If anything, they make theatre more appealing and engaging for youth in the Bay Area and when I went to see this year’s Ten Minute Play Festival not once did they fail to showcase the hard work they’ve put into developing their company. -Elena Ruiz

Bay Area Zeta players (BAZP), originally Nerdology Musical Theatre, is a student-run theatre company that focuses on redefining theatre for their generation. The company was created in August of 2013 by three high school students who wanted to produce a musical on their own. Upon the realization that musicals took a lot more work than they anticipated, they gathered actors and others interested in theatre, and Nerdology Musical Theatre was born. They’ve expanded since their first musical, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and besides creating a new, more inclusive name, have added programs like the Ten Minute Play Festival and a Fall play.
Their Mission states that they were, “designed to give high school students in the Bay Area a chance to produce, direct, and design theatre without the management of adults.” They focus on creating “a happy and healthy environment for teens who wish to be independent and productive. Students are offered an opportunity to run a show independently and learn skills that can be used to pursue theatre, design, or management.”
If anything, they make theatre more appealing and engaging for youth in the Bay Area and when I went to see this year’s Ten Minute Play Festival not once did they fail to showcase the hard work they’ve put into developing their company.
As I entered the Jeffrey Bihr Dance Studio, they had completely changed it to the set of an AC Transit bus stop that held two planters with gummy worms on top. All of the seats were filled as I was directed towards a saved spot right in the front with a great view of the stage. When the first actors entered they were wearing what looked like rain clothes and sat at the bus stop. The piece ended up being a comedic five minute play that consisted of one of the characters daring the other to eat a worm before the bus came. If they did eat the worm they would receive Donna Summer’s MacArthur Park on vinyl. The bus comes but the character eats the worm anyway just to prove that they could do it, they also mention that they already have MacArthur Park on vinyl. The lights cut off and MacArthur Park plays. BAZP has managed to cohesively string together each play by adding music that perfectly related to the play before but transitioned into the next play. Everything was clearly thought out and well presented.
This year’s theme, “Spectrums of Love” included a variety of plays from comedic and dramatic pieces, to serious think-pieces surrounding culture, cheating, teenage years, and as described by the title of the first play, eating worms. There were seven plays total which ranged from five to fifteen minutes in length. No matter how long they all grabbed the audience's attention in a unique way that mainstream theatre has yet to do. The audience seemed personally invested in the characters as they almost interacted with the audience through their raw talent. I was astounded specifically by one thing all of the plays had in common: they were all written, directed, and performed by high school students.
This year’s theme, “Spectrums of Love” included a variety of plays from comedic and dramatic pieces, to serious think-pieces surrounding culture, cheating, teenage years, and as described by the title of the first play, eating worms. There were seven plays total which ranged from five to fifteen minutes in length. No matter how long they all grabbed the audience's attention in a unique way that mainstream theatre has yet to do. The audience seemed personally invested in the characters as they almost interacted with the audience through their raw talent. I was astounded specifically by one thing all of the plays had in common: they were all written, directed, and performed by high school students.

Astonished by the work they had managed to put on I had to ask some of the cast members just how they did it, what the experience was like, and what the future for BAZP looked like.
I started out with Emma Massey, a senior at Oakland School for the Arts from the Theatre Department who starred in Something Juicy and Our House. Our House was a more serious play that covered different women and their issues of infidelity within their relationships. Through all the drama that cheating can bring, the main focus was between a pair of best friends, one married and one in love with the married friend. Massey played the woman hopelessly in love with her married best friend.
Something Juicy was completely different. After a man picks up beaver fighting on his trip to Las Vegas he buys steroids only to find that the steroids have no effect on his beaver. Feeling empathetic for the beaver he pulls it out of the fight and takes it back home. He surprises his wife with the beaver and a huge debt for pulling the beaver out of the fight. They then try to acquire the money illegally by stealing a kidney and selling it. When that fails they are relieved to find that Las Vegas has just recently made beaver fighting illegal. Massey played the wife in this comedic play.
I started out with Emma Massey, a senior at Oakland School for the Arts from the Theatre Department who starred in Something Juicy and Our House. Our House was a more serious play that covered different women and their issues of infidelity within their relationships. Through all the drama that cheating can bring, the main focus was between a pair of best friends, one married and one in love with the married friend. Massey played the woman hopelessly in love with her married best friend.
Something Juicy was completely different. After a man picks up beaver fighting on his trip to Las Vegas he buys steroids only to find that the steroids have no effect on his beaver. Feeling empathetic for the beaver he pulls it out of the fight and takes it back home. He surprises his wife with the beaver and a huge debt for pulling the beaver out of the fight. They then try to acquire the money illegally by stealing a kidney and selling it. When that fails they are relieved to find that Las Vegas has just recently made beaver fighting illegal. Massey played the wife in this comedic play.
