Flux Theatre Ensemble

Congrats and huzzah to the winners and nominees of the 2010 NYIT Awards! We were thrilled to see Crystal Skillman win for Outstanding Original Full Length Script and the New York Neo-Futurists grab the Caffe Cino award; and were admittedly disappointed when our Heather Cohn did not take home the IT for Outstanding Director.

As always, though, the night is mostly about celebrating this amazing community we're a part of, and it was great to hang with friends old and new. But I confess that old dirty question dressed up and sat on my other side, whispering its name in my ear:

Is this enough?

Sometimes, all our awards and blogger blather and Twitter banter and grant gilding feel like a filibuster against what's really happening; like keeping up the bed room of a child long gone; like "a speech of the self that sustains itself on speech".

Is this enough?

Sometimes it hurts, to care so much about something the rest of the world doesn't much care for; to pour your one life into little rooms like rain onto dry gardens.

A career for most of us is not a big break but a series of small stones piled high enough that when the tide comes, we can still see the place we've made. An NYIT Award is one such stone, and I am so grateful for what Shay, Nick and Jason do; giving a little weight to the light we make.

So to all the ninjas and chickens and robots,
To all the fairies and Moors and Danes,
To all those who feel half hour to places
Like a bell to prayer,
I yop this poem for you.

A Poem For The Artists At The NYIT Awards
To all those who stab their hearts with toy swords
And find their light to cry on cue and hold
A half beat longer to make the laugh double
Over; last night, did we take a cab home?

Home is where the house is sold out. Send me
Your conflicts so I can make the schedule,
We get so few hours with this damn code.
How many speakers? How many dimmers?

Tell me what you really thought, I trust you.
Tell me what's beautiful, what's a mistake.
Tell me mistakes alone are beautiful.
Give me the bad news, that nothing we do

Is ever enough; give me the good news,
Nothing we do will ever be enough.
******

Here's to another year of pouring our lives into little rooms. Read the full story

To begin, I apologize for the title of this blog post. I've been staring at a computer for so long when I go to the bathroom I click on the doorknob.

To continue, it's time for some shout-outs for deserving plays getting published!

James Comtois' play, Infectious Opportunity, is being published by the good folks at Original Works. You might remember this play from our series, Exploding Moments; and we're thrilled for James and his deserving play.

Speaking of published plays, have you picked up your copies of the Angel Eaters Trilogy yet?

And I am not even going to ask if you've purchased your copies of Out of Time & Place, which features plays from past Flux collaborators like Crystal Skillman, Bekah Brunstetter, Andrea Thome, and Christine Evans; of course you have.

I know what you're thinking: that's all well and good, but what about the New York Theater Review and it's impending publication of The Lesser Seductions Of History and Erin Browne's Flux-developed play Trying? One word, one number: October 15th. That's when you can see the cast from Lesser Seductions read from the play as part of the book launch at New Georges' The Room. See you there? Read the full story

What is POP (aka) Playwrights-On-Playwrights?
Who else is POPing Adam Szymkowicz?

Up third: Crystal Skillman on Adam Szymkowicz's Nerve

Crystal’s plays include The Vigil or the Guided Cradle, Hack! an I.T. Spaghetti Western, as well as Birthday which will make it’s U.K debut at the East Waterloo Theatre this August.

Nerve has been produced in NYC, St Louis, Miami, Asheville, Philadelphia, and beyond. For more information about Nerve, check out Adam's website. Nerve is published by Dramatists Play Service, and is available here and here.

Nerve: The Teeny Little Corners of Fears and Longing

It’s time to jump into this Adam Szymkowicz blog fest! I do love chattin’ plays and I hope my responses are true to what I’d share with you as we’d order cups of Joe at Joes’s on Waverly, as I’ll be sharing thoughts as a fellow playwright of course. Also, my responses to Adam’s work can’t help but be tainted with the personal. I got to know Adam really well and we become good friends when I helped support his production of Food for Fish at the Kraine back in the day. At the same time, he invited me to see a production of a little play going up at the same time called Nerve … :)

Seeing Nerve was really a great experience. The play unfolded perfectly in a rockstar production by the talented Packawallop Productions and I was bowled over by it, so impressed. And I’m very lucky, and thankful, for the friendships as well as artistic collaborations that emerged from that night! I actually recently wrote about this in my 5 Questions Interview for the Clyde Fitch Report that I was honored to be asked to do by Leonard Jacobs with the very awesome Susan Louise O’Conner who was in my play The Vigil or the Guided Cradle, now nominated for an NY IT Award, at the Brick a few months ago. You can check out that original post here which also features a short play by Adam: http://www.clydefitchreport.com/2010/04/special-5-questions-crystal-skillman-interviews-susan-louise-oconnor/

