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?

The chance to once again work with Wily West, Morgan, Wes, Kat, Quinn, and all the others. I enjoy working with Wily West and the chance to bring original works to the stage.

What is the greatest challenge you face with this show?

Having to look at and examine how I feel about where I am at with those major parts of life – love, marriage, kids, and family - and how they fit into the character, so as to build off of them to bring a real person to the stage. So the challenge is the self-examination of those aspects for myself, being honest with myself and bringing that honesty to the stage. That, and kissing a dude. 

What kind of research are you doing to prepare? 

Mainly as with most role I take on, I begin with the internal research and how and where the character and I blend, and I bring myself to the character to bring him alive and make it real.

What have been some of your favorite previous roles (or productions you have been involved with)?

Some of my favorite roles include, Norman in “Peaches En Regalia” with Wily West, George in “All My Sons” and Cohen in “The Underpants” with Ross Valley Players, the numerous characters over 4 “Sheherezades” and as an understudy who got one performance as Laertes in Cal Shakespeare’s “Hamlet”

Since this play is about the right to marry what are some of your personal feelings regarding marriage that you would be willing to share?
  
I’m open to the idea of getting married, feel free to email any of my online dating website accounts. But for the most part I think back to when I was younger and I met my mom’s uncle. What sticks out in my memory of him was that he had a life size poster of Marylyn Monroe, when asked about it he would say “she’s the only women that could hold a candle to my Kitty”, and that he and Kitty (his wife) only spent 1 day apart during their marriage – it was so bad they decided to never do it again. If you have that love – what should stop you from being together.

What do you hope audiences will take from this production?

The sense that two people that love each other should be together.

PHILIP GOLEMAN is excited to be back working again with the Wily West team, he recently appeared in ALL MY SONS as George at Ross Valley Players. Other recent performances include an understudy step-in performance as Leartes in Cal Shakes' HAMLET, along with SHEHEREZADE[S],  PEACHES EN REGALIA with Wily West, ZINNIA ROSENBLATT at the SF Fringe Festival, and MUSEUM with Boxcar Theatre. Philip has studied at Studio ACT, and continues at First Take. He is a Graduate of the University of Southern California Cinema School; he lives and works in San Francisco.