Quick Guide to Oscars 2013

Didn't watch the Oscars this year?  We have a concise account of the couture, the music, and winners in hashtag form. 

Fashionistas: Helen Hunt, Zoe Saldana, Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, Kerry Washington. #Loveliness

Goddesses of the Red Carpet: Charlize Theron, Naomi Watts, Catherine Zeta Jones. #AbsolutelyFabulous

Black Tie Hotness: Hugh Jackman, Chris Pine, George Clooney, Eddie Redmayne. #YumYum 

Best accessory: Quenzhane Wallis' dog purse complete with dress and matching tiara #BeOriginal  #Coolest9YearOld

Most Stunning Couple: Jennifer Garner & Ben Affleck. #NoSurprise

Fashion implosion:  Halle Barry, who looked like an evil queen in Buck Rogers. #WhatAWaste   #SquareShouldersShouldNeverComeBack

Most Improved Fashion Award: Nicole Kidman. With a body like that, only took you over 15 years to hit it out of the park.  #FinallyItHappenedToMe

Bradley Cooper, please take a cue from George and Ben and use clippers. #NeatBeardsPlease  

Kept Waiting for a load of tribbles to fall on host Seth McFarlane during opening monologue... because that actually would've been funny #ThankGodForCaptainKirk

We quickly discovered the vast difference between being a successful and brilliant animated show writer and doing a stand-up routine. #WhereAreTina&Amy?

Unlikely, but beautiful combo: Charlize Theron and Channing Tatum.  Waiting for the dance movie.  #HighlightOfTheNight

Did you know Charlize is ballet trained and has danced in Swan Lake  #Beautiful&Talented

The moment I was relieved this year's Oscars wasn't gonna be a Silver Linings travesty: Christoph Waltz winning Best Supporting Actor (again) for Django Unchained.  #TotallyDeserved   #ILoveGratefulActors   #SeemsLikeAGreatGuy

Anne Hathaway was devastating in Les Misérables & glad she got the Oscar. Loved the daring dress.  #HolyCutoutsBatman

Urgh, did she really need to thank 40 people? And lecture about poverty?  #BoringSpeeches  #NeverLikedYouMuchAnyway

Damn, Shirley Bassey belting Goldfinger!  #StillGotIt  #TakeNotesJenniferHudson

Sound Editing should always go to the films with the most action: Zero Dark Thirty and Skyfall #YesATie

Goosebumpy Moment: the leads of Les Miz singing "One Day More"... Fantastic! Even with the miscast and stiffer-than-a-redwood Russell Crowe. And with a professional chorus, I'm sure they told Amanda Sigfried just to mouth it. #HighlightOfTheNight #KillerOscarMoment

Does Jennifer Aniston have Vulcan ears? Then why does she always have the same hairstyle?  #DoSomethingDifferent 

Hottest Should-Be-A-Couple: Chris Pine & Zoe Saldana. Also hosts of the Tech Oscars 

#TooBadWeCouldntSwitchHosts  #PleaseHaveBabiesForGreaterGood

Why Life of Pi won for Best Visual Effects: 10 million CGI tiger hairs #TotallyDeserved

Cutting off acceptance speeches for lifeless Ted twaddle?  #Why?

Whoo-hoo! Best Adapted Screenplay for Argo! I would've given it to Beasts, but still happy...   #SuckItSilverLinings

Quentin Tarantino won Best Original Screenplay for Django Unchained... it was original alright. #TooYoungToRetire

Was Barbara Streisand worth waiting 2 decades for? #JuryStillOut  

Hey Barbara and Jennifer Hudson... #MoreHeartLessCheese 


Ok, Ok. Seth wasn't all bad.  I liked the soft-shoe. I snickered at "We Saw Your Boobs"; it was so Peter Griffin #IWouldSeeYourDinnerShow #StillBetterThanFranco

So adorable I want to shrink him and put him in my pocket: Ang Lee winning for Best Director for "Life of Pi" #WonderfulSurprise #SeemsLikeAGreatGuy

Thank you for wearing color and not just red, white, or gold: Jennifer Garner in purple, Reese Witherspoon in blue, Sam Jackson in pimpin' burgundy velvet #BeOriginal  

Yes, Adele won Best Song for "Skyfall". Because... it sounded like every other Bond song in the past 50 years. Yeah, that's it.  #Expected

Looking at Jane Fonda woke everyone up. #HolyYellowDressBatman #WeNeededThat

When you're hosting the Oscars and a billion people have already groaned at you a few times, best to reel it back into the Safe Zone and only make jokes about how long the show is... #WorksEveryTime

