Canary by Donald Wollner Creative

Playwright

Donald Wollner

Donald’s rampant immaturity has enabled him to continue writing plays at a time when most men his age are counting grandchildren and devising their relatively painless…well…exits. He is a two-time recipient of New York Council for the Arts grants—back when Rudy was still a mayor—and his plays have been published by the Dramatists Play Service and the Company Formerly Known as Samuel French. He especially cherishes the Perseverance Award he received from the Eugene O’Neill Center honoring “his 53 years of submissions resulting in bupkus.” He is a proud Alumni of the New Dramatists and he wishes to thank his wife Martha for her love and her steadfast refusal to be discouraging.

Director/Designer

Bree O'Connor

Bree is a co-founder and current Artistic Director of Playful Substance. She realizes that both she and Playful Substance owe an incredible debt of gratitude to the many artists, family and friends that have made room for her to create in one way or another for over 35 years. Notably, her husband, Tom O'Connor, who has supported her various artistic shenanigans without complaint or demand since 1993. Bree is grateful to Don, Dan, Yessenia, Jason, David and Cristina for making this production possible.

Playful Substance Administration

Bree O’Connor (Producing Artistic Director) See Above.

David Pleva (Associate Producer) After 25 years in administration at the Circle in the Square Theatre/School, David has been released to create art in the world. He has also worked in various capacities for Theatre Row, The Goodspeed Opera House, Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, Thomaston Opera House, and as a NYC stagehand. David joined Playful Substance’s production team for the inaugural Play Date in 2022. 2023-24 is David’s first full production season with Playful Substance.

Cristina Garcia Leon (Associate Producer) wears many hats. She is an attorney specializing in Criminal Law, an actor, a writer and now...a producer! Cristina has been a regular playwright contributor to Playful Substance programming including excerpted new works for Pithy Party and a monologue for 2019’s charitable partnership production of Still We Grow, an original immersive piece that raised $1600 in one night for LifeWay Network, an organization providing safe housing for survivors of human trafficking. Cristina was the creative force behind Still We Grow as well as Playful Substance’s new community event series, Play Date, which invites audiences to watch the gears turning on the creative process as artists tackle challenges devised by Cristina and her team. Cristina received her acting training at Maggie Flanigan Studio and her legal training at the Syracuse University College of Law. Cristina is a member of the 2014 LABrynth Intensive Ensemble.