The Emeryville Horror on Zoom

Same Boat Theater Collective presents
the livestream world premiere of

THE EMERYVILLE HORROR: A TALE OF ENVIRONMENTAL VENGEANCE

by Linda Amayo-Hassan, Lynn Aylward (lead writer), Lisa Kang (lead writer), Ellen Koivisto and Bridgette Dutta Portman

directed by
Salim Razawi

July 10
7pm San Francisco
10pm New York, South Carolina
July 11
3am, London
730am, New Delhi
July 12
9am San Francisco
12pm New York, South Carolina
5pm, London
930pm, New Delhi
Recorded performances available for a limited time only.

The Cast and Team

MAYEN..........................................................................................................................................................................Gloria Stanley
MAYOR, ENSEMBLE............................................................................................................................................Pamela Drummer-Williams
ROO.................................................................................................................................................................................Lou Cooper
RAYMOND..................................................................................................................................................................John Scott-Richardson
HUNG.............................................................................................................................................................................Don Nguyen
VARA.................................................................................................................................................................................Rosemarie Kingfisher
ISOBEL, ENSEMBLE........................................................................................................................................Amytza Maskati
DOUGLASS, MAN IN CROWD, BILL THE TRAFFIC REPORTER, ENSEMBLE............Peter Fitzsimmons
DANH, EPA OFFICIAL...........................................................................................................................................Vinh Nguyen
GLORIA, COYOTE....................................................................................................................................................Sundarri Maria
CHIEF OF POLICE, DEER.........................................................................................................................................Piyush Kumar
ASHLEY, WOMAN IN CROWD, ENSEMBLE....................................................................................Sidal Kekilli

Voice Overs, Assistant Director, Zoom Stage Manager................................................Marissa Ampon
Image and Sound Design.......................................................................................................................Shubhra Prakash
Box Office Support........................................................................................................................................Aaron Higareda
Poster Art..............................................................................................................................................................Rob Dario
Script Consultants.......................................................................................................................................Paul Heller, Matt Kizer (Washoe tribe), Alan
Leventhal (ethno-historian, Muwekma
Ohlone Tribe), Vinh G. Nguyen

With special help from L. Frank Manriquez (Tongva and Ajachemen tribes), Kanyon Sayers-Roods (Mutsun Ohlone tribe), Megan Zapanta (Asian Pacific Environmental Network) and Youth for Apocalypse/350 San Francisco.

About the Cast and Team

Linda Amayo-Hassan (contributing writer) is a playwright and in the writers pool for PlayGround. Her short play Latino Souls was selected in November for PlayGround. Linda developed her full length play ¡CHEER! Story of a Dreamer, at the Berkeley Rep School and she attended the Kennedy Center Summer Playwriting Intensive in 2018. Linda was commissioned by the Hayward Area Historical Society to write, The Heart of Our Bay, a history of Hayward, California. Linda runs Chabot College Theatre for Young Audiences and is a founding member of Theatre Cultura.

Marissa L. Ampon (voice overs/assistant director/zoom stage manager), Filipina-American currently living on Ramaytush Ohlone Land, a member of the Same Boat Theater Collective, is grateful for the opportunity to be THE EMERYVILLE HORROR's Assistant Director, Stage Manager and Zoom Tech. Initially she "just wanted to do voice acting", then the theatre-bug bit HARD in 2017 in her first theatrical performance in Bindlestiff Studio's World Premiere of WELGA. By day, she works in biotech; by night, it's been non-stop involvement & exploring all aspects of acting (voice, stage, on-camera, film) and behind-the-scenes duties, such as stage management. Her favorite role thus far has been The Worker/Lady Incinerator in a post-apocalyptic sci-fi, short play, The Incinerator (FORBIDDEN FUTURE(S), Bindlestiff Studio) where she utilized her dialect training & discovered her untapped costume-making skills to bring her loner, steampunk/evil ruler character into life (yup, multiple personalities). Check out her acting adventures by following her on IG: @ampontheair.

Lynn Aylward (lead writer) studied playwriting at the Writer's Center in Washington, DC where she was a member of the Playwrights Forum. She has been a member of the Writers Pool at Playground for two seasons, and three of her short plays have been presented by Playground at Berkeley Rep. Her short play Twelve Twenty Five was performed at the Shelton Theater in November 2018. Lynn is working on a full-length play on climate change commissioned by Playground and Planet Earth Arts, and her play Three Chords and the Truth was a semi-finalist for the 2019 Bay Area Playwrights Festival. Lynn has a MSc in economics from the London School of Economics and one in environmental science from New York University.

