Flux Theatre Ensemble

Post by August Schulenburg
Food:Soul is back this Wednesday, October 5th! And we are thrilled/ecstatic/super-psyched to be returning with Liz Duffy Adams' (of Dog Act glory) play Wet, or Isabella the Pirate Queen Enters the Horse Latitudes.

Not only does this Food:Soul features the return of Liz' mighty pen to Flux territory, but Dog Act-ers Becky Byers and Julian Stetkevych and director Kelly O'Donnell return, as well. Throw in Members Tiffany, Isaiah and Matt, Food:Soul veteran Elise Link and old friend Daren Taylor, and you have the recipe for a souffle of awesome. And as always, Food:Soul features free food and even freer theatre.

Here are the deets:

WET OR, ISABELLA THE PIRATE QUEEN ENTERS THE HORSE LATITUDES
by Liz Duffy Adams
Directed by Kelly O'Donnell

See you there, matey? Read the full story

(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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By August Schulenburg
(What is Flux Sunday?)

We're back! After an Ajax in Iraq sized hiatus, we returned to the friendly confines of Judson Memorial Church for some Flux Sunday action. It was a full day - we went over our 7PM limit - and everyone was really bringing it.

Playwrights: Fengar Gael (The Cat Vandal), EM Lewis (Now Comes the Night), August Schulenburg (Perse, The App of Paradise), Isaiah Tanenbaum (Viva Fidel)

Directors: Heather Cohn, Kitty Lindsay, Brian Pracht

Actors: David Crommett, Jane Taylor, Ken Glickfeld, Heather Nicholson, Kari Swenson Riely, Anna Lamadrid, Matthew Archambault, Ingrid Nordstrom, Vern Thiessen, Ryan Andes, Becky Byers, Leila Okafor, Carissa Cordes, Drew Valins

Highlights:
-Brian Pracht and Matthew Archambault found some really funny phone business in Viva Fidel, the play that routinely requires three times as many props as any other scene.
-Ken accidentally kicked my character's wounded leg in Now Comes the Night, and wow, that really helped my intensity the rest of the beautifully ravaged scene! Ellen said she might even keep it...
-No one gathered at this Flux Sunday will ever forget Ryan on the yoga mat as the cat-possessed Omar in Mary's The Cat Vandal. A supple kudos to Andes and director Heather.
-It was really cool to see two Perses and two Melindas in the long chunk of Perse we did - Anna/Becky and Heather/Ingrid each found completely different energies in the roles. I'm also unclear as to how they directed such a long scene so cleanly in so little time. Magic?
-Drew Valins was back! And he brought a real tenderness to Paco in The App of Paradise that grounded such an idea heavy short scene.

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

Who is that terrifying assassin with the great hair?

(Photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum.)

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Offstage focus on what appears to be a very serious scene.

Every good play deserves at least one dream dance sequence...
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(What is Flux Sunday?)

Playwrights: Katherine Burger (Ever, Ever), Aja Houston (Superwomen?), Brian Pracht (Wendell Wants), August Schulenburg (The Temptation Show)

Directors: Tiffany Clementi, Katherine, Isaiah, Kelly O'Donnell

Actors: Ken Glickfeld, Matthew Archambault, Carissa Cordes, Leila Okafur, Kathleen Wise, Matthew Murumba, Lynn Kenny, David Crommett, Damon Kinard, Alex Marshall-Brown, Tiffany, Chudney Sykes, Isaiah, Aja, Gus, Jaime Robert Carrillo

Yup, it was a jam-packed Flux Sunday for our last Sunday of 2010, and there was all sorts of good work going on.

Highlights:
-A hot Flux Sunday for Tiffany Clementi, with a turn as the foul-mouthed gorgeous Sadie in Wendell Wants, calculating therapist in Superwomen?, and then bringing a playful directorial focus to the 2nd scene of Aja's pageant play.
-The trifecta for Isaiah Tanenbaum, with funny turns as an actor (Wendell), director (1st scene in Viva Fidel) and as a playwright, the comic highlight of the day in the 2nd scene of Fidel, where Matthew Archambault played the (literally) puppet dictator in a ludicrously staged scene by Kelly O'Donnell.
-But the scene that stuck with me the most was Chudney Sykes monologue in the first scene of Superwomen?. Aja crafted a subtly troubling monologue for Cleopatra about dreams and body image that Chudney handled beautifully.
-Personally, any day that I can act in a Katherine Burger play with both David Crommett and Ken Glickfeld is a good day. And so it was, in Ever Ever (if not for ever ever).
-Matthew Murumba easily fitting into a role I may just be writing for him in mind (The Temptation Show).

