“A Very Hitchcock Christmas” Free Twisted Holiday Plays in SF (Dec. 6-7)

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PlayGround presents its fourth annual “twisted” holiday show:

A VERY HITCHCOCK CHRISTMAS,
BACK FOR THE FOURTH TWISTED YEAR!

Featuring five cinnamon-spiced, deliciously dark short plays inspired by
Psycho, Dial M for Murder, Shadow of a Doubt, Strangers on a Train, and The Birds
Dec 6-7 at 7:00 p.m. PST.
LIVE AT POTRERO STAGE AND SIMULCAST

Admission-Free (Suggested Donation: $10-$30) RESERVE TICKETS HERE
2024 Production Photos Here

(FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE) San Francisco, CA – What happens when RALPHIE Parker and Ethan GRINCH meet on an Amtrak and devise a plan to help each other achieve their biggest holiday desires? Or, how can we bear with the fact that Santa was found dead in a couple’s apartment; but was St. Nick’s untimely death a result of self-defense…or murder?? Enjoy these outrageous Hitchcockian spoofs, and many more, for one weekend only at A VERY HITCHCOCK CHRISTMAS, PlayGround’s fourth annual “twisted” holiday” show, inspired by the iconic films of Alfred Hitchcock. Made up of five short plays, the complete performance will take place live in-person at Potrero Stage in San Francisco and be simulcast nationally on Vimeo Live: December Dec 6-7 at 7:00 p.m. PST. Admission free (suggested donation $10-30). Make Reservations HERE.

“We’re thrilled to bring the fourth edition of our wildly popular Holiday tradition to Potrero Stage,” says Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann who oversees PlayGround in the SF-Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. “This year’s event features three world premieres and two fan favorites from previous seasons, all written by Best of PlayGround alumni. Our extensive, diverse network of playwrights has come through with some witty, suspenseful, bizarre, tremendously fun holiday faire, a testament to their talent and ability to rise to every opportunity we can provide.”

A VERY HITCHCOCK CHRISTMAS was created from submission by playwright alumni in each of PlayGround’s four regions (SF, LA, NYC, and Chicago). Over the last three years, A VERY HITCHCOCK CHRISTMAS reached nearly 2,500 audience members, in person and online. The 2025 production includes two audience favorites from previous years, The Birds is Coming by Jonathan Josephson from 2024 and How the Bates (Almost) Stole Christmas by J.S. Puller from 2023; and three world premiere short plays: Dial M for Merry by Christian Wilburn, Fool Proof by Kimberly Ridgeway, and Shadow of an Uncle Nick by Mark Sherstinsky. The plays are in conversation with the Hitchcock films The Birds, Psycho, Dial M for Murder, Strangers on a Train, and Shadow of a Doubt.

Advance reservations are required: visit playground-sf.org/hitchcockchristmas for details.

Admission is free but donations are gratefully accepted. Masks are optional for in-person attendance.

ABOUT THE PLAYS

The Birds is Coming by Jonathan Josephson (Premiered in 2024), a “prequel” to The Birds.
Directed by Ely Sonny Orquiza; featuring L Duarte, Danielle Thys, and Isabel To
‘Tis the holiday season and Sparrow, Crow, and Seagull have gathered for their annual gift exchange. Some of the gifts are nice, and some set the stage for bloody revenge. Based on The Birds.

Fifty of Jonathan Josephson’s plays have been produced around the world including Actors Theatre of Louisville (Humana Festival), Milwaukee Rep (RepLab), Samuel French OOB (Festival Winner), Chance Theater, and Mountain View Mausoleum. His work has been included in several Smith and Kraus Best Of collections, The Great Plains Theatre Conference, Best of PlayGround-LA, and has also been named a Finalist for the O’Neill. Twenty-four of his plays are published by Concord Theatricals, Broadway Licensing, and others. He’s also a co-founder of the award-winning Unbound Productions (Wicked Lit, History Lit, Mystery Lit). B.A. Theatre: Playwriting, UCSD. DG, ALAP. [jonathanjosephson.com]


Dial M for Merry by Christian Wilburn (World Premiere)
Directed by Lana Richards; featuring Emily Keyishian, Khary Moye, and Tessa Koning Martinez
Santa Claus is found dead in a couple’s apartment. Was it self defense…or murder? Based on Dial M for Murder.

