Showing posts with label Leigh Hile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Leigh Hile. Show all posts
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Flux Sunday, August 14th

Sunday, August 21, 2011 0 comments

(What is Flux Sunday?)

Our first Flux Sunday back from the retreat had a smaller turn out, but that allowed us to do an exciting thing. We staged and shared four plays: two in the first hour and a half, and two in the second. This led to a bunch of rushed choices, but all together the experience was, well, a rush. It's not everyday, after all, that one is able to play a rolling Oedipus, a cop fighting organ theft, and a political activist clown in three hours.

Playwrights: Larry Kunofsky (Tragedy on Ecstasy), Kristen Palmer (Bridgeport), August Schulenburg (Jane the Plain), Adam Szymkowicz (Market)

Directors: Heather Cohn, Marielle Duke, Leigh Hile

Actors: Carissa Cordes, Kitty Lindsay, Anna Lamadrid, Alisha Spielmann, Melissa Herion, Kathryn Lawson, Isaiah Tanenbaum

Highlights included:

-Anna tearing it up as Donna in Kristen's Bridgeport, not to mention the thrill of Larry's spellcasting. I'm very excited to see how these fanciful and gritty threads weave together.
-The whole Tragedy on Ecstasy cast, which embodied the Flux Sunday spirit of "let's just go for it."
-Melissa's chilling Clarissa, and Carissa as her hapless (puppet) victim in Adam's Market. I also loved Heather's use of the space (and Ann's scene changing shakers!)
-Kristen Palmer as Scotty the Hotty. 'Nuff said.

If you were there, what did you walk away with?

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Ajax in Iraq Review Round-Up

Thursday, June 30, 2011 0 comments

(Photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Tiffany Clementi, Lori E. Parquet)

Yikes! The show's been closed for half a week and I still haven't posted responses to most of the reviews. Rather than getting stuck in yesterday, I'm going to round up all those I missed here and now. It doesn't quite do justice to the thoughtful and often moving reviews we received, but time is moving faster than ever.

What follows are links, favorite quotes, and quick thoughts.

Helen Shaw, Time Out New York: "There is genuine fear, anger and ecstasy in these characters. Real sweat trickles down their faces; real flies circle over them."

(There were more flies than usual that night due to the food-based blood, our most brilliant accidental design decision). I was mostly just thrilled that Helen came back for another round after Dog Act, and wish only she had more of a word count to go into more detail, especially about choices that teetered on bad taste. With only a single preview, there are many choices I wish I'd had more time to finesse - or reimagine completely - based on what I learned from audiences.

Anita Gates, New York Times: "The Flux Theatre Ensemble’s fervent and valiant production of Ms. McLaughlin’s sophisticated “Ajax in Iraq” makes its case in two ways."

As much as I might like to pretend this review didn't mean the world to us, it meant something approaching its circumference. Fervent and valiant...those words in particular still put a smile on my face, because they touch on the passion this extraordinary cast brought to the play every single night. And the audiences that this review brought in were essential, though they were not enough to overcome a particularly tough second week. We fell short of our goal, and of our numbers for Dog Act (more on those disappointing numbers in another post).

Michael Roderick, BroadwayWorld.com: "Flux consistently raises the bar when it comes to Indie Theatre and this piece has put that bar somewhere in the sky. An explosive 90 minutes with no intermission, Ajax in Iraq will live on in the minds and hearts of its audiences long after its all to short run."

For me, this was the most moving of our reviews, coming as it did from the amazing producer and director Michael Roderick. I especially appreciate that he noticed the chair slams and grains of sand; we did indeed sweat every single detail.

Leigh Hile, Scenes in the City: "With haunting eloquence, Ajax in Iraq somehow links past and present, tormentor and tormented, and pulls us from our comfortable chairs a little closer to the sting of the desert and the terror of battle. You'll leave rattled a little and questioning a lot."

Leigh is not only a theatre blogger, but a director who has worked with us at Flux Sundays and our last Have Another. I admire what I've seen of her work, and find her a particularly eloquent blogger. Her thoughts about the play's structure are well worth the read.

There's a lot more to talk about regarding this play, but with my late lunch rapidly dwindling, I leave you with one last plea to vote for the play and artists for the New York Innovative Theater Awards.

Thank you from all of us Flux to everyone who saw Ajax in Iraq, and everyone who made it possible. We are deeply grateful to have had the chance to share this play with you.
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Have Another #6

Sunday, April 3, 2011 1 comments

Our next installment of Have Another is Wednesday the 6th from 7PM-10PM. 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.

I'm especially excited that we've been able to make this Have Another happen. Our partnership with Judson Memorial Church's Bailout Theatre has really jumpstarted our Food:Soul program, but Have Another has often fallen by the wayside, and there have been some years where we've only had one (which is sadly ironic, given the programs title).

Members Isaiah Tanenbaum (picture to the left is his) and Matthew Archambault have taken up the reins of this Have Another, and that gives me great hope that this program will resume the more regular schedule that our Flux Sunday artists deserve.

The line-up!

Devil Dog Six
Written by Fengar Gael
Directed by Leigh Hile
Featuring Ingrid Nordstrom, James Comtois, Damon Kinard, Will Lowry, and Tiffany Clementi

Deinde
Written by August Schulenburg
Directed by Pete Boisvert
Featuring Brian Pracht and Matthew Murumba

!Viva Fidel!
Written by Isaiah Tanenbaum
Directed by Kelly O'Donnell
Featuring Jessica Angleskhan, David Crommett, Paco Tolson, and Matthew Archambault

Doors open at 7PM, with scenes beginning at 7:30PM and running through 9PM, with hanging out to follow.

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 horse racing, neuroscience, crumbling regimes, animal souls, cyborgs and corpse puppetry. It features Fengar Gael's second Have Another (after the wonders of Opaline) and Member Isaiah Tanenbaum's first as a playwright. Regulars like Matthews Murumba and Archambault team up with awesome first timers Paco Tolson and Damon Kinard.

So many good reasons to join us and Have Another... Read the full story