GENERAL INFO :
HALF STRADDLE is a critically-acclaimed New York-based company that makes plays, performances, videos and music written and directed by Tina Satter. The company includes composer Chris Giarmo, designer Zack Tinkelman, and performers Jess Barbagallo, Eliza Bent and Julia Sirna-Frest. A number of additional performers and artists have joined Half Straddle in creating their shows and performances.
Since 2008, Half Straddle has staged two full-length shows in New York City, FAMILY (Ontological-Hysteric) and The Knockout Blow (HERE Arts Center, Ontological-Hysteric). Additionally, they have been invited by various venues to show several works-in-progress and shorter pieces which include Nurses in New England, Sliding Whores, FOOTBALL and Girl Detective Agency. All of these pieces include original songs with lyrics by Tina Satter and music by Chris Giarmo.
DOWNLOAD HALF STRADDLE'S PRESS PACKET
MAKE A TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATION TO HALF STRADDLE
COMPANY BIOGRAPHIES :
TINA SATTER (ARTISTIC DIRECTOR) is a playwright and director based in Brooklyn, New York. Tina attended the graduate playwriting program at Brooklyn College with Mac Wellman. She has shown work at the Ontological-Hysteric Theater, HERE Arts Center, Dixon Place, and the CATCH! performance series. Her show FAMILY was named a Top 10 show for 2009 by Time Out New York. She received a B.A. in English from Bowdoin College and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from Reed College.
CHRIS GIARMO (RESIDENT COMPOSER) is an artist based in Brooklyn. He has composed original music for all of Half Straddle’s productions and is also a founding member of NY-based performance group, The Red Terror Squad. He has performed and toured internationally with Brooklyn-based Big Dance Theater since 2005 in The Other Here and Comme Toujours Here I Stand, and will perform in and compose music for their upcoming production of Alkestis, translated by Ann Carson, which will premiere at Theatre de Chaillot in Paris in 2011, followed by a NY-premiere at BAM. Chris has a BFA from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts’ Experimental Theater Wing and is currently pursuing his Masters of Science for Communication Design at Pratt Institute. For more information, visit chrisgiarmo.com.
JESS BARBAGALLO (PERFORMER) most recently toured Italy performing in John Turturro’s play, Two Boys. She recently appeared in Classic Stage Company’s production of Ann Carson’s An Oresteia, and toured internationally with Big Dance Theater in their production, The Other Here. In addition to Big Dance Theater and Half Straddle, Jess has performed regularly with the companies’ Theatre of the Two-Headed Calf and the Red Terror Squad. Jess’s play, Grey-Eyed Dogs, debuted at Dixon Place in New York City as a Mondo Cane commission and she is a writer and performer with Room for Cream, a live lesbian soap opera presented at La Mama. She is currently developing a new play of her own in the workshop lab at SoHo Rep. Jess graduated from the Experimental Theatre Wing at New York University and received a graduate degree in playwriting from Brooklyn College under the tutelage of playwright Mac Wellman.
ELIZA BENT (PERFORMER) Half Straddle: Family (Ontological), Sliding Whores (Dixon Place), Nurses in New England (Catch!), The Knockout Blow (Ontological and HERE). Other New York credits: Babes in Toyland (Ice Factory 2009), The Less We Talk (Hoi Polloi), The Three Sisters and Clocked (Columbia University). Readings and workshops with Target Margin, Clubbed Thumb and New York Theatre Workshop. Her adapted play, She of the Voice, had a sold-out run at the undergroundzero festival at PS 122. Upcoming: Asleep at the Wheel a musical about her boss.
JULIA SIRNA-FREST (PERFORMER) is a founding member of Half Straddle and performed in The Knockout Blow (Ontological and HERE) and Amazing Miracles, or Nurses in New England as part of the Catch Series. Other recent credits include: Rocky Philly (The Bushwick Starr), Babes in Toyland (Ice Factory 2009), She of the Voice (PS 122), The Deluge (The Bushwick Starr), Lies I Wish I Told You (Dixon Place), Church (The Public). With Target Margin: Aria Da Capo (The Chocolate Factory), The Beautiful Pooper Scooper (The Ohio), The Boar Hunt (The Kitchen), Public Spirited (HERE). She has also performed in readings and workshops at New Dramatists, Soho Rep and The Soho Think Tank.
ZACK TINKELMAN (DESIGNER) is a lighting designer in New York City. Zack has worked with such directors and choreographers as Moisés Kaufman, Ruben Polendo, Paul Lazar, Jim Simpson, Andy Paris, Alex Lippard, Chriselle Tidrick, Tina Sheppard, Kevin Kuhlke and Sheron Wray. He has designed for and with many companies, including Half Straddle, Red Terror Squad, Target Margin, Jaradoa Theater, Horizon Theatre Rep, Above and Beyond Dance, Experimental Theater Wing, NY Goofs, and Little Opera Theatre of New York. Zack’s designs have been seen at La MaMa E.T.C., The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, New York City Center, The Ohio Theatre, HERE Art Center, The Chocolate Factory, The Flea Theater, The Skirball Center, Dixon Place, Urban Stages, Below St. Mark’s, Teatr Mały in Warsaw, and the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London.
AFFILIATED ARTISTS :
Andre Callot, Heather Christian, Sara Lindsay Copeland, Emily Emily Davis, Asta Benne Hostetter, Joseph Keckler, Nathan Lemoine, Erin Markey, Kate Marvin, Lena Moy-Borgen, Matt Paweski, Wayne Petro, Deoborah Satter, Katherine E. Schaharon, Normandy Raven Sherwood, Beky Yamamoto, Rae C Wright.