Christian Wilburn is a biracial writer and educator, who’s spent his life in San Francisco. Christian creates stories that are simultaneously diverse, fantastical, and radically empathetic. His short plays have been featured in festivals around the country. Christian is also a five-time Monday Night Playground People’s Choice Award winner and winner of the inaugural Best of Playground People’s Choice Award. His full-length play, Starlight, received a developmental production at the 2023 Playground New Works Festival. His play Love_Stories received a world premiere as a part of the Santa Clara University mainstage season in 2019.


Fool Proof by Kimberly Ridgeway (World Premiere), Inspired by Strangers on a Train
Directed by Karina Gutierrez; featuring James Aaron Oh, Wayne Wong, and Mark Rafael Truitt
Ralphie Parker and Ethan Grinch have a chance meeting on an Amtrak and devise a plan to help each other achieve their biggest holiday desire. But will this fool proof plan go as expected? Based on Strangers on a Train.

Kimberly Ridgeway is an award-winning Playwright, Actor, and Director. Kimberly is a PlayGround-SF company member, is in the Actor’s Pool, Director’s Pool and this is her third year in the Writer’s Pool. Kimberly is a Brady Fellow Recipient, a Theatre Bay Area (TBA) Art Leadership Residency Grantee and the Artistic Associate at Altarena Playhouse. Kimberly is also the recipient of the 2024 June Anne Baker Prize. Her play Snowbound: A Holiday Tale, which she co-wrote with Writer’s Pool member Richard Perez, will have its World Premiere in December 2025 at Town Hall Theatre.

How the Bates (Almost) Stole Christmas by J.S. Puller (Premiered in 2023)
Directed by Peter J. Kuo; featuring Michael Asberry, Chris Steele, and April Ballesteros

All the people down in Fairvale liked Christmas a lot. But Norma Bates, town pariah, really did not. Based on Psycho.

J. S. Puller is a playwright and author from the Windy City, Chicago. She has a master’s degree in elementary education and a bachelor’s degree in theatre from Northwestern University. She is an award-winning member of the American Alliance for Theatre and Education and has written about the social-emotional benefits of arts education with the University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. When not writing, she can usually be found in the theatre. She is the author of two novels, Captain Superlative and The Lost Things Club, both published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers. She also has several published plays, including: Women Who Weave (Playscripts, Inc.), Perseus And Medusa – It’s All Greek To Me! (Lazybee Scripts), and The Death Of Robin Hood (Stage Rights).


Shadow of an Uncle Nick by Mark Sherstinsky (World Premiere)
Directed by Jim Kleinmann; featuring GG Grilli, Zoe Chien, and Rolanda D Bell
Uncle Nick pays Mary a visit for Christmas, bearing some sinister gifts. Based on Shadow of a Doubt.

Mark Sherstinsky is a Los Angeles-based playwright who most recently completed his full-length play The Mission (PlayGround-LA People’s Choice commission). His latest staged plays include The Sound of Invasion (Towne Street Theatre, Los Angeles); The Things We Do for Love (Strange Rx, San Francisco); and The Valley (Pittsburgh New Works Festival). Mark’s radio play No Tree aired on Shoestring Radio Theatre (KXSF, San Francisco) and his short play Silver Linings was published in RipRap Journal.

SIMULCAST

Make your free reservation HERE! Links for online viewing will be sent with your confirmation email and can also be accessed through your PlayGround account. Members can view the production until December 31!

LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO
Reserve HERE for free in-person tickets! Live performances take place December 7-8.

If you have any questions, please contact the Box Office at boxoffice@PlayGround-sf.org

About PlayGround

PlayGround was founded in 1994 by Jim Kleinmann, Brighde Mullins, and Denise Shama, beginning as a professional-academic partnership in residence at San Francisco State University (SFSU) and with initial sponsorship from SFSU’s Creative Writing Program. Early participating artists included Prince Gomolvilas, Garret Jon Groenveld, Daniele Nathanson, Sandra Hunter, Colman Domingo, Kent Nicholson, Antigone Trimis, Mary Coleman, and Rhonnie Washington. The fledgling organization moved to Project Artaud and A Traveling Jewish Theatre’s new 80-seat black box theatre in 1996, at which time Kleinmann took on sole leadership as PlayGround’s founding artistic director.

