Horse Trade Theater Group will present their resident acting ensemble, The Drafts in the World Premiere of when half the sphere is visible, written by Jesse Cameron Alick (Artistic Director of Subjective Theatre Company; Artistic Associate at The Public), Matthew Gutschick (Rubber Doves, winner of the New Horizons Playwrighting Competition), Michael McGuire (Sometimes I Feel Like I Missed the Train at The Lark Play Development Center), and Germono Toussaint (Caged at the 2006 Not for Broadway Theater Festival; The Anointed at The 2010 Fire This Time Festival), May 10-26 at The Red Room (85 East 4th Street between 2nd Avenue and Bowery). The production will be directed by Ilaria Amadasi, Jaclyn Biskup (Assistant Director, Love’s Labour’s Lost at The Public), Lindsey Moore (No Tea Productions), Sara Walsh, and Donya Washington (Now the Cats with Jeweled Claws with Target Margin Theatre). 

The Drafts is Reiss Gaspard, Paul Herbig, Alex Hodgins, Ben Kauffman, JB Rote, Marchelle Thurman, Lauren Kate Morrison, Amanda Van Nostrand, and Gary Warchola.

Can there be a perfect kiss? Will a wall of water burst a burden of guilt? Can a belt buckle baffle the TSA? An escapade forking in unexpected places, this genre-bending blend of storytelling explores the dichotomies we live with (and often choose to ignore). A collaborative effort between four playwrights, five directors and nine actors, when half the sphere is visible creates a greater narrative from four interwoven stories.  

THE DRAFTS are the resident acting ensemble of Horse Trade Theater Group, supporting the work of its artistic community. Committed to new play development, The Drafts monthly reading series has featured over 100 original scripts and inspired several full productions.

The Drafts reading series has featured notable emerging playwrights Pia Wilson (The Public’s EWG), Michael McGuire, Kelley Girod (The Fire This Time), Paul David Young, Megan Mostyn-Brown (LAByrinth), Terence Patrick Hughes, Augusto Federico Amador (The Public’s EWG), Ziella Bryars, and Micheline Auger. The Drafts also perform annually in The Drafts Fest, a showcase of their talents and the talents of selected playwrights and directors they have met throughout the year. Drafts have been cast members of Lines, Donnie and the Monsters, punkrock/lovesong, and Song for a Future Generation (The Management), all shows produced or presented by Horse Trade. The Drafts will present three new full length Lab Productions in the upcoming season.

Juliana Carr is grateful to join the ensemble of when half the sphere is
visible. Originally from the Pittsburgh area, with credits such as The Glass Menagerie (Prime Stage) and The Ladies Man (SVST), Juliana is glad to be a part of the NY community. She is a company member of the clown troupe, Everybody Nose, NYC and singer/songwriter for Girl in the Yellow Hat. Thanks to everyone who made this production possible. Carpe diem!

Paul Herbig has worked extensively in Off-Off Broadway theatre, working with Mainspring Collective, Emerging Artists Theatre, Heiress Productions, and the American Theatre of Actors among others.  At Horse Trade Paul has acted in the plays Donny and the Monsters and Lines, both directed Heidi G. Grumelot.  Paul has also worked in independent film, and just finished shooting The Adventures of Paul and Marian, his first lead in a feature.  He would like to thank Horse Trade for always being a wonderful group to work with.

Alex Hodgins is a native of the Northwest and is thrilled to be working with the Drafts. After graduating from Western Washington University with a degree in Acting and Playwriting in 2009, he moved to Seattle where he started a theatre company which toured an original show in 2010. Past works include Outside of a Horse, (toured Washington); various, Twentieth Century Cycle (toured Washington, New York and England); various, Macbeth; Macduff, Oleanna; John, The Trestle at Popelick Creek; Chas.

Ben Kaufman grew up in Columbus, Ohio.  He Interned with Shadowbox Cabaret of Columbus, and then went on to graduate from Ohio University’s School of Theater with a BFA in Acting.  During school he spent a summer at Monomoy Theater on Cape Cod.  Following graduation he accepted an Internship with Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati where he served as an understudy for regional premieres of Michael Hollinger’s Opus, and Steven Dietz’ Fiction. He is happy to be apart of this iteration of The Drafts, and looks forward to what may come.

Lauren Kate Morrison has recently relocated from Pittsburgh, PA to NYC. She graduated from Point Park University with a B.A. in Theater Arts. She has most recently been seen with the Drafts as Hepworth in the reading of The Church of Diminishing Marginal Returns. She has also been seen in the world premier of Time After Time at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Some of her other favorite projects include Visual Head of Phun Chix Productions and Owner of Lauren Morrison Photography.

