Flux Theatre Ensemble

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

Read the full story

(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

Congratulations to Erin Browne for making the shortlist of BBC's World Drama Competition with her play Trying...

...and to Corey Ann Haydu for the upcoming production of her play Runaway Love at The White Box Theatre Festival. Go see it!

Trying was developed at Flux Sunday, and Runaway Love was part of Poetic Larceny. We are thrilled to see these plays (and playwrights) getting attention - so congrats to Erin and Corey! Read the full story

What is Flux Sunday?

Well, we had another one of those Flux Sundays where everything feels kind of right - the actors are on and the scripts are good - and there is a kinetic camaraderie that makes the hours sweep by. Playwright Aaron Michael Zook described this heightened state in the last scene of his We Are Burning, that feeling when a struck baseball reaches the top of its arc and is neither rising nor falling; we lived there a little today.

Oh, and a cool breeze was blowing in, messing with the pages, and the view from the 24th floor was showing off for us like it was the first time.

Speaking of, we welcomed Sunday first timers Kira Blaskovich and Mariam Habib to the group, and then launched into reading scenes from five plays: a scene from my Dark Matter, Jeremy Basescu's short play The Intervention, the 4th scene of Corey Ann Haydu's Wife Training, Daren Taylor's new musical, and the aforementioned scene of We Are Burning.

Dark Matter
Jason Paradine's irreverent physicist Afruz Sen got us off to a rollicking start with his speech about terra incognita and dark matter (yup). Ken Glickfeld's Jimmy fought with all his considerable charm to drive again in spite of the Doctor's warning, Becky Kelly and Kira (playing a dude) found the edge of two kids starting to push limits, and Nancy Franklin caught the fire of physicist Maxine, balancing her dying daughter, senile father, and charming competitor against her need to discover the next break through.

The Intervention
Wow, this one cooked! A ridiculous farce about an unusual intervention was treated with a deadly (and hilarious) seriousness by Candice Holdorf, Jason, Corey, Isaiah Tanenbaum and Mariam. Following on the strong energy of Dark Matter, The Intervention tossed the afternoon into the firmament. Candice especially found every nuance of ludicrous urgency in Jeremy's funny, funny play.

Wife Training
Corey's disturbingly 'normal' look at a world where women are rigorously judged for marriage on looks, sexual skill, baby ability (and a good deal more squirm-inducing qualities) by a court of male elders took another twist of the knife. Two gentleman judges look through a pile of women to decide which candidates are strong enough to be placed in the first round. The kindness that Luke (Ken again) shows towards the daughter of his own jilted prospect from man years ago makes their casual cruelty even more powerful. These are real people in a world like ours, only twisted a notch to be grotesque. We're looking forward to more of this funny and disturbing world.

i don <} u ne mor
We then leapt into Daren Taylor's musical comedy about the hope for connection in a digitalized world. I'm really excited that Daren (also a talented actor) is bringing in pages, and loved the energy and warmth of his characters: the panicking, inhaler-prone Ron (Isaiah), laid back mystery roomy Nic (Autumn Horne), capable Sam (Cotton Wright), and malevolent force of nature boss Jaimie (Aaron). Will he break his protagonist's heart, or will Ron connect with his dream lover? Only a time of Sundays will tell.

We Are Burning
Sad, sad, sad to be finished with this brutal, metaphysical puzzle of a play about love and destiny. But it was a lovely ending. Haunted by a first perfect brush of the beyond, Will struggles to find anything to compare; and the savage Lucy beats against him, trying to provoke him into a real and lasting love. And this intimate tale unfolds against a bigger backdrop of Prometheus versus the Gods of Zeus, and other mythic figures driven by those Gods to tormented ends. God-struck, these characters at last find a hot kind of peace; but not before a comic tryst in the bathroom becomes a haunting image of Lucy's ability to be inches away from Will's soul, and still unseen. A last great turn as Lucy from Ingrid Nordstrom, with a beautifully still and poignant read of Io by Cotton Wright.

Sometimes you are in the right place, doing the right things, with the right people. Thank you, right people. Read the full story

What is Poetic Larceny?

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

COREY ANN HAYDU

Playwright, May 4th

Previous Flux stuff: Corey is a Flux Sunday playwright and actor, where she has workshopped her plays like Club and Wife Training.

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?

I am a rule follower through and through. I am terrified of authority
so I never really went through a rebellious stealing phase. I don't
think I've ever even snuck into a movie theatre without paying for a
ticket. I follow any rule, no matter how stupid it is. One of my
ancestors was a Salem witch, so maybe I'm scared of ending up with the same fate?

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

My wallet! At Starbucks, which is practically my home away from home.
So it felt like a particularly offensive act.

Question #3: What do you find pretty?

The color yellow. Nighttime. Dresses. Lilies. The East River.

Question #4: What do you find beautiful?

Sintra, Portugal. Easily the most beautiful place on earth. It's a
magical fairy land on a hill.

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

The book "The Giver", I would steal it and put my name on it. I wish I
had written it. I would also have to steal the process of writing it-
I wish I had come up with it and lived in those characters brains for
longer than just the length of the book.

