bronzan, Linda Bronzan, Sandra
Bryson, Stew Cantrell, Roberta D’Alois, Mavis P. Delacroix, Sharon Drake, Jessie Dykstra,
Jessica Forbess, Kelley Friend, James Gonzales, Michael Greenwald & Ronna Bach, Barbara
and Reijer Groenveld, Garret Jon Groenveld, Mark & Sheri Groenveld, Doris Hallanan, Jay
Hill, Carolyn Jones, Abbe S. Kalos, Lindsay Krumbein, Rebecca Kurland & Patrick Mason, Joe
Lamb, Brad Leong, Scott Ludwig, Karen Macklin, Rebecca Martinez, Colette Meunier & Mark
van Norman, Hilary Naylor, J.R. Palladino, Elizabeth Pallatto, Doug Peckler & Evelyn Jean
Pine, Virginia Reed, Ditka Reiner, Marci Rubin, Deborah Dashow Ruth, Elizabeth Salveson, Leslie
Schaar, Kerri Shawn & Scott Denison, Margaret Sheehan, Andrew Smith, Stand-Up Comedy,
Lisa Thomas, Harold W. & Evelyn M. Thorne, Jed & Alison Waldman, Paula Weinstock, Claire &
Robert Westdahl, Marilyn & David Zimmerman, Anonymous (3)
CONTRIBUTING MEMBER ($25-$74)
Bonnie Anderson, Mary Baird, John Boggs, Henry Bowles, Forest Bronzan, Randall Bublitz,
Madeleine Butler, Amelia E. Chenoweth, Ethan Close, David Cramer, Julie Crane, Julia R.
Crothers, Anne Darragh, Nathan Duncan, JoAnne Winter & Adrian Elfenbaum, Mr. & Mrs.
Raymond W. Farnsworth, Terri Feeley, Nancy Fishman, Michael French, Cindy Goldfield, Sam
Gordon, Lannie Gower, Sola Grantham & Stephen Gildea, Tanya Grove, Stephanie & David
Haines, Margo Hall, Richelle Jacobs, Joelle Gropper Kaufman, Randy & Sharon Kinkade, Eli
Kleinmann, Bonnie Kwong, Carol Lashof, John F. Levin & Paula Braveman, Dr. Gary W. London,
Jackie Luckett, Jonathan Luskin, Genevieve McCall, Laurie McCants, Marjorie Montgomery,
Christen Karle Muir, Genne Murphy, Sean Palsgaard, Mary Panttaja, Kristin Personett, Scott D.
Phillips, Jeanne Pimentel, Linda Ratner, Kirsti J. Reeve, Kim Richards, Katja Rivera, Jennifer
Roberts, Dennis Rose, Marcus C. Sarofim, Friend sassquatch6, Diane Shimano, Cleavon Smith,
Elizabeth Spreen, David Steele, David O. Stein, Friend toadsuckark, Dana Wagner, Claire
Westdahl, Arisa White, Elena Wright, Anonymous (4)
Become a PlayGround contributor, www.playground-sf.org
JUNE ANNE BAKER PRIZE
The June Anne Baker Prize was initiated by John H. Gilman in memory of
his late wife. The Prize is awarded annually to a female playwright selected
from among that year’s Emerging Playwright Award winners, representing a
gifted new comedic and/or political voice for the stage and includes a commission. The Prize provides a commissioning grant for a new full-length play
and support for readings and workshop productions of the new work. This
year’s June Anne Baker Prize has been awarded to Karen Macklin, author of
Ophy’s Apothecary, featured in this year’s festival.
June Anne Baker (1946-2000) was born and raised in Mankato, Minnesota to a playful
mother and a political father. She was a sensitive soul with a very big heart. June
had a love affair with words and dreamed of being a writer. She received her undergraduate degree in Sociology from Arizona State University, a Masters in Regional
and City Planning from the University of Oklahoma, and a law degree from Boalt
Hall at UC Berkeley.
June moved to San Francisco in 1970 and had an active city planning career with
the City of Concord and Marin County. June was an active feminist, and proud of
it. She was a founding member of Bay Area Women Planners. June loved life, and
politics, and fun. She was serious and reflective, and yet had an overabundance of
youthful enthusiasm. As a good friend once said, “If you don’t think feminists have
a sense of humor, you never met June Baker.”
June turned to writing in her 40s and found an inner life that she needed to
explore. While contemplating and struggling with thoughts of how she might manifest her writer self, she was diagnosed with salivary gland cancer. Her struggle
turned from expression to survival, yet she never lost her joie de vivre.
This award honors June’s great love for humor and politics and her commitment
to advancing opportunities for women. She would want this award to make easier the
struggle and more manifest the works of the emerging playwrights who receive it.
This year represents the 15th annual June Anne Baker Prize. On behalf of the
fifteen June Anne Baker Prize winners so recognized since 2002 and all of us at
PlayGround, we offer our deepest thanks to John H. Gilman and the family and
friends of June Anne Baker for making this annual prize possible and creating this
lasting legacy!
N
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A
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THE LAST TIGER
IN HAITI
946: THE AMAZING
STORY OF ADOLPHUS TIPS
HAND TO GOD
ROE
MONSOON WEDDING
AN OCTOROON
Katy Owen in Kneehigh’s 946: The Amazing Story of Adolphus Tips (photo by Steve Tanner)
7
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