THE PLASTIC LIFE OF MR. ZEEE
by Lisa Kang and Piyush Kumar
contributing writer: Paul Heller
directed by Robin Plutchok
Ruben Zeee ..... Rowen Weeramantry
Narrator/Pamela ..... Pam Drummer Williams
Puppeteer ..... Sheila Devitt
Producer.........................................................................................................Lisa Kang
Sound Design/Technician ............................................................Crystal Bettati
About the Cast and Team
Sheila Devitt (puppeteer) is honored to join the Same Boat Theatre Collective for this production of The Plastic Life of Mr. Zeee. She is a San Francisco-based theatre maker: actor, director, producer and advocate, with a love of world theatre and gender parity in the arts. She is a performing company member with the Actors Reading Collective and Theatre of Yugen, and a staff member with Golden Thread Productions. Sheila is an accomplished teaching artist and puppeteer. She is equally excited by classical, new and devised plays, and joyously collaborates with living writers. When she isn’t making theatre, Sheila makes herbal medicine through her clinical practice, Sun and Moon Dispensary . Sheila is an environmental advocate and strives for a plastic-free life. She recommends myplasticfreelife.com to learn more. (she/ her)
Pam Drummer-Williams (Narrator/Pamela) Pam Drummer-Williams is excited to return to Same Boat Theater Collective in multiple amazing pieces. She was last seen as Lady Ptomaine Bibbidi Bobbidi Boos with Dragon and Fuse Theatres, with Playland Production in “Bitsy Bites Back” as Pepper, A full Zoom play with Same Boat Theater Collective in :The Emeryville Horror” as The Mayor. Also, on Zoom Pam has been seen in living rooms via Zoom with Queer Cat Productions in “Felix B. Love Is Not Alone” as Dr. Ray Daly. Some of her favorite roles have been with B8 Theatre Co. in “Strange Ladies” as “Suffragist Mary based on Mary Church Terrell”, with Queer Cat Productions in “The Gay Divorce Play” as The Officiant, with Contra Costa Civic Theatre in “Ragtime” as Sarah’s Friend, with Contra Costa Civic Theatre, in “You Can’t Take it With You” as Penelope Sycamore, and with Pinole Community Playhouse in “Godspell” as Pam. When not working or performing, Pam is
living vicariously through her daughter, a commercial pilot who is living her dreams as we all
should!!
living vicariously through her daughter, a commercial pilot who is living her dreams as we all
should!!
Paul Heller (contributing playwright, is an award-winning playwright based in the San Francisco Bay Area. His plays have premiered locally at the Asian American Theater Company, One4All Theater Company, the Novato Theater Company, The Unscripted Theater Company, The Ranch (Central Valley), Mary Sano’s Dance Company, and San Francisco State University. Additionally, he has premiered his own work at The Next Stage, The Loft, Emeryville, the Phoenix Theatre and in a dozen living rooms and assisted living centers throughout the area. The Magic Theatre, The Virago Theatre Company, The Aurora Theatre, Local 4, Lafayette Town Hall, Central Works, and Z-Space have featured staged reading of his work. Paul is a two time artist in residence at the Djerassi Resident Artists Program in Woodside, CA and a Fellow with the National Endowment for the Humanities. His plays have received grants from the Zellerbach and Wattis Foundations, Theatre Bay Area’s CA$H program, and the California Creative Capacity Fund. He holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Arizona, where he received the Downs Award for Fiction. Even though we are virtual, he wants to celebrate and acknowledge that we in the Bay Area are on lands of Native Americans including the Ohlone Miwok and Pomo people.
Lisa Kang (producer, playwright) Lisa is a resident of Sacramento 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 with Ferocious Lotus, PlayGround, Stanford's Asian American Theatre Project, Planet Earth Arts and Theater Bay Area’s Playwriting Showcase and has been recognized as by Playwright’s Foundation, MultiStages (NYC), and Naatak Theater. She is the founder of Same Boat Theater Collective and co-founded San Jose's City Lights Theater's Light Source playwriting workshop and Butterfly Effect’s playwriting workshop in Taipei. Lisa is currently working on a full-length play about Monsanto and farmer suicide in India, commissioned by PlayGround and Planet Earth arts.
Piyush Kumar (playwright) has been a theatre practitioner for 10 years who has worked in several productions including Same Boat Theater Collective (California), Hanchu-Yuei Japan, Tadpole Repertory, Black Box's Woyzeck, Barefoot, Crow, Kaivalya Plays' Unravel. He directed an ensemble production on plastic pollution called Panniarchy with the Little Theatre Group Repertory, Delhi. He has conducted several workshops and directed productions in schools and colleges of Delhi University and was a primary cast member in Arré’s web series Tathaastu and Amazon India’s TV Ad campaign Chonkpur Cheetahs.
Robin Plutchok (Director) is thrilled to be on her first journey with Same Boat Theater Collective as director of The Plastic Life of Ruben Zeee. This show combines her passions for theater, puppetry, and sustainability. Robin grew up as a Bay Area theater kid and holds a degree in Theater and Dance from Amherst College, with a focus on masks and puppetry. She has studied with ACT, Dell’Arte Summer Programs, and Charlie Varon. She has been a company member with Lunatique Fantastique, a found-object puppetry theater company, and co-created a show for the SF Fringe Festival. She is a proud mom of two amazing kids and works for a local public agency with the goal of sending less waste to landfill.
Rowen Weeramantry (Ruben Zeee) is a 14 year old high school freshman and is excited to work with Same Boat Theater Collective and this amazing cast! He is proud to help spread awareness about the detrimental effects of plastic pollution on our beautiful coast line. Rowen has recently been seen as U/S Quasimodo/Ensemble in The Hunchback Of Notre Dame and Bruce in Matilda with YMTC, Peewee in Becoming Robinhood and Christian Bechdel in Fun Home with Berkeley Playhouse and as young Dick Wilkins/Turkey child in A.C.T's production of A Christmas Carol . He can be seen next as Laurie in A.C.T.'s youth production of Little Women. He is grateful to his family and friends for their unconditional love and support. Rowen hopes you enjoy the show!
Special Thanks
Jim Kleinmann, Hetal Weeramantry, Anthony DeCicco and Samantha Orth of Shorebird Park Nature Center.
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.
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.
