There is nothing like closing a show to a sold-out crowd and Saturday, June 28th Wily West's production of Sheherezade 14 played to a packed house!  Congratulations to cast and crew, Executive Producer Laylah Muran de Assereto and PCSF our partners in this theatrical adventure!!

Jennifer Roberts is a core company member of Wily West Productions and the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco Board President.   She shares with us her thoughts on SHEHEREZADE 14 and upcoming projects...

Is this your first Sheherezade?

No, but it's my second.

Which play did you write? What's it about?

I wrote Photo Dynamic Therapy, which is about grief, the ways we try to make it through to the other side of it, and the questions we ask about who we are in this limbo and who we will become once there. If we get there.

What was your inspiration for the play?

I was visiting my mother-in-law in Ohio as she was working a hospice booth at the Canfield fair. A gentleman in his seventies was working the booth with her and was talking about how he had just, like a couple days previous, finished walking the perimeter of the state of Ohio as I way of finding closure from his wife's death. Seventy years. He had rigged up a baby stroller with supplies and food and pushed it for weeks, alone, camping along the way. The idea of doing such a thing alone terrified me, but I was moved and inspired about how he challenged himself to try a new way out of grief. He also spoke about how the walk and subsequent closure on his grief, changed him. Literally. His personality went from quiet and reclusive to outgoing and social. And by social, I mean he was eagerly hitting on every woman who walked by regardless of age. I found if creepy, but his story inspiring. 

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception.  Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

Ha, ha! Marriage! Motherhood! Seriously. Don't get me wrong, they're both fantastic, but I was a young mother, a young wife, and my perception of being married and raising a family was it would be like playing house; the perception was more closely aligned to a 1980's sitcom show than reality.

What has participating in Sheherezade meant to you?

It's meant a production! Saying that may sound like I'm trying to be flippant or funny, but the truth is, it's hard to be a produced playwright. Sheherezade has given me the opportunity to see two of my plays fully staged (as well as eight other playwrights!) and that's no small thing. It also means I've gotten to become part of a community of playwrights who are sharing and supporting work with a company that values the playwright. 

What other projects are you working on? 

I'm developing a full length play with original music (composed by Rick Homan) for Wily West next year. It's a darker piece about a brother and sister, musicians, who come together to save their father from suicide. On the heels of Sheherezade, I'll have two, short plays in Wily West's SUPERHEROES this summer. "Meet Claudia" is about a woman who changes the script of her life and "Mars One Project" is about a mother who signs up for a one-way ticket to Mars. Both plays examine how we all have the capability of being our own superheroes. 

SHEHEREZADE regular PHILIP GOLEMAN talks about his roles in this year's SHEHEREZADE 14.

Is this your first Sheherezade?

This one will officially put me in the 5-timers Club.

Sheherezade is an ensemble piece, which means you are playing several roles between the plays.  What are the roles you are playing this year?


This year I am Boy in “Dissonance”, Darren in “The Interview”, Justin in “The Box”, and Joe in “Brew, Drink, Repeat”

Knowing that we all bring ourselves to the roles we play, is there a character or character's experience that you connect with in particular?

These days I truly understand Joe’s rut in “Brew, Drink, Repeat”, and how if you don’t know any better it’s hard to see reality for what it is, one’s routine or comfort zone, and the pushing yourself to breakout of it unless something snaps you into action. But with all good casting you are put into roles that are easy for you to bring yourself to and empathize with the characters. So along those lines, Darren’s efforts to better himself while trying to balance his current situation and Justin’s thought on unrequited love makes it difficult for him to read the signs - are both situations I can easily connect with. The signs are not always that easy to read. I think it’s easier to get along the Tokyo subway than read those signs right.

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception.  Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

I used to think I was closer to 5’12 than 5’10. Heartbreaking. Outside of that I’m still working with my psychiatrist on that topic.

What do you hope audience members come away from the show with?

I hope that they come away with a perspective that although Shakespeare, Miller, and SHN shows are great, there are other stories and theater experiences out there and there are artist out there creating them. That and a lighter wallet that is a fair trade off for a fun night of unexpected theater.

What are you most excited about to share with the audience?

With any play, I’m always excited to share with audiences a new story and experience for them to see, or a new interpretation of a familiar play. This time around I know its all fresh to everyone and that is really exciting.

VONN SCOTT BAIR wrote THE DUCK a powerful new play for Sheherezade 14.

Is this your first Sheherezade?

This is my third Sheherezade.

