Now Playing
Bondage
by Star Finch
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Princess Grace Award semi-finalist!
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Hierarchies of race and gender collide in this AfroSurreal tale of an enslaved girl who dares to follow her own instincts on an island plantation.
A new AlterLab play
PHOTOTS BY DavidAllenStudio.com
"a uniformly excellent cast"--North Bay Bohemian
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"Finch’s dialogue is potent, beautifully expressed and mysterious"--Marin Independent Journal
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"gorgeously staged and stunningly unexpected" --North Bay Bohemian
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"the drama thrills, partly because it’s still so rare to see genuine bravery in theatrical depictions of race, partly because Finch has such a singular mode of expression" --San Francisco Chronicle
Two weekends only! January 11-th -20th
Playing in San Francisco, in partnership with A.C.T.'s ArtShare
A.C.T. Costume Shop Theater
1117 Market Street.
San Francisco, CA
The Cast & Crew
Star Finch
is a proud San Francisco native and member of Campo Santo. In 2016 she was the lead writer on the collaborative performance piece, Babylon Is Burning, a loose adaptation of Jeff Chang's Can't Stop Won't Stop. Her first full-length play, H.O.M.E (Hookers on Mars Eventually) was also produced by Campo Santo later that year.
In 2015 she was a resident in AlterTheater's AlterLab where she wrote Bondage (Princess Grace Award semi-finalist). She holds a BA in Anthropology and an MA in Creative Writing, both from San Francisco State..
Elizabeth Carter
has directed for the California Shakespeare Theater Conservatory for nearly 20 years including Richard III, The Winter’s Tale, As you Like it, The Tempest, Macbeth, and Much Ado about Nothing. She is currently the Shakespeare and Voice Artist in Residence for the Ruth Asawa School of the Arts (SOTA) Theater Department. While Managing Director of Oakland Public Theater she also directed Motherlove by August Strindberg. As an actor Elizabeth has appeared in numerous Bay Area theaters including California Shakespeare Theater, Marin Theatre Co., Aurora Theatre Co., SF Shakespeare Festival, The Magic Theatre, San Jose Stage, and TheatreWorks. She is a SFBATCCO award recipient for Trouble in Mind at the Aurora Theatre Co.
Shane Fahy
is a San Francisco based actor originally from Ireland. He most recently played as Leontes in Ragged Wing Ensemble's 'The Winters Tale' having earlier that Summer understudied the role of Long John Silver in Berkeley Rep's 'Treasure Island'. He was nominated for a Bay Area Theatre Critics award in the category of "Best Actor in a Featured Role in a Play" for his portrayal of David in New Conservatory Theatre's 'For the Love of Comrades'.
Cathleen Riddley
s proud to be an Associate Artist with AlterTheater. She was seen here most recently as Sister Margaret in The Amen Corner, and made her debut as Music Director with this show, for which she won TBA Awards. Most recently she was in two shows in Shotgun Players’ rep season, one of which was Hamlet (where each actor’s role was chosen from Yorick’s skull each night 5 minutes before the show began – really). Cathleen has performed lead and supporting roles in many Bay Area theaters, including SF Playhouse, Marin Theatre Company, TheatreWorks, Berkeley Playhouse, ACT, African-American Shakespeare Company, Magic Theatre, and Z Below. Cathleen is a proud member of Actors’ Equity Association and Theatre Bay Area, and is a PlayGround company member. She is an alumna of The Juilliard School Drama Division, a certified ASL Interpreter and has an MA from the University of Pennsylvania. A current project close to her heart is working with incarcerated men in San Quentin in their violence prevention program called No More Tears/Healing Circle.
Dezi Soléy
is a prizmatic artist co-creating embodiments of the Divine through explorations in images, spoken word & movement. Since earning her BA (Cultural & Regional Studies, Minor in Dance) from Prescott College, Solèy has trained and performed with Bay Area traditional Haitian & South African dance theater companies (El Wah Movement & Jikelele Dance Theatre) as well as starred in numerous projects like Brother (directed by Alrik Bursell). Her most recent work includes her role in Baby Steps (directed by Jennifer Vo Le), the premiere of FMMTPN (from her co-curated collective, Femmetopian @fmmtpn) at SOMArts’ The Black Woman Is God/Night Light exhibition, and her supporting role in Aurora Theater’s Safe House (directed by L. Peter Callender). Solèy currently dances with experimental improv collective Pleomorph and is represented by Stars The Agency. www.dezisoley.com
Emilie Talbot
An AlterTheater Associate Artist, Emilie Talbot originated the roles of Natalie in Larissa FastHorse’s LANDLESS and Esther in Ann Brebner’s THE DEAD GIRL. More recently she was seen in LOVE & INFORMATION at Capitol Stage in Sacramento and A.C.T. In over 20 years in the Bay Area she has worked at A.C.T., Aurora Theatre Company (THE BEST MAN, TROJAN WOMEN), Berkeley Rep, The Magic, San Jose Rep, StageBridge, and is a company member with PlayGround. Elsewhere around the country she has appeared at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Mark Taper Forum, La Jolla Playhouse, Huntington Theatre, and Pittsburgh Public Theatre, among others. Film credits include FOUR POUNDS OF FLOWERS, THE FIFTH STAGE OF LABOR, and CEREMONY, plus a whole slew of commercials, voiceovers, industrials and video games. She is a graduate of Duke University and CalArts.
