Aaron Loeb’s latest play, “R.O.I. (Return on Investment), opening this week in a San Francisco Playhouse premiere, may call to mind the Theranos debacle. It is a funny, unnerving and only slightly futuristic tale about a wily scientist who says she can eradicate cancer, and the two eager venture capitalists who trust her— until they don’t.
Loeb at first was inspired by the Silicon Valley true story in which a corporation, created in 2003 by a young Elizabeth Holmes, raised more than $700 million from venture capitalists and private investors on claims that proved to be false. Her company finally folded in ignominy in 2018.
A video game designer, Loeb had been commissioned by San Francisco Playhouse, where he is resident playwright, to write a new play based on his experiences in the tech world. He’s known for the award-winning “Ideation,” which went from SF Playhouse to Off-Broadway, as did “Abraham Lincoln’s Big, Gay Dance Party”; other plays include “First Person Shooter” and more.
Loeb, a longtime Bay Area resident now based in London, had spent time with venture capitalists but didn’t know the industry well. He initially interviewed prominent people in the rarefied tech world introduced to him by SF Playhouse board members. He also talked to his own former tech colleagues and became increasingly interested, he says, in investors’ willingness to bet on another human being.
The way in, he decided, was through the story of Theranos. He wrote the play based on that fairy tale gone bad, eventually rewriting it after a public reading when he realized audiences already knew the story and were getting way ahead of the plot. A family member who’s a medical doctor in gene research weighed in on the script as well.
The play eventually opened at London’s Hampstead Theatre last March as part of a rolling world premiere and is now back home, so to speak, for the Playhouse iteration of the world premiere. It is directed here by former California Shakespeare Festival artistic director/director-about-town Jonathan Moscone, with scenic design by Playhouse artistic director Bill English.
Initially, Loeb explains on the phone from London, all the power is in the hands of the venture capitalist. But the power dynamic changes over time. And dramatic writing is about identifying and charting power shifts. Following that idea, he saw it led in many different directions.
The confident, if initially nervous Dr. Willa, described in the script as “a young rising star entrepreneur” (played by a longtime SF Playhouse star herself, Lauren English) approaches San Francisco-based venture capitalists May (Sharon Shao) and her older business partner, Paul (Anthony Fusco), asking for a cool $30 billion to fund her project. She assures them her team will eradicate cancer entirely through groundbreaking gene therapy.
Initially stunned by her audacious financial request and lavish promises, May and Paul are soon enough sucked in: If wiping all cancer off the face of the earth sounds preposterous, Willa suggests starting out simply by eliminating breast cancer.
Paul and May, about as ambitious and yet altruistic minded as venture capitalists can presumably be, are excited. “I founded this fund to save the world!” says Paul. He and May agree that the world has yet to be saved. This may be their chance. Willa looks like a likely savior: She wants to pursue her dream, she says, “without shady foreign investors and with no money from pharma.”
Paul and May go all in. And then, even though Willa, unlike Holmes, really does accomplish what she’s set out to do (and now all three are wealthy), things get more and more complicated. As the action transpires over the course of many years, major ethical (and other) concerns arise. Willa, it turns out . . . (never mind, no more spoilers here).
Loeb wrote the Willa character in 2023, but since that time, he says, she is “so obviously connectable to Elon Musk, which I didn’t intend.”
He invented May based on real people he has known. She wants to make a difference by finding and investing in a great inventor with a “unicorn startup.”
“If we enter a new era of rapid, unchecked discovery,” says May, not quite halfway into the play, “how will we set ethical boundaries?” “We won’t,” says Willa. “Why not?” “Because it would be less profitable to do so.”
Things get darker from there, in a slightly-but-not-too-sci-fi way. Greed, queasy-making morals, racism, the mysterious powers of medicine—they all come into play, and more. May’s Alzheimer’s-addled mother (Bonnie Akimoto)—and her mother’s helpful and chatty AI refrigerator — make several appearances.
As the play goes on, audiences may feel less familiar with the world Loeb has created. “Is [Willa] inherently evil,” he muses, “or was she corrupted by power and wealth?
“We are living right now,” he continues, “with the constant evidence of very rich people who reveal that they are–or have become over time–radicalized and are spouting dangerous things. We can tell ourselves that money corrupts . . .”
It all feels, he says, like a possible progression of where we’re going.
San Francisco Playhouse’s “R.O.I. (Return on Investment)” runs Aug. 6 through Sept. 5 at Creativity Theater, 221 Fourth St., San Francisco. Tickets are $41-$57 at sfplayhouse.org.