The Bushwick Starr and Half Straddle Present In the Pony Palace/FOOTBALL 2/10

The Bushwick Starr and performance group, Half Straddle, are proud to present a new piece, In The Pony Palace/FOOTBALL. Half Straddle artistic director Tina Satter claims the traditionally male construct of athletics and team sports, as embodied in American football, and reframes it for a female paradigm in the company's new piece. An all-female cast including Moe Angelos(The Builders Association, Five Lesbian Brothers,Holly Hughes), Jess Barbagallo (Big Dance Theater, Theatre of the Two-Headed Calf), Eliza Bent, Nikki Calonge, Emily Davis, Erin Markey (Green Eyes, FAMILY, Puppy Love: A Stripper's Tail), Glennis McMurray (I EAT PANDAS), Kourtney Rutherford (Big Dance Theater, Witness Relocation) and Julia Sirna-Frest are The Players, cheerleaders and coaches in this theatrical and slyly subversive consideration of gendered roles, sports culture and performance.

Mixing the specific language, aesthetics and dynamics of football with Tina's incisive and tweaked reinterpretation of high school-speak, Half Straddle creates the world of the Pony Palace where girls play football in full pads, cheerleaders still have all the power, and riding on the bus after the game feels like the most amazing moment ever.

Half Straddle composer Chris Giarmo (Big Dance Theater)and musician Bobby McElver create the score for this singular high school landscape with mash-ups of the forgotten Rolling Stones album, "Black and Blue" and obscure Lady Gaga songs played live with the Pony Palace marching band.

In The Pony Palace/FOOTBALL is written and directed by Tina Satter (FAMILY, Top 10 Show of 2009 by Time Out New York). Designers include Zack Tinkelman (The Kitchen) and Andreea Mincic (recently designed the Obie Award-winning show, Three Pianos).

About Half Straddle:
Half Straddle is New York-based company that makes plays, performances, videos and music written and directed by Tina Satter. The company includes composer Chris Giarmo (Big Dance Theater), designer Zack Tinkelman (The Kitchen), and performers Jess Barbagallo, Eliza Bent, Emily Davis and Julia Sirna-Frest. A number of additional performers and artists including Erin Markey, Annie McNamara (ERS), Joseph Keckler and others have joined Half Straddle in creating their shows and performances.

Since 2008, Half Straddle has staged three full-length shows in New York City: Nurses in New England (Ice Factory Festival 2010); FAMILY (Ontological-Hysteric, Named a Top 10 Show of 2009 by Time Out New York) and The Knockout Blow (HERE Arts Center, Ontological-Hysteric). Additionally, they have been invited by places like Envoy Gallery and Dixon Place to show work including Sliding Whores, FOOTBALL, and Girl Detective Agency. Artistic Director Tina Satter attended the graduate playwriting program at Brooklyn College with Mac Wellman and is a co-curator of the Little Theatre performance series at Dixon Place.

"The company is full to the brim with killer talent..." - HeLen Shaw, Time Out New York

"Satter re-imagines experimental theater with a post-postmodern/girl-group/punk aesthetic.
She adds feminist perspective, gay pride, biting commentary... and lots of sequins and sass."
-Heather Violanti, nytheatre.com

About The Bushwick Starr:
The Bushwick Starr is a full-scale non profit performance venue and Presenting Organization,
dedicated to bringing a continuum of performance artists to the Bushwick community. Focusing on the presentation of theater, dance, and music, The Bushwick Starr offers a professional and supportive space in which to develop and present new work. We aim to foster an open social environment for artists and audiences to interact within the growing neighborhood of Bushwick. We cultivate powerful programming and offer consistent and exciting new work to our community of theater-goers.

"...an intimate space for seeing great new work" - Best of NYC, Village Voice Award

Location:
The Bushwick Starr theater: 207 Starr Street, Brooklyn, NY [between Irving and Wycoff]

Directions:
Via Subway take the L Train to Jefferson Street, exit at Starr Street, walk against traffic on Starr, and the theater is 3/4 of a block on the right. For detailed driving directions visit: http://www.thebushwickstarr.org/DIRECTIONS

Tickets are $15.00 at brownpapertickets.com/event/142273
More info at www.thebushwickstarr.org

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