Flux Theatre Ensemble

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

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