Which play did you write? What's it about?

The Duck. The play tells the story of Hope, an amnesiac woman with no memory of her life before age 7, who encounters a pair of FBI agents asking for her help in solving what she wrongly thinks is yet another missing person case, but in reality is a murder investigation with a stunning twist.

What was your inspiration for the play?

Believe it or not, Wikipedia! Sometimes I will randomly click on links and find play ideas. In particular, I clicked on NISMART-2, the Second National Incidence Studies of Missing, Abducted, Runaway and Thrownaway Children. The word "Thrownaway" stunned me, as did the fact that during one year, over 58,000 children in the United States went missing

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception. Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

Happens so often that nothing really stands out.

What has participating in Sheherezade meant to you?

A chance to expand my knowledge of the actors and directors working in the Bay Area, and the opportunity work once again with Leontyne (for the first time in over a decade!).

What other projects are you working on? What can audiences of Sheherezade look forward to next?

I have a number of writing and acting projects in the pipeline.

Playwright JIM NORRENA, also known to the Bay Area theatre community as a talented photographer, is getting his first production in Sheherezade 14 


Is this your first Sheherezade?

Yes, and it’s about time! Actually, I think this is only my second submission, so I can say with glee that I’m invited to participate in Sheherezade half the times I apply! 


Which play did you write? What's it about?

Reframing Rockwell. It’s about the behind-the-scenes private life of renowned painter-illustrator Norman Rockwell, whose work for the Evening Post went on to bring him a place in American history.

What was your inspiration for the play?

It’s funny, you know, because I was reading the only newspaper I could find at the gym – the travel section of the New York Times – and it had the most amazing spread devoted to where Norman Rockwell lived with each of his wives (he had three) and his sons. And interspersed in the article were these rather nonchalant references to how his first and second wives had been institutionalized. I thought of the idyllic family life that Rockwell is so famous for presenting, and how ironic that the Norman Rockwell we typically imagine (pristine and proper family man) was actually afflicted by rampant mental illness – his wives’ and his own. I thought to myself what a fantastic play this would make – but then cautioned myself and decided to test the waters with a shorter version to measure just how much mental instability an audience can take.

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception.  Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

Oh, that would probably be the last guy I dated, where I thought we were moving forward and he was running in the opposite direction. I’m only half-joking. I’m fascinated by how two persons can have such completely opposite reactions to one another and not have it register with one of them. I think I’m pretty much always the latter fellow, and it can get pretty frustrating when you start to constantly question your intuition. With some things, like cars, I can pretty much always trust my intuition. Hmm. These brakes seem kind of soft. I’m going to bring the car in and see what’s going on. Sure enough, I’ll need a break job (and several other things, of course!). But when it comes to people and dating in particular, it’s only getting worse as I get older. I hope someone soon proves what I think something is actually is what I want it to be. Until then I just try not to act too surprised when someone orders the check before the dessert menu arrives.

What has participating in Sheherezade meant to you?

Well, let’s see . . . this is my first professional juried work to be performed, so, heck, it means everything in the world to me! It’s like I’m losing my virginity to Sherherezade, and I’ll always remember this moment.

What other projects are you working on?  What can audiences of Sheherezade look forward to next?

If things go swimmingly, look for a reading or two of a full-length version of Reframing Rockwell. I’ll work with Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco to try to get a reading, and from there I’ll keep massaging it and shopping it until I gather interest for a production. I’ve also got another short play (again, historical fiction), from which I’d really like to see a full-length production emerge. It’s about the first American women to travel to Antarctica to support their husbands in their scientific work. While the women were designated as supporting roles, they truly kept the men on task and ensured the mission succeeded. Lots of room for humor in this one, which delights me and feeds my constant need to laugh at the absurdity of people.

MADELINE PUCCIONI found inspiration from the perilous economy...

Is this your first Sheherezade?

It IS, and I'm delighted.    Long time member of PCSF and Wily West.   I  submitted plays for 2012 and 2013,  so working with Laylah and Amy, Quinn, Wesley, and all the first rate actors in Sheherezade 14 is really a thrill. Special thanks to our dramaturg, Suze Allen, whose comments took THE INTERVIEW  exactly where it needs to go.   


Which play did you write? What's it about?