Something Juicy + Our House
Elena Ruiz: So was this your first year working with Bay Area Zeta Players?
Emma Massey: It was.
ER: And how was that? What did the community feel like?
EM: Oh god, everyone’s really close, like weirdly gross. Kind of like, please stop—No [laughs] it was nice though. It’s like a family honestly, that sounds cliche, but it really was.
ER: So you were in two pieces, right?
EM: Yes. I was in Something Juicy and then I was in Our House.
ER: What would you say was the hardest thing for you during this time?
EM: For Our House, I don’t really do dramatic, ‘cause I’m kind of shit at dramatic, but I just had to do a lot of practicing and go to theatre teachers and be like “please help me with this! I don’t know what to do!”.
ER: No way! I think you did a very good job.
EM: Thank you!
Elena Ruiz: So was this your first year working with Bay Area Zeta Players?
Emma Massey: It was.
ER: And how was that? What did the community feel like?
EM: Oh god, everyone’s really close, like weirdly gross. Kind of like, please stop—No [laughs] it was nice though. It’s like a family honestly, that sounds cliche, but it really was.
ER: So you were in two pieces, right?
EM: Yes. I was in Something Juicy and then I was in Our House.
ER: What would you say was the hardest thing for you during this time?
EM: For Our House, I don’t really do dramatic, ‘cause I’m kind of shit at dramatic, but I just had to do a lot of practicing and go to theatre teachers and be like “please help me with this! I don’t know what to do!”.
ER: No way! I think you did a very good job.
EM: Thank you!
Next was Lucy Urbano who acted in many plays but wrote her own play titled Familiar Faces. The play explored the differences between cliques in high school on their summer vacation. Lighthearted, funny, and sweet, this play humanized the high school experience as it explored masculinity complexes and the true personalities of emo kids. I also interviewed one of the actors in her play.
Familiar Faces
ER: So you wrote one of the plays, what was your play titled?
Lucy Urbano: I wrote Familiar Faces.
ER: Was that your first time writing a play?
LU: Yeah, I’ve written a few screen plays, like short ones, this is my first time writing a staged play.
ER: What does it feel like having actors put on your show?
LU: Well, I was really nervous because I didn’t think it would get selected when I submitted it and I never imagined that this would happen. The first time I watched it with an audience ‘cause I didn’t really know how it would play out with an audience, I was really happy with the casting. I thought the director Kaila Cherry killed it. But when the audience was laughing and when they were all up there, which was more than I could have ever dreamed for it to be, I got a little teary eyed, but it was amazing.
ER: Is this your first year with Bay Area Zeta Players?
LU: Yeah.
ER: Tell me a little bit about your experience with them.
LU: I had hoped to interview to be a mentee last year, but I ended up having a conflicting job so I couldn’t do that. But this year I am Chloe’s mentee, so I’m the artistic director mentee and I’m also Ella’s mentee so I’m the outreach mentee, and an assistant director mentee. That’s been really great, to learn about what it’s like to be part of a professional theatre company. It’s really cool it’s all student-run because that allows us to have power, there’s also not really like an authority kind of thing so everybody is equal, the art that is made is kinda just better because people are more comfortable. I love this company. Highly recommend.
ER: So everyone that is a mentee is basically going to be taking over when they move on with their lives and go to college?
LU: Yeah, you’re a mentee for one year and then you get a board position. You can apply for different ones. A lot of people are leaving next year, so it’s gonna be all of us. I’m kind of nervous about that.
ER: So you wrote one of the plays, what was your play titled?
Lucy Urbano: I wrote Familiar Faces.
ER: Was that your first time writing a play?
LU: Yeah, I’ve written a few screen plays, like short ones, this is my first time writing a staged play.
ER: What does it feel like having actors put on your show?
LU: Well, I was really nervous because I didn’t think it would get selected when I submitted it and I never imagined that this would happen. The first time I watched it with an audience ‘cause I didn’t really know how it would play out with an audience, I was really happy with the casting. I thought the director Kaila Cherry killed it. But when the audience was laughing and when they were all up there, which was more than I could have ever dreamed for it to be, I got a little teary eyed, but it was amazing.
ER: Is this your first year with Bay Area Zeta Players?
LU: Yeah.
ER: Tell me a little bit about your experience with them.
LU: I had hoped to interview to be a mentee last year, but I ended up having a conflicting job so I couldn’t do that. But this year I am Chloe’s mentee, so I’m the artistic director mentee and I’m also Ella’s mentee so I’m the outreach mentee, and an assistant director mentee. That’s been really great, to learn about what it’s like to be part of a professional theatre company. It’s really cool it’s all student-run because that allows us to have power, there’s also not really like an authority kind of thing so everybody is equal, the art that is made is kinda just better because people are more comfortable. I love this company. Highly recommend.
