Meet Shara Ashley Zeiger & Roughly Speaking

Name:  Shara Ashley Zeiger

What is your current project?

“Roughly Speaking” A new play based on over 200 interviews with the NYC Homeless! See a world we often walk by through the eyes of Lightning.Bolt, a rapper bound only by his wheelchair on a not so typical day at the soup kitchen. An existential struggle of survival begs questions of love, loss, and what’s next. I spent 2 years interviewing the homeless to write this play and I am very proud of it. The project also includes a talk back series, an invited dress rehearsal for the homeless, $3 for every ticket purchased going to buy backpacks for the homeless of NYC, and an installation of Willie Baronet’s work, an awesome artist who makes galleries out of homeless signs.

Where are you performing it and why is it the right fit for your piece?

We’re running at Tada Theater on 15 w. 28th st in NYC. It’s a great 99 seat house that’s very accessible for NY audiences to get to, and it’s only 12 blocks from where the play actually takes place.

What’s next for you?

We’re going to see about this for awhile 🙂 The goal is for this play to have a life after this run. Sure I’ve got a ton up my sleeve, but in time.

Who is your biggest inspiration right at this moment and why?
I’m inspired by a lot of people. Lin Manuel Miranda, Meryl Streep, Hillary Clinton. Am I cliché? I’m inspired by people who use what they got to shape the world be in their voice their influence or their character.

Want More?

Website: www.theplatformgroup.org
Twitter: @PlatformGroup
Facebook.com/platformgroup
Facebook.com/roughlyspeakingtheplay
@PlatformGroup (IG)
@SharaAshleyZ (Twitter & IG)

Shara Ashley Zeiger (Producer, Playwright, Performer): Shara is the founder and Artistic Director of The Platform Group, where she acted in and produced Savage in Limbo, and The Ladder Series. As a creator Shara’s play The Dark Place was part of Emerging Artist Theater’s New Works Festival in 2014. She works as a teaching artist in developing new works with The Queens Theater at various residencies. She is also on the reader selection committee for The O’Neill Center’s National Playwrights Conference, and sits on the board for NY’s Educational Theater Association. As a performer, Shara’s done work on camera with ABC, MTV, VH1, Spike TV, National Geographic, CollegeHumor, and many festival running films including Aphasia (Tribeca Film Festival 2015, Cannes 2015). Shara was in the National Tour of Molilere’s Imaginary Invalid, and has also worked at many theaters including La MaMa E.T.C., PS 122, Theater for the New City, Kitchen Theater Co., Bristol Riverside Theater, and Bucks County Playhouse. Shara is alum of Ithaca College, The O’Neill Center’s National Theater Institute, The Upright Citizens Brigade, and Studio 5 and is a proud member of AEA & SAG-AFTRA. @SharaAshleyZ http://www.SharaAshleyZeiger.com

Show information (venue, dates, ticket info)

10/29-11/20 Thurs-Sat 8pm,

Sundays 11/6, 11/13, 11/20, 2pm

Wednesdays 11/2, 11/9, 8pm

Monday 11/14 8pm

Tada Theater 15 w. 28th st, NYC

Tickets on Smarttix through our website http://www.theplatformgroup.org