Biggest "Nooo!" moment: Jennifer Lawrence's win. She is a fine actress, but shall join the ranks of Gwenyth Paltrow and Sandra Bullock who also won for the wrong movie. #SorryNaomiWatts

Jennifer, your skirt was ridiculous, that's why you fell. Bigger isn't always better.  #LookedLikeAWeddingCakeTopper  #TooYoungForHugeGowns  #NoDrinkingBeforeAccepting

Despite the phenomenal job as Jean Valjean, at least it went to one of the finest actors in the business: Daniel Day Lewis' unprecedented Third Best Actor statue for Lincoln.  #SorryHughJackman

Didn't know Daniel is funnier onstage than Seth McFarlane? You should have seen his BAFTAs awards speech. When is he gonna do a comedy? #SomebodyWriteItNow

Put Jennifer Garner in it, she's looked marvelous this awards season  #NoMoreSidelines 
Better yet, but them both in the Charlize & Channing dance flick #WhyNot

Michelle Obama opening the envelope for Best Picture??  Well... Ok.  #WonderfulSurprise #OnlySheCouldPullThatOff

Even the First Lady got the memo #YearOfTheMetallicDress

I watched most of the Awards shows this year. Never before has an actor won me over from the sincerity of his acceptance speeches alone.  Ben Affleck, you've obviously learned a ton in the past 15 years.  Argo is an achievement.  I'm proud of ya. #SeemsLikeAGreatGuyNow #SuckItSilverLinings

Sorry "Beasts of the Southern Wild"  didn't win anything.  It's incredible. #GoSeeIt

Best part of host Seth McFarlane? The closing song "Here's to the Losers" with Kristen Chenoweth. #YepTheyKnewBradleyWouldLose

Otherwise, Seth's writing is far better in his shows.  #MediocreIndeed  #FallFromFamilyGuy  #HughJackmanHasMoreCharmInHisToe

Starting the campaign.  Who is with me? #Tina&Amy2014

- Melissa 

Wily West Hangs with Cast of "Dead Certain"

An epic outing of Wily Westers to see the excellent "Dead Certain" by Expression Productions at the Cartwright Hotel last night!  The gripping mystery thriller runs every Friday through Sunday until (at least) April.  We highly recommend it.  For tickets, click here!

We were also happy to have a few cocktails with the stars, Diana Brown and Andrey Esterlis, and Production Manager Stacy Marshall after the show at one of our favorite places: Hotel Rex's Library Bar in downtown San Francisco.

Wily West and Play Club Outing. Photo by Stacy Marshall.

Thank you to Lucinda, Kate, Kat, Quinn, Meira, Farah, Wes, Abby, Colleen, and Casey for such a wonderful evening out!

Wily West Attends "Dead Certain" in Downtown SF

Wily West Theatre Excursion:

Tonight a large troupe of Wily Westers will be enthusiastically in the audience of one of our favorite fellow SF indie theatre companies, Expression Productions, with their "pop-up" revival of  "Dead Certain". Our very own Wes Cayabyab served as Production Consultant!

Dead Certain is an "edge-of-your-seat" thriller by award-winning British playwright Marcus Lloyd.  The play follows an out- of-work actor who is hired by a reclusive, theater-obsessed ex-dancer to privately act out a play she has written. The truth and illusion become inseparably entangled as this taut psychological thriller gathers speed towards a gripping climax.

What is “Pop-Up” Theater?  A full theatrical experience brought into unusual venues.  Watch the video here!

Dead Certain

Written by Marcus Lloyd

Directed by Andrey Esterlis

Cast

Diana Brown as Elizabeth

Andrey Esterlis as Michael

Production Manager: Stacy Marshall

Production Consultant: Wesley Cayabyab

Fridays and Saturdays at 8 PM

Saturdays and Sundays at 2 PM 

Ongoing

Cartwright Hotel Union Square

524 Sutter Street (between Powell & Mason), San Francisco 

Tickets: $20-$28

Online at Brown Paper Tickets, click HERE

Phone:  800-838-3006  (24/7)

Diana Brown and Andrey Esterlis. Photo by Stacy Marshall

Critical Praise for Expression’s Dead Certain:

"A twisty and engaging psychological thriller.” --Time Out New York

"Fine performances that resonate with quiet believability and psychological honesty, Dead Certain will certainly entertain." --SF Bay Times

“A standing ovation for this deadly jewel of a play.” --SF Station    

About our friends Expression Productions:
Expression Productions is an independent production company with artistic style and script selection.  We favor small-cast and/or short form material as we feel they allow more informal, close communication with an audience, and tend to have higher density in thought and action.  For more information: www.expressionproductions.com

Sheherezade 13 Developmental Reading

Wily West Productions is once again partnering with the Playwrights Center of San Francisco for Sheherezade 13, an evening of 9 fully produced short plays written by PCSF members. The show is an annual benefit funding PCSF's mission to encourage and develop local playwrights and promote script writing and audience development.

