Lisa Rudin

Lisa is the Founder/Executive Director of Theatre Playground. She has extensive experience as an actor, director, choreographer, and teaching artist both in NY and Los Angeles. She is thrilled to work with these talented kids again after having a blast with them directing "The Day the Internet Died" last year.

Carrie Heffernan

Carrie is so excited to be back with the Theatre Playground after a successful show of "The Day The Internet Died" last year. Favorite most recent acting roles include: Bus Driver ("Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" at Long Island Children's Museum Theatre) and Winifred Sanderson (Pixie Dust Entertainment). She would like to thank Lisa for this opportunity and Jim, Austin and LICM for all their help in making this another successful production!

Jim Packard

Maddie Burfitt

Amelie Burfitt

Austin Costello

Rachel Bublitz

Rachel Bublitz is an award-winning and internationally produced playwright known for telling stories about women and creating exciting new work for young performers. She is currently the resident playwright of the Egyptian YouTheatre in Park City, Utah. Her plays include: Ripped (produced by Z Space and Good Company Theatre), The Night Witches (commissioned and produced by Egyptian YouTheatre), Presenting: Super Cat & Reptile Robot in the Tremendous Tickle Trouble (commissioned and produced by Plan-B Theatre Company), and The Summer I Howled (commissioned and developed with Egyptian YouTheatre). Awards include: Will Glickman Award for Best Bay Area Premiere (Ripped), Shubert Fendrich Memorial Playwriting Contest (Cheerleaders VS. Aliens), and PlayGround’s June Anne Baker Prize (Reading Babar in 2070). In addition to her work with Stage Partners, she’s published with Dramatic Publishing (The Night Witches), Playscripts (Ghost House and Operation Chicken Takeover), Pioneer Drama Service (Cheerleaders VS. Aliens), YouthPLAYS (The Elves, and No Talking Allowed!), and others. She is a member of the Dramatists Guild of America and has an MFA from San Francisco State University. When she isn’t writing, she’s watching her kids dominate at water polo.

Elissa C. Huang

Elissa C. Huang's plays include Mirror, Baby Yoga, Pranksy (Stage Partners), and Bruce & Lee (Playscripts, Inc.) She also writes with a partner under a joint pseudonym, e.b. lee, whose plays include 8 Minutes Left (Stage Partners) and Arctic Circle (Playscripts, Inc.). Her fiction has appeared in Passages North, Sycamore Review, The Masters Review, and Iron Horse Literary Review, among others.

Patrick Greene

Patrick Greene is the author of I Quit, Masterclasses, Instructions for Hugs (Stage Partners), and Brief Interviews with Internet Cats (Playscripts). He is the co-author of Rogues' Gallery (Stage Partners), The Alibis, A Simpler Time, Scared Silly, Around the World in 8 Plays, The Very UnMerry Adventures of Robin Hood, The Edgar Allan Poe Afterlife Radio Show, (Playscripts) as well as the musical Our Christmas Carol. (Broadway Licensing). He lives in New York City.

Jason Pizzarello

Jason Pizzarello ​is a playwright and Co-founder of Stage Partners with director/writer Morgan Gould. His plays have produced/developed with Veterans Repertory Theater, Everyday Inferno Theatre Company, Blue Rider/Classic Stage Company, 3-Legged Dog, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, Irondale Ensemble, HERE Arts Center, Clubbed Thumb, and Source Festival (DC), and many others. Over forty of his plays for young actors are published and have been produced in all 50 states and over 20 countries. When he’s not writing, he proudly serves as a logistics officer with the New York Army National Guard but reports directly to his two young daughters in Connecticut. For more info visit www.jasonpizzarello.com.

Carrie McCrossen

Carrie McCrossen is a writer/actor/comedian whose plays have been produced all over the US and abroad. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker’s Daily Shouts and on FunnyorDie. She’s a veteran of the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre in NY where she wrote and produced several shows including her solo show which ran in 2016. With her husband, playwright Ian McWethy, Carrie has published two YA novels: Margot Mertz Will Clean Your Filth, (2021 Viking/Penguin Random House) and Margot Mertz For the Win (2022). Carrie and Ian have also written three features for Lifetime Television. Carrie’s other credits include For Maya, co-written with Kassia Miller, (official selection HollyShorts, Nitehawk, High Falls and Brooklyn Comedy Festivals, Vimeo staff pick.) Her pilot script Subscribe Now was a 2016 Nantucket Film Fest finalist and WGA Made in NY fellowship finalist. Her pilot Co-op, was the winner of the 2019 Cinestory Original Comedy division. As an actor she has appeared onstage (The Pearl, Joe’s Pub, Ars Nova,) on TV (HBO, TruTv, Disney XD,) and in various videos that probably appeared in your Facebook feed.

Kathryn Funkhouser

Kathryn Funkhouser is a writer whose plays have been produced throughout the U.S. and internationally. In addition to her plays with Stage Partners, published plays include Careless People: A Great Gatsby, Double Double, Unbreakable Timmy Cratchit (with Tyler Dwiggins), Do You Read Me?, Weekend Warriors, and Badger Poison. She wrote the libretto and lyrics for the musical Imagine a Dragon (Beat by Beat Press). Her articles and essays have appeared in publications such as The Toast, McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The Atlantic, and The Nation. BA Drew University. Member of the Dramatists Guild, Athena Writes (2018) and Project Y Theater Writer’s Group (2018-2019). She lives in Brooklyn with a lot of original cast albums. For links and more, visit kathrynfunkhouser.com.

Ian McWethy

Over fifty of Ian's plays have been published and have been performed in all fifty states as well as fifty countries abroad. He’s also co-written two novels with Carrie McCrossen, Margot Mertz Takes It Down and Margot Mertz For The Win, published by Penguin Randomhouse. He’s happily married to that same Carrie McCrossen, where they live in Los Angeles with their two kiddos. Mr. McWethy is represented by Alex Platis of Untitled Management, Noah Ballard of Verve, and Jay Patel of PeikoffMahan.