Upcoming Productions

IS THIS A ROOM

A true story, still unfolding. June 3, 2017. A 25-year-old former Air Force linguist named Reality Winner is surprised at her home by the FBI, interrogated, and then charged with leaking evidence of Russian interference in U.S elections. Reality remains in jail with a record-breaking sentence.

The FBI transcript of her interrogation is the heart of IS THIS A ROOM, conceived as a play and directed by Obie Award-winner Tina Satter, in which an extraordinary human drama unfolds between the complex and witty Reality (Emily Davis), and the agents who question her. As Reality’s autonomy shrinks before her eyes, a simmering real-life thriller emerges, asking what it is to have honor in this American moment, and how the personal can reverberate globally.

Tickets to IS THIS A ROOM are now on sale. Click Here to book!
Questions? Call the box office at 212-353-0303.

Want to see the show from a different point of view? Take advantage of the limited onstage seating available for each performance. Thanks to the staging, there is optimal viewing from both sides of the audience.

“IS THIS A ROOM IS SO POWERFUL. EMILY DAVIS IS MESMERIZING AS REALITY WINNER.”
– Culturebot

“MS. SATTER’S WORK IS A VITALIZING BLEND OF COZINESS AND ESTRANGEMENT, WEIRDNESS AND FAMILIARITY.”  
– The New York Times

“WINNER POSSESSES AN UNMISTAKABLE, AUTHENTIC, AND VERY ENDEARING SENSE OF HUMOR, WHICH RADIATES IRREPRESSIBLY FROM THE TRANSCRIPT’S CENTER.” 
– The New Yorker
Tagged with:  

IS THIS A ROOM

October 3 - November 10

Conceived and Directed by Tina Satter
With Becca Blackwell, Emily Davis, Pete Simpson, TL Thompson
A true story, still unfolding. June 3, 2017. A 25-year-old former Air Force linguist named Reality Winner is surprised at her home by the FBI, interrogated, and then charged with leaking evidence of Russian interference in U.S elections. Reality remains in jail with a record-breaking sentence.

The FBI transcript of her interrogation is the heart of IS THIS A ROOM, conceived as a play and directed by Obie Award-winner Tina Satter, in which an extraordinary human drama unfolds between the complex and witty Reality (Emily Davis), and the agents who question her. As Reality’s autonomy shrinks before her eyes, a simmering real-life thriller emerges, asking what it is to have honor in this American moment, and how the personal can reverberate globally.
Tickets to IS THIS A ROOM are now on sale. Click Here to book! Questions? Call the box office at 212-353-0303.

Want to see the show from a different point of view? Take advantage of the limited onstage seating available for each performance. Thanks to the staging, there is optimal viewing from both sides of the audience.




"IS THIS A ROOM IS SO POWERFUL. EMILY DAVIS IS MESMERIZING AS REALITY WINNER."
- Culturebot
"MS. SATTER'S WORK IS A VITALIZING BLEND OF COZINESS AND ESTRANGEMENT, WEIRDNESS AND FAMILIARITY."  
- The New York Times
"WINNER POSSESSES AN UNMISTAKABLE, AUTHENTIC, AND VERY ENDEARING SENSE OF HUMOR, WHICH RADIATES IRREPRESSIBLY FROM THE TRANSCRIPT'S CENTER." 
- The New Yorker

Becca Blackwell

Becca Blackwell is a NYC based trans actor, performer and writer. Existing between genders, and preferring the pronoun "they," Blackwell works collaboratively with playwrights and directors to expand our sense of personhood and the body through performance. Some of their collaborations have been with Young Jean Lee, Half Straddle, Jennifer Miller's Circus Amok, Richard Maxwell, Erin Markey, Sharon Hayes, Theater of the Two Headed Calf and Lisa D'Amour. Film/TV includes: High Maintenance, Marriage Story, “Shameless,” Deadman's Barstool, and Jack in the Box. Becca is a recipient of the Doris Duke Impact Artist Award. And currently a resident artist at Joe's Pub. Their solo show THEY, THEMSELF AND SCHMERM tours in towns like yours.

READ MORE

Emily Davis

Emily Davis has performed in New York and toured internationally with Half Straddle for a decade, notably originating leading roles in productions of THE SEAGULL (THINKING OF YOU) (Nina) and FOOTBALL/IN THE PONY PALACE (Eleanore). Recent original roles in New York include: OF GOVERNMENT (Clubbed Thumb Summer Series), O, EARTH at The Foundry, MY OLD MAN at Dixon Place and SINGLET at The Bushwick Starr. Emily’s theater career landed her a role in this summer’s celebrated arthouse lo-fi hit THE PLAGIARISTS which premiered at The Berlinale and New Directors/New Films. Emily wrote and starred in the short film Gwen In Texas, and her lecture on Neurodiversity and art JOHN DAVIS: FOR ALL I KNOW was presented and published by The Kitchen. Emily has voiced numerous animated characters for filmmaker Dash Shaw. Emily wishes to gratefully acknowledge her frequent collaborators Erin Markey, Jess Barbagallo, Becca Blackwell, and filmmaker Nicholas Zeig-Owens.

