Flux Theatre Ensemble

Flux Theatre Ensemble is pleased to announce our 2008 season!

We begin in the spring with Shakespeare's classic comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream, followed in the summer by August Schulenburg's haunting tragedy, Other Bodies, and finish in the fall with Johnna Adams' divinely wild Angel Eaters trilogy.

Why these plays? Because they all wrestle in their own unique way with the mystery of how life transforms the body.

Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is rightfully considered one of his most warm and humorous plays, but it is also a subtly troubling exploration of the instability of our bodies. The characters find their hearts and bodies transformed against their will, and though in the end Jack will have Jill, no one walks away from this bottomless dream unchanged.

The warm-hearted vision of Midsummer becomes a fever dream in August Schulenburg's Other Bodies. The playwright of last year's FringeNYC Village Voice Audience Favorite, Riding the Bull, returns with the story of Terry, a notorious player whose pursuit of a mysterious woman leads to obsession and violence. What begins as a seductive battle of the sexes deepens into a haunting parable of the way our bodies betray us.

While Midsummer blurs the line between man and animal, and Other Bodies charts the distance between woman and man, Johnna Adams' Angel Eaters expands into more celestial transformations. Flux will develop this trilogy as it follows a family cursed through generations with the gift of raising the dead. The borders of Heaven and Hell are transgressed as demons masquerade as angels, angels pursue their own uncertain agendas, and even the sweetest mortals grow horns.

Join us in 2008 as Flux journeys through these deeply human and uniquely theatrical plays of transformation. Read the full story

Glad you asked, intrepid blog reader. Almost every Sunday, Flux Theatre Ensemble and our growing community of actors, playwrights and directors get together to workshop new scenes. Sometimes we'll do the traditional 'read a scene and then talk about it', but more often than not we get on our feet and mess around a little. The picture to the right shows the first attempting to morph into the second with regulars Gregory Waller, David Crommett and Jane Taylor in the frame.

Director get their scenes and actors at 4, and by 5:30, they've given the scenes enough shape to share with rest of the group. While that shape is by necessity rough, its amazing how often that little staging will reveal.

The purpose of Flux Sundays is to allow our membership to stretch as artists, to deepen and grow our relationship with theatre artists we respect, and to develop plays for future production. Our 2008 season will feature several plays that were primarily developed at Flux Sundays!

And the work at Flux Sundays also funnels into our bar series, Have Another, and our potluck play reading series, Food:Soul. We've played with scenes from Brian Pracht, Johnna Adams, Adam Szymkowicz, Erin Browne, Rob Ackerman, Katherine Burger, Melissa Fendell, Jeremy Bascescu and members Joe Mathers and myself; worked with directors like John Hurley, Kay Mitchell, Heidi Handelsman, Angela Aastle and Members Kelly O Donnell and Heather Cohn; and TONS of great actors, including regulars like Jane Taylor, Nancy Franklin, Michael Davis, Katie Hartke, Rebecca McHugh Ken Glickfeld, David Crommett, Greg Waller, Daren Taylor, Elise Link, Marnie Schulenburg, Zack Robidas and a whole bunch more.

Our most recent Flux on Sunday the 18th featured members Cotton Wright and Candice Holdorf having a contest of who could be more enigmatic and fierce in Jeremy's members Tiffany Clementi and Christina Shipp catching the manic comedy and longing of Adam's A Wonderful Wife; members Tiffany Clementi and Christina Shipp catching the manic comedy and longing of Adams Open Heart; member Jason Paradine once again bringing the funny hard as Frank in Rob' Icarus of Ohio and then even harder w/a pan European accent in Katherine's musical Batvia, and newcomer Keith Fasciani breathing a charming life into member Isaiah Tanenbaum's first Flux playwriting offering, Viva Fidel!

While we're off for next week because of our first Food:Soul with Adam's Pretty Theft (stay tuned for more info); I'll be updating this blog with more news regarding this weekly workshop thing of ours. And thanks to everyone listed above and beyond who make it so vital, surprising and fun, week in and week out. Read the full story

Last Friday, Heather and I brought Dream Chain friend Jaime Robert Carrillo to see Blue Box's 'Sticky' series. (Here's a pic of Blue Box's Libby Emmons and David Marcus at our 1st Have Another, in the middle of making a Tanenbaumwich). Set at the Bowery Poetry Club, their Sticky series features short plays by some amazing playwrights set in and at the bar.

