Be your own Superhero!
Come dressed up as your favorite superhero or one of your own creation for Saturday Superhero performances and receive 2 for 1 tickets at the door!  

This offer is only good for performances of Superheroes on Saturdays which alternate- so check dates!  This will be offered on a space available basis - so ensure your reservation for this Super Saturdays (give us date and number of tickets): wilywest_tickets@icloud.com

Wily West's second opening this week went off with roars of laugher and huge applause!  Opening night audience loved our smart new comedy!!!  Congratulations to playwright Stuart Bousel, director Rik Lopes and cast!!!  Get your tickets as performances are filling up...

Our best wishes to Quinn Cayabyab our Producing Director who pulled both shows this summer together - from set, and lighting design to managing and scheduling space and crew for two shows!   Brava Quinn!

What is your writing process?  Do you take notes and then write a play?  Do you outline?  Do you just start writing and see where it takes you?  What was the process of getting this play finished?

The characters come first. Once I know who I am writing about and how they speak, then the play usually just sort of comes out. In this case I knew I wanted the main characters to be a bunch of guys who played baseball in the park together (I did this a lot with my friends growing up) so I had the added bonus of knowing where the first scene took place and more or less what needed to happen- i.e. a baseball game. The show just kind of took off from there. 

What principles of playwriting do you try to follow, or help you the most? 

I have no idea what the principals of playwriting are. I'm sure they exist, I probably follow some, but I don't do it consciously. I follow characters and voices and that's pretty much what determines everything. 

Is there a writer or other artist that most influenced you as an artist?

I don't know that I can pick one individual because I think of myself as having many influences. I will say I am really heavily influenced by other art forms. Music is super important to me, particularly the music of Tanya Donelly, Kristin Hersh, Melora Creager, the James... and that is often reflected in my work. Film is very important to me too, particularly the films of Hal Hartley and Sally Potter, and is, for instance, why many of my plays are a series of short scenes or vignettes, rather than more traditionally structured (though for the record, most Shakespeare is also short scenes and vignettes, so by traditional I really mean the 20th century American kitchen sink drama most people think of when they think of theater in this country). E.M. Forster sort of gave me a philosophy of life and art that permeates a lot of my work, and Peter S. Beagle wrote my favorite book ever, The Last Unicorn. John Guare has been my favorite playwright since I was 16. His play SIX DEGREES OF SEPARATION has probably informed my playwrighting more than any other single dramatic work.  

What are your two favorite characters in all theatre and why?

Cinderella in Sondheim and Lapine's INTO THE WOODS. I love the idea of this woman who is actually a pretty intelligent and kind person but also a social pretender desperately seeking validation from a class she actually, in reality, feels entirely unsuited for. I also love how her intense desire to change her life is continuously at battle with both her sense of responsiblity and her own fear of that change, so while she has a lot of volition she also constantly defers to chance and other people to make stuff happen for her. The complexity of the character is just fascinating to me, plus I just relate to her, cause I'm also a guy with a strong value system but all kinds of social pretensions. I also really love Ned Poins in Shakespeare's HENRY IV part 1 and 2 because he's this fuck up noble who doesn't give a crap about anything in the world except getting laid, getting drunk, getting into trouble, and hanging out with his best friend- who he is smart enough to realize isn't really his best friend. There's something profoundly sad about the character that I've always found fascinating, especially as that depth and sadness is conveyed in only a handful of lines, but those lines cut to the quick so deeply its all the more poignant. He's my favorite kind of supporting character: fun, clearly etched, and totally surprising. 

You go to see quite a lot of theatre in the Bay Area - how does critical thinking help or hinder your writing?

I don't know that it plays a huge part in it, to be honest. I don't think much about the other theatre I see in the Bay Area when I'm writing something. I do know I try to always write something I haven't seen, because if I have seen someone else write about something in a way where I think they totally nailed it, I rarely feel a need to say something myself about it. Sometimes I do think my work is an answer or comment on someone else's. I think all writers talk to and about other writers through their work, actually. 

Any personal aspects of this play that you are willing to share?   I notice in a lot of your plays the main character is bi-sexual - what about that topic seems to draw you in as a writer?   

I've never actually written a play where the main character is bisexual, though in EDENITES Hugo does have sex with a woman- but that doesn't make him bisexual. He's a gay guy who has been having sex with a woman, which is different. The main character in this play, Bryon, is totally gay- almost painfully, anxiously so. There are a lot of supporting bisexual characters in my plays though, that is true, and sure, it comes from having been bisexual myself, having known many people who are bisexual, but really it's just that attraction fascinates me and I find attraction most fascinating when it's unexpected or unrestricted by conventional ideas of sexuality. I would say that all my plays contain some element of unexpected affinity between people, and frequently that manifests in bisexuality. However, in TROUBLESOME HISTORIE OF JOHANN AND KRANE, for instance, there is a moment when the two main male characters kiss one another, but it's not because they are sexually attracted to one another. It's because they love one another, and sometimes that happens between people who love one another. That's probably a good example of unexpected affinity over bisexuality being a major theme in a lot of my plays.