Lou Cooper (Roo) is a 17 year old from the San Francisco Bay Area (Ohlone land). They have been performing for over 11 years now. Their favorite roles have included Peter Pan in Peter Pan, Hans in Frozen Jr., and Helena in a Midsommer’s Night Dream. They also are an improviser and dancer, dancing competitive Hip Hop and recreational Jazz and Musical Theater at Jazz n Taps dance studio and improvising with teen improv troop Creatures of Impulse for five years. When they are not performing you can catch them rollerskating or fighting for LGBTQ+ equality. In the fall Lou will be attending Bard College at Simon’s Rock studying Social Justice. They hope you enjoy the show and join the fight for environmental and social justice!

Pamela Drummer-Williams (Mayor/ensemble) resides on Karkin, Ohlone, Chochenyo and Karkin land and is thrilled to be working with Same Boat Theater Collective as part of such a diverse and talented cast telling a story of warning. Pam was last seen in living rooms via Zoom as Dr. Ray Daly in Felix B. Love Is Not Alone (Queer Cat Productions), Some of her favorite roles have been (Suffragist Mary based on Mary Church Terrell) Strange Ladies - B8 Theatre Co., (The Officiant) The Gay Divorce Play - Queer Cat Productions, (Sarah’s Friend), Ragtime, CCCT (Penelope Sycamore) You Can’t Take it With You, CCCT, (Pam), Godspell, Pinole Community Playhouse, (Sister Mary Wilhelm) Nunsense - Altarena Playhouse, (Mama Euralie) Once on this Island, Napa Valley Conservatory, (Church Lady) The Color Purple, Hillbarn Theatre. When not working or performing, Pam is living vicariously through her daughter, a commercial pilot who is living her dreams as we all should!!

Peter Fitzsimmons (Douglass, man in crowd, Bill the Traffic Reporter, ensemble) is a native San Franciscan, the aboriginal homeland of the Muwekma Ohlone tribe. He earned his B.A. in Literature and Theater Arts at the University of California at Santa Cruz and studied playwriting in the MFA program at UCLA. He is a member of the Same Boat Theater Collective and he sits on the Board of the Handful Players, a performing arts program & musical theater for San Francisco children. As an actor, Pete has performed the leading role Hubert, in Yasmina Reza’s play, ”Life X 3”, at the Phoenix Theater in San Francisco and as the Narrator / Ollie Harrington in the world premier of Reg Clay’s play, “Four Men In Paris”. He has starred and co-starred in numerous film and television projects. Recently, he played the role of the Bookie in the short film, “As Ye Sow”, which won an award at the 2019 Amsterdam Film Festival. Mr. Fitzsimmons is the Co-founder of the Fellowship Theater Guild, where he acts and directs. Up next: Mr. Fitzsimmons and Jeffrey Stewart are co-writing "Poetic Justice", a film treatment based on Stewart's Pulitzer prize winning biography, “The New Negro - The Life of Alain Locke.”

Paul Heller (script consultant) is an award-winning playwright based in the San Francisco Bay Area. In collaboration with actors, puppeteers, dancers, directors, and university professors, Paul has devised original plays that examine America's shrinking rural culture, prison debt, opioid addiction, our current political divide, our identity as Americans, and our relationship with Mexico, Japan, China, and Vietnam. Paul's plays have premiered in the Bay Area and nationally. He has taught acting and has directed dozens of plays and musicals in the Bay Area as well as in Mexico, Venezuela, and Rome while teaching in local and at international schools. He ran the Asian American Theater’s playwrights’ incubator program and currently serves as dramaturge for Indra’s Net, a theater company devoted to work about science and mathematics. https://paulgheller.com

Lisa Kang (lead writer) is a resident of San Jose (Muwekma Ohlone land) and a native of the San Francisco Bay Area, where she has been a playwright, actor, educator and environmental activist for several years. Her work has been performed by theaters in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seoul and Taipei. Her work has been featured in Theater Bay Area’s Playwriting Showcase and has been recognized as finalist or semi-finalist in Playwright’s Foundation, MultiStages (NYC), and Naatak Theater. She is the co-founder of San Jose's City Lights Theater's Light Source playwriting workshop and founder of Butterfly Effect’s playwriting workshop in Taipei. Lisa is a member of Playground and of the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco. www.lisakang.net/