I wrote THE INTERVIEW, which is a little comedy about desperate people, and random acts of kindness.    Margaret,is a middle-aged part time college English teacher, and grammar gorilla.  She loses a class to a full-timer,  and has to sell her car.    She MUST get another part time job, one she can walk to ...or she'll lose her old house, too.   So she storms into a neighborhood bar... hoping to get a job as a bartender.    And who should be the manager now?   Darren, a really nice young man whom she had to flunk the previous semester.    Tru,  a regular, shows her first impression of Margaret with two thumbs down and a loud and resonant "Thbbbpppt."    

What was your inspiration for the play?

Could be me, in a few years ... or any older person on a fixed income in this perilous economy.   I live in an old neighborhood in Oakland where people on pensions are kind of living month to month.  Suppose I had to go back to work?  What would I do, assuming I could even get a job?   That's where Margaret is.   But she needs a clue about how to behave when she goes in for THE INTERVIEW.

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception.  Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

Writing THE INTERVIEW, and listening to good feedback, I learned that Margaret truly thinks of herself as a  generous, kind hearted do-gooder... and she DOES mean well... but she is also bossy and obnoxious.     How we think of ourselves is always at odds with how others perceive us.    Darren finally tells her,  "you know, Margaret,  you're really mean; why so many people drop your classes."  And to her credit... she listens.  We all need a Darren or two in our lives.   Ultimately, Margaret  helps Darren get past an illusion he holds about himself... and we leave the play knowing that reality will be a bit more "real"  ...and maybe a little easier....for both of them.

What has participating in Sheherezade meant to you?

I am just excited to be working with so many gifted people who are passionate about excellence and passionate about great theatre.  I hope to continue to be able to work with these folks  in years to come.

What other projects are you working on?  What can audiences of Sheherezade look forward to next?   

Pegasus Theatre will do a full production  my 10 minute play, DARK WINDOWS, in its TAPAS FESTIVAL in September - DARK WINDOWS sprang to life in 24 hours during PCSF'S 24 Hour PlayFest, in 2013.    SF Olympians will stage my THREE GRAEAE MEET PERSEUS AND A BANANA PEEL in its MONSTER BALL OLYMPIANS FESTIVAL at The Exit in November.  I'm working on a couple of one acts and blocking out a couple of full length plays, one of which will be THE INTERVIEW.  Glad to be back at work.  Thanks, Sheherezade. 

STEVE KOPPMAN is a soon-to-be published playwright.  You can see his work this year in Sheherezade 14!


Is this your first Sheherezade?

Yes.

Which play did you write? What's it about?


"Almost Like Being Alive." I'd actually rather not say what it's "about." But it takes place at a Starbucks between a worker and a customer.

What was your inspiration for the play?
Workers greeting customers at my local Starbucks.

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception. Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

A: When I was a teenager, I was traveling in a place I took to be a potential combat zone, Eilat, the southernmost point in Israel, where the desert, as beach, reaches the sea, and Jordan - at that time a seemingly implacable enemy - was right across the water. It was summer. I'd arrived by bus in the evening; the youth hostel was full. I heard there were no cheap hotels at Eilat, a resort town, in July. I set up to sleep on the beach only because there seemed no alternative. Suddenly over the horizon there was an eerie light. Then something white, bright, glowing and seemingly enormous seemed rapidly to be almost exploding up from the horizon. Instinctively, I started running like a maniac. A guy stopped me and asked why I was running. Of course, it was the Moon. I grew up in New York City. I know this will sound dumb, but before that I had no real gut sense the Moon even came up out of the horizon.

What has participating in Sheherezade meant to you?

I feel very honored. It's good to see your work up on stage, the recognition is nice, working with this broad and very talented group of people on development, publicity, in rehearsal and more is very stimulating. I appreciate it.

What other projects are you working on? What can audiences of Sheherezade look forward to next?

I'm chronically working on short plays, though lately not nearly as much as I'd like. My first produced play (by Santa Cruz Actors Theatre), "Star-Spangled Wully Bully," is slated to be published later this year in 25 10-Minute Plays for Teens, an anthology from Applause Theatre & Cinema Books.

CAMERON GALLOWAY shares with us her original face and other thoughts on the new play festival...

Is this your first Sheherezade?

Yes!

Sheherezade is an ensemble piece, which means you are playing several roles between the plays.  What are the roles you are playing this year?




Old Woman in Dissonance, Tru in Interview, Mary in Reframing Rockwell, Agent DeMarco in The Duck.

Knowing that we all bring ourselves to the roles we play, is there a character or character's experience that you connect with in particular?