So it’s clear Nerve rocks my world. But why? For sure, it’s the kinda play you can bounce a quarter off of because it’s so tight but for me the best part is it has these teeny little corners that appear as openings in this conversation where we peer into the most inner longings and fears of Elliot and Susan on their first date. Here we see the internal become external is really great ways. We get to watch them “actively” date, as Larry mentions, and it feels very grounded in so many ways, but with an awesome heightened tone.

ELLIOT. I think you can tell when you meet someone like whether or not you’re going to get along with them.
SUSAN. Sure.
ELLIOT. But until … I suppose, before the kiss, the first kiss. I mean that’s everything.
SUSAN. I don’t know that I … what do you mean everything?
ELLIOT. The entire future of the couple is in that first kiss. Because from that kiss you know how it’s going to be, whether or not it’s going to work at all or if it’s just not supposed to happen and until that first kiss, you really have no idea of anything.

Not unlike one of my fav plays The Long Christmas Dinner by ye wonderful Thornton Wilder, the best part of the play is how it escalates. We not only go through one night of a date, but really the ride of a relationship from the issue of family (I crack up every time I read Elliot asking her to join his family on their trip in like the first few pages, and how it comes back at the end) to their friends both helpful and also destructive. All of this chips away at the deep pain of these individuals who in many ways are not ready to find the other one at all. But in finding each other are making each other ready.

What makes the play in some ways perhaps more interesting than Long Christmas Dinner is that it does it all through the conversation. Simply in the words. People don’t need to reenter and appear to be getting older. In Nerve they are maturing in the moment, making leaps and bounds towards letting go of their desperation and becoming something bigger than their own personal issues. They are starting to question the pain they are holding onto with knives they use to cut themselves in purses or restraining orders.

It’s sharing their pain that forces each other to stay because they’re hooked to see what will happen as we are. By forcing each other to stay they must listen to one another. By doing that, they’re starting to let go.

Which to me, is the point of a relationship, which the drama I love captures.

The icing on the cake is the wonderful glimpses into the internal, emotional life of Susan and Elliot as they strive to get to that kiss. That stuff can be hard to dramatize without going crazy or going overboard with it. But Adam does it so, so well. It doesn’t feel gimmicky at all, really seamless. He makes puppets of ex-girlfriends who abuse him, and she dances in secret.

SUSAN. (Getting up.) You don’t know where the bathroom is, do you?
ELLIOT. Over there, I think. That might be the kitchen. I would try over there.
SUSAN. Thanks. (Susan moves off as if to go to the bathroom. Elliot can’t see her. The lights and music change. Elliot takes out his cell phone and dials. Susan does a dance of joy, a combination of ballet and mod- earn dance that is hopeful yet grounded. When she finishes, she runs off the stage …

When she dances, like the above, for the first time with a hint or hope of love, our heart leaps. And how it leads to Susan going back to her self destructive behavior of cutting herself at the end is really devastating.

At first when I saw the production, I totally got what was happening – all by the visual. Sitting in the audience was a little scared when Susan started to explain what these dances were. “Oh no! Unnecessary exposition! I don’t need it! Just let it stand,” I thought. But then that went to a great place and I started laughing like crazy.

SUSAN. I used to dance and sometimes when I get bored or upset I choreograph dances in my mind.
ELLIOT. Lots of tiny dancers.
SUSAN. Yeah. Or like when someone’s yelling at me.
ELLIOT. Why are people yelling at you?
SUSAN. What is that supposed to mean?
ELLIOT. I’m just asking. People yell at you a lot?
SUSAN. The last guy I was dating. When we fought I would have dancing in my head. I do it when I’m bored too.
ELLIOT. Are you doing it tonight?
SUSAN. No.
ELLIOT. I have to keep you entertained.

That’s what I love about Adam as I writer. I love going where his details and these detailed, obsessive, addictive and addicting characters lead you. Adam makes these intimate details in many ways the action of the play. Elliot does have to keep her entertained or she’ll hurt herself. The stakes are huge, but it unfolds in a seemingly causal conversation that is anything but casual and the play itself is that conversation. I really admire that. Adam's plays hinge on the little things that are in fact really devastating. What we try to hide from one another. Our deepest desires.