The company was in residence at Berkeley Repertory Theatre from 2003 until the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and has also presented at the David Brower Center, the San Francisco Main Library, Freight & Salvage, Zeum, A.C.T.’s Costume Shop, and Thick House, as well as co-producing with such notable Bay Area theatres as San Francisco Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Impact Theatre, San Jose Stage, and Magic Theatre, among others. PlayGround first brought its work to New York City with the 2008 co-production of Garret Jon Groenveld’s Missives, followed by the 2009 NY International Fringe Festival hit co-production of Aaron Loeb’s Abraham Lincoln’s Big Gay Dance Party, 2013 NY International Fringe Festival co-production of Katie May’s Manic Pixie Dream Girl. PlayGround celebrated its 25th anniversary with a one-night program of original short musicals at NYC’s Theatre Row in 2019.

PlayGround’s first ongoing regional expansion came in 2012 with the launch of PlayGround-LA at West Hollywood’s Zephyr Theatre. In 2018, PlayGround-LA relocated to Hollywood’s Broadwater Theaters (home of Sacred Fools Theater Company), where the company continues to present its Monday Night series. PlayGround expanded to NYC in 2021 and Chicago in 2022, with in-person performances (and simulcasts) beginning in the Spring of 2023, at NYC’s Producers Club and Chicago’s Theater Wit, respectively. 

Over its 32 year history, PlayGround has grown into a leading national playwright incubator and theatre community hub, providing unique development opportunities for the Bay Area’s and, more recently, Los Angeles’, New York’s, and Chicago’s best new playwrights through innovative programs such as the monthly Monday Night PlayGround staged reading series, annual PlayGround Festival of New Works, full-length play commissions, playwright residencies and production support through the New Play Production Fund.

To date, PlayGround has developed and staged more than 1,500 original short plays through Monday Night PlayGround and the PlayGround Festival. PlayGround has also commissioned and/or developed several hundred new full-length plays by PlayGround alumni through its Commissioning Initiative, Playwrights Residency and Alumni Programs and, through the innovative New Play Production Fund, has directly facilitated the premiere of 40 full-length plays at theatres of every size, including many that have gone on to NYC and other major theater communities across the country. 

In 2017, PlayGround launched Potrero Stage: PlayGround Center for New Plays, a 99-seat state-of-the-art performance venue to serve as a shared community resource for dozens of local companies and hundreds of artists. New programs in residence at Potrero Stage like the Free-Play Festival, Solo Performance Festival, and Innovator Incubator provide opportunities for local and national artists to self-determine and showcase their work in San Francisco at little to no cost. 

More than 350 early-career playwrights have gotten their start at PlayGround, including Lauren Yee, Jonathan Spector, Geetha Reddy, and Cleavon Smith, helping to expand and deepen the canon of American 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 Steinberg Awards, Glickman Awards, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, and New York International Fringe Festival, among others. PlayGround serves one of the largest theatre artist networks in the nation, connecting hundreds of Bay Area, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York artists in support of a common vision: the development of bold and diverse new voices and new works. 

This work has not gone unnoticed. PlayGround has received numerous awards, including Playwrights Foundation’s Inaugural New Play Champion Award, San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle’s Paine Knickerbocker Award for ongoing contributions to Bay Area theatre, and American Theater Wing’s National Theater Grant. In 2016, Artistic Director Jim Kleinmann was recognized by Theatre Bay Area as one of the Bay Area’s top 40 leaders. Three of PlayGround’s commissioned plays have won the San Francisco Bay Area Critics Circle award for Best New Play, and three have had subsequent productions in NYC. Four of the past five Will Glickman Award winners for best new play are PlayGround alumni. When other theatre companies think of producing new work, PlayGround artists are often their first call. As a result of PlayGround’s strong leadership, planning, and a willingness to take bold risks with high payoff, the new play ecosystem has been utterly transformed by PlayGround.

For more information, visit https://playground-sf.org.

Disclaimer: Please double check event information with the event organizer as events can be canceled, details can change after they are added to our calendar, and errors do occur.