The connections I feel are pretty mysterious - sometimes delicate fairy threads of connection, sometimes hearty foods-we-both-like connections. Pretty indescribable.  That said, it's delightful to connect with the desire - no, the desperate need -  to smash convention in Old Woman; I love slightly slutty heart of gold Tru who is so blindly wrong but manages to step up to the plate (um, yes the blind sad me recognizes a friend there); it feels to me that in some parallel universe Mary could easily be me trapped in a day job; and I connect FBI agent DeMarco with profound loneliness (do I hear an "amen" for profound sad loneliness?  From me I do!).  In a great conversation I had recently with one Sheherezade folk, I discovered that the main thing I personally connect to in all these characters is their need to be loved, feel loved, their need to be at peace with other human beings, and the anxiety brewed when that love and connection is nowhere in sight.  

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception.  Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

All the time!  Every thing!  Too many to count!  The main one that comes to mind is so personal and everything to do with love and relationships. So I'll just thank my husband for himself in my life here and not go into details.  But in lieu of sordid details and in service of avoiding them, let me entertain you with a slight of hand (or word) diversion that's just enough on topic to pull off.  Here's a zen koan:  

What is your original face?  

I love this one!  We're all going to get liberated with this one, I think!  When all the illusion falls away and we get so frightened that the hard chairs and tables and identities disappeared, but the loving sun comes up again and here we are still - one day I think we just might get liberated with this one.

What do you hope audience members come away from the show with?

Hey!  At the moment I have an eccentric thing to say:  Watching theatre can either make you want to live or make you want to die!  I always hope that theatre inspires people to live, thrive in this existence.  In this show the gamut of humanity is celebrated - there are amazingly hilarious little plays and amazingly profound little plays.  Yes indeed, even sad, difficult stories can connect us with what it means to be human.  Even the sad stories can help us remember how dreck gets turned into beautiful compost every time.  There is that transforming force at play everywhere at all.  If fellow travelers, who happen to take the shape of an audience on one particular night, feel the life we all share, then I say my articulate and profound "Wow" right here and now.  And we'll have a good pow wow we will.  What a pow wow.  And don't think for a moment that the simple folk on stage are not listening to the fellow travelers in the audience. If the audience feels heard, and I sense they will in this production, my hopes will be so happily satisfied.

What are you most excited about to share with the audience?

The variety of situations the writers have created.  And the other actors!  These plays are being so well communicated by these smartly soulful fellow actors.  I'm so impressed and nourished by their talents.  Audiences are going to love the perfectly executed comic timing along side the skillfully soulfully profoundly portrayed tendernesses and grief.  When lights go down, Audience, I might say, do you feel excited?  Do you feel you will be seen?  Do you feel you will be celebrated?  Because you're going to be moved by actors who honor your fellow traveler sadnesses and you'll be tickled into laughter by these comrades too!

Playwright TERRY ANDERSON tells us how he has changed his mind about writing plays in short form!

Is this your first Sheherezade?

This is my first anything—my first produced dramatic work.  I submitted it to Sheherezade on a dare by a friend in my playwriting group.  I am still shocked it was accepted.

Which play did you write? What's it about?

I wrote “Dissonance.”  It’s a play about projection, about how we all project our own personal attitudes, stories and dramas onto the world around us to the point that they actually dictate what we perceive.  The setting is a park on a Sunday afternoon, a place where a wide variety of people might gather and where their personal dramas are bound to collide.  The question the play raises: How do we break through each other’s bubbles to connect in some meaningful and authentic way?  Is it even possible to do it?

What was your inspiration for the play?

I had no idea where this play was going when I started writing it—I just started with the premise of a body lying on the ground in a park, and then I watched what happened as different characters arrived on the scene.  As is often the case when ‘dissonant’ realities collide, a lot of humorous things happened.  I also became aware of my own projections as the play developed, my own assumptions about what was “really going on.”  And every time I started feeling smug that I knew where the play was headed, I let it go in a different direction.  In a way I continually confounded myself, which was kind of weird, but it was also a lot of fun.

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception.  Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

It’s hard for me to respond because, at this point in my life, there is hardly any experience I have had that has not changed into something completely different over time.  Almost invariably the ‘bad’ things that have happened have not only given my life richness and texture (and good story-telling material), they have also become the invaluable events that have helped to shaped who I am.  I don’t really believe in something called ‘objective reality’ anymore.  Among other things these days I am a dream worker, sharing and exploring dreams in groups, and for me dreams are real and reality is a dream—that about sums up my belief system.  What does that mean for how we relate?  To steal from Dylan (which I do a lot): “I’ll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours.”

