Basking in the love-glow,  we selected plays for Sheherezade and finalized our directors for the show in December.  In January we had a table reading and finalized the cast.  SHEHEREZADE 14 will run in June and features short works from Jennifer Roberts, Terry Anderson, Madeline Puccioni, Madeleine Butler, Steve Koppman,Vonn Scott Bair, and Jim Norrena.  I am really excited about the selections this year with some interesting and captivating material that will be funny and devastating, sweet and poignant.  (I'll blog about that in April). Wes Cayabyab  who has been in the last five Sheherezade's is switching to a Director's role with Amy Crumpacker who joins us for the first time. While Jason Jeremy, who used to be a regular player in Sheherezade back in the day, is returning to acting in the show.   The cast also includes Philip Goleman coming off a string of roles with Ross Valley Players - including ARMS AND THE MAN playing now, Catherine Ludtke - who is busy being amazing in Custom Made's TOP GIRLS, Leontyne Mbele-Mbong who has been garnering audience and critical raves in African American Shakespeare Co's MEDEA, which closes this weekend.  Also joining the cast are Rick Homan who composed and played music in our production of Patricia Milton's BELIEVERS in 2012,Cameron Galloway who you can see at DivaFest's DIVAS TELL ALL, and Gareth Tidball who will be here for her summer break from New York University's theatre program.

We also kicked off our collaborative writing project for what became SUPERHEROES where 8 playwrights - The Playmaker's League - wrote as many short plays as they could in 6 weeks around a facilitated central theme.   Jennifer Lynne Roberts served as Head Writer and provided weekly inspiration and sub-topics for the writers. This creative storm resulted in 114 scripts, which were narrowed down to just 29 for a hilarious marathon reading back in February.  In February we also did private readings of all of the plays for the season, finalized the Superheroes line-up (11 plays between 1 and 10 minutes each), and casting for the show.  We have Alicia Coombes and Chelsey Little directing plays by Bridgette Dutta Portman, Jennifer Lynne Roberts, Karl Shackne, Laylah Muran de Assereto (moi),  Morgan Ludlow, Patricia Milton, Rod McFadden, and Susan Jackson and live music written and performed by Kat Downs from local band Sit Kitty Sit (whose band was at SXSW this March).  We are thrilled to have performers Barrett Courtney (with his SF debut), Brian Flegel (most recently in PCSFs 24 Hour Fest, and a frequent player with Pear Avenue's reading series), Dan Wilson (of Radio Star Improv), Jenna May (recently returning to the Bay Area from Seattle), and Karen Offereins (most recently of Custom Made's THE PAIN AND THE ITCH and returning to us from last year's SHEHEREZADE 13) and actor Shelley Lynn Johnson completes the cast. I can't wait to see them take on our superheroes; their woes, predicaments, and foes.  Look for the trading cards!

We are *this* close to finishing up the casting for Stuart Bousel's EVERYBODY HERE SAYS HELLO! which will be directed by Rik Lopes and will run in rep with SUPERHEROES in July/August.  The short list is pretty impressive and exciting for this multilayered character piece.  

We recently finished casting our fall shows running in October, and also in rep, with Krista Knight's UN-HINGED and Morgan Ludlow's DROWNING KATE and will both be directed by Wesley Cayabyab.  These two shows will share some cast members and like the whole season, includes a fantastic group of actors.   UN-HINGED will feature Rick Homan, Cameron Galloway, Genevieve Purdue Smith, and Scott Cox.  

DROWNING KATE will feature Colleen Egan, Scott Cox, and Genevieve Purdue Smith.

Quinn Cayabyab and Ellen Chesnut along with our directors have been conjuring magical and amazing design concepts for all of the shows, which will feature some pretty cool things that will be dynamic and interesting to see up on stage.

We've also been taking the opportunity before we are ensconced in rehearsals to go to shows!  Associate artist Kat Kneisel is performing with the multi-talentedDiana Brown in COLLECTED STORIES for Expressions Productions.  This play about mentorship, storytelling, trust, betrayal, literary success, and loss is well worth seeing.  We are especially proud of Kat's terrific portrayal of the mentee who outgrows her mentor with heartbreaking emotional fall out.  Quinn Cayabyab, myself and friends caught the show on Sunday March 23rd and Jennifer Roberts along with Jim Norrena, Patricia Milton, and Bridgette Dutta Portman caught the show Friday March 28th.

Jason and I went to see Cutting Ball's RISK IS THIS series closer EX MACHINA on Saturday the 29th.   And various company members have theatre dates to see TOP GIRLS, MEDEA, RAT GIRL,  ARMS AND THE MAN, THE CRUCIBLE, DIVAS TELL ALL and more!  

The company is also looking forward to going to the gala in May to support Morgan Ludlow and Ryan Hayes for their Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle nominations for last summer's GORGEOUS HUSSY!

Say hi when you see us around and have a great spring!