READ MORE

Pete Simpson

Pete Simpson originated the role of Justin Garrick in Tina Satter/Half Straddle’s IS THIS A ROOM at the Kitchen in January of this year. The production marks Simpson’s return to Half Straddle since 2013’s AWAY UNIFORM, as well as his return to The Vineyard since premiering Will Eno’s MIDDLETOWN. Simpson most recently appeared as Tom Buchanan in Elevator Repair Service’s multiple-awarded production of GATZ at the Skirball Center (and in international tours). Additional NYC theater credits include: Angelo in MEASURE FOR MEASURE (Public Theater/ERS); Drew in STRAIGHT WHITE MEN (Public Theater); Mike Campbell in THE SELECT/THE SUN ALSO RISES (New York Theater Workshop); Lunch in TINCAT SHOES (Clubbed Thumb); Edmund in LEAR (Soho Rep). Pete celebrates 23-years and over 5,000 performances of the titular Blue character in NYC’s long running hit, BLUE MAN GROUP (for which he also has served as writer, trainer and director). REGIONAL: Denver Center Theatre Company: A DYBBUK, TWELFTH NIGHT; Williamstown Theater Festival: BILLINGS, THE BLUE DEMON; Westport Country Playhouse: TURANDOT (dir. Darko Tresnjak); New York Stage and Film: THE PETERSONS PROJECT (co-creator). FILM: the upcoming Noah Baumbach feature, Marriage Story; Morning Glory; Lincoln in Bardo; Stefan. TELEVISION: “Gotham,” “Law and Order,” “The Tonight Show,” “Conan O’Brien.” Simpson is the winner of a 2017 Obie Award for Sustained Excellence.

READ MORE

TL Thompson

TL Thompson  (Agent Taylor) Broadway: STRAIGHT WHITE MEN (Person In Charge u/s), Second Stage Theater. Theater: WAAFRICA 123 (Aweeno), Criminal Queerness Festival. Diana Oh’s MY H8 LETTER TO THE GR8 AMERICA THEATER (Human Being), Public Theater. NERVOUS/SYSTEM (Pollster), BAM Next Wave. AFTER (Company) Public Theater. BATHSHEBA'S PSALMS: OR, A WOMAN OF UNUSUAL BEAUTY TAKING A BATH (Ensemble) TANK Theater. Podcasts: Adventures in New America (Bishop). Welcome to Nightvale (Lee Marvin). Webseries: “These/Thems” (TI), Outfest 2019, Dir. Jett Garrison. “The Hunted” (Nic), Dir. Crystal Arnette. Films: Flu$h (Wrex), Dir. Heather Acs. Separation/Celebration, Dir. Amanda Madden. Friday Afternoon Dir. Paige Campbell. TL is also NY Neo Futurist, who performs frequently in The Infinite Wrench, an ongoing attempt to perform 30 plays in one hour.

READ MORE

Tina Satter

Tina Satter (conceiver and director, IS THIS A ROOM) is a playwright, director, and teacher who was a recipient of a 2016 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Award, a 2014 Doris Duke Artist Impact Award, and was named an Off-Off Broadway Innovator to Watch by Time Out New York. She is the leader of Half Straddle, an Obie-winning, New York City-based ensemble of performers and designers. With Half Straddle, she has written and directed nine full-length plays, and a number of smaller projects, and re-imagined them for a range of spaces as they have toured to numerous theaters and festivals in the U.S. and internationally. She has taught and led workshops on writing, directing, and feminist approaches to art-making at a number of schools and universities. She is a Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop. In 2017, she received a PANOS commission from Culturgest in Lisbon, Portugal to write a play for teenagers, and worked with the Portuguese directors on the translation and dramaturgy of her play, SMALL BREATH. Tina attended Mac Wellman’s graduate playwriting program at Brooklyn College and received an M.A. from Reed College and a B.A. from Bowdoin College. Her first collection of plays, SEAGULL (THINKING OF YOU), was published by 53rd State Press in 2014. The full text of GHOST RINGS and a live vinyl recording were put out by 53rd State Press in 2016.

READ MORE

IS THIS A ROOM Calendar

October 3 - November 10 Tickets are on sale, click here now. Running time: approx. 80 minutes with no intermission Performances are Tuesdays - Sundays (Times vary) Special Events Include: October 4 - Under 35 Member Night October 13 - Post-Show Discussion October 15 - Premier Cru Member Night October 23 - Post-Show Discussion November 5 - Post-Show Discussion November 7 - Post-Show Discussion

Share →
MENU