2 x 1 Acts playing in a double bill.
Anomalous Co. with ATA Present: “Bounds” & “Stiffler”
“Bounds”
A New York Premiere by award-winning Italian playwright, Tino Caspanello
Directed by Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva
Five women stand at the shore of an unknown coast…. Two are migrants, two are guards, one is both. In liminal space, they wait. While waiting, they reenact familiar games of childhood — and the power games of adults.
Written in Italy in 2012, “Bounds” evokes Europe’s 2011 migrant crisis and the many waves of crisis since, in which hundreds of thousands of migrants have fled hotspots of the Middle East and Africa by boat, headed for Europe’s southernmost islands, including Greece’s Lesbos, and the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa. Thousands upon thousands died in the crossing —others reached Europe only to be pushed back into the sea – others have not yet escaped the limbo of migrant camps.
As the US slides further into the brutal migrant policies of the Trump administration, with kidnappings and rendition, foreign concentration camps, militarization of cities, mass roundups and deportations —”Bounds” is a parable for our own present moment.
In the words of playwright Tino Caspanello, “Bounds is a story about cages, violence, dreams, a story that reflects the actual living time that flows under our skin, a time that stands apart from the rules, obligations and prejudices that keep us from looking in the eyes of our neighbors.”
“Stiffler”
A US premiere by award-winning, Kosovan playwright Dorunting Basha.
A woman arrives at the hospital. She has a knife in her back. No one notices.
She arrives at the police station. She has a knife in her back. No one notices.
She arrives at the morgue. She has a knife in her back. No one notices.
A searing work of absurdist-macabre, Stiffler takes a hard look at femicide, sex work, and systemic neglect of women.
As the Epstein revelations and the Pelicot trial lay bare a culture that repeatedly exploits and abandons women, Stiffler lands with fierce, stark relevance—and a clear cry for justice.
December 2025