Laylah Muran
Executive Producer
Wily West Productions

What most excites you about this production? 
Not that the show is technically a Halloween piece, but Halloween has always been my favorite holiday - and not just because I grew up in the Castro with the biggest celebration every year just outside my door. I really enjoy the juxtaposition of horror and comedy, because humor is such an intrinsic survival necessity and scaring ourselves is a very basic human mechanism for escape as well as processing "bad-stuff" in our lives and minds. I think that with Hope we really have something that dances the borders of both gracefully. I like Rod's work and am really happy that we have a full length of his to play with; having only done short pieces in Sheherezade previously. I've been gushing so much about Brady's directing talents lately I feel like I should start an official fan club.  The chemistry with everyone during the show is exciting and I think the audience will experiences that magic that happens when the cast is so well matched all around. Seeing all of those elements plus Quinn and Wes' designs come together has made me very happy these past few weeks.

This play is about ghosts - have you ever encountered the supernatural yourself? 
Well, family legend has it that I saw dead people so-to-speak when I was a kid. I don't know that I believe in any of it, but I do know there are things I experienced that I can't explain by anything rational. I was, unfortunately around a lot of death and dying in my youth and that had to have had an effect on my perceptions. Or maybe it meant I was exposed to more opportunities to be touched by the otherworld than most people. Who knows?

A close friend swears he saw me floating above the bed in my sleep about a dozen years ago. I do know I can't sleep on my back or I wake up feeling like I've been crashed into by something or smashed into the bed. (The theme from Rod Serling's Twilight Zone is now stuck in my head, thank you ear-worm.)

What is the scariest movie or play you have seen? Why? 
I haven't seen any scary plays that I can think of. Silence of the Lambs gave me nightmares for years, but I think that falls into the psychological suspense category, not horror. A friend in high school dragged me to a Friday the 13th double feature and I remember getting so freaked out I went into the lobby and played Poll Position (the car-racing arcade game) until I had one of the highest scores. I just couldn't stand the tension of knowing what the characters didn't and being helpless to stop what was going to unfold. The violence, blood etc. didn't freak me out so much as the powerlessness against the monster. I hate being in the woods at night (25 years later). Aliens (the second one in the series) can still make me squeal with alarm for similar reasons, but I love every minute of it.

What do you hope audiences will take from this production?
I hope there will be a sense of fun for the season. But I also hope they will find the humanity of these characters and the awful circumstances that lead them to the fateful events of the play within the comedy. Familial loyalty, the horrors of what people are capable of, how little we really know about people around us, the nature of hopes and fears, are all things that add depth to Hope's Last Chance and I think will provide something more than just a light Halloween-season treat.

Laylah has been involved in theatre and writing creative fiction since childhood. Laylah served on the Board of Directors for the Playwrights Center of San Francisco and has been the Producer for their annual benefit production of Sheherezade for the past three years. In addition to her theatrical endeavors, Laylah has worked for the last two decades in process improvement, project management, and program leadership in a number of different industries. She particularly enjoys bringing her creative and professional background together to help create an environment for dynamic theatre. She is currently working on the full-length, not-quite-one-woman showDa-Da Baby about her upbringing in absurdist theatre and the gay community.

 
What Most Excites you about these two shows? 

The fact that we are doing it and doing these specific pieces together. I fell in love with the characters in Lawfully Wedded when Morgan brought them to us for a reading last fall and I'm just really pleased that we're going to introduce them to audiences. Providing Wes with an opportunity to direct for us, and bringing together a number of new and familiar actors also makes me happy. Gorgeous Hussey is another one that I've watched develop and was very excited by during the reading process. That we have Brady, Susan, and Ryan attached to it makes it even more exciting, because they are all so talented, dynamic and thoughtful and I know that they will make magic with Morgan's wonderful script. 

What are the challenges Wily West faces with the shows? 

I think that for any of the smaller theaters, doing two shows at once is going to be a stretch for resources. Something that thankfully (and unfortunately) we're already used to and do pretty well. Quinn as the Producing Director always keeps things very organized and for this production in particular, surprisingly simple. I think I kept expecting there to be more hiccups or issues, because we'd split focus and so many of our company members were also involved in the "artistic" side, but aside from the normal things you'd expect to encounter when dealing with any show, there really were no major issues. We did have a personal emergency for one company member, and in that case Quinn, Wes, and cast stepped in immediately to make it as smooth and non-impactful as possible. Right now, a week away from opening, getting audiences excited enough to visit both plays is my primary focus. Fortunately both casts are incredibly supportive of each other and the whole concept of repertory. Just in general the company has been really lovely and supportive, which always makes doing this so much easier. 

What have been some of your favorite productions with Wily West? 