What has participating in Sheherezade meant to you?

Something new, exciting, terrifying, nauseating.  All of the above simultaneously.  Writing for me was always a head game, and then I started writing plays in a group, and then it was out of my head and more interactive and more fun, but it was still mostly words.  This is bodies and movement and timing and actual physical reality!  Oops—will I have to change my belief system (and my answer to the previous question)?!  Ask me this question again when it’s all over.

What other projects are you working on?  What can audiences of Sheherezade look forward to next?

I always thought 10-minute plays were stupid until this one got accepted—now they’re definitely cool!  I will keep playing around with them; perhaps I will develop a series of them that are loosely connected in terms of characters and themes, to be presented together as a single performance.  I also have a full-length play (draft #5) that needs…something…and ½ of a novel I need to return to and finish—hopefully writing plays hasn’t spoiled me for the task.

Repeat playwright BRIDGETTE DUTTA PORTMAN talks to us about coffee addiction and how perception vs. reality inspires her work...

Is this your first Sheherezade?

I'm thrilled that this will be my fourth Sheherezade. My first was in 2011 (a silly play about Paul the psychic octopus). 



Which play did you write? What's it about?

This year I wrote "Brew, Drink, Repeat." It's a comedy about a man trapped in a time loop in a coffee shop, and his attempts to find his way out.

What was your inspiration for the play?

I was thinking about how routine our days often become, and how dependent many of us are on our morning coffee. How many times have I stood in line at my local cafe and ordered the same thing?  What if someone were to become trapped in an infinite loop -- literally -- so that he or she had to repeat the very same morning routine, on the very same morning, over and over?  It's Groundhog Day meets Starbucks.

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception.  Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

I've never been mistaken about the nature of reality. Okay, kidding. There have been quite a few times. Our minds can play tricks on us. I've struggled with OCD since I was young, which has sometimes made me anxious about things that have turned out to be no threat at all. I also have a background in psychology and am familiar with some of the biases we have when processing information -- cognitive dissonance, groupthink, denial, etc. I think this has been reflected in my writing, as many of my plays are about people who are not facing reality. Being aware, though, doesn't mean I don't fall into these traps myself. There was also that time I took a big huge mouthful of wasabi paste because I thought it was a piece of tempura.

What has participating in Sheherezade meant to you?

It's been a great way to connect with other playwrights, as well as directors, actors and theatre professionals. My octopus play in 2011 was one of my first productions, and introduced me to people from PCSF and Wily West, which later led to further possibilities for me. I love that this is a festival exclusively for local Bay Area playwrights, whether established or emerging. And it's always a lot of fun. I got to sew an octopus costume.

What other projects are you working on?  What can audiences of Sheherezade look forward to next?

 I'm taking a bit of a break, as I just had a baby, but I do have some things in the works. Several of my short plays will be featured as part of Wily West's "Superheroes" show, starting July 17. I have a short drama in verse that will be read as part of this year's SF Olympians Festival in November. I am also revising several of my full-length plays, and hope to make headway on a new one I've been planning for some time now -- about a man who is convinced he is possessed by demons and may be the Antichrist (talk about perception vs. reality).

MADELEINE BUTLER talks about her writing process.

Is this your first Sheherezade?

Yes.

Which play did you write? What's it about?

I wrote THE BOX, which is about a spirited young woman who talks her nervous, buttoned-down male buddy into helping her break into a museum at night. She'd hidden a box there as a young girl and has a burning need to retrieve it, immediately. Complications ensue.

What was your inspiration for the play?

My inspiration for the play came from running out of time. I submitted the original version of THE BOX as an audition play for the PlayGround Writer's Pool, with very little lead time. I was determined to make the midnight deadline, but by eight o'clock that night I still was clueless as to what to write a play about. Out of desperation I played an improv game with myself: Who, Who, Where, What. I created two characters (Gina and Justin) and put them somewhere (a museum basement) doing something (crawling on their hands and knees). Then I started typing so that they could talk to each other, and the story unfolded organically. I hit "Send" at 11:55 p.m. Oh, and yes, the audition was successful. But because PlayGround is designed to generate new work each month based on specific prompts, I knew that THE BOX would never be produced there. So I revised it and submitted it to Sheherezade 14.