Marchelle Thurman hails from Chicago and graduated from NYU Tisch School of the Arts  with a BFA in Theatre. Some of her favorite New York credits include Kori in Like Us, Mary in The Confession and Melissa in Clean Energy, Clean Conscience. She would like to thank her beautiful friends and family for their constant love and support.

Donya K Washington a reading of Sound by Don Nguyen (The Civilians), Abby in the Summer by AP Andrews (Playwrights Horizons Theatre School), a reading of Bleedin' Trees by Scott McCarrey (Tisch/NYU), Brooklyn Skank by Fernanda Coppel (Subject Theatre Company), Come Back to Me by Jesse Cameron Alick and Manikato adapted by Jesse Cameron Alick (Shakespeare in Paradise, Bahamas), a reading of Pete the Girl (Rising Circle Collective), Now the Cats with Jeweled Claws (Target Margin Theatre), Spunk (Penobscot Theatre, Bangor, ME), Jump Jim Crow by Jesse Cameron Alick, music and lyrics by Justin Levine (Subjective Theater Company), Bear Market by Kara Manning (Womenís Project Lab), Cold Keener (Target Margin). Work with 52nd Street Project, Playwrights Horizons Theatre School, the Public Theatreís Emerging Writers Group, MCC Theatre Youth Company, The Civilians and Williamstown. Training: MFA, Directing - Brown University/Trinity Rep; BFA, Tisch School of the Arts, NYU. Member of the 2008/2010 Women's Project Lab. Van Lier Directing Fellow 2009, Second Stage Theatre. Member 2010-2011 Civilians' R&D Group.

Heidi Grumelot is co-creator and producer of the monthly storytelling show TOLD. She is the founding director of The Drafts, an acting ensemble responsible for development of over forty original plays to date as part of a monthly reading series. She is the Resident Coordinator for Horse Trade's six resident companies. New York directing credits include punkrock/lovesong at The Brick Theater, Dido and Aeneas with The New York Collective of Performing Arts at The West End Theater and The Boston Early Music Festival, Donnie and the Monsters at UNDER St Marks Theater, and Accidents Do Happen, Tom's Things, and Turning the Glass Around in The Red Room. New York staged reading credits include The Flower Thief in The Red Room , A River Pure for Healing, and An Absolutely Perfect Life at UNDER St Marks Theater. Assistant director credits include Antony and Cleopatra, Love's Labour's Lost, and A Christmas Carol for the American Shakespeare Center. She has directed productions in Michigan, Virginia, and Mexico. 

Ilaria Amadasi Born in Parma, Italy, Ilaria Amadasi's introduction into professional theater took place when she co-founded the Theater Company "I 4 Cantoni" at the age of fifteen. Ilaria later attended the prestigious Teatro Stabile di Genova. She was the author and Assistant Director of the stage adaptation of Franz Kafka’s “The Castle” and was chosen as the female lead in the show “Time of darkness” . She also received a honorable mention from the national playwriting competition "In Punta di Penna" for the piece “Non ho urlato”.
She directed theater therapy workshops for children and seminars of Commedia
dell’Arte at “Teatro Vita” (Parma, Italy). Ilaria moved to the US in 2010. She has collaborated on several productions at the Off-Broadway 45 Bleecker Theater and worked as Assistant Director for the show "American Addict" (Hollywood Fringe Festival). Most recently she worked as Director for the show “Stuck” presented to the Emerging Artists New Works Series.

Lindsey Moore Sproul is proud to be directing for Horse Trade. She is the Co-Founder and Executive Producer for No Tea Productions, and has directed seven plays for No Tea, including Work: A Play, The Kentucky Goblin Siege, Liars, Plucking Failures Like Ripe Fruit, The Artistical Process of Mark and Andy, Already in Progress, and The Pigeon that Cries in My Heart. The New York Times said that Liars was “staged so nicely by Lindsey Moore,” and the Austin Chronicle said of her production of Steve Martin’s WASP that she “wisely envisions [the] work with restraint.”