We held a Developmental Reading with the playwrights, Wily West team, and a majority of our actors on Feb 2 at Stagewerx Theatre. Such a read-through is beneficial for the playwrights to hear their work aloud and make final script adjustments and to ignite the creative process for the directors and production team.

Photo by Colin Hussey 2013

Pictured in read-through from left to right: Joey Cherney, Karen Offereins, Richard Egan, Kate Jones, Wesley Cayabyab, Abigail Edber, and Charles Lewis III (sitting in for Peter Townley) 

We are proud to announce the selected plays of Sheherezade 13:

• After Frank by Patricia Milton
• Auto-Incorrect by Bridgette Dutta Portman
• Chrysomelidae Hide No More by Jennifer Lynne Roberts
• Indelible by Beverly Butler
• Laura and Curt: A Story of Love and Big Numbers by Rod McFadden
• Piñata Fight by Elizabeth Flanagan
• Romulus and Jewel: A 10-Minute Travesty in Five Acts by Diane Sampson
• Say Uncle by Mordecai Cohen Ettinger
• Two to Five with Three Seconds to Go by Susan Jackson

Directed by the talented band of Brady Brophy-Hilton, Kat Kneisel, Laylah Muran, and Ann Thomas, Sheherezade 13 will premiere at the Exit Main Stage, April 12-27, 2013, San Francisco.

Gorgeous Hussy: A Staged Reading

Thunderous applause at the staged reading of "Gorgeous Hussy: An Interview with Joan Crawford" at the Phoenix Theatre on Tuesday, Feb. 12.  The intense new full-length play by Wily West founder Morgan Ludlow is slated for a Summer 2013 production at the Exit Theatre, directed by Brady Brohpy-Hilton.

We are grateful for the outstanding and nuanced performances by Susan Jackson and Ryan Hayes.

Susan Jackson

Ryan Hayes

 

Wily West's Recipe for a Showdown

Take 8 playwrights (locally sourced only)
4 wild topics
A huge bunch of talent
Season with imagination, creativity, and inspiration
Bake for 6 days
Form 8 distinctly original 10 minute plays
Fold in 2 incredible directors (Brady Brophy-Hilton and Wesley Cayabyab)
Give them 1 evening
Mold and shape with 6 phenomenal actors 
Roll out to a great audience 
Add a dash of friendly competition 

And you have created a delightful & entertaining evening of new theatre!


Everyone was a winner in last night's Showdown: Battle of the Playwrights at Bindlestiff Studio. An impressive feat of artistry in such a short amount of time!

Congratulations to Team Cowboy of Susan Jackson, Charles Lewis III, Ignacio Zulueta, and Patricia Milton for roping the audience vote!

Big thanks and a tip of the hat to brilliant Team Outlaw: Jaene Leonard, Bridgette Dutta Portman, Kirk Shimano, and Marissa Skudlarek.

And especially to our marvelous group of actors: Joey Cherney, Lila Davidson, Abigail Edber, Phil Goleman, Colin Hussy, Kat Kneisel, and Charles Lewis III.

Much obliged.

The Showdown: Battle of the Playwrights

Tonight, don't miss our Season Kick-Off Event !  

2.7.13

8 Playwrights. 6 Days. 4 Topics. 

Cowboys. Outlaws.

YOUR VOTE.

Come experience a new play competition as eight outstanding local playwrights vie to win your vote for best play.

Featuring Bay Area Playwrights:
Susan Jackson 
Jaene Leonard
Charles Lewis III
Patricia Milton
Bridgette Dutta Portman
Kirk Shimano
Marissa Skudlarek
Ignacio Zulueta

Directed by Brady Brophy-Hilton & Wesley Cayabyab

Starring: Joey Cherney, Lila Davidson, Abigail Edber, Phil Goleman, Colin Hussy, Kat Kneisel, and Charles Lewis III.

Thursday, February 7th

 7:30pm

Bindlestiff Studios

185 6th Street (@ Howard), San Francisco

$10 at the door

To reserve seats, click HERE