SPIN

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2026 at 8:00PM
at THE SUSAN & RONALD FRANKEL THEATER
AT THE ROBERT W. WILSON MCC THEATER SPACE

by Jake Brasch (he/they)
directed by Sivan Battat (she/they)

Stage Manager: Skylar Back (they/them)
Dramaturg: Genevieve Simon (he/they)

featuring Barsha (she/they), clew (they/them), Hari Nef (she/her), Jax Jackson (no pronouns), Jess Barbagallo (he/him), Nora Brigid Monahan (she/they), Sabrina Wu (they/them), Taylor Trensch (any pronouns)

What do a birthday party clown, an ornithologist, a rabbi, a park ranger, a grief counselor, a goat cheese enthusiast, and a flock of critically endangered Barn Owls have in common? Turns out, a hell of a lot. Jumping wildly through time, SPIN charts the lives of a group of lost souls, slowly revealing the strange, invisible threads that bind them together.

Jake Brasch (he/they)

**Writer**
Jake Brasch (he/they) is a writer, singer, composer, pianist, clown, and recent graduate of The Juilliard School. Jake is one half of American Sing-Song, a collective that writes and performs filthy comedic musicals, including HOLE!, which will be presented this year at Playwrights Horizons and Soho Theatre in London. Jake’s play Trip Around the Sun will premiere at Two River Theater in the spring. His play The Reservoir was produced last year by Atlantic Theater Company/Ensemble Studio Theatre, Denver Center Theatre Company, Alliance Theatre, Geffen Playhouse, and Berkeley Rep. Jake has three brothers, 26 pairs of glasses, and lives in Brooklyn with his sweetie pie husband, Tyler. jakebrasch.com

Sivan Battat (she/they)

**Director**
Sivan Battat is a theatre director and community organizer based in NYC. Sivan has developed and developed work with companies including Roundabout, the Old Globe, Yale Rep, Playwrights Horizons, Studio Theatre, Park Avenue Armory, NYTW, The Atlantic, Ars Nova, Berkeley Rep, New Georges, New York Stage & Film, Cape Cod Theatre Project, Long Wharf, MCC, p.73 and more. Fellowships include: Roundabout Directing Fellow, Drama League Directing Fellow, TCG Rising Leaders of Color. sivanbattat.com

Genevieve Simon (he/they)

**Dramaturg**
Genevieve Simon (he/they) is an award-winning playwright and actor. His work has been supported by Ars Nova, The Bushwick Starr, Breaking The Binary, Powerhouse Theater at Vassar College, The Brick, Fresh Ground Pepper, The Motor Company, Oberlin College, Skidmore College, Willamette University, Shadowland Stages, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cincinnati Fringe Festival, The Parsnip Ship, and The Tank. 2026 Leah Award, *PUNCH BACK;* 2024 Ecodrama Playwrights Festival Finalist, *BLOOM BLOOM POW;* 2025 NYSCA Commission Winner, *THIS BUG IS GAY*; 2024 Page 73 Writers Group. Published by 1319 Press. New Georges Affiliated Artist. Playwriting Lecturer, Skidmore College. www.genevieve-simon.com

Skylar Back (they/them)

**Stage Manager**
Skylar Back is a NYC-based stage manager, producer, and wearer of many hats for theatre, film/TV, and comedy. Select credits include *Safe House* (Theatre Row), *Strange Fish* or *Biology Play* (Parity Productions), and *Cassandra* (Teatro LATEA). Their other ventures include “Going Down with Ella Yurman,” a leftist political comedy show on Brooklyn Public Access and YouTube (Creator, Executive Producer, Head of Production). In their free time, Skylar enjoys lyra dance, language learning, and turning off their phone. Email sbacktheatrical@gmail.com for business inquiries.