Sara C Walsh is a theatre artist living in Brooklyn.  Her path to directing has been circuitous. 
Her directing debut was in 2001 with the Chicago premiere of Sarah Ruhl’s Orlando.  After an incredibly successful production, she decided to pursue acting.  She starred as Dot in Pegasus Players’ production of Sunday in the Park with George, garnering four Jeff Awards, including Best Production (Musical).  She also studied at Second City Chicago, performing there and finishing the conservatory program in 2004.  However in 2005, Sara left Chicago to study Scenic Design through  NYU’s prestigious MFA program.
Sara is a member of Faye Driscoll Dance Group, having designed There Is So Much Mad in Me (Dance Theatre Workshop), You’re Me (The Kitchen), and 837 Venice Blvd (HERE Arts Center)  for which she received a “Bessie” Award in 2010.  Other select designs:  Confidence Man (Woodshed Collective) and  Get Mad at Sin (The Chocolate Factory) which was a NY Times Critic's Pick and will show at the San Diego Museum of Art later this year.   www.saracwalsh.com

Germono Toussaint is a playwright, composer, arranger, lyricist, and the founder of A Mile In My Shoes Inc. In 2005, Germono wrote and produced Caged, a theater piece based on interviews he conducted with thirteen women in a halfway house. Caged premiered at the Broadway Theater Center in Milwaukee and was featured in the Not for Broadway Theater Festival in New York City in 2006. Germonoís play The Anointed was featured in The Fire This Time Festival in 2010. As an active composer and arranger, Toussaint has transcribed original music for Katori Hall, Inc, Daniel Beaty Productions, Inc, Dr. Dorothy Productions, and Common Thread Theater. He has composed music for Skylight Opera Theatre, Handful Players, Fishgrease Productions, Diversity Players of Harlem, and New Dramatistís Nocturnal Commissions. Toussaint has a BFA in composition. 

Jesse Cameron Alick is a poet, playwright, producer and Zen Master.  Jesse works as the Artistic Director for Subjective Theatre Company (www.subjectivetheatre.org), Artistic Associate at the Public Theater (www.publictheater.org) and is Assistant to the playwright Suzan-Lori Parks.    Jesse is also the east coast editor of High Contrast Review (www.highcontrastreview.com), freelance journalist and essayist.  Jesse studied writing with playwright Adrienne Kennedy and taught a theater course at Lewis and Clark College. 

Jesse has had essays, articles and poetry published by High Contrast Review, XY, A&U, POZ, The Errorist, Courier Life, Smokin Word Publications and Random House.  He has been commissioned to write work for Streetlight Productions, Freedom Train Productions, Working Man’s Clothes and Subjective Films.  His work has been heard at locations that include Cherry Lane Theater (Downtown Urban Theater Festival), Asian American Writers Workshop (co-produced by New York Theater Workshop), Collective Unconscious, Brooklyn Borough Hall, Museum of the City of New York (produced by Harlem Arts Alliance), CSV, Blue Heron, Bowery Poetry Club, Ensemble Studio Theater, The Ohio Theater, Dixon Place, 78th street theater lab, The Red Room, The Crystal Theater (MT), The Columbus Performing Arts Center (OH), The Poetry Café (UK) and Hip Heaven (UK).  Jesse’s play TURNCOATS was workshopped at the Old Vic Theatre in London as part of their young artist exchange program and his play COME BACK TO ME was performed in the Shakespeare in Paradise festival in the Bahamas.

Matthew Gutschick is a director, writer, teacher and producer.  Directing credits include Twelfth Night and Anon(ymous) the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Wuthering Heights at the Mint Theatre in New York, and Whacked Fairy Tales at Twin City Stage. His plays have been workshopped/produced by Wordsmyth Theatre Company, Horse Trade Theater Group (NYC), Reverie Productions (NYC), Tri Sate Actors’ Theatre, and Magic Chicago.  His company, MagicMouth Theatre, specializes in the combination of theatrical narratives and stage illusion. Matthew’s work for MagicMouth Theatre won a New Horizons Playwriting Award.  He is the former artistic director at the Children’s Theatre of Winston-Salem.  Matthew is the current Managing Director of the Yale Cabaret where he has produced over 14 world premieres.  He is the recipient of a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Fellowship in Entrepreneurship, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and a graduate of the School at Steppenwolf.  Matthew holds a BA in Theater from Wake Forest University and graduates with his MFA from the Yale School of Drama this May.  Many thanks to Heidi, Lindsey and everyone at Horse Trade.

Michael R. McGuire A 2005 CT Artist Fellowship recipient for his play THE NEW GIRL, McGuire’s plays have been produced and workshopped by The Lark, Theater for the New City, the Planning Stage, Hygienic Theaterwerks, Valley Rep, Slant of Light Theater, Bridgeport Theater Company, Horse Trade Theater and Heartland Theater.  His plays for young actors are published by Brooklyn Publishers.   McGuire invites you to “like” him on Facebook.