What most excites you about BOA this year?

The increased scope of the festival, which has been a steady and inspiring progression. I was a festival participant in 2008 with my middle-east thriller 22 MINUTES REMAINING, and I served as dramaturg in 2010. I’ve gotten to see three artistic directors helm the festival, from Richard Bernier (RIP) to Jessica Holt (MFA) to Sara Staley (Woot), but this is both a return to playwriting for the festival for me, as well as a chance to work with a theatre company whose work I understood from the very beginning. More specifics on that in the next question:  

How did 3 SISTERS WATCHING THREE SISTERS come to be?

I owe a direct debt to Wily West’s Cowboys vs. Outlaws season 2013 kickoff in Febraury. We had two weeks (I imposed a three day deadline) - to create a seven page play from a prompt: “He found it in a dark hole in the woods.” I found this to be a tad on the specific side, so instead of treating it as a plot synopsis or key point, I used it as a bit of found dialogue instead. Sharp-eared audience members can hear the distinctive line in the play itself.

What did you learn by participating in BOA this year?

I learned how important partnerships are between theaters and playwrights. From presenting the piece at the season opener in February, to advocating for the script as an interested producer during the BOA selection process, director (and former actor) Kat Kniesel supported my script at the right junctions, challenged me when it was needed to improve the work, and trusted me to get the rewrites done on time or at rehearsal as needed. 

What is your favorite Chekov character and why?  

She’s not a favorite per se, but at the present I’m identifying with young Irina, and not just because I’m the baby of my family. In her yearning for distant, cosmopolitan Moscow there’s a parallel to the lure exerted on me by New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago.  

What will audiences get for their money by attending BOA this year? 

A chance to look at themselves in a mirror as life watches art imitate life watching art imitate life watching art...  Plus, uppity pigeon puppets, chilling sociopaths, snappy patter, morose hayseeds, cat ladies, wack ladies, baby ladies, funny ladies, and my three sisters - And that’s not even including program 1!            

IGNACIO ZULUETA (Playwright) Ignacio writes, lives, and laughs in Oakland. His plays have been published locally, performed throughout the country, and broadcast on KUSF 90.3FM and KPFA 94.1FM. He’s a member of Playground-SF, the Playwright’s Incubator at Asian American Theatre Company, and an Associate Artist at AlterTheater. His recent awards include an Emerging Playwright Award and 2012-13 Fellowship from SF PlayGround, and a Horizon Foundation Grant for the advancement of LGBT issues. Follow him on www.facebook.com/ignacio.onstage

What most excites you about this production?

I'm incredibly excited to see how the special effects and intense physical action of the play come together -- there's so much visual theatricality in the play, and that can never fully be realized in a staged reading.  Also, it's exciting to be working with such a creative and talented cast -- right from the initial read-thru, I could see how much depth they were bringing to the characters.   

How did Hope's Last Chance start?  What was the inspiration?  And what was the process you went through to get this play finished?

I set out to write a scary 10-minute play for a Halloween showcase.  It began with a married couple hearing screams at a bed-and-breakfast in the night.   But 7 or 8 pages into it, I knew there was a lot more story opportunity than would fit in a short play, so I began to explore the history and the mystery of what happened in this haunted B&B.   Since fright and laughter are both cathartic, I wanted to have a play that was funny and scary at the same time.   The play had two staged readings during its one-year development, and the audiences responded well to the simultaneous sensations of fear and fun, sort of like on a roller coaster.   

What guidelines or principles of playwriting help you the most to finish a play?

Hope's Last Chance has two clear questions that propel the play forward:  "will Stan and Angela survive?" and "what the heck happened to cause the haunting"?   Because the answers to these questions are related, they almost act as one.  I felt my main job as playwright was keeping the characters focused on pursuit of the answer, and this helped me keep the plot tight throughout.  But I also wanted the characters to have some strong inner (sometimes secret) needs, so that they could make additional discoveries about themselves as they unravelled the larger supernatural  mystery.
 
What influenced you most as a writer?  Was it another playwright?  A teacher?  A work of art?  

