Flux Theatre Ensemble

(What is Flux Sunday?)

Playwrights: Katherine Burger (Ever, Ever), Brian Pracht (Wendell Wants), August Schulenburg (The Temptation Show)

Actors: Jane Taylor, Jason Howard, Ken Glickfeld, Gretchen Poulos, Alisha Spielmann, Kimberly Klein, Nora Hummel, Isaiah Tanenabum, Ryan Andes, Travis York, Matthew Archambault, Heather Nicolson

Our first Flux Sunday of 2011! And, pending how rehearsals/production of Dog Act goes, potentially our last for a little while, though we'll be trying to sneak in some in January, if we can.

Highlights included:
-Ever wonder what the definition of "crackling" look like in action? Well, if you had seen Jason Howard as Dial and Richard Watson as Hook read Ever Ever, you would wonder no more.
-Jane Taylor's moving read as the spurned Wendy in the very same Ever Ever (it was a good day for our flash forward Peter Pan)
-Wendell Wants breezing speedily through 30 pages as Brian turns the screws on our likable, but increasingly morally dubious, hero; memorably embodied by three (count 'em!) Wendell's, Travis York, Matthew Archambault, and Isaiah Tanenbaum

It was a socko day for our first 2011 Sunday...here's to many more, hopefully sooner than later.

(What is Flux Sunday?)

Playwrights: Fengar Gael (The Spell Caster), Brian Pracht (The Misogynist, Unplugged In), August Schulenburg (Where It Comes and Where It Goes, Symbolic Gestures, Carrin Beginning)

Actors: Candice Holdorf, Richard Watson, Kari Swenson Riely, David Crommett, Gretchen Poulos, Anthony Wills Jr, Jason Howard, Ken Glickfeld, Kelly O'Donnell, Alisha Spielmann, Isaiah Tanenbaum, Heather Cohn, Matthew Archambault, Tiffany Clementi, Ryan Andes, Lynn Kenny

An actor heavy Flux Sunday made for three lucky playwrights and an upbeat three hours. We heard the next installment of The Spell Caster, Brian brought in a rewritten ending for The Misogynist and a rewritten beginning for Unplugged In, and I brought in two new shorts and the first (good) play I ever wrote, Carrin Beginning, nearly 12 years after its original production.

Highlights included:
-One of Tiffany's best Flux Sundays ever, with a feisty Maxine a-gabbin' in The Spell Caster; one of my favorite line readings ever as Libby in The Misogynist ("Um..YES!"); and a revelatory read of Leah in Unplugged In (had always seen this role very differently, but she brought a fascinating maturity-gap/power-dynamic to Leah's relationship with Chris).
-Kelly O'Donnell, Anthony Wills Jr, and Gretchen Poulos finding the perfect balance of comedy in heartbreak in my little Living Wage short, Symbolic Gestures.
-Ryan's sultry stage directions, which turned the sex-role-playing scene of The Misogynist up a few degrees
-Ken's brief but memorable turn as Scaramanga in Unplugged In
-Richard's unsettling/charming delivery of Turlough in Carrin Beginning

What were your thoughts? Did you like a happy ending Misogynist? And what do you think will happen in the power struggle between Mayra and Louisa in The Spell Caster? Read the full story

(What is Flux Sunday?)

Playwrights: Johnna Adams (The Anguishers) , Mary Fengar Gael (The Gallerist), Kitty Lindsay (The Pipe Cleaner), Isaiah Tanenbaum (The Transendental Etudes)

Directors: Heather Cohn, KL, August Schulenburg, Christina Shipp

Actors: Becky Kelly, Ryan Andes, Richard Watson, Ingrid Nordstrom, Brian Pracht, Gretchen Poulos, Nancy Franklin, Anthony Wills Jr, Alisha Spielmann, Ken Glickfeld, Cotton Wright, Paula Roman, IT

After a week's hiatus, Flux Sunday returned with what can only be described as a vengeance. We looked at 4 plays, staging them all, and welcomed Paula Roman and Alisha Spielmann to the group, as well as enjoying acting stalwart Kitty Lindsay's first pages.