SUSAN. It’s important you believe me.

That’s what ultimately, to me, makes Nerve a great read and production – it gets into the bodies of these characters that really remind us of us on a good and bad day. All at once there we are at our extremes and very most ordinary. At our most witty and simple. And we want those we care about (or are afraid we care about) to believe that we care. Nerve is simple about what matters – that kiss does wait out there. It’s a matter of knowing what it means when it comes. At least for that moment, being able to give over to it by being selfless. Transforming.

Diving into Nerve is like that and, as someone who saw the debut, it has a rare quality in that it possesses the same feeling in both seeing the production and reading the play.

There’s a lot to learn from Adam’s beats and shifts in this play and where and how they lead … it really does remind you of what it means to become bigger than yourself and your own obsessions.

To let go.

Read the full story

We're all thrilled to report that our own Heather Cohn was nominated for a New York Innovative Theatre Award for Outstanding Director for The Lesser Seductions of History! For those of you who took the time to vote for us, your votes contributed to this nomination, so from all of us, THANK YOU.

This is Flux's second consecutive year being nominated - last year, we were nominated for 7 awards, with Angel Eaters Sound Designer Asa Wember taking one home.

It was a great ceremony, with many Indie friends in attendance. We were excited to see friends recognized like Crystal Skillman and Impetuous Theater Group, James Comtois and Nosedive Productions (for Infectious Opportunity, which we featured here), Piper McKenzie (for Craven Monkey and the Mountain of Fury, which we also featured here), Tim Errickson's work with Retro Productions, and of course, perennial NYITA all stars, terraNOVA, the Brick, and the Neo-Futurists.

Work was also recognized from companies we admire like PL115, The Management, CollaborationTown, Vampire Cowboys, Electric Pear, and Astoria Performing Arts Center. But most importantly - and here is the signature magic of the NYITA - a number of companies I'd never heard of were recognized. The Mad Ones, The Associated Mask Ensemble, Down Payment Productions, and WeildWorks were all new to me, yet all of them brought home multiple nominations.

I would have loved to have seen Flux nominated for more - like Best Ensemble for Lesser Seductions and Best Set Design for Jacob's House - but the bad news with the NYITA is always good news, too - the Indie theatre community that we're all a part of is wider and deeper than we thought.

On a personal note, I'm especially disappointed to see Viral by Mac Rogers and Gideon Productions not nominated - it was by far the best Indie play I saw this NYITA year (I saw it twice, something I never do).

What plays and artists were you thrilled to see recognized? What do you think was missed? Read the full story

Read the full story

What is Jacob's House?
What is ForePlay: Divine Reckonings?

Crystal Skillman
Playwright, ForePlay

Previous Flux Experience:

I wrote the short play Geek, set at the San Diego Comic Con, for last year’s Poetic Larceny Series and I’m happy to announce it will be published in Poems & Plays 2010 this Spring! This fall I got to workshop The Sleeping World, my full length about four playwrights who come together to read their dead friend’s unfinished last play, at Flux Sundays. A scene from the play was featured this year in the awesome Have Another at Jimmy’s No. 43 this past January.

Do you have a favorite Bible character?

I gotta say the Devil always steals the show. Literally – have you seen Damn Yankees?

Are you blessed?

Not sure about that, but I have a pretty great gut instinct about things. Maybe that’s a blessing?

If you were wrestling an angel, what moves would you use?

I’d totally ninja kick the shit out of that angel until he/she was like “I respect you”. Hugs. Then drinking buddies for life!

What would you do for more life?

Go back in time. That’s the best way to do it. All I have to do is find Superman (the MOVIE Superman) and be like, “Look man – that thing when you turned the globe around that pissed off all the comic book fans cuz it was way too much power? Do that for me please!” Thanks Sup!

What's the weirdest thing in your parents' attic?

No attic, but a kick-booty basement which was full of: my dad’s racing trophies, huge electronic speed-way racing set with glow-in-the dark cars and railings, and my name was written on the back wall in huge red letters from a bday party when I was like 5. There also was a place for our motorcycle helmets with our pet names, from when I was a kid. You can’t make this stuff up. My mom’s pet name is Pickle, mine was Peanut (?!) and my dad’s was less imaginative - just: Russ. Later in high school when I refused to go to any proms, we had alternative goth-like parties there. But peppy ones. We were happy Goths.