Sidal Kekilli (Ashley/Woman in Crowd/ensemble) was trained at the MN Academy of film and theatre. Her first performance was at the Arcola for the play 'Where we are: The Mosque', where she was representing the figure of an imam. She has also been in the play: 'soupcase' at Theatre 503 and recently in Project Phakama UK, a play called 'identity' where she was part of the process of writing the play and performed her spoken word live. Currently she is working with the National student drama festival for 2021, with the hopes of being part of the creative process of making and performing for this festival in Leicester, UK.

Rosemarie Star Kingfisher (Vara) grew up in the San Geronimo Valley of West Marin County, located on the home of the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Tribes. She is thrilled to be a part of this creative, international group of artists virtually! What we have to gain through performance has become hard to attain, but what we seek remains even more vital. Since graduating Sonoma State University in 2017, Rose has performed with Bay Area Theatre companies including Playground SF, San Francisco Shakespeare Fest, Bay Area Childrens Theatre, Children’s Fairyland and Ross Valley Players. Her passion for Shakespeare in performance lead her to study with Shakespeare and Co. located in Lenox, MA, and her love for circus arts followed in her completion of SF Circus Center’s Clown Conservatory program this spring. Her next performance will be a virtual reading of Romeo and Juliet with Lake County Theatre Company later in July.

Ellen Koivisto (contributing writer) is an award-winning playwright who co-founded Theatre Artist’s Conspiracy, ran the TAC Limelight Playwriting workshop and was associate program director of The Scene Shop in San Francisco, co-produced the Bay Area Shakespeare Marathon, and is a 2010 Directors’ Lab West alumni. She taught science (chemistry, astronomy, physics, biology, marine biology, and environmental science) for 30 years, and has been an environmental activist since elementary school. Ellen is a member of Dramatists Guild of America, Inc., Playground and the New Play Exchange.

Piyush Kumar (Chief of Police/Deer) is a theatre practitioner from 10 years who has worked in several productions with Barefoot, Crow, Kaivalya Plays's Unravel, Hanchu-Yuei Japan,T adpole Repertory & Black Box's Woyzeck, where he played the lead character and received critical acclaim. His latest production as an actor was Tadpole’s Rakshas.L ast year directed ensemble Production one plastic pollution called "Panniarchy" With L.T.G. Repertory Actors Delhi. He has also given workshops and directed productions in schools and colleges of Delhi University and was a primary cast in Arré’s new web series Tathaastu.

Sundarri Maria (Gloria/Coyote) is a Latin-American Actress, Musician, and Writer currently residing in Los Angeles, CA; Chumash Territory. Growing up in Greenville, South Carolina, she discovered a passion for the arts which led her to New York City. She graduated from The Maggie Flanigan Studio in 2015 and The William Esper Studio in 2018. Sundarri prides herself in being a Meisner-Trained actress and hopes to pursue a film career in the Dramatic Arts. She also discovered a love for music, which led her to musical theater and the recording studio. You can find her on streaming services such as Apple Music and Spotify. Sundarri hopes to inspire others to think outside of the box, by showing that a combination of dreams, perseverance, and faith can take you anywhere.

Amytza Maskati (Isobel/ensemble) makes her livestream theatre debut as “Isobel” in The Emeryville Horror. Amytza performed in about 30 theatre, film, and webseries productions in over 25 years. She starred in the “LORALI” World Premiere and collaborated with Todd Kessler (creator of “Blue’s Clues”) to raise environmental awareness for children in Miami, Florida. The Edison Arts Society awarded Highest Honors in Theatre to this first-generation Puerto Rican & Indian raised in Edison, New Jersey. Amytza inspires others through teaching grades K-12 and coaching adults as an entrepreneur. Amytza earned her B.A. in Journalism/Media Studies & Spanish Translation/Interpretation at Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ and M.A. in Urban Education: Spanish Language & Culture at Loyola Marymount University, Los Angeles, CA. Amytza studied Spanish in Spain, Arabic in Oman, and now resides in Silicon Valley on Ramaytush and Ohlone land. Amytza sings, dances, and shares her travels with the world. Connect with Amytza at [email protected].

