PlayGround-LA Gala: September 14 at Playwrights Horizons

Join us for the ONE PLAYGROUND GALA (2026)
Celebrating the June Anne Baker Prize 25th Anniversary
September 14, 2026, 8pm-10pm ET
416 West 42nd St, New York, NY 10036
Tickets: $150 or review Host levels

PlayGround will honor four theatre luminaries at our annual four-city gala on Monday, September 14th. In conjunction with the 25th anniversary of PlayGround’s June Anne Baker Prize, one of the nation’s longest-running play commissions dedicated to the next generation of promising women/non-binary playwrights, PlayGround will recognize significant theatre artists and producers who have elevated womxn playwrights and stories throughout their careers: Margo Hall, Lorraine Hansbury Theatre (San Francisco), Jessica Kubzansky, Boston Court Pasadena (Los Angeles), Emily Shooltz, Signature Theatre (New York), and Ericka Ratcliff, Chicago Shakespeare Theater (Chicago). The 2026 June Anne Baker Prize winners are Esther Banegas Gatica (PlayGround-Los Angeles), KT Frances Hartline (PlayGround-SF), Uma Incrocci (PlayGround-NY), and Toby Inoue (PlayGround-CH). The Gala honorary committee includes June Anne Baker Prize alumni Lauren Yee and Geetha Reddy (honorary co-chairs), as well as Rachel Bublitz, Patricia Cotter, Laura Domingo, Brady Lea, Alanna McFall, Erin Marie Panttaja, Evelyn Jean Pine, Bridgette Dutta Portman, and Kimberly Ridgeway.

MEET THE PLAYGROUND HERO GALA CO-CHAIRS AND HONOREES

Geetha Reddy (Co-Chair) is a playwright and filmmaker. Her plays include The Employee Dharma Handbook (TheaterWorks Silicon Valley), Mahābhārata (Oakland Theatre Project) Far, Far Better Things (Shotgun Players/ TheatreFirst), Hela (with Lauren Gunderson, TheatreFirst), Safe House (SF Playhouse), Blastosphere (with Aaron Loeb, CentralWorks). Geetha’s plays Me Given You, Girl in a Box, and On a Wonderverse  were part of the Playwright’s Foundation’s ‘In the Rough’ reading series. Safe House and On a Wonderverse were featured in the Bay Area Playwrights Festival. She has been commissioned by TheatreWorks, SFPlayhouse,  Oakland Theatre Project, Shotgun Players, Crowded Fire, the Gerbode Foundation, and PlayGround (3). Her plays have also appeared in the San Francisco Fringe Festival, the Santa Rosa Quickies festival, the Best of PlayGround Festival, the Just Theatre Lab series, the Crowded Fire Matchbox series, and the Theatreworks New Works Festival. Her short film Obit appeared at LA Shorts, NY Indie Fest, Bend Film Festival, the GI Film Festival and many others. Geetha is a member of the Dramatist’s Guild and alumna Resident Playwright at the Playwright’s Foundation.

Lauren Yee (Co-Chair) is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter based in New York. Recent plays include Cambodian Rock Band (South Coast Rep, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Signature Theatre), The Great Leap (Denver Center, Seattle Rep, the Atlantic, Steppenwolf, ACT), King of the Yees (Goodman Theatre, Center Theatre Group), and Mother Russia (Seattle Rep, Signature Theatre). Honors include the Doris Duke Artist Award, Whiting Award, Steinberg/ATCA Award, Horton Foote Prize, and Kesselring Prize. TV:  “Pachinko” (Apple), “Soundtrack” (Netflix), “Interior Chinatown” (Hulu), “Billions” (Showtime), “Clipped” (FX). She’s previously developed pilots for Netflix and Apple, and is currently developing TV and feature projects for Netflix and Universal. BA: Yale, MFA: UCSD. laurenyee.com

Emily Shooltz (New York Honoree) is the Artistic Director of Signature Theatre in New York City. She has two decades of experience identifying, cultivating and mentoring artists and arts administrators. She spent 14 years as the Associate Artistic Director at Ars Nova, where she worked to grow the non-profit from a fledgling development and producing organization to New York City’s premier hub for emerging artists in live entertainment. In her years with the organization, she was integral to the commissioning, development and production of critically-acclaimed and award-winning shows including the Broadway musical KPOP, Dave Malloy’s Tony Award-winning Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812; Heather Christian’s multiple-award winning Oratorio for Living Things; Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard’s Obie Award-winning Underground Railroad Game; Bess Wohl’s nationally acclaimed Small Mouth Sounds; César Alvarez and the Lisps’ Lortel Award-winning FUTURITY and new work with music-theater stars The Bengsons, Sky-Pony and Andrew Butler, among many others. She also co-created and oversaw Ars Nova’s slate of artist development programs, where she worked with hundreds of emerging theater, music and comedy artists each year. Emerging playwrights and projects she fostered in Ars Nova’s Play Group and resident artist programs have gone on to win every major theater award, including Tonys, Pulitzer Prizes, Obies, MacArthur Genius Awards, Whiting Awards, Drama Desk, Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Prior to Ars Nova, she served as the Literary Manager at Manhattan Theatre Club, where she oversaw the new play commissioning program and facilitated season planning for their Broadway and Off Broadway theaters. She has held staff and freelance dramaturgy positions at the Wilma Theater; Centerstage, Baltimore; Yale Repertory Theatre and the O’Neill Theater Center; has guest lectured at schools including NYU, Williams, Columbia, Yale, Montclair State University and The New School, and served on the selection committees for the Kesselring Prize and Princess Grace Award. She also consults on theater & television projects, live events and philanthropic work and has served as an adjunct faculty member at Montclair State University. Emily holds an MFA in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from the Yale School of Drama. Her work with emerging artists and writers has been profiled by Playbill Online and The Interval.

MEET THE NEW YORK JUNE ANNE BAKER AWARD WINNER

Uma Incrocci (PlayGround-NY), she/her, has been a member of the PlayGround Writers Pool since 2018. Her play To Keep and Bear had a workshop at the New Ground Theater Festival at the Cleveland Playhouse in June 2024. Her short plays have been performed around the country and in Adelaide, Australia. You can catch her TV movies Romance with a Twist, Nature of Love, Hats off to Love and A Christmas Carousel on the Hallmark Channel. Her short play, Marathon Dan, was featured in Best of PlayGround(NY) ‘26.