Gruesome Playground Injuries
Written by Rajiv Joseph
Whitney Ann Jenkins
Director
Whitney Ann Jenkins is a multi-passionate creative whose work explores the intersection of creativity, psychology, intimacy, and authentic human expression. As a director, actress, singer-songwriter, writer, and researcher, she has performed in over 100 theatre and film productions and recently received a Best Actress award for her role in the film Epilogue.
Favorite acting roles include Maggie the Cat in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Billie Dawn in Born Yesterday, and Babe in Crimes of the Heart. Favorite directing projects include Italian American Reconciliation by John Patrick Shanley. She is also the host of the podcast Unconditioning.
Whitney Ann earned her PhD in Psychology researching blurred boundaries in intimate performance and post-performance integration for artists. Her original frameworks include the Erotic-Creative Compass, Wild Inner Child, and Afterwords, a methodology centered on supporting artists through the afterlife of performance.
Amanda Beck
Kayleen
Amanda is a Los Angeles-based actress, writer, and mental health advocate who began as a dancer before falling in love with acting — landing her first lead role on stage at ten years old and never looking back. She is drawn to women who fight courageously against circumstance, conformity, or fear — who love fiercely and hold with the darkness an ever-present light and strength in their femininity.
Her credits include lead and supporting lead roles in several short films and stage work including Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden and Chava in Fiddler on the Roof — roles she holds close to her heart. She holds a PhD in Humanistic Psychology, grounding her artistic work in psychological truth and authentic presence.
She is endlessly grateful for her team of champions — including Cameron Watson, her agents at CESD, her loving friends and community, and most of all, her family.
Calvin Picou
Doug
An active member in the LA Theatre community for nearly fifteen years, Calvin has been seen on stage at Antaeus Theatre Company, South Coast Repertory, Studio C, Loft Ensemble, and Hollywood Fringe Festival.
As a theatre director he has mounted main stage productions with Loft Ensemble, Temporal Refugee Foundation (TRF), and his own company, Heart of Heart Theatre. Calvin is also the Managing Director and Co-Founder of the Eastwood Performing Arts Center.
After receiving classical training at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts, Calvin began working with independent film productions and was featured at Sundance for the Oscar qualifying short film, Night Shift (produced by Viola Davis). He is the lead in a two-season series called Here Comes Your Man, and co-wrote/directed the feature Adam In Fragments. Most recently, Calvin starred in the horror film The Prodigy.
He is currently unrepresented.
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