I get asked that pretty often, and I have to say it's like asking a mom which of her children is her favorite. Even the ones that for various reasons might not be at the top of my list, still offered something I loved and cherish. I really enjoyed this season's Sheherezade that we produce with PCSF, and not just because I had PCSF members spontaneously hug me because they were so happy with it. Hugs are always nice though. I'm pleased to see that like every year, some of the short plays are going on to other national and international productions. "Ruth and the Sea", by Morgan, which also featured Ryan Hayes in the cast is up at the top of my list for sure. There was just something magical about that play for me. "Arrivederci Roma" was a fun one that, I think because it came from something so specific and personal for Morgan that I could relate to from a different angle, it made me happy every time I watched it. That and it had a lot of campy food humor, which I seem to have a weakness for. "Peaches en Regalia", by Steve Lyons and featuring Phil Goleman who is in Lawfully Wedded, was just very sweet and the cast was a joy to work with and be around. "Nymph O' Mania", "Juno en Victoria", I could go on and on. Mostly the fact that my life has been enriched by so many amazing people is the best part of all. 

Gorgeous Hussy explores the private vs. personal selves, how do you relate? 

My professional and theatre lives are very separate and both require a lot of time and energy. I'm lucky that I work for a company that is fairly supportive of my theatre endeavors, but my professional field is very competitive and still one that tends to look down on "creative-types", so to a certain degree I have to be very careful to balance a firm adherence to my freedom to pursue my passion outside of work, with not compromising my availability and delivery in a fast paced work environment. One that requires a significant amount of travel and overtime. Also, my upbringing in the gay community with performance artists and a strong anti-establishment ethic mean I feel divided sometimes; wanting to make big loud art that screams from the rooftops, while also wanting to keep myself out of the limelight. I'm fickle like a cat about having attention paid to me - only when I want it and only my way, but I'll scratch the furniture and twitch my tail if I'm left out, anyway. 

And with Lawfully Wedded and the themes of equality, marriage, life? 

As I said, I was raised within the gay community, and lost my Dad and dozens of others to AIDS. One of my first baby sitters was involved in the founding of the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. I lived in the Castro prior to and through the AIDS crises there. I saw things by the time I was 15 that most people in the 80s wouldn't have seen by the time they were 45. I was bullied at school and by adults, because my dad was gay and my family were "weird." I've never even remotely understood what drives people to conclude that there's any real difference between "straight" or "gay." I mean, I know, I just don't get it. People are people, capable of the wide spectrum of good, bad, and odd regardless of gender, ethnicity, or orientation. I can't begin to explain the rage and hurt and resentment that I felt when I was younger having to face the prejudices directed at my loved ones, either directly or through me. I'm still outraged by the homophobic rhetoric that is driving the political agenda today. As if we don't have a million other problems, we have to spend energy fighting DOMA, Prop 8, etc.  I'm painfully aware of the privileges I have for being straight, white, and middle class, and it breaks my heart that something so arbitrary makes any difference. But I'm more hopeful than I've ever been that we can and will make progress. So many of the things that are explored in Lawfully Wedded touch me personally, because they reflect my family, my friends, myself. What I particularly appreciate is that even though there are some darker, sadder notes to the stories told, Morgan specifically wanted something that was ultimately more uplifting and celebratory of the "normalcy" of relationships regardless of orientation and no matter how odd or out of the mainstream - they're still "normal", human, and real. I love how complex humans are, even when it's driving me crazy. 

What do you hope audiences will take away? 

We've talked a lot about the themes the plays have separately. But I think the thing that joins them together is the humanity underneath the trappings of stereotypes and preconceptions. I hope that our audiences will see themselves reflected in these characters and their stories. I hope that they will walk away feeling good and hopeful and having been entertained by a talented group with heart and vulnerability. Because, ultimately vulnerability is the key to empathy and right now our world needs all the empathy it can get.

LAYLAH MURAN has been involved in theatre and writing creative fiction since childhood.   Laylah got her start acting with her family's avant-garde puppet theatre troupe Handghost Theatre in the 80s and continued to study acting at SF School of the Arts and later with Stephen Drewes and Studio A.C.T.  Her first short play "CENSORED IN TEHRAN" was included as part of Sheherezade X in 2010.   "PITCHFORK AND LIGHT" was included in PCSFs 2nd 24-Hour Playfest in 2012 and "OUTWARD AND ONWARD" received a reading in Southern Railroad Theatre Company's Resolutions:  I Do Declare! in 2013.  She served on the PCSF Board of Directors for a number of years and is the Executive Producer for Wily West Productions and she has been the Producer for The Playwrights' Center of San Francisco's annual benefit production of Sheherezade for the past three years. In addition to her theatrical endeavors, Laylah has worked for the last two decades in process improvement, project management, and program leadership in a number of different industries. She particularly enjoys bringing her creative and professional background together to help create an environment for dynamic theatre. She is currently working on the full-length, not-quite-one-woman show Da-Da Baby about her upbringing in absurdist theatre and the gay community.