Don Nguyen (Hung) is beyond excited to be part of Same Boat Theater Collective’s livestream performance of The Emeryville Horror. Recent credits include: She Loves Me (Maître D'), Opera San Jose’s chorus member (2018-2019 season), Bernstein’s Mass (Street Singer, Projection Designer), Urinetown (Fipp, Dr. Billeaux), Guys and Dolls (Brannigan, Hot Box Dancer)... Born in Vietnam, raised on Pho, nurtured with show tunes, Don relocated to the Bay Area 10 years ago and his current residence is on Ohlone Land (Tamyen territory). Despite having an accent, Don can cry fluently in eight languages. He does not know how to make Pho but he has a talent of finishing a full-sized bowl in under 5 minute. He strongly believes in the healing powers of the Sriracha. And he’s also a full-time Beyoncé worshipper.

Vinh G. Nguyen (Danh/EPA official) is a Bay Area actor, director, and arts educator. Some of his stage credits include: Sammy Kimura in the Bay Area premiere of Allegiance (Contra Costa Civic Theatre), Angel in Rent (Cabrillo Stage), and The Cat In The Hat in Seussical (Bay Area Musicals). As a multi-faceted theatre maker, Vinh has collaborated on shows such as: Anon(ymous) (ACT Young Conservatory), Flower Drum Song (Palo Alto Players), and multiple award-winning TYA productions at Bay Area Children’s Theatre. He is honored to be directing the musical Allegiance at Palo Alto Players this fall. Vinh has taught at San Diego State University, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, and BACT. Vinh holds an MFA in Musical Theatre from San Diego State University and a BA in Musical Theatre from San Jose State University. He is a member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC) and Equity Membership Candidate Program (EMC). Vinh is a passionate advocate for arts education and promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion. He is currently residing in San Jose, CA, on Ohlone native land.

Bridgette Dutta Portman (contributing writer) is a playwright based in Fremont, CA (Chochenyo Ohlone land). Dozens of her plays have been read or produced in the Bay Area, across the country, and overseas. She is past president of the Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco and a member of the Pear Writers’ Guild and the Dramatists’ Guild. She holds a PhD in political science (UC Irvine, 2011), as well as an MFA from Spalding University (2018) and has long had an interest in politics, including policy related to both the environment and social justice. www.bridgetteduttaportman.com.

Shubhra Prakash (image and sound design) is an artist whose work lies at the intersection of film, theatre and tech. Shubhra has served as co-producer and voiceover artist for Priya’s Shakti. She most recently co-wrote, produced and acted in an original play The Music In My Blood about Indian classical music that was seen by over a thousand audience members in the New York City area and the east coast. She has co-founded the award-winning NYC based Hypokrit Theatre Company. She served as festival director of the company's South Asian International Performing Arts Festival in its inaugural year 2015. Previously, she wrote and directed short films including Three Dates, part of New York Indian Film Festival 2013 and Funny Faces, about women in standup comedy. Her interactive short CAST ME! a "choose your own adventure" style film/game was part of The Challenge of Diversity competition by Interlude, Games for Change and Tribeca Film Festival. Shubhra has been part of TFI Interactive Immigration Co/Lab in 2017 where she and her team created COYOTEK a multimedia-interactive project that works as a speculative web market where immigrants can find tools to bypass the oppressive forms of surveillance put upon them. In December 2018, Shubhra relocated to India to develop her next play inspired by the life of Rajeev Prakash Khare, a font designer and calligrapher of Indian scripts. As a result of this research, she presented a digital art exhibition in New Delhi at Kaleidoscope Digital Art gallery, "Fontwala: Stone to Mobile, what remains?" which shows the evolution of Indian Devnagri script and questions how digital media impacts the journey of a complex script. The exhibition received a special segment on the Indian national TV channel and was covered by prominent press. Shubhra shot, edited, animated and produced the exhibition in collaboration with Rajeev Prakash Khare that ran for three weeks in Aug 2019. More info about this can be found at https://sprakash.github.io/portfolio/fontwala.html