The night we went, Heather, Jaime and I ended up sitting at the stage, which meant we were in the spotlight every time cabaret star Jeffery Marsh was singing (beautifully). I tried to look as mysterious and wise as possible, stroking my enigmatic stubble and squinting my soul-searching stare at the performances.

And there were some great performances! Flux Sunday playwright Erin Browne featured a sassy NYTR-friend Jody Christopherson in a short that had the crowd hooting like Springer. Both Libby and Dave acquitted themselves as playwright and actor respectively. Chashama friend Risa Shoup's was the last play, a haunting short about death and the end of the world that bubbled to life on the whimsy of a bartender serving blood instead of booze.

We also bumped into new friends like Rachel Klein and Daniel Swern, making for a night of quirky theatre, lovely cabaret, and great craic. Be sure to check out the rest of the Sticky series! Read the full story

I think it's important to challenge the choices you make in your life -- figure out why you've made the choices you have. I haven't always been good at that, although in the past few years I've been getting better. Here's a big one that I feel like I'm constantly closer being able to answer: Why did I choose theatre?

Tonight, Kelly and I went to go see Jason Grote's new play 1001. Without making this a review, I'll say that the play, produced by Page 73 Productions, reminded me of one of my reasons. It's something that's unique to theatre -- the ability to manipulate a space, and therefore an audience, over time in order to tell a story.

If you've ever been to a performance by Cirque du Soleil, you know what I'm talking about. They consistently do it better than anyone I've seen. What was remarkable -- and inspiring -- is to see spectacle like that on the off-Broadway level. Let me clarify my use of the word 'spectacle' -- it wasn't about the money put into effects. It's a prime example of skilled theatre artists using simple tools to create something remarkable.

It's something to strive for.

I won't ever have an absolute answer to the question of why I'm in theatre... there will always be new plays, and new people, to inspire me that will no doubt keep my answer fluid. That's pretty awesome. One thing you will find is that I will always be willing to talk about it. So next time we're hanging out -- if you think of it -- tell me some of the reasons you chose theatre - assuming for a moment that's what you've chosen.

There's nothing I like better than sharing a beer and hearing a person's story. Read the full story

After a brainstorming session with the Jake Alexander, Flux Theatre Ensemble's Bar series has been renamed, "Have Another". Here are some pictures from the very first "Have Another", courtesy of Angel Juice star, Marnie Schulenburg.



Here's Jimmy #43 stuffed to the very gills. Can you spot Flux Sunday regulars Daren Taylor, Erin Browne and Elise Link?
5 points for spotting the rare Kelly O'Donnell.







Director Angela Astle explains the finer points of directing Narrator 1 to some rapt fans.






Opens Minds director John Hurley and Flux core member Tiffany Clementi plot to take over the world. In fact, look around you...they already have.








Flux member Felicia Hudson can't hide from the eager eyes of the paparazzi. Read the full story

On Monday, November 5th, Flux launched our inaugural Bar Series, a monthly presentation of scenes from full-length plays we're developing. A crowd packed into Jimmy's #43 to hear scenes from Erin Browne, Adam Szymkowicz and August Schulenburg. This event was hosted by Flux's own intrepid and dashing Jake Alexander.

Highlights included Christina Shipp and Brian Pracht's longingly sad chemistry in Erin's Narrator 1, Candice Holdorf's blisteringly funny goth girl in Angel Juice, and Jason Paradine's blissfully earnest shooter in Adam's Open Minds.

Thanks to the rest of our actors and directors for making our first stab at this such fun. And thanks to everyone who came, including friends from theatre companies like Blue Box, Disgraced Productions, Stages on the Sound and a good third of the cast Impetuous Theater Group's 12th Night of the Living Dead. This Bar Series (potentially cooler name to come) is intended not only as a showcase of our growing community of actors, playwrights and directors; but also to serve as an oasis of beer, theatre and good company for Indie theatre artists.

Thanks again for a wonderful evening, and stay tuned for details regarding the next! Read the full story

Dear friends of Flux and the theatrosphere in general,

Welcome to Flux Theatre Ensemble's new blog! With our weekly Flux Sundays, monthly Bar Series, regular Potluck Play Series and a 2008 season with 5 (!) shows on the horizon, it was time for us to move to an online presence that could more quickly post the blizzard of things we are doing; and allow for a more informal interaction with the Indie online theatre community than the gorgeous architecture of our current website (thank you Dave Townsend!) will allow. Our website is the would-be e-Parthenon of Flux, and this blog, the dirty buzzing haggling wild town square.

Come here for updates on all of our activities, and for information on theatre companies and artists we support. Check us out regularly- we promise you'll never step in the same river twice. Read the full story