Highlights include:
-The mutual slammings in frustrated desire by Richard and Cotton, orchestrated by Christina in Johnna's The Anguishers
- Ryan Andes' proving that he is the king of Twin Peaks creepy-time naturalism (Opaline anyone?) as the nightmare plumber of Kitty's The Pipe Cleaner
- Becky smiling grimly, but politely, at the imaginary (?) animals in Laura's (played with warm daffiness by Alisha) cages in The Gallerist
- Ken Glickfeld miraculously navigating every bit of ornate direction in my over ambitious attempt to squeeze too many of Isaiah's pages into too short a time with too many actors. Shall we go with the Napoleon theme and say it was my Waterloo?

If you were there, what did I miss in the highlight reel? 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

Yes, I've been a wee bit derelict in posting about our Flux Sunday activities - trilogies will do that to you. And I know that somewhere in the first half of the year, a Flux Sunday went unreported on this blog, a victim to this swiftly tilting 2008. Sometimes this blog feels like the Buendia home and the flood of work we do Macondo's assault, but I try as best I can to keep all smelling like basil, even months after the fact.

Still with me? All right then. Our final Flux before the Trilogy went out with a good-sized bang, featuring new scenes from Aaron Michael Zook's We Are Burning, Jeremy Basescu's The Will, Johnna Adam's Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens, Rob Ackerman's Volleygirls; and the first scenes from new plays by Corey Ann Haydu and Mary Fengar Gail.

Highlights included Ingrid Nordstrom's continued beautiful work as Lucy in We Are Burning; Christina Shipp channeling every long night serving cocktails as a waitress gone mad in Club; Anthony Willis Jr's nuanced playwright charmer in Beggar At The Feast; Richard Watson's hexameter sputtering Stub in Lickspittles, Aaron's hilarious portrayal of sad-sack simpleton Victor in The Will; and the shortest volleyball team ever in Volleygirls.

I could say more about this particularly jam packed Flux Sunday, but there is only so much time left in 2008 to look back. Read the full story

FRAMES
This last Flux Sunday was the most powerful work we've done since our return from our Annual Retreat. We continued through Ten Black Boxes, Volleygirls, and We Are Burning; and also saw the 1st scene of Jeremy Basescu's brand new play, The Will. The writing and the performances were all at an exciting level, as if Flux Sundays just needed a few weeks back under her belt before she gathered full steam.

VOLLEYGIRLS
Rob Ackerman's fast, funny and heartfelt exploration of a girl's high school volleyball team continued apace; with a string of 5 losses setting our heroines against each other as they try find a way to win. Highlights of this table read included some cross gender casting of Richard Watson as crash and David Crommett as an impassioned Marisol.

THE BLUE FLAME
Aaron Zook's play We Are Burning reached that fire heat that makes a blue flame this Sunday. An unsettling monologue from Prometheus (again excellent work from Crommett) about the glory of our human illusions is followed by the near end of Will and Lucy's troubled relationship, which broke into a gorgeous threnody between Will and the Chorus for an lost love named Beth; Aaron's evocation of Beth's cold lips, simply rendered by Brian Pracht, Isaiah Tanenbaum and Matthew Archambault held our audience in warm hands, until Prometheus pulls the bottom out by announcing our lover's final fate.

THE WILL
Jeremy's new play The Will crackled with two ex-lovers negotiating over an exceedingly unusual will. Richard and Kate Neuman nailed the dance of desire and disgust between these two formidable adversaries, and Jeremy compressed years of relationship into one tight scene. He also admitted to completing his zany president play over the summer, so Fluxers will have to beg him for those now completed pages!

WHATEVER IT IS NOW
Tegan, our political junkie, is looking at the frames of Kennedy's assassination as our ten characters moved through another year of the 60's in my Ten Black Boxes. Highlights included Cotton Wright's wrangling three roles (Martha, Lizzie, and Anisa), Rob's staging of the Beatles invasion, and Carissa Cordes as Marie and Michael Davis as George battling it out for Isaac. Looking through the frames to write this scene was profoundly unsettling...313...

It was a bit of an unsettling day, with the joy of Volleygirls and the lust of The Will battling against the darker premonitions of We Are Burning and the center coming undone in Ten Black Boxes. Only one more Sunday before the Trilogy sweeps all away... Read the full story

Rattler's actor and friend Richard Watson and I took in Liberty City at New York Theatre Workshop on a Thursday or so ago, and I have been wanting to blog about it ever since. Thankfully, Aaron Riccio has said many of the wonderful things I'd like to say here. It is a lovely and hard play about the decay of a community through the prism of a fascinating family, and you should see it.