What is your prior experience with the Old Testament?

Really I just know the Adam and Eve story well (from the musical The Apple Tree … where again the Devil steals the show – have you heard that song “Forbidden Fruit” the snake sings? Those Sheldon Harnick lyrics! Genius!)

If you believe in a deity or deities, what kind do you believe in?

I believe in the power of comics so: Spiderman. (Sorry Sup L - love you!)

Anything else coming up for you that Flux readers should know about?

I guess I am blessed cuz The Vigil or the Guided Cradle, my play about torture between now and then, is being produced April 22^nd – May 8^th by Impetuous Theater Group in a rockin’ co-production w/ and at The Brick Theater. It’s directed by John Hurley (who directed my play Hack for the Vampire Cowboys Saloon, as well as Johnna Adams’ Lickspittles reading for Flux)! Hope you will come check it out! Tix/More info here: http://www.impetuoustheater.org/Home.html

And if you come the first weekend, I’ll totally put in a good word with Spiderman!

Bio: In addition to the above, Crystal Skillman is the author of the plays Birthday, Nobody, and The Telling Trilogy (Rising Phoenix Rep, Dir. Daniel Talbott). She’s been commissioned by Vampire Cowboys to write a new full length that will be produced by the company in an upcoming season.

http://www.google.com/profiles/crystalskillman

Read the full story

Last night, Flux had our first rehearsal for our upcoming production of Jacob's House. First rehearsals often seem to go one of three ways:

1. The first rehearsal is treated as the thing you need to get through before real rehearsals begin: the creative team is guarded and cautious, and the actors throw the read through away casually; or
2. The creative team is connected, enthusiastic, and focused: the actors take the creativity of the designer presentations and run with it, actually using the reading as a means to begin exploration of the play; or
3. Personalities clash as a sense of doom begins to set in: the actors appear miscast, the creative team unprepared, and the script far from finished, and the reading sets off the brave faces and spiraling rationalizations of how it will all work out in the end once X, Y, and Z are fixed.
   

I've been in all three of these situations, and while the first rehearsal doesn't always determine the course of the production, it can have a surprising degree of impact. And to that end, I've found it pays to be as prepared as possible, and to treat the first day of rehearsal as a kind of show the producing organization puts on, putting the artists involved in a state of trusting, relaxed, excitement.

Problem is, so much depends on the personalities of the artists involved, that no amount of preparation can inoculate you against options #1 and #3.

So I'm pleased and relieved to say that our first rehearsal for Jacob's House fell in #2. Highlights included actor Bianca LaVerne Jones saying" There's no place I'd rather be right now", setting off similar affirmations from the rest of the creative team; costume designer Hannah Rose Peck telling the first timers how much they'd enjoy working w/Flux, and then presenting a power point powerhouse of a design; actors Matthew Archambault and Jessica Angleskhan making everyone laugh; SM Jodi Witherell providing a beautiful space for our first read through; and above all, a dynamic read through with newcomers to the process Zack Calhoon and Kelli Holsopple giving especially sharp reads.

To make matters more sweet, coming off the train I bumped into John Hurley, artistic director of Impetuous Theater Group, fresh off their first rehearsal for Crystal Skillman's The Vigil. John was buzzing with the energy of their read-through and post rehearsal costume design meeting, and it reminded me how Flux is a part of this larger Indie Theatre community.

Meanwhile, Facebook tells me Theatre of the Expendable also had their first rehearsal last night for Almost Exactly Like Us. I love the thought of three creative teams gathered around three tables to bring three very different plays to life in the same city; and I know it is happening all over this country, theatres big and small trying to make that critical first rehearsal count.

Any good first rehearsal stories? Or did you, too, have a first rehearsal last night? Leave it all in the comments, please. Read the full story

While we prepare for our next Food:Soul, Fluxers and friends are out and about in full force this February.

Candice Holdorf is playing principle role Terri Succi in the upcoming film, An Affirmative Act.

Michael Davis has founded his own company (thankfully, he's still in ours!) called Eurisko Performance Group. Learn more here, and then fan them there.

Ken Glickfeld is appearing in Demon Bitch Goddess (that's right!) at Workshop Theater Company.

Crystal Skillman has a reading of her play The Sleeping World (developed at Flux Sundays!) at the Woodshed Collective on Monday, February 22nd.

Mary Fengar Gael has a reading of her play Beggar At The Feast (also Fluxed!) at Reverie Productions on Sunday, February 28th.