For Hope's Last Chance, there was definitely some influence from Japanese horror movies, because they often have creepy little ghost children in them.  But also plays like Blithe Spirit, or  Arsenic and Old Lace, where a character like Mortimer can still make funny quips in the middle of a murderous situation.  I like that 1940's romantic comedy feel, but then layering on a more sinister element of danger, so the audience is always a little off-balance as they take it all in.
 

If you look at your body of work as a whole (so far) what do you think are themes or genres or stories you most try to write toward?  What subjects excite you the most to write about?

I guess I'm drawn strongly to the theme of personal risk and trust -- that is, characters overcoming the innate tendency to self-protect at the cost of experiencing life.  I don't consciously set out to explore this theme, but it shows up in alot of my plays.  The other theme I often explore is Secrets and Honesty  -- how characters hide and/or reveal themselves from others.   Sometimes this leads back to the other theme of trust, so maybe its all one.  In Hope's Last Chance, both these themes are key elements of the characters and the story. 

What do you hope audiences will take from this production?

I want audiences to leave feeling entertained and a little exhilarated.  Do I care if they're discussing any deep themes or truths that the play inspired?   There are a few philosophical messages in the play, so it's a bonus if the audience thinks they're worth discussing.  But it's essential that they leave thinking they had a great time.  

ROD MCFADDEN (PLAYWRIGHT) Rod has received awards in national playwriting competitions for his plays, Love Birds, Counting on Love, and Getting the Message, and was chosen as the People’s Choice award at the 2012 inspiraTO Festival in Toronto.  After receiving his BA in English literature and Playwrighting from UCLA in 1982, Rod McFadden embarked on a tragically successful career as a retail executive which lasted 26 years.   But in 2009, Rod McFadden returned to writing plays full-time.  In addition to successful productions at theatres around the country,  Rod’s plays have been well-received by Bay Area audiences of Broadway West, The Playwrights Center of SF, Wily West Productions, The Eugene O’Neill Foundation, Fringe of Marin, the Masquers, and PlayGround SF. Hope’s Last Chance is Rod’s second full-length play, and he is thrilled to be working with the talented people of Wily West Productions. 

What most excites you about this production?

I always enjoy when multiple voices contribute to a single project, so it's great to see how Alina's and my perspective have been woven into Morgan's overarching story. It's also just great to be back with the Wily West team and to have my work directed by Wes for the first time!



What is the greatest challenge you face with this show?

I think nearly every audience member enters the theater with their own opinion on marriage equality, so one of the greatest challenges as a writer is to present a new perspective that doesn't already feel like it's been presented a hundred times over. 

What kind of research are you doing to prepare?

My part of the script's all done, so I'm just sitting back and letting everyone else prepare!

What have been some of your favorite previous productions you have been involved with?

Wily West's San Francisco Stories included one of the first short plays that I had ever had staged. Working with local writers and actors to tell stories that are relevant to the people of our community was an introduction that I'll always remember.

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?  

As a gay man in a long term relationship, the question of marriage equality is one that has very immediate personal implications. I feel really privileged to live in a time period when so many people are fighting so hard to make history. I feel that marriage is a profound intertwining of lives that grows from a fundamental human need for companionship, and there is no basis for excluding individuals from it based on their sexual orientation.

What do you hope audiences will take from this production?

Well, as with any production, my first hope is that they will be entertained. It's a warm, heartfelt show that has humor and joy as well as drama, and I hope the audience enjoys it.

In addition to this, I hope that audiences will get a sense of the real scope of what the fight for marriage equality means. I think it's easy to agree that the right to marry is important, but it can be difficult to see all of the repercussions of denying that right.

KIRK SHIMANO first teamed up with Wily West Productions when his "Billy's Got Issues" was part of "San Francisco Stories" in the 2010 season. His “Love in the Time of Zombies” was produced by San Francisco Theater Pub in October of 2012. He is a PlayGround Writers Pool member, where his “Miss Finknagle Succumbs to Chaos” was featured in the 16th annual “Best Of PlayGround” series and was adapted into a short film this year. He has worked with the San Francisco Olympians, PianoFight, and the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco. By day he works as a lighting technical director at Industrial Light and Magic, fiddling with digital knobs to occasionally make things brighter and occasionally make things darker. For more information, please visitwww.kirkshimano.com