What I can add is my ongoing wonder at the mystery of possession: that rare moment in a theatre where you so accept the reality of the actor-in-character that there is no distance between them. This is something more than suspension of disbelief, something grander than just good or even great acting; and while a strong plot is often the engine for revealing this possession, something else is at work. It is as if, for a moment, the rule of one body per life are suspended, and you see the miracle of metamorphosis before your eyes. When April Yvette Thompson plays the character of her father, that shape-soul-shift happens, and it is made all the more shocking because she is a young woman, and her father, allegedly one character of many.

This was especially neat, because before we went into the theatre, Richard talked about wanting to put the role of Everett (his role in Johnna Adam's Rattlers) on like a suit and walk through the city wearing him. For those readers who were at the Flux Sunday where he read Everett for the first time, you will remember this itself was the beginning of a possession. I look forward to seeing it through. Read the full story

Directing at Flux Sundays can be a dangerous event. Why, if you're not careful, Members like Cotton Wright might bring you to an organic beer and local foods bar in the East Village, tie you down to a chair on a stage, and then give your brains a thorough washing with her drill.

(photo:Marnie Schulenburg, play: Adam Szymkowicz, director: John Hurley, victim: Jake Alexander).

Thankfully, Cotton resisted the ample temptation of my direction, and we all survived another Sunday. The highlights and lowlights follow, as best my unwashed brain can remember them.

THE MEDIUM, or DIABELLI'S THEME
We began the Sunday with a reading of the first 6 pages of a short play the lovely folks of Gideon Productions asked me to write for an upcoming short play festival. Their Diabellic idea is ingenious - give the same plot to different playwrights and see what variations ensue. I won't give away the plot, but will certainly post the details of this event when I have them. All you need to know is I treated myself to casting Jane Taylor, Richard Watson and Candice Holdorf to listen to them wrestle with my verse (because very short plays deserve verse). More anon.

VIVA FIDEL, or POLITICS AS COMEDY
Member and blogger Isaiah Tanenbaum returned with a new scene from his farce about the death of Fidel Castro, Viva Fidel! The hungry jaws of farce demanded props, slamming doors and silly accents, and Isaiah, directing his own work, delivered the goods, with hilarious work from Gregory Waller, Jason "Jefe" Paradine, Gretchen Poulos and Ken Glickfeld, who thought he was showing up late just to watch, only to discover Isaiah had more sinister intentions. I will not soon forget the dictator of Cuba brought back to life by a car battery.

SLEEPER, or POLITICS AS TRAGEDY
David Ian Lee's passionate political play about The Good American kidnapped by fundamentalists in Afghanistan crept one scene away from its conclusion. Now that I know this play may soon see the light of stage, I will try to avoid spoiling, but this scene brought us more of the delightful doubling Candice Holdorf as religious fundamentalist Kadir/left wing radical Teri; Brian Pracht's subtle and human Mahid; and Jane Taylor's continued fiery portrayal of right wing talk show host Rachel. More posts will describe this potent play in full.

THE MARRIAGE PLAY, or POLITICS AS PERSONAL
Melissa Fendell returned with new pages from her Marriage Play, so memorably last played by Kitty Lindsay's torch song torching the institution. In this scene, Cotton Wright and David Ian Lee deftly navigated a dangerous attraction between friends that finds safe refuge in a comically political plot against the state. Or at least, that's what Melissa was nice enough to let my attempt.

THE BACKLINE
There's no snappy 'or' title for this lovely haiku of a play from Rob Ackerman. Rob has been bringing short plays lately, a form he does exceedingly well, but this was by far my favorite. One one level, the play comically pits two new employees at a 50's style burger joint against their well-intentioned boss, dubious co-workers, and a mad rush of tourists. And then our heroine Dierdre sweetly tells us she'll be dead in two months. Tim, her fellow teen and secret crush, hears her aside even as he is trapped in the past-as-present. He tries to find a way to make the future-as-now better even as he deals with all the silly details of our daily lives. It reminded me very much of one of Thorton Wilder's, that flint of wit sparking over darkness. This was a great turn for Jake Alexander, Ali Skye Bennett and Nancy Franklin. Read the full story