Flux Theatre Ensemble

It's back! Our next installment of Have Another is this Monday the 17th from 7PM-9PM. We'll be returning to the friendly confines of Jimmy's #43, located downstairs at 43 East 7th Street between 2nd and 3rd Ave. There is no cover, just some of our favorite scenes from Flux Sunday shared over drinks with friends.



2011 comes in with a roar - check out this must-see Monday line-up:

Why is this line up a must see? Because Have Another gives you a chance to see the plays that Flux is developing at Flux Sundays, all the while tipping back a beer or two and enjoying Jimmy's great locally inspired food (local theatre pairs well with local food, no?) It's one of our ways of sharing our development process with you.

And this particular line up of scenes features con artists, grown up Lost Boys, Neruda, plays within plays, crocodiles, and teenagers who will save the world! Doors open at 7PM, with scenes beginning at 7:30PM and running through 9PM.

Shall we lift a glass together? RSVP on the Facebook event! 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

(What is Flux Sunday?)

We're back! After a break in August for our 4th Annual Retreat at Little Pond and our Food:Soul of Volleygirls, we're back for the month of September.

We started with a more intimate crowd than usual, but that was lucky for me as I was the only playwright (beedle dee, deedle dee, dee).

Director Heidi Handlesman, hot off Bird House, returned after a long absence to helm two scenes from my new play, Dark Matter. This play follows Maxine, a physicist working with her mentor Nikolay at Princeton. At a conference, they drink and mock Afruz, a physicist more known for his showman mass appeal than his scientific accomplishment. Then Nikolay tells her that he has hired Afrux to work with them at Princeton.

This is the first of several shocks for Maxine: she then gets a call from her partner Winny that her father, the roguish charmer Jimmy, has managed to get his hands on the car keys. Suffering from the early stages of Alzheimers, Jimmy crashes the car.

Meanwhile, Maxine's daughter Marie, sick with a possibly terminal illness, is falling under the spell of her ne'er-do-well older cousin Donny. Determined to give her every experience life has to offer, Donny leads her down some dark alleys.

It was great to spend some real time with the play: Carissa Cordes and Lynn Kenny shared the role of Marie, David Crommett read Nikolay, Jane Taylor and Mariam Habib shared Maxine, Ryan Andes played Donny, Tiffany Clementi played Winny, Anthony Wills Jr. read Jimmy, and with her usual daring, Candice Holdorf played a wee bit against type as the older male Bengali physicist Afruz.

Highlights included Candice's Afruz handing the peace offering of the gum to Maxine; Ryan's bewildered amusement as Marie cleverly traps him in a lecture from Maxine; Anthony's realization that Jimmy's "How fast?" story was actually a ritual he plays with Marie and Donny; Lynn's reaction to the East Coast Chronic.

Thanks to everyone for a great return to Flux Sunday - if you were there, what else would you add to this brief history? Read the full story

FLUXERS, OUT AND ABOUT

Lots to see and do while you wait for our next Have Another, or recover from it!

This week, check out my short play America, or God Shed His Grace On Thee at the U.S-ification of America Conference at Center Stage - I'm on the Thursday/Saturday 'Stripes' program. This event also features plays by Flux friends John Hurley and Nick Monroy, and a host of buds from Impetuous Theater Group. I'll be there tonight - see you there?

Opening next week is the long awaited Bird House, press photo above featuring Flux Members Christina Shipp and Cotton Wright (photo by Marcus Woolen). The play is written and directed by Flux friends Kate Marks and Heidi Handelsman respectively, and also features Flux friend Anthony Wills Jr. It's a can't miss!

Opening the week after is NeverCracked, a double bill of plays featuring Flux Member Candice Holdorf, presented by our friends at The Intentional Theatre Group at MITF. Check it!

And opening and closing next week is She Of The Voice, a Thinking Person's Theatre production at The Underground Zero Festival at ps122, featuring the work of Flux collaborators Becky Kelly (Rattlers, Pretty Theft) and Rebecca Marzalek-Kelly (Rue, Riding the Bull). That's right, two Becky Kellys working on the same project - look out. (also,

Any other Flux friends doing stuff we should know about? Post below! Read the full story

ON BIRDS AND BUNNIES
Our Flux workshop on Sunday the 23rd, aka 'Easter', was a blissfully smaller turnout of 14 people - about 12 less than our recent average - and I welcomed the intimate crowd.

ONEIDA, OR ISAIAH GOES SLEDDING
We continued through Johnna Adams' wonderful play about the utopian community in mid-1800's New York, Oneida, or Servants of Motion. Kate Marks directed three short scenes - in the first, founder Noyes and his favorite lover Tirzah discuss the unusual communal marriage structure even as Noyes tries to exempt her from it and claim her all for himself. In the second, Mary, she of last week's stillborn child, teaches her students the value of punctuality by burning a late girl's doll. In the third, the middle-aged Harriet teaches teen-age Pip the thrill and difficulty of sex with male continence, likening it to sledding. In all three scenes, the surprise of human need breaks through the unusual social structures, dropping hints of how this community may fall apart. Very strong performances were given by all: Ken Glickfeld and Katie Hartke in the first; Candice Holdorf and Kelly O'Donnell in the second, and Isaiah Tanenbaum and Kelly again in the third.

BIRD HOUSE, OR HEIDI'S PLAYHOUSE
Heidi Handelsman directed the latest scene in Kate's Bird House to delightful affect, with a comically tyrannical Myra-on-stilts by Charlotte Graham; a spirited Syl by Johnna; and a manically depressed and besieged Louisy by Heather Cohn. This was the closest we've come to bottling the elusive genii of Kate's play, and it was a basket full of perfect Peeps.

EGEUS, OR GUS GOES VERSING
My contribution to our upcoming Imagination Compact (more info soon) was our last play of the day, and was directed with great patience by Jeremy Basescu. I was literally writing as they were rehearsing, and I gave him two new pages every twenty minutes until this short play was done. It features Egeus and Demetrius from Midsummer, captured by Amazons after fighting alongside Theseus; and as they reminisce about what they left behind, a bond develops between them that puts the first scene of the play in an unusual light. After the fun I had writing in verse for Gideon's (now renamed) Blueprint project, I was very happy to return to all the little pleasure blank verse can give. David Douglas Smith and Brian Pracht did a great job steering the little ship of intention on this sea of words.

Sunday, bunny Sunday. Read the full story