Emily Serdahl
is a Bay Area based actress. She has performed at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, The Folger Shakespeare Theater, ZSpace, Sacramento Theatre Company and the Guthrie Theater. This past June she completed her B.F.A. in Performance at Southern Oregon University. Her past roles include Kate in Avenue Q, Emily Webb in Our Town, Catherine Petkoff in The Arms and the Man, Marnie in the Drunken City, and Eurydice, Psyche, Aphrodite, and Narrator in The Metamorphosis. For more information visit http://emily-serdahl.squarespace.com
Frank Cardinale
is excited to be working on his second full production with AlterTheater after Landless. For the past 7 years he has worked a variety of productions throughout Marin and San Francisco, from tiny 45 seat houses to the 4000 seat Cushing Theater with the Mountain Play, and everything in between. From big Broadway style musicals, to intimate new works he is always happiest when in a dark theater with a headset on.
Natalie Barshow
is excited to be collaborating with an amazing group of artists and to make her AlterTheater debut. Recent costume designs include The Jungle Book (Marin Theatre Company), On The Verge (Dragon Productions), On Clover Road (SF Playhouse), The Tempest (Silicon Valley Shakespeare), Dead Man Walking (San Jose State University), Fuddy Meers (SPOTLITE Stage Co.), and several short films. Her assistant designer credits include Much Ado About Nothing (Cal Shakes), Anne Boleyn (Marin Theatre Company), and The Tempest (Cal Shakes). Natalie is currently the Wardrobe Coordinator for ODC/Dance. She is a graduate from San Jose State University, holds her B.A. in Theatre Arts, and is currently a freelance costume designer, assistant, and wardrobe person for theatre and film around the Bay Area. More information available at nbarshow.wix.com/nataliebarshow
Margaret Belton
was born in Indiana into a large artistic family (imagine the von Trapps meet Monty Python in a hysterical mash-up). Margaret received her BFA from Indiana University. She spearheaded many artistic endeavors including various group exhibitions, mural commissions and the founding of Women Exposed, a feminist arts collective which is still thriving today. After graduating, she moved to the Left Coast and began teaching art for adults with developmental disabilities at The Cedars Of Marin Victory Center. While initially inspired primarily by visual art, she realized she needed to let her inner bohemian out of the performance closet. She then formed The Patsychords a Patsy Cline tribute band which led her to play Patsy in the play ‘Always… Patsy Cline’. She is currently singing and acting on screens and stages and working in home staging and design.
Jen Brault
is a native of Rochester, NY and graduated with a BFA degree with a concentration in Sculpture and Painting from Xavier University in New Orleans and St. Michael's College in Vermont. Her career as a visual artist spans over 2 decades, and she's explored multiple disciplines as an accomplished painter, illustrator and designer. Her work has exhibited in several solo and group shows in NY and CA, along with dozens of commissioned works throughout the country. Specializing in representational mixed media paintings, Jen brings wonderful depth and style to her work. Professionally, she beautifies many of San Francisco's residences as both the co-owner of a Staging and Design Co. and sole proprietor of a Painting and Color Consulting Co. She is honored and delighted to participate in this wonderful story with such a talented cast and crew.
Gerry Grosz
is known on the Bay Area jazz scene as a spirited performer on both piano and vibraphone. A passionate, stylistically diverse composer and songwriter, he was awarded "Song of the Year" by the West Coast Songwriters in 2004. Grosz's credits include original songs for a stage production of "The Phantom Tollbooth", music for the documentary "PDA (Public Displays of Affection)", and he cowrote the song "Bathtub Gin", the title track on the current cd by Roberta Donnay & The Prohibition Mob Band. Grosz is a local piano teacher and dance accompanist by day, and is happy to be working with AlterTheater again, after his work as Composer / Sound Designer on "The Amen Corner" in 2015.
has taught theatre design and playwriting at five universities. He has written dozens of articles on scenography and theatre history and produced over three hundred theatrical designs. He is properties Artist in Residence for the Marin Shakespeare Company. He is the author of a text on stagecraft and two books on theatre history for Edwin Mellen Press, Lewiston NY. Professor Eis balances his time between designing, writing sci-fi, and running The Rebound Bookstore in San Rafael.
Joel D. Eis, MFA
Jeanette Harrison
has produced nearly 20 world premiere and First Look productions with AlterTheater. She is the architect of AlterTheater's AlterLab playwright residency program; the inaugural AlterLab production was the world premiere of Ann Brebner's THE DEAD GIRL in 2013. Most recently, she directed A Midsummer Night's Dream with the University of Southern California's BFA juniors, the world premiere of LANDLESS by Larissa FastHorse (2016 USA PEN Literary Award in Drama), and THE AMEN CORNER by James Baldwin. As an actor, she's worked with many Bay Area theater companies, including Berkeley Rep, the Magic, Cutting Ball, Theatre Rhino. Many of her favorite roles were in plays directed by Ann Brebner, including Olive Schreiner in Sex Parasite, Mrs. VanBuren in Intimate Apparel, and Sofia in Two Sisters and a Piano. For Ann.