Flux Theatre Ensemble

The event went really well! Thanks to everyone who made the trek on a grey day to support our work and share in Rob Ackerman's Volleygirls. Our extreme staged reading was a whirlwind process, but we landed in a good place, and thanks to the commitment of the cast, the reading captured a little of the kinetic thrill of Rob's play.

We'll be posting pictures and a deeper round-up, but I wanted to try something new on the blog by first directly soliciting feedback from the audience and artists who were there in the comments section: what did you like? Any performances or moments you thought were particularly successful? Any sets you weren't quite able to spike? Any thing we could've done to make the event run more smoothly? PLEASE post your responses in the comments.

As for me, I'm remembering many things fondly, but here's a few specifics:

1. Tiffany's Jess chastizing Isaiah's Xavier immediately after kissing him.
2. DeWanda's 'nice' face as Ingrid - it still makes me laugh when I think about it.
3. David's Phil and Jane's Carla rocking out to the Ladyhawk's cheers.
4. Jessica's delivery of "passing" as Marisol - a little detail that probably no one noticed but me - but she captured Marisol's conflict of needing to lead but being afraid of the consequences in that one moment (and throughout).
5. Cotton's "And I am by myself. All alone. Do you get that?" as Katie, the girl who has dominated everyone she meets, and by doing so, made herself entirely alone - in that moment, Cotton showed us the cost.

As for things we could have done better, I wish I'd taken Rob's suggestion for Jocelyn's entrance - she rocks out privately to some MJ before realizing she's being watched, then runs from embarassment - and I chose to have her notice the audience watching her. Despite Caitlin's hilarious and heartfelt cut-loose dancing, I think Rob's suggestion of having Katie (another character) walk by and notice her might have played more clearly - I had thought the convention of the audience being an equal partner in the play would carry the discovery, but I think Rob was right.

SO how about you? What do you think worked? What didn't? And THANK YOU again for everyone who showed their support! Read the full story

What is the Imagination Compact?
And how can I support it while partying with Flux?

Caitlin Kinsella


Actor, The Mechanicals, May 19th

Flux History: Flux Retreat 2007, representative Flux roles (Belle Walker, Myra, Sally) Mustardseed in Midsummer (Upcoming)

1. What Shakespeare role would you like to play next?
Phoebe in As You Like It.
2. What Shakespeare role would you like to play that no one
will ever cast you in?
Falstaff.
3. What is the first thing you think of when you hear the
word "flux"?
flexing my muscles
4. Fairies: colorful playmates or dangerous tricksters? 
definetly tricksters...badass
5. If the Flux Capacitor made time travel possible when
the DeLorean reached 88mph, what do you think would
happen if Flux Theatre Ensemble got theatre
up to 88mph?
the world would be wonderful
6. Complete this sentence: "It's too late to go back now,
I'll just have to do without my _______"
ironing board
7. If a capricious fairy turned you into an animal against
your will, what animal would you be and why? 
a hedgehog- they are feisty and prickly and cute
8. Which would win in a fight - the forest of Midsummer or
the forest of Arden?
MIDSUMMER, BABY! ARDEN IS GOIN DOWN!
9. How many licks does it take...?
approx. 1800
10. Would you rather have a beer with Richard Burbage or
William Kemp? 
The Burb. I feel like he could drink many people under the table.
11. If we could compact your imagination, what color would it be
and why? 
Golden. My thoughts are PRICELESS! haha

I am so late posting about Flux's developmental adventures! I would be ashamed if I had time to be ashamed! Instead, I will do penance by making every sentence in this post end with an exclamation point!

Or no, that would make all suffer. No one likes an unnecessarily exclamation. (I think!?!?)

Ah, reader, but we've had a good run of Flux Sundays since March 2008 became a part of our lives. Let me tell you about the first.

19 WORDS
We began by reading through the second half of my short play for Gideon Productions, 19 Words. For those of you who know, imagine Jane Taylor reading this monologue, and then imagine me profoundly happy with the happy-sad:

Shh, listen, you’ll like this.
I was thinking about how I met you,
And him, for the first time; and I just knew
One of you was going to change everything
For me; suddenly I became aware
That my body was an adult body
Or close enough, which meant it was going
To get sick like my Mom’s body was sick,
Die like all my fucking grandparents did,
(All four of them dead by then, no damn fair);
I felt my skin turn into something that
Could and would get sick and die; so then why,
Looking at the pair of your teenage grins,
Did I feel something wonderful begin,
Something so beyond anything I’d dreamed
That in that moment I couldn’t tell which one
Of you I’d fallen in love with, first sight;
And then I blinked and realized, oh, right, him;
But Fred, what if I just blinked the wrong eye?
Setting aside the fact you were attracted
To little kids and so that wouldn’t have worked;
And now you’re dead and can’t hear me at all;
(FRED moans.)
Thanks for moaning, sorry this is so long;
But I’m just trying to say in that blink
Our entire life together was lost forever;
And that’s how we go, blinking along, losing
Entire lives with every lowered lid;
So that when my husband died, when you die,
And me, a million blinking lives go, too;
A field of fireflies dark all at once;
And once dark, like they never lit at all.
I know that. What I don’t know is why I
Want to say the sentence so fucking bad;
Why the end of the world feels so much like
Looking at a pair of teenage boys grinning;
Because, Fred, now I know the final word,
The nineteen words that end the world, I know;
And so even though I know that ending
Even one blinking life is tragedy,
Two boys are grinning and one of them’s mine.
Shh, Fred, I’m going to tell you a secret.

ACTING CLASS
We then read-through the first scene of Rob Ackerman's play about an acting teacher at a military school, most memorably brought to vividry (not a word, and probably shouldn't be) by the happy return of David Crommett and his performance as the drill seargent.

