by Cari Lynn Pace

Who should control – and profit from – a cure for all diseases in the world? Does the creation of such potential benefit belong in the hands of a joint venture firm who developed it? Who can be trusted to test its effectiveness, and if it works, who would distribute such an advancement with egalitarianism?

If the creators of such a medical miracle are hungry to reap the monetary rewards, is there a limit to how much is too much?

Playwright Aaron Loeb has a knack for tapping into troubling questions that can lodge deep into our thoughts. R.O.I. is an earworm working its way through one’s thoughts the morning after seeing this play.

Loeb took his inspiration from the saga of Theranos and its founder Elizabeth Holmes. Theranos promised medical advances and raised billions in joint venture funding before the fraudulent results were exposed. Currently serving an 11-year term in federal prison, Holmes hopes Trump will commute the sentence of this once world’s-richest female.

R.O.I. rolls from the venture capitalists who pitch investors to the high-flying covers of financial magazines. It’s superbly acted and deftly crafted with stinging dialogue and twists in power. It’s a wild ride with a winner-takes-all attitude, so buckle your seat belt.

Playing through September 5, 2026 at Creativity Theater, 221 Fourth Street, San Francisco.

Click HERE for more information and tickets.

Photos by Jessica Palopoli

Cari Lynn Pace is a long-time Bay Area theatre critic whose reviews were regularly featured in the Marinscope Community Newspapers and a member of the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle.