Ghost Rings

Half Straddle made their New York Live Arts debut in 2016 with Ghost Rings. This original song cycle explores the twisted layers of love among best friends and a family band of yesteryear. Inspired by live band dynamics, with text and lyrics by Tina Satter and music by Chris Giarmo and Erin Markey, the narrative contrasts the romantic memories of two friends with Satter’s real-life relationship to her estranged sister as she plays in an invented band with her Half Straddle collaborators. The piece becomes a vulnerable and harrowingly funny melodic reckoning with broken families, romantic friendship, and the ultimate leap into adulthood. Copresented with Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD) as part of Queer Performance Camp and Dramaturgies en Dialogue. "Fantastical, odd and sometimes so tender it’s raw, “Ghost Rings” is a pop concert with a drama inside, about trying to make sense of the hole in your soul when the person you believed would stick around forever drifts away." – The New York Times