Andrew Valins is reprising his performance as Rotpeter in his adaptation of Kafka's A Report to an Academy on February 10th and 11th.

And two of our Flux founding plays are being read - Rue (2006), pictured above, will be read at Direct Arts as part of their Take Two series on Tuesday, February 9th. Hopefully, we'll see you there for a nostalgic trip back to the island.

And for our Philly friends, Riding the Bull (2005 & 2007) will be read at the Walnut Street Theater Rehearsal Hall 4 tomorrow at 7:30PM. For those who can't be there, I give you the brilliant poster they've cooked up:

See you out and about in February! Fluxers and friends, what must see events did I miss? Read the full story

It was a great night! For details on who was there and what they did, here's the post with the goods. For pics from past Have Anothers, click here, and here, and here, and here.
Here's a shot from Corey Ann Hayu's Moving Statues, a play about two teachers in love and free fall, finding solace in street performance and alcohol, and sometimes, each other.
Jeremey Basescu's The Will was up next, and featured some comic tour de forces from a cast of unseemly talent. Here, our lawyer heroes hold a seance with the deceased patriarch to interpret his enigmatic will.
One of the great things about Have Another is it gives us a chance to work with actors we've admired but never hooked up with, like all stars Ben Fine and Matthew Trumbull.
But there were several Have Another veterans, as well, including 2-timers Jane Taylor, Angela Astle, Drew Valins and Gretchen Poulos; and 3-timers (holy crap!) Michael Davis, Brian Pracht, and Christina Shipp.
And it gives is a chance to connect with artists we've worked with and love, and don't want to lose touch with, like Matthew Crosby, Elise Link, Matthew Murumba, and Katie Hartke. Wasn't it great to hear Matt and Gretchen sing that song (written by Flux friend Jerry Ruiz!) in Crystal Skillman's beautiful scene from The Sleeping World?
(Photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Matthew Crosby, Gretchen Poulos)
But most of all, it gives us a chance to share the work we're developing with you! So what were your favorite moments from the night? Post away! After all, we may not get another Have Another until June... Read the full story

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(What is Flux Sunday?)

Playwrights: Throwing Gumballs (Rob Ackerman), Red Horses (Johnna Adams), Going Out Dancing (Katherine Burger), McTeague (James Comtois), Moving Statues (Corey Ann Haydu), Untitled Russian Project (David Ian Lee), Dark Matter (August Schulenburg), The Sleeping World (Crystal Skillman)

Directors: Angela Astle, Rob Ackerman, Katherine Burger, Crystal Skillman

Actors: Ryn Andes, Matthew Archambault, Carissa Cordes, David Crommett, Nancy Franklin, Candice Holdorf, Ingrid Nordstrom, Gretchen Poulos, Jane Taylor, Isaiah Tanenbaum, Richard Watson, Cotton Wright

Sometimes, I plan things out just right...and then there was this Sunday. We went way over time, though for good reason - we had a ton of great material, and actors and directors who wanted to dig deeper.

Highlights included:

-Isaiah Tanenbaum playing Luke Wilson, a Bengali physicist, an elderly shut-in, a miser, and a friendly barkeep all in one day
-Carissa Cordes as a fierce Bright Wing in Johnna's prequel (!) to Angel Eaters
-Ryan Andes' lovably simple McTeague facing down Richard Watson's drunkenly embittered Marcus (the fight scene hilariously directed by Rob Ackerman)
-Katherine's direction of David Ian Lee and Jane Taylor in her Going Out Dancing - I'd previously seen this play at a much faster clip, which put the epiphany in the hands of the audience: here, the more deliberate pace gave Jane's Anna the full opportunity to realize what was happening, and to a degree, accept it
-Working with Cotton on Crystal's The Sleeping World, where complex emotionally rich moments must move quickly - a surprisingly challenging script for a seemingly naturalistic play
-Matt Archambault and Candice Holdorf got to let their hair down a little in Corey's Moving Statues, and the result were two relaxed, highly present, and engaging performances

Artists who attended, what were your highs and lows? Read the full story

(What is Flux Sunday?)

Our last Flux Sunday before The Lesser Seductions of History takes us over was great, if it nearly killed me getting us there! Sometimes, the amount of roles the playwrights write match perfectly with the attending actors; and then there are times where I have to write us into a balance. With a production meeting that morning, I had two hours to pump out some pages, but I hadn't quite finished by 4PM so we started rehearsing some of the scenes while I finished writing enough pages for all. Hot off the presses, indeed!

