Who We Are
Sari Caine Glickstein, Artistic Director/Co-Founder
Sari Caine is a NYC bred actress, playwright, and chess teacher. Her plays (which include: Mr Landing Takes a Fall, The Chess Lesson, The Thing About Dan, Rabbit on the Landing, The Cafe Plays, Brunch!, Endicott, Needs, and Christmas Island) have been produced at The Flea Theater, IRT, Jimmy’s No. 43, Roy Arias Theater, Dixon Place, The Strawberry Festival, St Clements Theater, Manhattan Repertory Theater, Hells Kitchen Festival, and published on Indie Theater Now. Readings include: The Lark. Upcoming short film: Jack The Ripper’s First Time. Awards/residencies include: Space at Ryder Farms, Manhattan Theater Source Neighborhood Playhouse, the Albert and Beatrice Sydney award, and multiple residencies with IRT and Jimmy’s No 43. Her play Mr Landing Takes A Fall was the 1st place recipient of the Canadian $1000 Bottletree Award, a PlayPenn semi- finalist, accepted into the Women’s Theater Festival of Memphis, and shortlisted for the UK’s Ronald Duncan award and 24/7 festival. She has also won awards for her fiction, non fiction writing, and poetry. As an actress, she has appeared on Orange is the New Black, The Knick (upcoming), Mr Destiny, and lots of off and off-off broadway theaters. Co-artistic director/co-founder: Slightly Altered States theater company (slightlyaltered.org) She’s been moonlighting as a chess teacher since she was 13, and has taught at practically every private and many public schools in NY, and also the NYPLs –which sometimes are very very far away. She volunteered with Teak Foundation, Penn South for Seniors, and other inner city programs, and worked with The Harlem Children’s Zone for years. She is currently studying under Tina Howe and Arthur Kopit at Hunter’s MFA Playwriting Program. Sag, Equity, Dramatist Guild, NYWIFT, and LIT. www.saricaine.com
David Rigo, Managing Director/Co-Founder
David is a New York City bred actor, producer, and graphic artist. Favorite shows off & off-off Broadway include The Crucible, Sisters Rosensweig, Ten Nights in a Barroom, and Waiting For Lefty, as well as Needs and Mr. Landing Takes a Fall. Upcoming with Slightly Altered States: Cafe Cafe (Harry) at Jimmy's 43, & The Chess Lesson (Paul). Producing includes The Thing About Dan (SAS @ IRT), Brunch! at The Strawberry Festival, and the upcoming Cafe Cafe & The Chess Lesson. He is excited to have been chosen as a resident at Space Ryder Farm in June to develop SAS's The Chess Lesson for IRT (fall). He has studied acting with Fred Kareman at Carnegie Hall Studio 808, singing with Stephanie Scourby, and Shakespeare with John Basil at The American Globe Theater.
Dorit Avganim/Neighborhood Productions, SAS Producer and Director
A Los Angeles native and CalArts graduate, Dorit is a freelance producer, consultant and manager specializing in helping to bootstrap and develop emerging artists in NYC. She is co-founder of indy producing outfit Neighborhood Productions, Producing Director/Curator of IRT, a theater development lab in the West Village, Managing Director of SPACE on Ryder Farm, and co-founder of arts collective, Group Theory. Dorit also works as a general manager for an eclectic mix of established theater, dance and performance artists. Recent projects include: General Manager for RainPan 43 (Elephant Room Inc.) St Ann's Warehouse; General and Tour Manager of David Gordon's Pick-Up Performance Co (s) (Dancing Henry V, Shlemiel the First, Uncivil Wars, others); and Associate Producer of the 2011 River to River Festival. She is thrilled to be part of brining Slightly Altered States vision to the stage. SAS credits: The Thing About Dan (IRT), Cafe Cafe (Jimmy's 43), and she will be directing & producing The Chess Lesson at IRT (Fall). She will be working on the development of the script at Space Ryder Farm with Sari and Dave.
Sherri Eden Barber, Director
Sherri Eden Barber is a New York-based theatre director. Recent directing credits include: Herman Kline’s Midlife Crisis with Adam Lefevre (The Beckett), Inadmissible (Canal Park Playhouse), Latrell Live Tonight! (Joe’s Pub), Love, Yourself (New York Theatre Workshop/IHI Gala), Moonlight on the Bayou and Pump (Frederick Lowe Theatre/Hunter College), Carthaginians and Angels in America: Perestroika (Stella Adler Conservatory/NYU), Tapefaces (Ars Nova/ANT Fest), Dance Lessons (Theatre Row, winner of the Samuel French Short Play Festival), Empire of the Trees (Abingdon Theatre), References To Salvador Dali Make Me Hot (Hangar Theatre-Wedge), Only You Can Prevent Wildfires (Culture Project), How To Quit Smoking and Baptism (Atlantic). She has developed new work with The Orchard Project, New York Theatre Workshop, The Harlem Stage, The Classic Theatre of Harlem, Primary Stages, The Flea Theater, Culture Project, The 24 Hour Play Company, and The Old Vic. Sherri assistant directed Family Furniture with Thomas Kail (The Flea Theater), Side Effects with David Auburn (MCC), The Killing of Sister George directed by and starring Kathleen Turner (Long Wharf Theatre), and Close Up Space with Sheryl Kaller (O’Neill Theatre Center). Sherri was Kathy Najimy's Assistant Director for two of Glamour Magazine's "These Girls" productions featuring Olivia Wilde, Rashida Jones, Zosia Mamet and Amy Poheler among others (Joe's Pub). Sherri also worked with Jose Rivera as his assistant director and co-producer on the Workshop Production/New York Premiere of his play Brainpeople. As a director with The 24 Hour Play Company, she has assistant directed for Thomas Kail, Christian Parker, Jessica Bauman and Leigh Kilton-Smith (The 24 Hour Play Company/American Airlines Theater) and Moises Kaufman (The 24 Hour Musicals/Joe's Pub). Sherri is a Drama League Directing Fellow and recipient of the US/UK Exchange Award to direct in London. She was awarded the SDCF Directing Observership and was an Ockrent Directing Fellowship nominee. She has received extensive training in Mike Leigh improvisational / development techniques and is a member of AT PLAY and the Old Vic/New Voices Network. Sherri received her MFA in Directing from The New School for Drama and her BA in Women, Performance Art & Activism with a specialization in Women and Comedy from University of Maryland, College Park.