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception.  Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

These experiences happen to me all the time. It's so easy to jump to conclusions! And it's certainly easy to project scenarios that are real in our own minds but that aren't true for the other people involved. We think people are angry at us, but they may be preoccupied with a problem or coping with indigestion. We think someone loves us according to a model we have for how that should work and then get surprised when the behaviors don't add up to fit our fantasies. I think grifters succeed when they can sniff out those internal stories and re-enact them. They don't have to fool us. We fool ourselves. Sometimes I wonder if there actually is an objective reality, or if it's just all of us out here dreaming our way through our sensory experiences.

What has participating in Sheherezade meant to you?

This is the first time I've had a play fully staged, and I've greatly appreciated the developmental work that has been part of the process in working with Wily West Productions. We had two readings—one with input from Suze Allen, a dramaturg—and I have to say that the play improved significantly as a result of the input from both sessions. I also had the luxury of making small adjustments during rehearsals.

What other projects are you working on?  What can audiences of Sheherezade look forward to next?

I'll be writing new ten-minute plays as well as revising some of the short plays I created for this past season in PlayGround. But my top priority right now is to work on my first full-length play. It's about a woman who has spent most of her adult life deliberately living a lie and what happens when changing circumstances make the facade begin to weaken.

CATHERINE LUEDTKE comes to us from RADA and shares with us some of her personal challenges...

Is this your first Sheherezade? 

Yes! 

Sheherezade is an ensemble piece, which means you are playing several roles between the plays. What are the roles you are playing this year? 




I shall be playing Woman in 'Dissonance', Stacie, a barista in 'Brew, Drink, Repeat' and Margaret, a job-seeker in 'The Interview'. 

Knowing that we all bring ourselves to the roles we play, is there a character or character's experience that you connect with in particular? 

I absolutely connect with each of my characters for different reasons. The Barista's lot in 'Brew, Drink, Repeat' reminds me of life before I chose to do what I love. I think it's a hilarious and relate-able tale. In Dissonance, 'Woman' grapples with personal loss and her reality. They blur together while the rest of the world goes about it's business. To be hyper-aware while out of touch is familiar to my experience with grief. 'Margaret' is a middle-aged woman hustling for work - enough said! 

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception. Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different. 

A couple of years ago, I left my job and went to London to take a Shakespeare course at RADA. I fully ruptured my Achilles tendon on the second day and had to quit the program. I was angry and broken. I stayed in Wiltshire with my parents for a few months while I healed. It was such an amazing time, which included an incredible journey to Scotland. I was able to return the following year and take the course again. During my recovery, I was also able to focus on exactly what I wanted to do as soon as I could walk again. As soon as I could, I did, and here I am. 

What do you hope audience members come away from the show with? 

I hope they enjoy these small yet mighty pieces. There is humor, darkness, joy, desperation, love and hope throughout. I hope it will move them in all these ways. 

What are you most excited about to share with the audience? 

New work! It's always exciting to share fresh stories. I am thrilled to be working with this sharp ensemble, and twisting the audience's perception a bit... 

Actor RICK HOMAN talks about his work on Sheherezade 14 and looks forward to taking on a principal role in the fall!


Is this your first Sheherezade?
 
This is my first time to act in Sheherezade or any Wily West production, although I arranged, composed and performed music for WW's production of Patricia Milton's The Believers. 


Sheherezade is an ensemble piece, which means you are playing several roles between the plays. What are the roles you are playing this year? 

I play a customer at an espresso bar, an FBI agent, a day trader and Norman Rockwell. 

Knowing that we all bring ourselves to the roles we play, is there a character or character's experience that you connect with in particular? 

In Steve Koppman's Almost Like Being Alive, I play a guy who learns that the best way to deal with one's own sorrows is to take an interest in someone else's. Been there, done that. 

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception. Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different. 

In February, I accepted an invitation from Quinn Cayabyab to participate in developmental readings of new scripts. For the actors, these are "cold readings," meaning we have never seen the scripts before. For the playwrights, these are "developmental readings," meaning they get to hear how actors will begin to interpret their plays. We had a delightful afternoon and I met interesting and talented people. Two days later, Quinn told me that, based on the reading of Unhinged, Krista Knight, the playwright, and Wes Cayabyab, the director, wanted to offer me the role I had read in Wily West's production scheduled for October. So the casual afternoon of readings turned out to be an audition. I am thrilled with the outcome. 

What do you hope audience members come away from the show with? 

I hope the audience will come away from this year's Sheherezade with a recognition that life is absurd, so we may as well have a few laughs and enjoy the ride. 

What are you most excited about to share with the audience? 

