The Cell Presents Workshop Reading Of Sandra A. Daley-Sharif's STRADDLING THE EDGE

Nancy Manocherian's the cell (Artistic Director Kira Simring) in Chelsea, New York City has announced Sandra A. Daley-Sharif's play Straddling the Edge as part of the cell's ongoing residency series. Artistic Director Kira Simring will direct and features Almeria Campbell, Jacqueline Gregg, Nathan Hinton, Justin Jorrell, Travis Raeburn and Robert McKay. Perri Gaffney will read stage directions.

The play will be presented on October 21 at 7PM at the cell (338 West 23rd Street). Free tickets are available through Eventbrite.

The description for Straddling the Edge is as follows: Too many losses and not enough "hellos" launch Sophia on a kaleidoscopic dreamscape quest for identity. Can she maintain her balancing act to find firm ground? Or will the search itself send her over the edge?

Sandra A. Daley-Sharif (Dramatist) is an Afro-Caribbean artist, living in Harlem. She has earned her merits over twenty years as an OBIE Award winning producer, award winning playwright, director, actress, and dramaturg. She is a 2015 recipient of the Josephine Abady Award. She is pursuing her MFA in Playwriting at Hunter College under the mentorship of Master-Artists-in-Residence Annie Baker, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Adam Bock, and KRISTINA SATTER. Not one, but two of her plays made it to the Kilroys List 2017.

Most recently, her short play Anonymous was produced at both The Fire This Time Festival 2018 and the EstroGenius Festival 2018. Straddling the Edge is a Barbour Award finalist. Les Fréres is a 2018 Bay Area Playwrights Festival finalist and a 2017 Eugene O'Neill semi-finalist. She received a SPACE on Ryder Farm Creative Residency, where she began her new play The Island Bull's Wife. It is now complete, under the mentorship of Adam Bock. She was named a NYFA Fellowship Finalist for Playwriting. Her short play Man in the Moon was developed and presented by The Exquisite Corpse Company; Shirley and Iris was presented at the Going to the River Festival 2016 at EST, and Jake was produced at New Perspectives Theater, and most recently at Silver Spring Stage. Her choreo-poem "Genesis" was presented May 2017 at 50in50:Writing Women Into Existence, curated by Dominique Morisseau. And, her play Los Samaritanos about life at the Mexican border is being considered for development at the Arizona Theatre and being reviewed in the semi final round, for a week-long development at Women in Arizona Theatre.

Sandra's short film "Take Flight" is being featured at this year's Everybody Digital Film Festival and Dreams Deferred, which she wrote/directed/produced, was featured in the 2017 African American Women in Cinema Film Festival.

Kira Simring (Director) is a New York based director and theatre developer. Working primarily in new plays, Kira collaborates directly with playwrights and theatre-makers to create original works that preserve the artists' intention and voice. Co-founding the cell with Nancy Manocherian in 2006, Kira has dedicated her years as Artistic Director towards fostering new voices in the theatre. Directing credits include the premieres of Crackskull Row by Honor Molloy (New York Times Critics' Pick), Hard Times: An American Musical by Larry Kirwan (New York Times Critics' Pick), and The McGowan Trilogy by Seamus Scanlon (New York and UK Premieres). Kira's work has been seen at The New Theatre Row Theatres, The Skirball Center, The Thalia Theatre at Symphony Space, The Connecticut Grand Opera, CenterStage in Baltimore and The Kino-Theatre outside of London. Kira has been granted a Shubert Fellowship and is a three-time Origin Theatre 1st Irish Festival award Winner for Best Director. She received a BA in Anthropology from Smith College and an MFA in Directing at The New School for Drama.

the cell (Founding Artistic Director Nancy Manocherian and Artistic Director Kira Simring) is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the incubation and presentation of new works by emerging artists. Founded in 2006, the cell has produced over a dozen critically acclaimed world premiere productions of new plays and musicals includingThe Evolution of Mann, Bastard Jones (Drama Desk Nomination), Crackskull Row (NY Times Critic's Pick), Horse Girls, Hard Times: An American Musical and more. The cell also features the jazz @ the cell series and has served as a home base for a large community of resident artists and organizations such as Blackboard Reading Series, Artists Without Walls (AWOW), Irish American Writers and Artists (AWOW), Sybarite5, Tribeca New Music, and New York Theatre Barn.

For tickets and more information go to www.thecelltheatre.org

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