July 31st – August 24th, 2025 (24 Performances)

Daily at 11:45 am 

(no performance on August 12)

Just The Tonic

The Cask Room at the Mash House

37 Guthrie St, Edinburgh EH1 1JG, United Kingdom

General Admission Tickets are £10

For tickets, visit:

https://edinburgh.justthetonic.com/event/88:5174/

Runtime: 60 minutes (no intermission)

Click here for the media kit.

(New York, NY – May 9, 2025) – Space Weather Girl presents Encounter,an original and otherworldly comedy musical by Zena Wood. 24 performances of Encounter will be staged from July 31 to Aug 24th, 2025, at Just The Tonic, The Cask Room at The Mash House, 37 Guthrie St, Edinburgh EH1 1JG, United Kingdom.

They come in peace…and for the eggs. Encounter is a genre and time-bending ride that blends comedy, cabaret, and cosmic curiosity, set somewhere between a live TV weather show and a memory from deep space. What if an alien encounter was more human condition and less lasers? As a studio audience, you will witness a mysterious broadcast sparking an interplanetary moment and a historical “mating program”… You’ll wonder at a spectacular alien dance performance and you’ll do all of this in a fraction of a second (60 minutes). It’s a science thing. Come for the space facts, the live music and the comedy, and find yourself unexpectedly heart-warmed. 

Encounter is an original comedy musical featuring all-new songs by Zena Wood – including the soon-to-be intergalactic hit “Five Ways to Die on Mars,” written by collaborator and New York native Kit Goldstein Grant. 

Encounterwill preview at The Duplex Cabaret Theater in New York City’s West Village on June 12 – 14, 2025 ahead of its Edinburgh run. 

“What I’ve found absolutely fascinating during the show’s development is how people light up about space. They’re living on a rock hurtling through the cosmos and yet people are surprised by their own curiosity! Ask someone why time travel isn’t possible (kind of) and watch their eyes widen with wonder,” shared Wood. “Encounter creates this beautiful, uh, space, where audience members become part of our wacky TV studio universe. After all, when aliens visit, everyone has something to say about it, don’t they?” The show isn’t linear and mimics the immensity and simplicity of what can happen in a fraction of a second, with the weather being a continuous backdrop to humanity. 

Loosely based on a pilot episode script of a similar theme written by Zena Wood for screen, Encounter also borrows inspiration from various projects Zena has created since 2018 as the fictional character Space Weather Girl, including on YouTube, two music videos filmed and recorded: Space Christmas, and All I Want for ChristMars is Mars, a Christmas solo show performed at the Drama Factory in South Africa – Space Weather Girl Christmas Extravaganza, and multiple comedy open mics and videos performed as the character. Encounter marks Wood’s first full Edinburgh Fringe run, following an exciting one-week preview at Edinburgh in 2024 with her Chicago spoof cabaret, Jazz on the Run, co-written with Sam Clarke. 

The runtime is 60 minutes with no intermission. Suitable for theatergoers 14+. 

Performances are daily at 11:45 a.m. from July 31 – Aug 24, 2025. There is no performance on August 12.

General admission tickets are £10. Concessions are £8. 

For tickets, visit: https://edinburgh.justthetonic.com/event/88:5174/

Zena Wood (Playwright, Melodies, Lyrics, Performer) is a Producer, Director, Writer, and Cabaret Performer based in New York and Amsterdam. She has produced feature films including “The Blacklight” (AMC Theaters) and has produced creative projects for major global brands for the past 12 years. Her documentary “Will There Be Dancing” interviews NASA and SETI scientists about creativity in space, and won Best Documentary Short at the Cannes Short Film Festival. Her most recent documentary feature “Move Like a Chameleon” (2024) explores the concept of home and leaving home set on the backdrop of nature conservation. Last year she wrote and produced her first immersive show “A Technology Demonstration” hidden in the Generator Hotel, Amsterdam. The dark sci-fi show combined live jazz, theatre, magic and dance. Thematically Zena’s work is a constant zooming in and out of the natural world and human connection – from systemic details to big picture and back again. Zena studied musical theatre and dance at the Waterfront Theatre College in South Africa and film acting at the New York Film Academy. She sang in globally competing classical music choirs from age 7 to 18. She holds an MBA in Leadership and Sustainability, reflecting her passion for sound leadership in the creative industries. IG: @spaceweathergirltv

Brandon M. Weber (Greg) is a theatre and film artist who is dedicated to making works that break down the stereotypes within the ethnic diaspora. Being a New Orleans native inspired him to be multifaceted in the arts and helped him obtain a BFA in Musical Theatre at The University of the Arts. In the past, he’s worked with MTV VMA’s, Telsey & Co, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Actor’s Company Theatre in New York City, and Vital Theatre Company Off-Broadway in various roles (Actor, Stage Manager, Dramaturg, Producer, Social Media Coordinator, Casting Director, Assistant Director, etc.). Currently, Brandon is the CEO of his own company called Under8ted Movement, which is focused on rebuilding the community through art.