ZERO HOUR
The Mars Experiment
by the Wily West Writing Team
The Mars Experiment
by the Wily West Writing Team
July 17, 23, 25, 31 August 6, 8
Directed by Ariel Craft
Heather Cooper | Production Stage Manager
Gabrielle Immelman | Set Design
Cassie Barnes | Lighting Design
Genevieve Perdue | Costumes & Props
Anton Hedman | Sound Design
Colin Hussey| Photography
Wily West Writing Team
Jennifer Lynne Robert | Head Writer
with
Laylah Muran de Assereto, Melissa Keith, Jaene Leonard, Charles Lewis III, Morgan Ludlow,
Bridgette Dutta Portman, and Karl Schackne
CAST
Samantha Behr, Jason Jeremy, Katrina Kroetch, Kyle McReddie,
Richard Wenzel, Susannah Wood
Heather Cooper | Production Stage Manager
Gabrielle Immelman | Set Design
Cassie Barnes | Lighting Design
Genevieve Perdue | Costumes & Props
Anton Hedman | Sound Design
Colin Hussey| Photography
Wily West Writing Team
Jennifer Lynne Robert | Head Writer
with
Laylah Muran de Assereto, Melissa Keith, Jaene Leonard, Charles Lewis III, Morgan Ludlow,
Bridgette Dutta Portman, and Karl Schackne
CAST
Samantha Behr, Jason Jeremy, Katrina Kroetch, Kyle McReddie,
Richard Wenzel, Susannah Wood
Would you leave everything behind, all the comforts of earthly life—friends, family, ice cream, sex—for the experiment? Would you live in isolation and have the experience taped for a reality show for the people back home on Earth so that you can be among the first humans to colonize Mars? These six people did. They left their jobs. They left their families. They underwent physical and mental evaluations. They signed contracts. They trained. They made love for the last time. And at ZERO HOUR, they made peace with their decision. But that was six months and sixty-eight days ago...
Who's Who
The Wily West Writing Team

LAYLAH MURAN DE ASSERETO
Playwright
Laylah is a San Francisco area playwright, director, and producer. She produced the annual short play festival "Sheherezade" from 2008-2014, which received a TBA nomination for Outstanding Anthology last year. Her short play, FORTRESS FOUND, will be part of the 2015 SF Olympians Festival. Most recently her one-act UNDERNEATH THE ABOVE AND BELOW received a reading in PCSF's 2014 Fall Reading series. Three of her short plays, ANONYMOUS ME, JAIN, and CASH FOR CAPSE were included in Wily West's TBA Outstanding Anthology-nominated "Superheroes". Her first short play CENSORED IN TEHRAN was included as part of "Sheherezade X". Her plays PITCHFORK AND LIGHT and PERSONAL SPACE have appeared in PCSF's 24-Hour Play festival (2013 and 2014). Other works have received readings with Southern Railroad Theatre Company and The Playwrights' Center of San Francisco. She has directed for Sheherezade 13, PCSFs Reading Series, Southern Railroad Theatre's "I Do Declare" series, and will be directing 4 short plays in "Repro Rights! Women @ Risk" for Repro Rights Theatre and 3 Girls Theatre in August at Thick House. She is a proud member of the Dramatit's Guild, Playwright Center (Minneapolis), and PCSF. You can learn more at http://laylahmuran.co/
Playwright
Laylah is a San Francisco area playwright, director, and producer. She produced the annual short play festival "Sheherezade" from 2008-2014, which received a TBA nomination for Outstanding Anthology last year. Her short play, FORTRESS FOUND, will be part of the 2015 SF Olympians Festival. Most recently her one-act UNDERNEATH THE ABOVE AND BELOW received a reading in PCSF's 2014 Fall Reading series. Three of her short plays, ANONYMOUS ME, JAIN, and CASH FOR CAPSE were included in Wily West's TBA Outstanding Anthology-nominated "Superheroes". Her first short play CENSORED IN TEHRAN was included as part of "Sheherezade X". Her plays PITCHFORK AND LIGHT and PERSONAL SPACE have appeared in PCSF's 24-Hour Play festival (2013 and 2014). Other works have received readings with Southern Railroad Theatre Company and The Playwrights' Center of San Francisco. She has directed for Sheherezade 13, PCSFs Reading Series, Southern Railroad Theatre's "I Do Declare" series, and will be directing 4 short plays in "Repro Rights! Women @ Risk" for Repro Rights Theatre and 3 Girls Theatre in August at Thick House. She is a proud member of the Dramatit's Guild, Playwright Center (Minneapolis), and PCSF. You can learn more at http://laylahmuran.co/

MELISSA KEITH
Playwright
Melissa is happy to return to Wily West as a writer after performing in their 2012 productions of Sheherezade XII and Spooky Cabaret. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Marquette University and in the Bay Area has worked with New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Virago, All Terrain Theatre, Open Tab, and SF Theater Pub. She is a member of the Monday Night Playground Writers’ Pool, where two of her plays were selected and performed this 2014-15 season. She also writes sketch comedy for Killing My Lobster and will be writing and performing in their July show, SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING HAT, and writing for their August show, LOBSTER JONES’ DIARY. melissakeith.com
Playwright
Melissa is happy to return to Wily West as a writer after performing in their 2012 productions of Sheherezade XII and Spooky Cabaret. She holds a BA in Theatre Arts from Marquette University and in the Bay Area has worked with New Conservatory Theatre Center, San Francisco Shakespeare Festival, Virago, All Terrain Theatre, Open Tab, and SF Theater Pub. She is a member of the Monday Night Playground Writers’ Pool, where two of her plays were selected and performed this 2014-15 season. She also writes sketch comedy for Killing My Lobster and will be writing and performing in their July show, SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING HAT, and writing for their August show, LOBSTER JONES’ DIARY. melissakeith.com

JAENE LEONARD
Playwright
Jaene trained in New York City at David Mamet’s Atlantic Theater Company, Stella Adler Conservatory and with original Group Theater member Bobby Lewis. She has studied with, or been directed by, Golden Globe- , Emmy-, Tony-, and Oscar-winning artists including Mr. Lewis, Mr. Mamet, Bartlett Sher and William H. Macy. She also was a regular at Naked Angels’ Tuesdays at Nine in NYC. Jaene’s first play, CHIC BAND -- a scene from which was published in Smith & Kraus' Best Stage Scenes 2000, received a workshop production in NYC and staged readings with Playwrights’ Kitchen and at Track 16, both in LA. WHAT ABOUT BOO was part of Yankee Rep's (NYC) End of the Line, and in which she also served as head writer and actor. The first of her ARIZONA PLAYS TRILOGY was a semi-finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference in 2008. HOME$ICKNESS, a short play about the fast and furious mortgage debacle, had a developmental reading with Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco in 2010, and OIL AND WATER about the BP Oil Spill, was produced in San Francisco’s Sheherezade in 2011. AS IS - NO WARRANTY received a staged reading with Berkshire Playwrights Lab in August, 2009, under the direction of Jim Frangione, and starring Grant Shaud of Murphy Brown fame. Jaene recently added solo performance to her resume, developing, writing and performing LAST OF ELEVEN, and IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD, AWKI and MY SISTER'S MEDICINE in W. Kamau Bell’s Solo Performance Workshop, directed by Martha Rynberg. LAST OF ELEVEN was part of the Maui Fringe Festival. Jaene also has written screenplays and is currently in rewrites on her YA fantasy novel, Less Watercress: The Tales of Juniper.
Playwright
Jaene trained in New York City at David Mamet’s Atlantic Theater Company, Stella Adler Conservatory and with original Group Theater member Bobby Lewis. She has studied with, or been directed by, Golden Globe- , Emmy-, Tony-, and Oscar-winning artists including Mr. Lewis, Mr. Mamet, Bartlett Sher and William H. Macy. She also was a regular at Naked Angels’ Tuesdays at Nine in NYC. Jaene’s first play, CHIC BAND -- a scene from which was published in Smith & Kraus' Best Stage Scenes 2000, received a workshop production in NYC and staged readings with Playwrights’ Kitchen and at Track 16, both in LA. WHAT ABOUT BOO was part of Yankee Rep's (NYC) End of the Line, and in which she also served as head writer and actor. The first of her ARIZONA PLAYS TRILOGY was a semi-finalist for the Eugene O'Neill Playwrights Conference in 2008. HOME$ICKNESS, a short play about the fast and furious mortgage debacle, had a developmental reading with Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco in 2010, and OIL AND WATER about the BP Oil Spill, was produced in San Francisco’s Sheherezade in 2011. AS IS - NO WARRANTY received a staged reading with Berkshire Playwrights Lab in August, 2009, under the direction of Jim Frangione, and starring Grant Shaud of Murphy Brown fame. Jaene recently added solo performance to her resume, developing, writing and performing LAST OF ELEVEN, and IT'S THE END OF THE WORLD, AWKI and MY SISTER'S MEDICINE in W. Kamau Bell’s Solo Performance Workshop, directed by Martha Rynberg. LAST OF ELEVEN was part of the Maui Fringe Festival. Jaene also has written screenplays and is currently in rewrites on her YA fantasy novel, Less Watercress: The Tales of Juniper.

