Flux Theatre Ensemble

(What is Flux Sunday?)

We had one of the biggest actor turn-outs ever for this Flux Sunday, and it was exciting!

Playwrights: Larry Kunofsky (So Retarded), EM Lewis (If I Did This), Kari Swenson Riely (The Bicycle), August Schulenburg (Jane the Plain)

Directors: Heather Cohn, Leigh Hile, Brian Pracht, Alisha Spielmann

Actors: Lynn Kenny, Jason Richards, Kitty Lindsay, Maiken Wise, David Crommett, Tiffany Clementi, Matthew Archambault, Isaiah Tanenbaum, Rob Maitner, Anna LaMadrid, Cotton Wright, Melissa Herion, Jen Kipley, Jane Taylor, Robb Martinez, Stephen Conrad Moore

Highlights included:
-The debut of Kari's writing! She's been an acting force at Flux Sundays for some time, and it's always exciting when we see a different side of a talented artist.
-The moment when Lynn as Lucy negotiated Jen as Jen's sudden arrival with the audience - pure natural comedy - in Larry's So Retarded
-Speaking of that play, the whole New Haven/ n sympathizer section was painfully funny.
-Watching Rob and Robb offer two different but equally compelling takes on Hal, the dissolute mystery writer of Ellen's If I Did This
-Cotton's lovely Jane in Jane the Plain somehow maintaining the honesty of the character in the face of a shirtless, gleeful Matt Archambault as Scotty

If you were there, what do you remember? Read the full story

Should Cotton, playing Rene, tell the story of Justin and her honey hand?
Yes, yes she should.
What's that you say? Hankering for the picture of a rainbow-neck deer? Hanker no longer.

We smiled for the camera...and closed the party down.

For pics from past Have Anothers, click here, and here, and here, and here, and here, and here. And if you were there, share your thoughts in the comments below!
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(What is Flux Sunday?)

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Playwrights: David Ian Lee (The Curing Room)

Actors: Ken Glickfeld, Jane Taylor, Matthew Archambault, Isaiah Tanenbaum, Kari Riely, Brian Pracht.

This was a very different Flux Sunday. One playwright, one play, no directors, two laptops, and an iPad 2 (no trees were harmed in the making of this Flux Sunday). This intimate group had the pleasure of reading David's The Curing Room...in its entirety!

Highlights:
- Jane Lincoln Taylor's beautiful reading of Sukuruk's monologue about his 'tiny wife' Lludmila.
- Silently reading the stage directions of Scene 5 together as a group and finding it hard to...*ahem*...swallow.
- The scene between Kari's Kozlov and Ken's Ehrenberg, a scene of fear, revelation, and, ultimately, sacrifice.
- Having the opportunity to discuss the play after, with specific questions from the playwright.

If you were there, what do you remember (other than haunting images of human flesh & bones)? Read the full story

Is Crocker Dial good or evil? Well, he's an agent of change, shall we say...and right now, he's pouring some change in Tiggy's dreaming ear.
In Kristen Palmer's Sacrifice, teenage Emmie makes a play to change the world with the (very) willing help of a smitten Montgomery.
In Denny and Lila, con artist Lila may be making some headway with the good doctor Marcus.
Her con artist partner Denny is hitting it off with Lucia, much to Jabber's approval.
What would a Have Another pictoral round up be without the magical program-plus-drink shot? For pics from past Have Anothers, click here, and here, and here, and here, and here. And if you were there, share your thoughts in the comments below! Read the full story

I think we're going to like it here.

Our fourth Flux Sunday at Judson was a moving recovery from our haunted Halloween Sunday. really strong, heartfelt work marked all 3 scenes.

Playwrights: Katherine Burger (Ever Ever), Fengar Gael (Devil Dog Six), August Schulenburg (The Hand That Moves)

Directors: Tiffany Clementi, Katherine, August

Actors: Alisha Spielmann, Kari Riely, Mariam Habib, Gretchen Poulos, Nora Hummel, Jason Howard, Carissa Cordes, Isaiah Tanenbaum, Ken Glickfeld, Becky Kelly, Marnie Schulenburg, Jane Taylor

-Marnie and Mariam making the ex-lover reunion scene between Lois and Aaseya in The Hand That Moves (formerly The Baby Play), especially Marnie's handling of the rush of fear over Aaseya's safety.
-Tiffany directing the living daylights out of Devil Dog Six! Jane leaning cool against the wall, Carissa skipping fiercely between the horses, all of it flowing from one strong stage picture to the next.
-Jason Howard's crocodilian Dial in Ever Ever was as close to a tour de force as one can get in a hastily staged scene: strutting, leering, carelessly picking the lost boy from his teeth.
-Kari's handling of Paula's confession - full of simple feeling in a difficult monologue.
-Nancy's moving read as the dreaming lost boy terrorized by Dial. I won't ever forget that scene that left my cheeks wet.

