PlayGround Announces 2025-26 Producing Fellows: 4 Next-Gen Theatre Leaders!
PlayGround has announced the 2025-26 Producing Fellows, a vibrant and diverse class of four next-gen theatre leaders drawn from across the country and who will work with PlayGround’s artistic staff and national producing teams over the next year in the SF Bay Area, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. Fellows gain hands-on experience in the fields of literary management, casting, fundraising, grant writing, theatre management, human resources, contracts, marketing, and communications, with all fellows getting the opportunity to work in each department.
Juliana Morgado Brito (NY), she/her, is a NYC-based director/producer/designer, recently graduated from Brown University; Devin A. Cunningham (SF) a multi-hyphenate theatrical storyteller from Oakland, CA and currently serves as the Co-Associate Artistic Director at the African-American Shakespeare Company; Jordan Maria Don (LA), she/her, an actor, director and producer who splits her time between Los Angeles and the Bay Area; and Donnalesly Fondjo (Chicago), she/her, is an actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, and educator, recently graduated from Ithaca College (BFA Acting, minor in African Diaspora Studies).
This cohort of up-and-coming producer-artists was curated to reflect the diverse artistic community that PlayGround serves, with a focus on parity and diversity of gender-identity and ethnicity. Together these four fellows will work part-time with PlayGround under the leadership of Jim Kleinmann (Artistic Director), Lana Richards (Director of Development), Jonathan Josephson (Director of Marketing and Communications), and the full artistic staff to learn and develop their skill set in the process of theatre production, from inception to execution. As part of the company’s ongoing commitment to equity, PlayGround has established a base compensation level of $20 per hour and is continually looking at how to increase support for artists and artist-administrators.
The Producing Fellowship program was launched during the 2019-20 season, just two weeks before California shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. PlayGround maintained its commitment to the new staff members, shifting the entire program online and extending the initial term through July 2021 to help the Fellows weather the challenging economic climate. The inaugural Fellowship class included: Donny Goglio, Edna Mira Raia, Lana Richards, and Chris Steele. Other fellows have included: Zoe Chien, Emily Zhou, Xinyuan Pu, Christy Spence, River Bermudez Sanders, Julie Lippert-Pasco, Carmia Imani, Darius Adamson Jr., Bacilio Mendez II, Savannah Greene, Justin P. Lopez, Emlyn Doolittle, and Caroline Portante.
The 2025-26 Producing Fellows
Juliana Morgado Brito (New York), she/her, is a NYC-based director/producer/designer, originally from Teresópolis, Brazil. Juliana is a recent graduate from Brown University, and she’s currently pursuing an MFA in Performing Arts Management at Brooklyn College. Her performance background, combined with hands-on experience in production management, visual storytelling, and language, informs her creative interests and pursuits as a theater artist. She explores theater as a universal language, and her work reflects her fascination with the act of retelling and rediscovering identity. Her recent credits include The Ghost of Bob Dylan (Soho Playhouse Lighthouse Series 2025), The Moors (Uptown One Theatre Co.), The Children’s Hour (True North Theatre Co.), A Christmas Carol, Birthday Candles, Newsies (Penobscot Theatre Company), Centuries (Ancram Center for the Arts), Jesus Christ Superstar, Little Shop of Horrors, Rent, The Rocky Horror Show, Cheesy Love Songs, Psychopsychotic, [sic], Ghostly Little Play, Stupid F*cking Bird, Company, Hair, Pippin, Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 (Brown University). @julesmorgado, julianamorgadobrito.com
Jordan Maria Don (Los Angeles), she/her, is an actor, director and producer who splits her time between Los Angeles and the Bay Area. Some of her favorite acting credits include Clara Couture in Edit Annie at Crowded Fire, Angel in Translating Selena with Campo Santo and Lucia in Fade at Capital Stage. Jordan is a co-founder of the Bay Area based theater collective, Latinx Mafia and the LA based actors collective, Double Take. She holds a B.A. in Theater and Sociology from UC Berkeley and has trained with ACT, Kimball NYC Studio and L.A. Acting Studio. With a particular interest in new works, she is drawn to collaborative and ensemble centered processes grounded in ritual, ceremony and community. She is currently working on her first full length play and producing her first short film. Jordan is a proud Xicana born and raised in Los Angeles. All her work is dedicated to her first inspiration to pursue theatre, her first inspiration to live fully, loudly and clumsily: her late brother, Christopher Paul Don. @jaayyddee, www.jordanmariadon.com
Devin A. Cunningham (San Francisco) a multi-hyphenate theatrical storyteller from Oakland, CA. Selected acting credits include: The Magnolia Ballet (Shotgun Players); Fat Ham (SF Playhouse); and A Whynot Christmas Carol (American Conservatory Theater). Cunningham currently serves as the Co-Associate Artistic Director at the African-American Shakespeare Company where he directed and produced From One to Another: Homage to the Legacy of Maya Angelou. Devin studied at PCPA Pacific Conservatory Theatre. Through the performing arts, Cunningham strives to create theatrical experiences that uplift Black narratives that reflect the African Diasporic experience. Cunningham crafts theatre and narratives that enriches community while forging spirit.
Donnalesly Fondjo (Chicago), she/her, is a Cameroonian-American actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, and educator, raised in the suburbs of Chicago. A recent graduate of Ithaca College with a BFA in Acting and a minor in African Diaspora Studies, she is passionate about using theatre to bring joy, hope, security, and education to others. She believes storytelling is a powerful tool for transformation, especially for those who feel underrepresented, and is committed to creating work that uplifts and inspires. She is currently developing new works that explore West African narratives and the immigrant experience. She also has a strong inclination to work with and inspire children, both through performance and arts education. Recent performance credits include Dynamite in Hairspray, Norma in Carrie the Musical, and Mersister/Princess/Dance Captain in The Little Mermaid (Festival 56, IL), as well as Rose in Fever/Dream (Hangar Theatre, NY) and Lucrece in The Liar (Kitchen Theatre, NY). Her most recent choreographic credit is The Prom at Ithaca High School. @donnaleslyy, donnafondjo.com
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 and with initial sponsorship from SFSU’s Creative Writing Program. Early participating artists included Prince Gomolvilas, Garret Jon Groenveld, Daniele Nathanson, Sandra Rodgers, 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 pandemic of 2020 and has also presented at the San Francisco Main Library, Freight & Salvage, Zeum, ACT’s Costume Shop, and Thick House, as well as co-producing with such notable Bay Area theatres as SF Playhouse, Shotgun Players, Impact Theatre, San Jose Stage, and Magic Theatre, among others. PlayGround first brought its work to NYC 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 30 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.
Over 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 theater 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, BATCC’s Paine Knickerbocker Award for ongoing contributions to Bay Area theater, 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 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 theater 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.