I am most eager to share with our audiences the resonance, the vibe, the thrill (call it what you will) I feel when working with actors as talented as those cast in Sheherezade 14. 

LEONTYNE MBELE-MBONG discusses playing quirky characters that you would never know exist in the playwright's head... 

Is this your first Sheherezade?

This is my first Sheherazade. So delighted to discover this wonderful concept.

Sheherezade is an ensemble piece, which means you are playing several roles between the plays.  What are the roles you are playing this year?

I'll be playing Hope Judith Hauser in "The Duck", Gwynn in "Photo Dynamic Theraphy", and Female Actor in "Dissonance". In addition I'll be taking over the Margaret in "The Interview" for the extension.

Knowing that we all bring ourselves to the roles we play, is there a character or character's experience that you connect with in particular?

My characters in both "The Duck" and "Photo Dynamic Therapy" deal with loss. They have both lost somene close to them in their lives, and that is something I connect with, though I try to avoid cannibalizing my personal grief. 

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception.  Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different.

I was living in a house with a bunch of people, and our landlord called us in one day to announce that he was giving us all the boot. All perfectly amicable and understandable, but in the moment we all panicked and wondered what we were going to do, how would we find another place to live? It turned out however, that for all that panic, we were like chicks getting pushed out of the nest, and we all found our wings and flew. Were it not for that moment, I probably wouldn't own my own little adorable house.

What do you hope audience members come away from the show with?

I hope they come away with a renewed sense of awe at the multitudinous talents of the playwrights. One thing about the internet that always amazes me is the opportunity to see the crazy, amazing, bemusing talents that so many people have, that you would never know they had if you met them at a party. Well, watching this show, the audience is seeing that talent on display: the quirky, moving, wonderful ideas that live inside these playwrights' minds and that they have teased out, honed, and encapsulated for the audience to enjoy. 

What are you most excited about to share with the audience?

The result of the fun and collaboration that the cast and everyone involved have experienced. It is such a trip in every sense of word, and I'm excited to have the audience share the ride.

The Oakland-raised actor talks about the abundance of talent in the Bay Area.

Is this your first Sheherezade? 

Yes it is! 

Sheherezade is an ensemble piece, which means you are playing several roles between the plays. What are the roles you are playing this year? 

I play the young and conniving Gina in The Box, the musically passionate Girl in the Absurdist piece Dissonance, and a barista who is taken on an emotional journey in Almost Like Being Alive. 

Knowing that we all bring ourselves to the roles we play, is there a character or character's experience that you connect with in particular? 

I can very much relate to the barista in Almost Like Being Alive who is called upon to empathize with someone in need.  When she opens her heart to a man who is suffering, she comes to terms with her own problems and forms with him an unexpected bond. Through this experience, she learns about the perpetual give-and-take that is necessary to build trust between two people. This willingness to share, I think, a valuable lesson that I find myself constantly relearning with every new friendship and relationship I enter. 

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception. Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different. 

When I entered my freshman year of college at NYU in 2012, I was introduced to my very first New York winter by way of Hurricane Sandy. Needless to say, as an Oakland-raised girl who had only experienced Bay Area winters, my sense of meteorological reality was completely shattered. I’m just glad I’m here to tell the tale. 

What do you hope audience members come away from the show with? 

I hope that audiences will be able to enjoy themselves as much as I have had 
while working with such a hilarious and dedicated cast and crew. 

What are you most excited about to share with the audience? 

To me, Sheherezade is evidence of the plethora of talent that's present 
here in the Bay Area. I am eager to showcase and celebrate this talent together with other Bay Area natives. 

After acting in SHEHEREZADE for five years Wesley Cayabyab takes on the role of director for the 2014 showcase...
 
You’ve been in the last five Sheherezade productions as an actor. What went into your decision to direct this year? 

I figured after 5 years of appearing on stage for Sheherezade that people would be tired to seeing me do my thing. No, no, that's just my dry humor at work. In all actuality my wife, Quinn - producing director of Wily West Productions - approached me with a couple scripts that were being considered for Sheherezade and they captivated me. I was immediately struck with the feelings, messages and images that I wanted to communicate; I couldn't resist! 

Which plays are you directing? 

I have the privilege of directing Bridget Dutta Portman's "Brew, Drink, Repeat"; Madeline Butler's "The Box"; Steve Kopmann's "Almost Like Being Alive"; and Vonn Scott Bair's "The Duck". 

What approach are you taking? 

