Julia Sirna-Frest News

Below, check out photos from Vampire Cowboys' SIX ROUNDS OF VENGEANCE!

The Archive Residency, a collaboration between New Ohio Theatre and IRT Theater (likeminded neighbors in the historic Archive Building in the West Village), is a unique incubator for the country's most promising emerging independent theater companies. This two year residency offers each company that most elusive and invaluable resource, an artistic home, including space, artistic support, and institutional continuity for the development and presentation of a new work, culminating in an exciting world premiere.

Award-winning writer and director Tina Satter, along with her company Half Straddle, re-imagine and re-invigorate cult pop and literary tropes in an effort to trouble and question language and identity. As company member Jess Barbagallo has written, 'Characters in Tina's plays are often on the precipice of a subversive self-discovery, and articulate a sad but liberating and intrinsically queer value: that the self is perhaps never to be discovered, but always to be made.' In Satter's meticulous landscapes, both actors and characters playfully embrace fluidity, feminine agency and subversion. Critics have marveled at Satter's theatricality. Ben Brantley in The New York Times called her work, 'enchanting,' and, 'so very refreshing' while Helen Shaw in Time Out New York declared, 'Satter's Half Straddle company is launching a particularly coordinated goal-line drive to a new feminist form.'

On Sunday, October 5th, Tina Satter and Obie Award-winning theater company Half Straddle will host a benefit gala at The Kitchen to support the company's upcoming world premiere of ANCIENT LIVES (Jan. 2015 at The Kitchen). The party runs from 5:30 to 9:30 p.m., Sunday, October 5, at The Kitchen, 12 West 19th Street (b/w 10 and 11 Ave.) Kimberly Clark, Bushwick's drag queen DJ with the mostess, emcees and plays throughout the evening.

A new play about one of the first and most notorious cases of invasion of privacy on the Internet - 'IF YOU CAN GET TO BUFFALO: An Exploration of 'A Rape in Cyberspace' by Julian Dibbell,' written by Trish Harnetiaux and directed by Eric Nightengale - will be given its world premiere this winter by Incubator Arts Project (inside St. Mark's Church, 131 E. 10 St. in Manhattan), with preview performances Thursday, February 13th prior to an official opening on Sunday, February 16th, 2014. Scroll down for some photos from the production!

Target Margin Theater (David Herskovits, Artistic Director; John Del Gaudio, Artistic Producer) continues the exploration of Yiddish Theater with the re-imagined classic play, The ( * ) Inn, *empty, vacant, abandoned; usually translated as "Haunted by Peretz Hirschbein. Under the direction of TMT's Artistic Director, David Herskovits, the cast will feature TMT Company Member David Greenspan with Ugo Chukwu, Rachel Claire, Amir Darvish, Susan Hyon, Meg MacCary, Julia Sirna-Frest, J.H. Smith III and Sam T. West.

As part of the eighth edition of the COIL festival, Performance Space 122 (PS122) and the New Ohio Theatre present the world premiere of Seagull (Thinking of you) from Tina Satter and her company Half Straddle. This heartfelt, both comedic and dark work uses Chekhov's The Seagull as a jumping off point to reconsider the success and failure of performance and love.

Due to popular demand, Performance Space 122 (PS122) and the New Ohio Theatre extend the world premiere of Seagull (Thinking of you) until January 26. From Tina Satter and her company Half Straddle, Seagull (Thinking of you) is a heartfelt work, both comedic and dark, that uses Chekhov's The Seagull as a jumping off point to reconsider the success and failure of performance and love.

As part of the eighth edition of the COIL festival, Performance Space 122 (PS122) and the New Ohio Theatre present the world premiere of Seagull (Thinking of you) from Tina Satter and her company Half Straddle. This heartfelt, both comedic and dark work uses Chekhov's The Seagull as a jumping off point to reconsider the success and failure of performance and love.

In this line-by-line reinvention of August Strindberg's classic MISS JULIE, writer and director Robert Cucuzza distills an essential tale of class and sexual power dynamics and transports it to modern-day Pittsburgh. Set during a failed car dealership's liquidation party, CATTYWAMPUS traces the rise and fall of Julie (Jillian Lauren), the owner's wife, as she tries to escape the flaccid clutch of her disinterested husband. She sets out to seduce the unsophisticated detailer, Donnie (D.J. Mendel), and gets much more than what she bargained for-a dance partner, a goofy playmate, a cuckold-maker, and a partner in crime. Determined that Donnie and his restored Ford Pinto are her escape hatch out of married misery, she makes a last ditch effort and gambles it all on his cracked plan to relocate to Florida. But in a world that is so economically out-of-whack, she finds that her dreams of escape are no match for what seems like a predetermined fate.

In this line-by-line reinvention of August Strindberg's classic MISS JULIE, writer and director Robert Cucuzza distills an essential tale of class and sexual power dynamics and transports it to modern-day Pittsburgh. Set during a failed car dealership's liquidation party, CATTYWAMPUS traces the rise and fall of Julie (Jillian Lauren), the owner's wife, as she tries to escape the flaccid clutch of her disinterested husband. She sets out to seduce the unsophisticated detailer, Donnie (D.J. Mendel), and gets much more than what she bargained for-a dance partner, a goofy playmate, a cuckold-maker, and a partner in crime. Determined that Donnie and his restored Ford Pinto are her escape hatch out of married misery, she makes a last ditch effort and gambles it all on his cracked plan to relocate to Florida. But in a world that is so economically out-of-whack, she finds that her dreams of escape are no match for what seems like a predetermined fate.

Incubator Arts Project aims to further innovative performance by serving independent artists based in NYC who create original work.

Incubator Arts Project aims to further innovative performance by serving independent artists based in NYC who create original work.

In this line-by-line reinvention of August Strindberg's classic MISS JULIE, writer and director Robert Cucuzza distills an essential tale of class and sexual power dynamics and transports it to modern-day Pittsburgh. Set during a failed car dealership's liquidation party, CATTYWAMPUS traces the rise and fall of Julie (Jillian Lauren), the owner's wife, as she tries to escape the flaccid clutch of her disinterested husband. She sets out to seduce the unsophisticated detailer, Donnie (D.J. Mendel), and gets much more than what she bargained for-a dance partner, a goofy playmate, a cuckold-maker, and a partner in crime. Determined that Donnie and his restored Ford Pinto are her escape hatch out of married misery, she makes a last ditch effort and gambles it all on his cracked plan to relocate to Florida. But in a world that is so economically out-of-whack, she finds that her dreams of escape are no match for what seems like a predetermined fate.

La MaMa proudly presents Made in China's American debut of STATIONARY EXCESS. Partnered with STATIONARY EXCESS will be special performances of KAREN DAVIS DOES LAMAMA (w/Special Guest Jenny Fresh!)

La MaMa proudly presents Made in China's American debut of STATIONARY EXCESS. Partnered with STATIONARY EXCESS will be special performances of KAREN DAVIS DOES LAMAMA (w/Special Guest Jenny Fresh!)

The Bushwick Starr and performance group, Half Straddle, are proud to present a new piece, In The Pony Palace/FOOTBALL.

The Bushwick Starr and performance group, Half Straddle, are proud to present a new piece, In The Pony Palace/FOOTBALL.

The Bushwick Starr and performance group, Half Straddle, are proud to present a new piece, In The Pony Palace/FOOTBALL.

The Bushwick Starr and performance group, Half Straddle, are proud to present a new piece, In The Pony Palace/FOOTBALL.