Drama Queens, a five-star arts journal focusing on female artists

Article edited by Natasha Dawsen

Noy Marom is an Israeli actress, active in Israel and NYC. She was born and raised in Israel and moved to New York in 2014 to pursue acting. Noy is a graduate of The Stella Adler Studio of Acting, class of 2017.She is a founding member of the Virago Ensemble, an International all-female theater company, striving to empower women’s voices by sharing old and new works created by female-identifying writers.

“Ring” is a short film about a nightly encounter between a stressed bartender and a drunk patron. Taking place in a dark bar in Brooklyn, New York, this Chekhov influenced piece holds a mirror to the absurd reality of today’s society- how we’re all constantly surrounded by people yet feeling so isolated and lonely and craving a real human connection. 

Noy Marom plays the leading role of the overworked bartender.  She faces a lot of challenges in her personal life, trying to balance it all and is left feeling drained and lonely. We see her in different situations during what seems like a very long work night, surrounded by dark and single dimensional characters. She is hungry for a warm interaction with another, as a mysterious stranger (Hary Bhaskar) comes by the bar and turns just another gloomy night into a surreal one.

What at first seems like just another exchange between a tired overworked bartender and a drunk patron, turns into a heartfelt conversation about life, love and loneliness. The two strangers find a shard language and comfort by feeling seen by each other.

It’s a beautiful story about finding connection and warmth within the cold, fast paced nightlife world and how love can find its way in even under the most surprising circumstances.

Noy: “When I first read the script, I was a bit hesitant about taking on the role. The character of the bartender seemed tougher than the characters I usually take on and I felt very much out of my comfort zone. Also, my character’s dialogue was relatively short compared to Hary’s character (I later learned that that was an intentional decision of the director who wanted show that the character- who’s working environment demands her to be constantly lively and vocal, finds ease and authenticity during this surprising nightly encounter). That was very challenging at first, since many of my reactions were mainly physical and expressive, but viewing the final result, it all makes sense and certainly helps with telling this unique story. Another interesting shift that was made during the filming was the change of my character’s name. As originally discussed, Hannah was the chosen name in the original script, but after digging deeper into the universal aspect of the message of the story, the director wanted to show the characters as people represented by the titles they carry into the scene- the way they are initially viewed and judged by each other, before they form this human connection, so the character names changed to simply Bartender and Bar Patron. I think it’s a beautiful decision made by the director.

Working with this wonderful team was an absolutely wonderful experience and I can’t wait to share this unique piece very soon.“

The film is currently being submitted to festivals world- wide.

Written and directed by: Sahej Sidhu

Actors: Noy Marom and Hari Bhaskar

Cinematographer: Pedro Garcia- Maurino

Sound: Samual Sadovnik

Filmed: August 2022 inDowntown NYC