SLEEPER
Once on our feet, we staged 8 pages of David Ian Lee's Sleeper, which have the proportional weight of 3 pages of a normal play. Especially exciting was the introduction to the group of Jason Howard, of whom I've heard such wonderful things (especially in the legendary Universal Robots production) as Bobby; and his dirge for his daughter.

A WONDERFUL WIFE
We also approached the climatic confrontation in Jeremy Basescu's A Wonderful Wife, as Angela's malevolent hold on the once hapless marriage of Carl and June is shaken by the arrival of drawings with too much beauty for anyone's good. Especially exciting was Ken Glickfeld's righteous helpless and hilarous wrath, and Isaiah Tanenbaum's continued impressive work as a director (he will go on to earn his Flux Merit Badge in Directing and pull into the lead of Flux badgery.)

TEXAS TOAST
Now, if I'm you, and according to Walt Whitman, I might be, I know what we're thinking; why did we use that picture of Caitlin Kinsella from Have Another at the start of this post? Well, if you've read this far, that means you should be rewarded with that very knowledge, and you must therefore know that as Sally, the Texas cheerleader/decorator/land shark from Katherine Burger's marvelous play, Texas Toast; Caitlin broke through into major Flux Sunday player status. This coveted status was earned by her Sally cavorting like a bull made of sunlight through a particularly delicate china shop; perhaps best immortalized by her spanking herself in delight at just how bad she was being. The scene was Sally's 'friendly' visit to Claire's home. Claire, an East Coast transplant brought to Texas by her husband Andrew's work, is ill-prepared for the hurricane of judgement, peer pressure, and aggressive kindness that Sally brings.
While Claire is being overwhelmed by Sally, Sally's husband Bo is performing a similar dominance of Andrew (Claire's husband). And as we learn that on their business trip to Thailand Bo has persuaded Andrew to do some darker things; the bottom drops out of the play's antic humor; and becomes about a working marriage of two delightfully morally bankrupt vitalists (Sally and Bo) trying to dominate the failing marriage of the well-meaning but guilt-ridden Andrew and Claire.
Also exciting was Amy Fitts' first Sunday as Claire, and her subtle and nuanced work was truly lovely. Read the full story

There's nothing like rising early with the sun, reading the day's paper on the early empty weekend subway, and coming to rehearse some theatre with a bunch of dudes. The dudes in this pic (taken by the lady of the rehearsal, R.K. McHugh) are myself (Red Sox cap), Brian Pracht (NY mets Cap, creating a cap replay of the '86 series), Jake Alexander (glasses), and Zack Robidas (pacing w/coffee cup). Who possesses the most raw charisma? You might as well ask which orchid possesses the most refined beauty. But enough about charismatic orchid men in the early morning. Onto your weekly Flux Sunday update!

This Sunday began with Flux membership reading through Johnna Adam's 8 Little Antichrists, the third play in her Angel Eaters trilogy. This was her very first draft, and it wrestles with end of days prophecies (yes, plural), angels shorn of wings, breeder vats, Masons, McDonald's prisons, characters strung out on driz, and God and the Devil having a great reckoning in a little room. All of our heads and hearts were buzzing with this draft, which holds enough action and ideas for three more plays. Sextology again?

Then we met for our most well attended Flux in some time - 26 peeps - and due to last minute playwright peril, the biggest cast scene was pulled out from under us. This led to some tense scene juggling, as I tried to find good stuff for all (and with all watching).

But, despite some personal quibbles that I babbled about on the train ride back, things went well. We staged 5 scenes: Open Hearts, Adam Szymkowicz's play, was directed by Kelly O'Donnell; and featured a hilarious Nurse (Lindsay Wolf) and my favorite Kelly bit in Michael Davis' Dr. X screaming "Nooooo" for longer than should have been possible; taking a breath for another long "No"; then a melodramatic "Come back!" and then a soft-silly-sad "Come back" to end the lazzi. Oh, and that was just the first scene - Marnie Schulenburg and Brian (of the aforementioned Mets cap) Pracht gave us a Lisa and Doctor Peter scene that nailed Adam's timing.

David Ian Lee self-directed his Sleeper, an epic play about an American kidnapped in Afghanistan and the right wing talk show host who exploits(?) his capture. There was really nuanced work from Zack Robidas and Katie Hartke as lovers trying not to fall out of love, and a hilarious cameo of Nancy Franklin as Benjamin Franklin (perhaps a relation?)

We then saw two scenes from Erin Browne's Trying, the first directed by me, and the second by Erin herself. My 'cast of redheads' and I had a great time wrestling with the subtle battle of a sister defending her younger sister from what appears to be true love...or is it she's defending the true love from the truth about her family?

That question reached a searing point in the second scene, where Johnna showed off her acting chops as Lena pushed away from her new love Walker (Caitlin Kinsella), terrified that the closer they got, the sooner she would have to give up being a clean slate, and tell Walker the truth. Then, with a kiss, the scene lost all that heaviness and took on the giddy rush on new love, captured by the fearless performances of Caitlin and Johnna.

We followed that up with a sad/happy farewell to Katherine Burger's Legends of Batvia. Little by little, scene by scene, we've worked our way through this farcical feast of language; and while the delirious comic twists at the end had us laughing, it was sad to think our time with the play is done. But Katherine has promised a reading of the play with music (yes, a musical) and I can't wait to hear it.

We said hello to first-timers Corey Ann Haydu and Caitlin Kinsella, and welcomed back friends who had been gone too long, like Hannah Rose Peck and Katie Hartke. And in spite of my frenzied casting and Monday morning quibble-backing, had ourselves a time.

(Yes, I just wrote quibble-backing. I'm sorry). Read the full story