Luckily, I was ably assisted by Crystal Skillman's second scene from The Sleeping World (and if you haven't already read Crystal's new great interview at the Clyde Fitch Report, check it out.)

Directors Nora Hummel and Heidi Handelsman split the long second scene of The Sleeping World, and we saw beautiful work again from Gretchen Poulos as Sam, and reveled in the returns of Amy Fitts as Sam in part two (welcome back from Italy!) and Richard Watson as Luke. His funny and moving read of Luke's long remembering of his betrayal of Peter, a recently passed friend, was especially stunning. (If you're looking for a new monologue for auditions, Luke's would be a hell of a choice - funny, sad, caustic and detailed). Brian Pracht and Matthew Archambault split Tom, and Christina Shipp took a heartfelt turn as the wounded wounding Angie.

We then looked at (the very) new scenes from my Dark Matter (character/plot info here). First we saw two overlapping scenes - Winny telling Max about the job that will take her away from the family, and Marie convincing Donny to sleep with her - followed by a third scene where Maxine is caught stealing research from Afruz by her mentor Nikolay. Candice Holdorf found a great deal of complexity in Winny - thrilled by her new job, worried about the cost of leaving, bitter of having had to play the caretaker role for so long - as she navigated the reactions of the wildly emotional Maxine (played by Flux's scientist-in-residence, Ingrid Nordstrom).

Kitty Lindsay's portrayal of Marie found an especially strong moment when she explained to Donny why everything had to be perfect the 1st time they had sex (and their fumble to turn off "Single Ladies" was hilarious!) And everyone winced as Afruz (Isaiah Tanenbaum) showed his well-meaning pity for Maxine after catching her in the act of stealing from him, finally causing her breakdown (sensitively captured by Nancy Franklin).

It was a Sunday of bold and nuanced acting choices - a real actor feast that will have to keep us full until Lesser Seductions releases us from its clutches.

And if you were there - what were your favorite parts? Comment away! Read the full story

Our first Flux Sunday at NYR Studios, where Flux is a resident company, was everything we'd been hoping for. We had room to move! Each of our three scenes had a comfortable space to work in, and the results were undeniable. There was a burst of energy and productivity that has me hoping this relationship with NYR will last (remember to mention Flux if you rent there!)

But to the nitty and then to the gritty...

THE SLEEPING WORLD
First, Kelly O'Donnell staged the first scene of Crystal Skillman's The Sleeping World, a melancholy-funny look at playwrights gathering to read the newly discovered last script of their recently passed friend. Once close, the three friends clumsily fall back into the push and pull of their painful-sweet old intimacy. Their friend's script, as it turns out, is a thinly veiled portrait of them, and brings to the light all the old wounds and longings they'd kept in the dark.
Kelly O'Donnell did a lovely job of staging this - I watched the run before the shared run, and with a few small adjustments to blocking, she brought out the story beautifully. A special shout-out goes to the triumphant returns of Gretchen Poulos and Kitty Lindsay, who brought Sam and Angie to a subtle, detailed life. Crystal is bringing back scene 2 next week, and we're all excited for more.

DARK MATTER
Then, Heather Cohn staged the next two scenes of my play, Dark Matter. (For plot and character, check out last week's entry). Jimmy (Nancy Franklin) and Winny (Jane Taylor) battled it out over Jimmy's dreams (Winny is now a Jungian analyst, after reading that great article about Jung's Red Book in NYT Mag) and dementia; followed by Maxine (Carissa Cordes) confronting her mentor Nicolay (Isaiah Tanenbaum) about approving funding for a project from rival physicist Afruz Sen. These scenes were a nice contrast to the elliptical loveliness of Crystal's scene - these were jugular collisions between formidable opponents. I especially loved the staging and playing of Jimmy luring Winny back with the promise of his truly disturbing dream, and the moment where Nikoly kindly but firmly exiled Maxine from his office, her realizing too late she'd gone too far.

LION CREEK
Speaking of triumphant returns, auteur Jeremy Basescu's back from the wilds of summer with a brand new joint. Lion Creek follows two couples, one seemingly thriving, one falling apart, navigating an awkward night of wine and Wii. There were notes of darker twists than twenty-something malaise, however; hints of secrets, hints of spies, hints of the mystery of Lion Creek sneak their way through the banter. Special shout outs to an icy-sweet Lynn Kenny as Tess and
goofy-charming Ryan Andes as Drake.