When you finish a play do you feel it is complete?

"Finish" is such a strong word. I am inclined to say "no". I don't think a play is complete until it is performed. And often after the first performance, you realize it still needs more work. Not every time, but often. 

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

Claire Rice once told me she thinks all of my plays are coming of age stories and I think this is 95% true. I definitely like to write about the discovery of things, ideas, people. My characters tend to be highly intelligent, high self-monitors, very articulate, and actively engaged learners throwing themselves headlong into life or learning how to do that. There is a lot of tension in my plays around identity, social interaction, intellectual and personal evolution, sex, social class, self-awareness and self-actualization, fear, and death. So I guess I write about all those things but I don't consider myself an issue based writer, though I can get very conceptual, like in BRAINKILL for instance, which is more about exploring an idea, in that case the tensions between morality and materialism. I'm kind of willfully a-political, so it's rare that my work is about like... economics or feminism or something... though I suppose you could argue that is a political statement in and of itself. Mostly I write as an act of compassion actually, it's me trying to understand some aspect of the human condition that I'm personally struggling with, which goes back to every play being a coming of age story. 

What most excites you about seeing this play on stage?  What do you hope audiences will take from the play?

I've technically been writing this play for 15 years so honestly, just seeing it alive will be exciting. I hope it is very very fast paced and sincere. I hope audiences like the characters, identify with them, run with the structural conceit, which is a touch experimental, and laugh a lot. 

I was thinking July is "independence month" and how we should celebrate independent theatre in July.  As the big corporate theaters offer less and less opportunities to local artists - independent thetre is blossoming all over the country.  Where do you personally think that is going to go?  How do you feel about independent theatre in San Francisco?  

I think the future of the theater world is the farmer's market mentality, personally. Like, that's what we should look to as our business model- not the Walmart/corporatized model that frankly is what regional theater has turned into and probably always really was. And is clearly, obviously, in trouble. When I talk to people these days about what kind of theater I do, I often say, "Niche." I see myself as a guy growing vegetables in my back yard, and now and then I take them into the big city in a truck and sell them to you in the plaza. And sure, I might never get famous or whatever, but the people who are into what I do know where to find me and think nobody does what I do better than me, and that's not a bad place to be as an artist. 

There's a lot of discussion about the Theatre Bay Area Awards and their rating system - do you think plays should have scores (like sports) to tell audiences which ones are "good?"

No. I think plays should have posting boards where people talk about them and audiences should go see plays that sound like they create interesting conversations, or have conversations around them that would be interesting to participate in, and then the audiences should contribute to those conversations themselves. I think as soon as we start grading art numerically or whatever we're missing the point of art in favor of lazy-ass thinking. I do think there is value in recognizing the art that we think works best, because there is value in knowing what we like and what our standards are, and there is value in recognizing hard work and craftsmanship, but the only awards that really matter are ones given between individuals, just as even the best-written review still only reflects the opinion of that one critic. Which is why I support critics and artists (and audience members) who have top ten lists and such, and why I started my own awards, the Stuey's, a few years ago. If you get one you know I think you're the fucking bomb. Which means very little except exactly that, but to me, knowing I got through to someone or they understood and valued what I'm doing matters far more than getting an A or whatever from some panel of people who don't have to defend that opinion and really have no better credentials to pass judgement on what's good than anybody else. In the end, we all basically like what we like, some of us are just better at explaining why or recognizing how something works. The best of us can look past personal taste and appreciate craft and again, there is value to that- but only so much and I think it's exceedingly rare when THAT is what's being awarded an award. Actually, if an award panel had a "We hated this show but god it's well done" award, I would respect the hell out of that.

M. Butterfly, and will next be directing the musical Grey Gardens. Other Bay Area directing credits include A Midsummer Night's Dream, Twelfth Night, and The Frogs for Atmostheatre/Theater in the Woods, Hamlet, Love's Labors Lost, Phaedra and Edward II for No Nude Men Productions, and Taming of the Shrew and Measure For Measure at SF Theater Pub, of which he is a founding artistic director. His plays have been performed around the world, and locally he's been three times featured in the Bay One Acts Festival (Housebroken, Speak Roughly, Brainkill), and his play Rat Girl, based on Kristin Hersh's memoir, just headlined this year's DIVAfest. His acting credits include the title role in Macbeth, Carl in The Baltimore Waltz, and three separate productions of The Fantasticks. He was awarded "Best Ringmaster of The San Francisco Theatre Scene" by the SF Weekly last year, and his new works festival, the San Francisco Olympians Festival, was named "Playwrighting Series Most Likely To Win A Gold Medal" by the San Francisco Guardian. You can find out more about his work at www.horrorunspeakable.com, or follow along the blog he edits at www.sftheaterpub.com.  

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.