ER: So everyone that is a mentee is basically going to be taking over when they move on with their lives and go to college?
LU: Yeah, you’re a mentee for one year and then you get a board position. You can apply for different ones. A lot of people are leaving next year, so it’s gonna be all of us. I’m kind of nervous about that.

ER: So can you just say your name?
Adrien A.K.A “Lil Shrimpy”: My name is Adrian, I go by “Lil Shrimpy”
ER: Okay “Lil Shrimpy” can you say the name of the play you were in?
LS: I was in “Familiar Faces” which was written by homeslice Lucy.
ER: Nice, nice that’s my homeslice too. So this was your first time acting ever?
LS: Second time.
ER: So what was that experience like?
LS: So I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I’m not that good at acting as like, other people, but I just bring out certain parts of my personality, I guess. So you know, certain parts of me sometimes are very Bro-y bro. Just broin’ around. Since my character was like--
ER: A bro!
LS: --Yes he’s a bro and then he’s like hyper masculine because he was actually gay on the inside. There’s a little bit of insecurity and kind of like, uncertainty. This is my second time acting, so there is a little bit of that in me, so I just brought that out too.
ER: Do you think that your experience acting would have been different if it was with another company?
LS: I’ve never had any other experience with any other companies, but it was cool, it was fun. It wasn’t nerve racking or anything, it felt normal. It was good, I like it.
Adrien A.K.A “Lil Shrimpy”: My name is Adrian, I go by “Lil Shrimpy”
ER: Okay “Lil Shrimpy” can you say the name of the play you were in?
LS: I was in “Familiar Faces” which was written by homeslice Lucy.
ER: Nice, nice that’s my homeslice too. So this was your first time acting ever?
LS: Second time.
ER: So what was that experience like?
LS: So I’ve been thinking about this a lot and I’m not that good at acting as like, other people, but I just bring out certain parts of my personality, I guess. So you know, certain parts of me sometimes are very Bro-y bro. Just broin’ around. Since my character was like--
ER: A bro!
LS: --Yes he’s a bro and then he’s like hyper masculine because he was actually gay on the inside. There’s a little bit of insecurity and kind of like, uncertainty. This is my second time acting, so there is a little bit of that in me, so I just brought that out too.
ER: Do you think that your experience acting would have been different if it was with another company?
LS: I’ve never had any other experience with any other companies, but it was cool, it was fun. It wasn’t nerve racking or anything, it felt normal. It was good, I like it.
Lastly I interviewed Chloe Smith the Artistic Director of BAZP who had also written a show the the festival. Her play Lizards, Meet Holocaust was an extremely emotional think-piece surrounding Holocaust conspiracy theories and how beliefs surrounding religion can end relationships. Although she wrote an amazing play I wanted to get her point of view on being the Artistic Director of such a young theatre company that has already accomplished so much.
ER: You are the creator, the one and only of the BAZP how is that?
Chloe Smith: Well I co-founded it with two other girl, but I conceived the idea. It started really silly at first we were just like Oh, let’s do our own little musical and then we realized Oh my god this is really cool and a space for teens to create theatre how ever the want. It became more political than we thought it would be, more redefining theatre for the next generation, creating an atmosphere where it didn’t just feel like stuffy old white people were just coming to see the show, but you could respond, you could react and have your own work reflect yourself and it's been really fun.
ER: I’ve heard everyone say that the community is so strong, how do you think that that came to be? As someone that co-founded BAZP, how do you prepare an environment so that everyone feels comfortable?
CS: I have a lot of different limbs in different communities and so I kinda bridged all of those, just invited whoever wanted to be apart of it to come to the company. The big thing about BAZP is not necessarily about the product it’s about the process. We make sure that everyone involved feels welcome and feels like they belong. We like to do a wide range of theatre too so that no one ever feels left out. Bonding is a big thing, that’s like the first thing we do is bond and communicate. We have a human resources manager who’s in charge of making sure that everyone is feeling happy and healthy. That’s one of our core elements of BAZP is a happy and healthy community.
ER: How does the process of selecting the plays happen?
CS: We get a pool of submissions five to ten pages long, we all read them over but Kaila and Anna [Literary Managers] come in with their top selections. They sort of read them of and then we go play by play and we’re like Well actually I feel like this play should be in here too, so people get to voice their opinions. Kaila and Anna have final say, they facilitate the meeting.
ER: How many years has this [BAZP] been happening?
CS: Four years. I started my freshman year, started with a musical, then next year was a musical, last year we introduced the Ten Minute Play Festival, and this year we also introduced the straight play.
ER: How many things a year do you guys host?