Yup, Flux Sunday and NYR are a good fit. Here's to many more.

And for those of you there, what were your favorite moments? What did you think of the new space? Read the full story

Zack Calhoon interviewed me for the interview series, "People You Should Know..." on his blog, Visible Soul. I was honored to be asked to participate in this series, as Zack has already interviewed impressive folks like Leonard Jacobs, Jennifer Conley Darling, Matthew Freeman, and Jessi Hill.

Speaking of Leonard Jacobs, he has a GREAT interview with Jesse Alick, the Artistic Director of Subjective Theatre Company. Jesse talks about faith, political theatre, and Subjective's radical practice of providing free theatre.

If you're still hungry for more interview goodness, Patrick Lee has a great interview with the lauded leading ladies of Viral, Amy Lynn Stewart and Rebecca Comtois. (Have you bought your tix yet for the extension?)

Meanwhile, the mighty mighty Szymkowicz has reached 50 playwright interviews...and Crystal Skillman is on the beat for the 50/50 in 2020. Read the full story

James' has a nice review of Crystal's play Birthday here, (h/t Leonard Jacob's blogroll). I've been wanting to write about the experience myself, but James had done it so well, I need only add my amen to the chorus, and hope along with Leonard that the play finds longer life. It is a lovely play, full of surprising details that make it stick in your mind much longer than its 40 minute running time. Congrats to Crystal, Daniel and Rising Phoenix! Read the full story

What is Poetic Larceny?

And how can I learn more about Flux's upcoming production of Pretty Theft?

CRYSTAL SKILLMAN

Playwright, April 13th

Previous Flux stuff: First time with Flux, now on the regular invite list for Flux Sundays

We asked the amazing artists of our upcoming staged reading series Poetic Larceny to answer some questions about stealing, beauty, and consequences. Read on for their answers!

Question #1: What is the worst thing you've ever stolen?

When I was around like 13, I went on a little vacation with my best friend and her family up to her grandparents’ place in Massachusetts. While there, we went to this warehouse store called Building 19 (which still exists! http://www.building19.com). It’s a crazy place full of books and crazy ass shit - tons of books, toys, clothes. Now, my friend and I had recently gotten into “testing our coolness” with doing the old “five finger discount”. We were still doing it that day, when an older big, fat guy in a suit came and found us, while we were joking around trying on men’s shoes, clomping around. He asked us to come with him and took us into this little wooden paneled backroom, sat us down. He said he had seen me stealing and had me on tape. I knew my friend was also stealing, but he never mentioned her, just me. He showed me the tape where I’m doing some of the dumbest shit in my life – stealing like a transformer or go-bot or something (!), a scarf, maybe like a pin. Cheap $3 things I didn’t need, didn’t even really want and for what? I had $40 in my pockets that my parents had given me. I’d never really understood what I was doing. I think I was just following through on the act of stealing to belong, to have that little secret of getting back at the world or something. Anyway, when I was sitting there watching the version of me that was doing these stupid, stupid things, I was shaking and crying like no tomorrow. This guy was scary and he was saying I could go to jail. It felt like everything was ending right there and then (only later did the comedy of my 13 year old friend saying things like “Let her go. She’s only a kid!” sink in). My friend’s parents got called in of course. It was agreed that the store wouldn’t press charges unless I swore to never return to the ill fated Building 19. I had never felt that kind of humiliation, especially as the sweet, nerdy four eyed best friend, which is what I was to my friend’s family. Later in their living room of this posh New England house, my friend’s parents drilled me and I must admit I was pretty awesome about taking the fall, really protected my friend to the end (of course the irony was she was way more of a shoplifting junky than me). But the worst thing was that they left it up to me about telling my own parents when I got back. The choice was mine. And I did tell them. My dad was disappointed but fine, like “we all make mistakes” kinda thing. But my mom? She wouldn’t talk to me for like a month. That was hard. But I’ll tell you what – I never was tempted to steal again. :) All it takes is a teeny wooden paneled room, a fat guy in a cheap suit chewing you out and a shitty video of you being a moron to teach you that lesson.

Question #2: What is the worst thing that's been stolen from you?