Bio: Corey is a Flux Sunday participant and this is her first official
collaboration with Flux! She is a member of Impetuous Theatre Group
where she recently was a writer for their 47:59 Festival- She wrote
the first act of The Blame Game, and Gus wrote the second half.
Corey's first play "Abandon" was part of Impetuous' Imbryo Series.
Recently it was accepted into Valdez Alaska's Last Frontier Theatre
Conference. Corey will be traveling to Alaska to direct a staged
reading of the work for the festival this June. Hip Obscurity recently
produced a reading of Corey's play, "Flash Photography". Her short
stories have been published in various literary journals and she
recently received an Honorable Mention in Glimmer Train Press' Family Matter Contest for her story "The One Named Faye.
As an actress Corey has worked with Impetuous Theatre Group, Boomerang Theatre Company, Hip Obscurity, Ripple Productions, Prophecy Productions, Two Guys and a Credit Card, Manhattan Children's Theatre, and many more. Read the full story

ETUDES AND ATTITUDES

Our post trilogy return to Flux Sunday was marked by stabs at virtuosity, some made, some missed. The first attempt was my own hope of staging the EIGHT scenes on our list all in three hours, an attempt that fell utterly short. But many others succeeded in honoring the patron saint of this Flux Sunday, Franz Liszt.

THE TRANSCENDENTAL TANENBAUM
Member Isaiah Tanenbaum brought his work as a playwright to an exciting new place with the first two scenes of his play, The Transcendental Etudes. A play inspired by a fraud surrounding the nearly impossible to play Liszt composition, The Transcendental Etudes is written in a highly formal stylized poetry that makes even the simplest question and answer an opportunity for flights of fancy. Jane Taylor and Cotton Wright were able to root these soaring words in two deeply felt readings.

OUR TALKING IS BURNING
On a different wavelength of virtuosity, Aaron Michael Zook's We are Burning continued it's unique mash-up of grand myth and crumbs on the cafe table; this scene featured a lengthy monologue for lead lost soul Will, which read like a run across a smooth floor covered in marbles without falling. Another, very different, opportunity for verbal virtuosity.

DIVING ASIDES
A comic virtuosity emerged from Rob Ackerman's Volleygirls; as his deeply funny use of asides to the audience even in the midst of a dive for a ball lends this play tremendous staging opportunities for actors and directors. We just read this scene, but even reading these scenes you feel like diving for something.

KINGDOM OF GRAIN
A newly revised first scene from the 60's play aka Ten Black Boxes aka Kingdom of Grain gave director Heather Cohn another opportunity to wrestle with the unique challenges of the simultaneous scenes; and gave David Crommett a chance to mash-up John F Kennedy and Frederico Garcia Lorca.

CLUBBED BY THE CLUB
The second scene from Corey Ann Haydu's Club brought us into the most grueling virtuosity of all, the busy restaurant. Marnie Schulenburg brought a empathetic goodness to new waitress June as she was assaulted on all sides by Cotton Wright as a nasty customer and nastier waitress, with only David Renwanz's bartender (and yay for the return of David!) as a source of dubious help.

We also heard the first scene of Jeremy Basescu's The Syndrome Syndrome, and in a wonderful visit to memory lane, read a newly revised scene from Katherine Burger's Legends of Batvia, one of the first plays we finished workshopping in 2008. 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

Last Saturday, I checked out Prophecy Productions' show, Business as Usual. I was really looking forward to this play because Jason, Joe, and a lot of other Flux friends had been talking up Corey Ann Haydu as both an actor and a playwright, and this was an opportunity for me to see her work in a lead role. In addition, there seems to be as much cross over between Prophecy and Impetuous as there is Impetuous and Flux, so I was eager to learn more about this company.

So, on a bitter evening to the Access Theatre I trudged, and was treated to a Hollywood-skewering murder mystery; though in this play, the murder is not whodunnit but rather what to do after it's done.

The play, by Mark Souza (a fellow Swim Shorts alumn) deals with how far desperate people will go to feel alive. The two climatic moments of each act are mirror images of the other. In the first act, struggling-actor Steve (Steven Todd Smith) finds his first real dose of human connection through hooker-with-a-heart-of-knives Katherine (Corey Ann Haydu). Through her pre-sex patter, a connection is established that makes Steve aware of how far he's fallen, and that recognition spurs an act of violence that gets him shot.

The second act deals with his agent Alex's allegiances - will Alex (Michael Mraz) side with his bleeding client, or with Katherine? The climax suggests that once you've fallen low enough, the hope of human love, or the recognition of your distance from it, are both enough to kill for.

As an additional treat, I bumped into Lindsay Wolf, a current Flux Sunday participant who is one of the funniest actors I know (her zombie in 12th Night of the Living Dead had an eloquent vocabulary of grunts, moans and sounds there are no words for). And I briefly met one of Prophecy's artistic directors, the very amiable Nathaniel Kressen. After a chat over our upcoming seasons, I dashed off for some holiday parties.

It was great to meet a new company, and to deepen my knowledge of an exciting new(-to-me) actor/playwright. Read the full story