CS: Three things a year.
ER: Do you use the same people every year or does it get filtered out?
CS: We have a board and basically if you’re on the board you get to stay on the board. There’s a process of impeachment but that’s never happened before. Board members will leave because they graduate or they’ll move onto other things. We have board applications and anyone who wants to apply can apply, no matter if they’ve had theatre experience before or not. We just want to see people who are interested in leadership. We have auditions, design interviews, and we have certain people who facilitate design interviews .
ER: You guys are so organized!
CS: I definitely think we didn’t know what we were getting into. That’s what’s so cool is that we just had to do it, no one was gonna do it for us.
ER: So you’re about to graduate how does that feel?
CS: I feel like it’s time. It’s crazy because in order to keep this company afloat you need super motivated people which is what we’ve had on our board. We do have those people younger than us who are ready to step up. I don’t want to be apart of it anymore because the whole point is that it’s teen led. We actually have a couple of people interested in Artistic Director so they’re shadowing me and sort of what artistic director is because there’s no actual definition for it. The artistic director at Berkeley Rep said that it’s a meaningless title, but it’s basically about leading the company and making sure it’s going in an artistic direction that is sustained.
We are basically like Okay, what’s the next step for you guys? What do you guys wanna talk about? What do you guys wanna see on stage? What kind of people do you want to work with? So there’s all kinds of things and I already know that there’s some ideas of bringing in more master classes, having a play writing workshop, and a directing workshop. Maybe even doing a devised piece at some point.
ER: You are the creator, the one and only of the BAZP how is that?
Chloe Smith: Well I co-founded it with two other girl, but I conceived the idea. It started really silly at first we were just like Oh, let’s do our own little musical and then we realized Oh my god this is really cool and a space for teens to create theatre how ever the want. It became more political than we thought it would be, more redefining theatre for the next generation, creating an atmosphere where it didn’t just feel like stuffy old white people were just coming to see the show, but you could respond, you could react and have your own work reflect yourself and it's been really fun.
ER: I’ve heard everyone say that the community is so strong, how do you think that that came to be? As someone that co-founded BAZP, how do you prepare an environment so that everyone feels comfortable?
CS: I have a lot of different limbs in different communities and so I kinda bridged all of those, just invited whoever wanted to be apart of it to come to the company. The big thing about BAZP is not necessarily about the product it’s about the process. We make sure that everyone involved feels welcome and feels like they belong. We like to do a wide range of theatre too so that no one ever feels left out. Bonding is a big thing, that’s like the first thing we do is bond and communicate. We have a human resources manager who’s in charge of making sure that everyone is feeling happy and healthy. That’s one of our core elements of BAZP is a happy and healthy community.
ER: How does the process of selecting the plays happen?
CS: We get a pool of submissions five to ten pages long, we all read them over but Kaila and Anna [Literary Managers] come in with their top selections. They sort of read them of and then we go play by play and we’re like Well actually I feel like this play should be in here too, so people get to voice their opinions. Kaila and Anna have final say, they facilitate the meeting.
ER: How many years has this [BAZP] been happening?
CS: Four years. I started my freshman year, started with a musical, then next year was a musical, last year we introduced the Ten Minute Play Festival, and this year we also introduced the straight play.
ER: How many things a year do you guys host?
CS: Three things a year.
ER: Do you use the same people every year or does it get filtered out?
CS: We have a board and basically if you’re on the board you get to stay on the board. There’s a process of impeachment but that’s never happened before. Board members will leave because they graduate or they’ll move onto other things. We have board applications and anyone who wants to apply can apply, no matter if they’ve had theatre experience before or not. We just want to see people who are interested in leadership. We have auditions, design interviews, and we have certain people who facilitate design interviews .
ER: You guys are so organized!
CS: I definitely think we didn’t know what we were getting into. That’s what’s so cool is that we just had to do it, no one was gonna do it for us.
ER: So you’re about to graduate how does that feel?
CS: I feel like it’s time. It’s crazy because in order to keep this company afloat you need super motivated people which is what we’ve had on our board. We do have those people younger than us who are ready to step up. I don’t want to be apart of it anymore because the whole point is that it’s teen led. We actually have a couple of people interested in Artistic Director so they’re shadowing me and sort of what artistic director is because there’s no actual definition for it. The artistic director at Berkeley Rep said that it’s a meaningless title, but it’s basically about leading the company and making sure it’s going in an artistic direction that is sustained.
We are basically like Okay, what’s the next step for you guys? What do you guys wanna talk about? What do you guys wanna see on stage? What kind of people do you want to work with? So there’s all kinds of things and I already know that there’s some ideas of bringing in more master classes, having a play writing workshop, and a directing workshop. Maybe even doing a devised piece at some point.