These plays have such a wide range of subject matter and sweep the spectrum between comedy and drama. The best way to describe the approach that I am taking is: adaptive. After doing Sheherezade for so many years, I've found that the more tricks you've got in the bag, the more approaches and perspectives you can take: the better off you are. This process is fast, it's focused and it's intense. The discovery process needs to be adapted to fit that framework, I try to stay as open and creative as I can while sprinting toward opening night. 

An emerging theme between these plays that has really jumped out at us is reality and perception. Tell us about an experience that you thought had been one thing only to discover it was completely different. 

I try to walk into rehearsals without too many preconceptions. I go in with a vision and a plan but I try not to tie too many themes that may or may not be there into the mix before my actors have had a chance to make those discoveries at their own pace. 

What other projects are you working on? What can audiences of Sheherezade look forward to next? 

I have the utmost pleasure and privilege of directing Morgan Ludlow's "Drowning Kate" and Krista Knight's "Unhindged" this coming fall. These two plays devastated me in the best possible way. I will be perfectly honest with you and say that I am the worst person to ask for an opinion when reading a play. If I'm not reading for a part or memorizing lines, I easily tune out and rush through it. This was not at all the case for these two plays. 

I initially directed the staged reading of "Drowning Kate" for the Spooky Cabaret. It was beautifully realized and received remarkably well. Again, I credit my wife Quinn for bringing this play to me and producing it for the Spooky Cabaret. Quinn understands that I have a bit of a dark side, that I enjoy bringing out the painful moments in our lives that we all share in. This play explores how our pain shackles, connects and even comforts us. 

"Unhindged" is a masterful work by Krista Knight that I could not stop reading. From the moment I laid eyes on the first page of text, I knew that I had to have it. Krista writes with the ear of a musician and creates the emotional landscape with the hand of a poet. I couldn't ask for a more rich, complex and vibrant piece to direct. 

CHELSEY LITTLE talks to us about bringing the annual 10-minute play festival to life!

This is your first Sheherezade.  What went into your decision to work on the show?

Well, I’d been peripherally affiliated with Sheherezade in the past as Volunteer Coordinator for PCSF. Jennifer Roberts was my gateway drug into the San Francisco theater scene, so passion projects of hers have a certain appeal to me. She’s essentially introduced me to every person that led to me to other projects around town. If Jennifer’s involved, you can know that something magical is going to take place. That, and I was also drawn to the idea of working with Wily West in some capacity, so when Laylah and Quinn approached me in the middle of another stage managing gig, asking me if I’d be interested in working on Sheherezade this year, I was inclined to accept.

The stage manager is usually a pretty behind the scenes role, but so critical.  You also get to see things from a unique perspective.  What aspects of the plays has you excited that people might not realize at first glance?

The incredible ensemble that makes up this particular Sheherezade is what excites me the most, though I think that will actually be very apparent to all audiences. They just have such great heart and passion and talent; they’ve made every moment of this experience, from auditions to tech week, truly endearing.

One of the themes that we’ve seen emerge across the plays is reality and perception and how those things can shift.  Have you had an experience like that?  You thought one thing was happening and it turned out to be completely different?

I think that happens all the time in life. People so rarely realize the magnitude of a single moment, how that moment is going to impact their lives forever, until that moment has passed. You’re all up in it, with the moment in your face, it’s impossible to see beyond that. That blinding proximity coupled with how difficult it is to really understand what another person may be saying or doing, that disconnect between your mind and theirs that is pretty much inevitable, except in the very closest of relationships, always seems to make perception and reality diverge. But that’s okay, I think. We make our own realities, anyway. If you want to share your reality with another person, you just have to be über communicative, which can be easier for some than for others.

In addition to Stage Managing for Sheherezade, you will be directing for Superheroes.  Tell us about your projects.  What can Sheherezade audiences look for from you this spring/summer?

Hah, oh, well, communication is actually something I like to think I excel at, at least when I want to, so I guess they can look forward to a show that tells them something, hopefully via showing, which is the ultimate form of “telling” on stage. That doesn’t sound very profound – that sounds like what all theatre is… ButSuperheroes will be special because there will be spandex involved, so, I mean, what more could you need?  Sorry, I tend to be pretty nonchalant about projects until I feel they are more tangible in reality. We haven’t started the rehearsal process for Superheroes just yet, so I’m still in the “Heheh, yeah, I’m working on another project, yep,” phase – check in with me later, I’ll be more eloquent then. Maybe.