Barsha (she/they)

**BARBARA**
BARSHA (she/they) originated the role of Horowitz at Playwright Horizon’s In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot. Barsha also originated roles and was the music director for the original Off-Broadway companies of both Tony n’ Tina’s Wedding and Charles Busch’s Swingtime Canteen. Barsha played Gertrude Stein in The Marriage of Gertrude Stein by Alice Toklas at the 2025 Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Untitled Theatre Company No. 61). Her one-person show A Womb with a View was performed at the Cherry Lane Theatre. Barsha won the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Award for the score to Radiant Baby, the life of artist Keith Haring (Public Theater, NYC) directed by George C. Wolfe (co-written by Stuart Ross). Barsha was associate conductor for Broadway’s Jersey Boys and Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and company pianist for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical. Barsha co-wrote A Taste of Things To Come (with Hollye Levin) ran at Bucks County Playhouse, Broadway Playhouse (Chicago) and off-Broadway at The York Theatre (dir. Lorin Latarro) and is published by Concord Theatricals. Her one-act musical Every Other Thursday (with Sheilah Rae) is published by Smith and Farrar. Conductor: Karen O’s opera Stop the Virgens! (St. Ann’s Warehouse/Sydney Opera House). Vocal arrangements: the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s Sacrilege featured on David Letterman and Lea DeLaria's House of David. Barsha sang and arranged songs on George Clinton’s R&B Skeletons in the Closet and co-wrote T.A.P.O.A.F.O.M with him. Last Call (co-written and performed with Jo Lampert, dir. Sivan Battat) was produced by the Long Wharf Theatre in 2026.

clew (they/them)

**MARCUS**
clew is dreaming of a future that is most free. They are a performer, teacher, camera artiste, filmmaker, and pretty guardian of ruin & rebirth. Last seen in LIZN'BOW's El Mundo es Niña, a portal to Niñalandia opened at Times Square Arts. Last last seen in The Picture of Dorian Gray on Broadway & various projects at Clubbed Thumb, Yale Rep, NYTW, Playwright's Realm, & The Bushwick Star. Artistic collective at National Queer Theater. Happy to return to BTBFest, sharing space with these wonder-filled TGNC creatives. Trans right are human rights, and trans people will not be erased. None of us is free until all of us are free. We reject ICE, displacement, colonialism, and empire everywhere. Free Sudan, Congo, and Palestine. Thanks George, Charlie, and Chris for your dedication & support. Love eternal to Zaza, Jesús, and Gabby whose hearts light the way.

Hari Nef (she/her)

**JULES**
HARI NEF is an actress and writer in New York City. Stage: THE SEAGULL/WOODSTOCK, NY (The New Group), DES MOINES (Theatre for a New Audience), DADDY (The New Group). Screen: NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK, ALL’S FAIR, BARBIE, THE IDOL, YOU, BAD THINGS, EXTRAPOLATIONS, ASSASINATION NATION, and TRANSPARENT, among many others. Upcoming: PRE-EXISTING CONDITION (Greenwich House Theater), GRIND, SITUATION 64, and UNT. CANDY DARLING BIOPIC, which she also wrote. Hari’s writing has been published in *The New York Times*, *Artforum*, and GQ.

Jax Jackson (no pronouns)

**RON**
Jax Jackson (no pronouns) is an agender actor and performer who has been seen on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Way-Off Broadway, Regional, National tour, and International tour stages as a professional since 2008 (plus a little TV and film work as well).

Jess Barbagallo (he/him)

**REGINALD/REGINA**
Jess Barbagallo is a theater artist and teacher. Editor at Large: 53rd State Press. Editor: Marine Press. Next up, Jess’s writing will be featured in The Million Underscores’ *The Kick Inside*, premiering at HERE Arts Center in October 2026.

Nora Brigid Monahan (she/they)

LYNN/LINDA

Nora Brigid Monahan (she/they) is a playwright and performer best known for creating and starring in the international cult-hit solo musical DIVA: Live From Hell (music and lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen). Her other stage works include Aunt Jack, The Fifth of November (2026 Kendeda Prize Finalist), and musical adaptations of The Danish Girl (music by Alex Parker) and Virginia Woolf’s Orlando (music and lyrics by Cynthia Saunders). Nora’s plays and musicals have been developed by Goodspeed Musicals, The York, The Lark, NYSAF, Playwrights' Center, Penn State Musicals, and the Alliance Theatre, alongside screen projects with EntertainmentOne and Mark Gordon Pictures. She has a BA in Theatre from Fordham University, an MFA in Playwriting from Hunter College, and a very chatty toddler at home.