STIFFLER — DECEMBER 17-20

US Premiere
Written by award-winning Kosovan playwright Doruntina Basha
Directed by Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva

December 17-20, 2025 @ 7pm

AnomalousCo @ The American Theatre of Actors:
314 W 54th Street
New York, New York 10019

Tickets:
General Admission: $40 (includes admission to BOUNDS the same evening)

ABOUT

— 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 stark relevance—and a fierce cry for justice.

AN ANOMALOUS DOUBLE BILL

Stiffler is presented in direct dialogue with Bounds, paired by the director as a single double-bill experience. Buying a ticket to Stiffler automatically includes admission to Bounds the same evening.

Poetic and imagistic, Bounds speaks to the vulnerability of migrant women, reminding us that when one of us is taken, all of us are complicit — and asking: What does it take to stand up for the stranger?

When you make a tax-deductible donation to AnomalousCo your generous gift extends far beyond the walls of the theatre! AnomalousCo depends on generous donors who understand that ticket sales alone cannot sustain the creation of meaningful, socially engaged theatre. Your contribution directly fuels our mission, our community, and the impact we strive to make—both onstage and in the world. This production is partially supported by the Nancy Friday Foundation.

CREDITS

Doruntina Basha – Playwright
Diana Zhdanova, Ylfa Edelstein, Jeremy Goren, Giovanni Sandoval, Rina Brown – Ensemble
Kathryn Mederos Syssoyeva – Director

BIOS

Diana Zhdanova (Stiffler: Hava) graduated Summa Cum Laude from the renowned V. Filshtinsky Acting Studio of the Department of Acting and Directing in the St. Petersburg Institute of Performing Arts (Russia). As an actress, Zhdanova has performed in Russia, Latvia, Poland, and the US. In New York, she has performed in numerous Manhattan theaters, including 59E59 with Labyrinth Theatre; Culture Lab; and with AnomalousCo at Center at West Park, HERE Arts, American Theatre of Actors and others. Diana is a 2025 recipient of the Boris Sagan Directing Fellowship at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she will serve as Assistant Director on “Spirit of the People,” a new work by Tony-nominated playwright Jeremy O. Harris ("Slave Play"). Since 2020, she has served as Co- Artistic/Producing Director of AnomalousCo, New York’s queer-women led, immigrant, feminist theatre ensemble.

For film and television, Diana is represented by the agency Hanns Wolter International Inc, NYC.

Ylfa Edelstein (Stiffler: Nurse, Mindless Girl, musician) was born and raised in Iceland. As a child, she immersed herself in theater, ballet, and violin, working steadily in theater, film, and TV throughout her youth. She emigrated to the United States as a teenager to study at Webster University and with mentors such as Alan Langdon and Fred Kareman, remaining to pursue a life in the arts. Her stage work includes (Beyond) Doomsday Scrolling (ATA 2025; HERE Arts 2023; The Center at West Park 2022), Beckett.Women and Footfalls (HERE Arts 2023), Shackleton on Ice (Castillo Theater 2020), A City of Refuge with The Primitive Grace Theater Company (The Center at West Park 2020), and Puma, portraying Marlene Dietrich at New Jersey Rep. Her screen credits include The Knick (Cinemax), MacGyver, The Gifted Man, Law & Order, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, Law & Order: SVU, The Blacklist, The Education of Max Bickford, The Dinner Guest, Listen, Perception, You Can Kiss Me, Loosies, The Wisdom Tooth, and Landing Home. Ylfa is a proud member of AnomalousCo, Primitive Grace Theater Co., and The Actor’s Gym with Bobby Moresco. For more information: www.ylfaedelstein.com

Rina Brown (Stiffler: The Girl of the Two-Hundreed-Year-Old Cobblestone, musician) is an emerging multidisciplinary Ukrainian American artist whose practice bridges music, performance, and photography. Trained as a professional pianist and composer, Rina brings a finely honed musical intelligence to her performance work. She made her American stage debut in January 2025, joining the ensemble of AnomalousCo as an actor-musician in (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling at The American Theatre of Actors. Her work is grounded in political engagement and artistic activism: Rina’s creative process is dedicated to examining and deconstructing inherited social and political norms, seeking forms of self-expression that resist constraint and catalyze dialogue. As a photographic artist, Rina collaborated with AnomalousCo as the production photographer for Stiffler and Bounds.

A multidisciplinary theatre artist focused on socially engaged, devised performance, Jeremy Goren is Co-founder of Wistaria Project, Facilitator of the community song initative, NYC Seed Group, former longtime collaborator with Terra Incognita and the U.S. projects of the Workcenter of Jerzy Grotowski and Thomas Richards, and Co-Artistic Director of AnomalousCo, with whom he co-created (beyond) Doomsday Scrolling. Jeremy directed the premier of Saviana Stanescu’s Zebra 2.0, which performed at NYC festivals (including ICEFACTORY) and toured Romania, winning the 2024 Rinocerul Award for Most Innovative Play. Jeremy’s devised work has been praised as “avant-garde yet deeply felt” (Flavorpill) and“Best of the Capital Fringe” (D.C. Metro Theater Arts). He teaches youth and adults, leading programs for Wistaria Project, Brooklyn College’s Project P.E.A.C.E., Target Margin, Centro Cultural Bertolt Brecht, and NYC public schools. Jeremy holds an M.F.A. in Performance and Interactive Media Arts from Brooklyn College.

Giovanni Sandoval, actor, playwright, and director based out of New York City. A graduate of The Neighborhood Playhouse, he has performed on stages throughout the city and regionally. Earlier this year, he appeared in the new play Little Pillows at the Hudson Guild Theater. Other theater credits include Ripcord (Hampton Theatre Company), Waiting for Lefty (SI Shakespearean Theatre Company), and Oedipus the King (Patchworks Theater). Giovanni has also worked on a growing slate of independent shorts and features that continue to make their way through the festival circuit. Recent screen projects include Pleasure Bye (Warworks Productions), Gap in Front (directed by Barret Shuler), and Crazy Pete (directed by Greg Prosser). As a writer, Giovanni is developing two full-length plays, both in the workshop phase, along with several short screenplays. His work focuses on character-driven stories and reflects the communities and people who have shaped him. Giovanni is grateful for the people and creative spaces that have supported his growth. He is an ensemble member of Primitive Grace Theater Company, which has played a major role in his artistic development. He is also thrilled to be collaborating and creating exciting new work with all the artists at Anomalous Co. Giovanni is represented by About Artists Agency.

Written by award-winning Kosovan playwright, Doruntina Basha

Doruntina Basha is an award-winning playwright and screenwriter from Prishtina, Kosovo. Her work, which explores gender, memory, and the legacies of conflict, has been produced widely across the Balkans and Europe. She is the author of five plays and several screenplays, with publications in Kosovo, Serbia, France, and the UK, and translations in BHS, Macedonian, English, French, Italian, German, and Turkish. Her acclaimed play Gishti (The Finger, 2011) received the Heartefact Prize for Best Socially Engaged Contemporary Play and the Golden Laurel for Best Balkan Contemporary Play at the MESS International Theater Festival, and has since been staged in Belgrade, Skopje, Sarajevo, Vienna, Prishtina, Tirana, Turin, Naples, and in its North American premiere at Venus Theatre in Maryland. Basha’s early works include Saved by the Stick and the bilingual Kosovar-French project Travels to Unmikistan. She has created participatory theater with the UN Kosovo Office for Missing Persons and written extensively for film and television in Kosovo. Her screenplay for the forthcoming feature Vera Dreams of the Sea is currently in production.