Salim Razawi (director) is an actor, director, and teaching artist based in the bay Area. Previous directing credits include Once on this Island, School of Rock and Addams Family Youth@Part. Recent performer credits include Pip in Great Expectations at Town Hall Theatre, Disgraced at San Jose Stage Company, and Our Enemies with Golden Thread Productions. In addition to these, Salim has performed with TheatreWorks, Broadway By the Bay, Altarena Playhouse, Pacific Coast Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Playhouse, Tri-Valley REP, Bay Area Children’s Theatre, Tabard Theatre, Livermore Shakespeare Festival, and SF Shakespeare Festival. Salim can also be seen on a featured TEDx talk. SalimRazawi.com

John Scott-Richardson (Raymond), maternal and paternal lineage Saponi, Nansemond, Tuscarora, is an enrolled member of the Haliwa-Saponi Nation of North Carolina. John has presented at United Nations, NY Children’s Museum, Raritan Community College, Lotus Music and Dance, Whitney, Armory, and various schools in New York City. Recent credits include Assistant Director of Soledad by Carolyn Dunn, and stage manager and assistant producer for Reflections of Native Voices 2020. He currently works as Artistic Director with Amerinda Inc. in NYC. Film/TV credits include Comedy Central Awards, Banshee (Cinemax), Vice Principals (HBO), The American West (AMC), Jamestown (Sky1), The Reunion, The Heart Stays, The Politician (Netflix) and is SAG member. Theatrical work includes New Circle Theater (Broadway), Dvorak in America (La Mama), Don’t Feed the Indians (La Mama) and recently Mangled Beams (Amerinda). His strong passions are working with youth, Native American culture, community and tribal traditions with the highest value being family. www.johnscottrichardson.com

Gloria Stanley (Mayen/Ba Noi) is a San Jose native and has returned to the theater after being a cabaret singer in Nevada for 30 years. In 2014 she switched to acting, and appeared on stage in productions of, "In The Heights," "Roosters,", "The Vagina Monologues," and "The Circuit" among others. In 2019 she appeared in the American Zoetrope film, “Love is Love is Love,” written and directed by Eleanor Coppola. This film was featured in the Tribeca Film Festival, 2020. A member of the Raramuri or Tarahumara tribe of Chihuahua, Mexico, she is proud to be playing Mayen for the first time in The Same Boat Collective. Her San Jose home stands on what was originally Ohlone/Tamyen land.

Producer's Note

In January, 2019, I gathered a group of playwrights together to write stories about the environment that would move people to take action for change. When we decided to write a horror story set in the near future, we had no idea how quickly that future would come. By the end of 2019, stories about the devastation of fires, floods and hurricanes brought about by climate change was everywhere, their narratives coming closer to the edge of our everyday existence. Cataclysm on a global scale seemed just around the corner. Not too long into 2020, the future was upon us and our play about body counts and overwhelmed hospitals was suddenly a reality, a diversity of people rising up like never before to protest systemic racial oppression. Same Boat had to adapt quickly, moving our scheduled production of The Emeryville Horror from Potrero Stage to Zoom and rewriting our script to respond to a growing awareness of sensitive racial issues.

I read another story today, about how our continued encroachment into the wilderness ensures the incidence and spread of more viral diseases. The Earth will kick back. As I've learned from the Native American consultants and cast members I've had the honor of working with, we are all connected in this intricate and fragile web of life. We are all responsible. That's the message we hope our play to bring to you: change is happening quickly. If we want change that will save us, it's up to you and me.

Thank you, thank you to the Collective members, to our talented Emeryville Horror cast, and to Salim, Marissa and Shubhra, for your persistence, passion and patience. Thank you, Jim Kleinmann, for your tireless mentorship. Thank you to the Muwekma Ohlone, whose land I sit upon as I type these notes. Thank you, Mother Earth. I hope our play serves you well.

--Lisa Kang, Founder, Same Boat Theater Collective

Special Thanks

Jacqueline Bugler, Sarah Gasser, Jim Kleinmann, Lenore Naxon, PlayGround, Stephanie Wigham, and the City of Emeryville.
The Emeryville Horror was produced with the assistance of Potrero Stage. Funding for this production comes from a Theatre Bay Area CA$H Performs grant and our generous individual donors. Same Boat Theater Collective has received further assistance from a Center for Cultural Innovation Quick Grant.

Same Boat Theater Collective is a fiscally-sponsored participant in the PlayGround Innovator Incubator Program. We are proud partners of American Rivers, Farm Fresh to You, Friends of the Urban Forest and the World Wildlife Fund.

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