My name! My current dayjob is being the receptionist at an architectural firm (I actually write a lot of my plays at the front desk ☺). Anyway, at my job, I order cars for my bosses when they go to the airport. One day I got a call from those that do the billing in Chicago who told me the car service we use was insisting I’d ordered a pick up (for a name non of us reconized) that cost about $300. The car place tapes all the calls and the manager, who knew me for at least a year, said she was dead certain it was my voice on that call! That she listened to it and it was me going on for 12 minutes. When she talked to me, she said “That’s you Crystal.” I felt really crazy. I asked to listen to the tape myself. When I did I recognized immediately the old Admin’s voice (she was fired a month ago). On the tape, she was clearly setting up an inside pick up (the expensive, fancy one where they wait with you for a sign!) for some friend getting picked up at JFK going to the Bronx. On the tape, when the car place asked the name of who was calling you heard her say, in the most chilling, calm manner, “Crystal”. Said my last name without them asking. Spelled my last name out letter by letter: S-K-I-L-L-M-A-N. When I heard her pretending to be me, I was stunned. Never had experienced that before. Here I was, actually sad she got fired because I thought we were friends at work! Man. I also learned through this event that a perky, happy women’s voice sounds the same to everyone, even to this car service lady who was fooled. Eventually this tape was played on a conference call for others in our office, who confirmed it was not me, but this crazy wack-a-doodle. But it was really, really strange to know someone had pretended to be me and for the silliest of reasons. And it was a real damper as this happened a year ago, about this time, on my birthday. Luckily this year, I’ve had the best birthday ever with Rising Phoenix Rep opening my new play Birthday (actually on my Birthday last Thursday!) which’ll run thru April 10th. And the comedy does continue - now whenever I call up that car place they always ask: “Is this the REAL Crystal Skillman?”

Question #3: What do you find pretty?

I can officially say a Betsey Johnson dress because I just bought one on sale (with awesomely mis-matching shoes!) for the Women’s Project Sadie Hawkins Day dance on April 29th (http://www.womensproject.org/on_our_stage.htm) and I’m in love. I looked right at it and was like, now that – that is pretty!

Question #4: What do you find beautiful?

Moments lead to big epiphanies. Like the dusk evening turning black with the streetlights glowing, someone confessing a secret to you, you realizing something important just to yourself while rocking out to your ipod on the train, turning the page and feeling a real connection to what you’re reading, feeling yourself change as a result. And there is a very corny but true one – my husband’s face every time I come home.

Question #5: If you could steal something beautiful without consequences, what would it be?

I went to the Morgan library a few months ago and one of the cool things they had on display was Tennessee Williams’s private journal. It was open to a page where he was figuring out how much to tip this male prostitute he’d just been with. It was so awkwardly touching, funny and sad about these teeny everyday things for him, scripted in his large script on this simple lined notebook. Amazing stuff. Would love to steal that. Take that Mr. Morgan!

Bio: Crystal Skillman's play The Telling Trilogy was produced by Rising Phoenix Rep and is published in Plays & Playwrights 2008. This summer her play 4 Edges, produced by Amphibian Productions and written in the Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, was workshopped as one of the four selected plays at the 2008 New Harmony Project Theatre Conference. As well, Crystal's new play The Sleeping World was workshopped at Lincoln Center (with director Scott Ebersold) as part of the 2008 Director's Lab. The Vigil or the Guided Cradle, featured in hotINK 2008, received a mini-workshop directed by Erica Gould for New Georges and will receive a reading at Rattlestick. Past productions and commissions include: Summerland (Gideon Production's Blueprint Project); Apocalypse Neo (co-written with Rob Neill and Justin Tolley, NY Neo-Futurists); Flow (E.S.T/Sloan Commission) and Ballad of Phineas P. Gage (Drama of Works/HERE). She is the bookwriter/lyricist for the musical That's Andy (composer Kevin Carter; conceiver Robert Jay Cronin) and is co-writing the rock musical 72 Devils with director/composer Jerry Ruiz. Her play The Ride, second play in The Telling Trilogy (directed by Daniel Talbott), was nominated for a NY Innovative Theatre Award. In addition to being a member of the Women's Project Playwrights Lab, Crystal is a member of the MCC Theater Playwrights' Coalition, E.S.T, Rising Phoenix Rep and the Dramatists Guild. Read the full story

No, not her ACTUAL birthday, her new play Birthday, playing at Jimmy's #43. Crystal is a new Flux Sunday participant, a playwright for Poetic Larceny, and all around awesome person. So give her the un-birthday present of seeing Birthday! Read the full story