If you were there, what do you remember? Read the full story

What is Flux Sunday?

Playwrights: Rob Ackerman (Throwing Gumballs), Zack Calhoon (Hell, West, and Crooked; Stolen), Kristen Palmer* (The Stray Dog), Brian Pracht (The Misogynist), August Schulenburg (Denny and Lila)

Actors: Susan Ferrara, Nancy Franklin, Ken Glickfeld, Kari Riely, Gretchen Poulos, Heather Cohn, Matt Archambault, Cotton Wright, Tiffany Clementi, Jason Paradine, David Crommett

This was our last Flux Sunday for a few weeks, as our next two weekends will be spent at our annual retreat at Little Pond (more on that anon, huzzah!) But we went into the break on a resilient note, as Tiffany rode to my rescue and ran the first half of the session as my bus crept slowly through the Sunday rain.

That means I can't tell you about the 1st half, so if you were there, reader, let me know what worked in the comments. But for the 2nd half highlights:

-Brian's The Misogynist ending on a pleasingly ambiguous note, as our troubled Ethan seems to be finding some measure of self-awareness that has eluded him until now; and the last scene between him and Libby is lovely.

-Tiffany as Davia loving her plaything John (Matt A) in Zack's Stolen; it was great to see Tiff revel in her power and cruelty

-Kari winsomely playing the con artist Lila seducing the small town doctor in Denny and Lila

-But above all, the read-through of Rob's Throwing Gumballs that followed; this zany heart attack of a play conceals a sincere crisis of an artists' moral responsibilities. Thanks to all who stuck around and joined us as we finally heard the whole play at a go.

So if you were there...what did I miss that's worth remembering?

*Kristen had to cancel last minute, but I believe her scene was read anyway. Read the full story

(What is Flux Sunday?)

So close to catching up with the Flux Sunday report! Due to the J.B. rights issue scramble, we had to cancel Flux Sunday on the 21st and 28th because I was writing (and then rewriting) Jacob's House.

But we returned with a bit of a good bang on the March 7th!

Playwrights: Rob Ackerman (Throwing Gumballs), Johnna Adams (The Anguisher), Katherine Burger (The Guest), Fengar Gael (The Gallerist), August Schulenburg (Denny and Lila)

Directors: N/A (all table reads)

Actors: David Crommett, Brian Pracht, Ryan Andes, Ingrid Nordstrom, Ken Glickfeld, Carissa Cordes, Matt Archambault, Kari Riely, Anthony Wills Jr., Jennifer Stuckert, Alisha Spielmann, Isaiah Tanenbaum, Jane Taylor, Kelly O'Donnell

Highlights included:
- Brian entering into the "Who Can Play Rob" arena with a great read in Throwing Gumballs
- A scene of compassion from Johnna's The Anguisher, with moving performances from Jane and Ken. The diner waitress doing her best to be a good Christian to the enigmatic and horribly scarred drifter is a very promising start to this play...
- Johnna then put on her acting cap for a virtuoso turn as Jabber, the conniving and linguistically gifted con artist side kick of Denny and Lila. I know whose voice I'll be hearing as I continue writing this play!
- But the major highlight of the day was Katherine Burger's The Guest. Because we were reading instead of staging, we were able to tackle the entire second act of this delirious menage a trois of friendship, regret, and desire. Actors took turns playing the three roles: the solid provider Dennis, his allegedly traditional wife Joan, and the object of their mutual desire, the charismatic disaster Amelia. My favorite scene featured Kelly as Joan, David as Dennis, and first timer Kari Riely as Amelia, in the dinner table reveal of just who is sleeping with who. The verbal energy of this scene verges on farce, but the emotional cost of the fall out is never diminished, and the unusual but inevitable denouement was very satisfying.

Only one more Flux Sunday to enter into the annals of history...thanks to everyone who made this one special. Any highlights I missed? Read the full story