CHARLES LEWIS III
Playwright
If you’ve been around the Bay Area theatre scene, you’ve come across Charles Lewis. He’s as ubiquitous to the scene as cheap red wine (which he indulges in with great frequency). He acts, he writes, he directs, he mingles, he flirts and – more recently – he blogs (TheThinkingMansIdiot.wordpress.com).
Playwright
If you’ve been around the Bay Area theatre scene, you’ve come across Charles Lewis. He’s as ubiquitous to the scene as cheap red wine (which he indulges in with great frequency). He acts, he writes, he directs, he mingles, he flirts and – more recently – he blogs (TheThinkingMansIdiot.wordpress.com).

BRIDGETTE DUTTA PORTMAN
Playwright
Bridgette Dutta Portman’s plays have been read and produced in the San Francisco Bay Area, across the country and overseas. Her short comedies have been part of Sheherezade, co-produced by Wily West for the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco, for four consecutive years. One of them, AUTO-INCORRECT (2013), went on to several productions in the UK. Bridgette was among the writers for Wily West’s 2013 Showdown competition and 2014 Superheroes project. One of her full-length plays, FRIAR LAZARO, OR THE KING OF TERRORS, was part of Wily West’s Spooky Cabaret series in 2012. Bridgette is a board member and literary committee chair of the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, as well as a member of the Pear Writers’ Guild (Pear Avenue Theatre, Mountain View) and the City Light Source playwrights group (City Lights Theater, San Jose). She is excited to be joining Wily West.
Playwright
Bridgette Dutta Portman’s plays have been read and produced in the San Francisco Bay Area, across the country and overseas. Her short comedies have been part of Sheherezade, co-produced by Wily West for the Playwrights' Center of San Francisco, for four consecutive years. One of them, AUTO-INCORRECT (2013), went on to several productions in the UK. Bridgette was among the writers for Wily West’s 2013 Showdown competition and 2014 Superheroes project. One of her full-length plays, FRIAR LAZARO, OR THE KING OF TERRORS, was part of Wily West’s Spooky Cabaret series in 2012. Bridgette is a board member and literary committee chair of the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco, as well as a member of the Pear Writers’ Guild (Pear Avenue Theatre, Mountain View) and the City Light Source playwrights group (City Lights Theater, San Jose). She is excited to be joining Wily West.

KARL SCHACKNE
Playwright
Karl Schackne is an actor and playwright. Raised in the Bay Area, he earned his BA in Film at San Francisco State University, then shifted gears years later and started acting at City College of San Francisco. He continues to be involved in CCSF stage productions, appearing in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Claudio), CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION (Schultz), THE TEMPEST (Sebastian), ALMOST MAINE, and A FLEA IN HER EAR (Tournel). He has also performed with the Primitive Screwheads in MUCH ADO ABOUT LEBOWSKI, the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco in their reading series’ and semiannual 24-Hour Playfest, SF Olympians, and Theatre Pub. His short plays include: LITERALLY, produced by the PCSF for the 24-Hour Playfest (2013); CHOCOLATE, produced by Seoul Players for both the Daegu Play Festival and Seoul 10 Minute Play Festival in 2014; SUPERHEROES CONFERENCE OPENING ADDRESS, produced by Wily West for Superheroes (2014).
Playwright
Karl Schackne is an actor and playwright. Raised in the Bay Area, he earned his BA in Film at San Francisco State University, then shifted gears years later and started acting at City College of San Francisco. He continues to be involved in CCSF stage productions, appearing in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (Claudio), CIRCLE MIRROR TRANSFORMATION (Schultz), THE TEMPEST (Sebastian), ALMOST MAINE, and A FLEA IN HER EAR (Tournel). He has also performed with the Primitive Screwheads in MUCH ADO ABOUT LEBOWSKI, the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco in their reading series’ and semiannual 24-Hour Playfest, SF Olympians, and Theatre Pub. His short plays include: LITERALLY, produced by the PCSF for the 24-Hour Playfest (2013); CHOCOLATE, produced by Seoul Players for both the Daegu Play Festival and Seoul 10 Minute Play Festival in 2014; SUPERHEROES CONFERENCE OPENING ADDRESS, produced by Wily West for Superheroes (2014).