If you were there, what do you remember (other, than of course, Archambault's brilliantly flailing limbs?) Read the full story

Much like an elephant, I won't soon forget our 7th Food:Soul of Miss Lilly Gets Boned. Please leave your thoughts on the play and the event itself in the comment field below. To whet your mindblade, I offer up these pictures from photogenie Isaiah Tanenbaum.






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About the play:
Miss Lilly, a Sunday school teacher, has been waiting patiently for God to drop a man in her lap. When a new student disturbs the harmony of her classroom and his father disturbs the harmony of her heart, Miss Lilly is forced to re-examine her own sense of faith and self. Right or wrong, sinful or holy - a natural force is at work in Miss Lilly's classroom where her hymns are accompanied by the rumble of angry elephants and her prayers are answered by a stranger to her god.

About the playwright:
Bekah Brunstetter's plays include A LONG AND HAPPY LIFE (Naked Angels, Spring 2011), OOHRAH! (The Atlantic Theater) and HOUSE OF HOME (Williamstown Theater festival.) She is a member of the Primary Stages writer's group, a Playwright's Realm Fellow, and resident playwright of the Finborough Theater, London, where MISS LILLY received its debut in the Summer of 2010. MISS LILLY has also been developed with the Lark, Luna Stage the Babel Theater Project. MFA, The New School. www.bekahbrunstetter.com Read the full story

Our 3rd Flux Sunday at Judson Memorial Church had the ill-fated luck of falling on Halloween, and a haunted Flux Sunday it was indeed, with mysteriously disappearing accents, bedeviled containers of chocolate, and a small turnout. But, like the valiant ghostbusters we are, we persevered to get some good work done.

Playwrights: Katherine Burger (Ever Ever), Fengar Gael (Devil Dog Six), August Schulenburg (Untitled)

Actors: Ken Glickfeld, Carissa Cordes, Gretchen Poulos, David Crommett, Tiffany Clementi, Matthew Archamabult, Damon Kinard

Director: Katherine, Heather Cohn

Highlights Included:
- The debut of Damon Kinard, who gave a strong read as the charming tyrant husband in The Baby Play
-The tag-team comic duo of Ken Glickfeld and Matthew Archamabult as adult Lost Boys Tiggy and Weasel in Katherine's Ever Ever. I admit, I nearly broke.
-Fengar bringing pages from Devil Dog Six, a play we've long admired but not yet played with - excited for more!

If you were there, and weren't devoured by zombies on your way home, what were your highlights? Read the full story

(What is Flux Sunday?)

(Flux fire hydrant to the left discovered and captured through the power of photography in Brooklyn by Adam Szymkowicz)

Yup, on October 9th, we broke the fundamental laws of physics, and for the first time in three years, held a Flux Sunday on a SATURDAY. So far as I can tell, the universe did not (as many pundits feared it would) end, unless of course it did end and we live now in some eerily similar mirror universe.

Setting such lofty considerations aside, it went really well for a hastily assembled day. We had TONS of pages, and ran right up to the 7PM mark, but it felt quick, because the pages had some pop to them.

Playwrights: Johnna Adams, Fengar Gael, Kristen Palmer, Brian Pracht, August Schulenburg, Adam Szymkowicz

Actors: David Crommett, Ken Glickfeld, Isaiah Tanenbaum, Matt Archambault, Gretchen Poulos, Antoinette Broderick

Highlights included:

-A great Flux Sunday for Gretchen, who brought a casual loveliness to Adam's Josette (in the untitled French play), a subtly heightened feel to girl in Kristen's The Stray Dog, and a rough playfulness to the jade Cheat in Johnna's Pickpocks, Jades, and Swindlers, her second play in the style of Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens (brace yourselves - it looks to be a trilogy).

-A smoking scene from Brian Pracht's Unplugged In, courtesy of some tight rewrites from Brian, a focused performance as Chris from Matt A, and a hilarious turn from Travis as Zero. This scene was popping!

-The debut of Antoinette Broderick, who played a con-artist, tattoo artist, and 18th century swindler with aplomb.

What were your impressions of the day? What did you think of the stylistic new ground Adam struck in the love affair between Matt and Josette in that untitled French play? Did you notice that I inadvertently included a Dr X speech pattern in the Denny and Lila scene? How did the end of Kristen's The Stray Dog land with you? Aren't Doug and Cheryl romantic? Isn't that picture Adam took of the fire hydrant kind of cool? And could you believe it when Mayra bit the frickin' head of that snake???

And for the record, this was the last Flux Sunday (er, Saturday) before we embarked to a potential new home...but more on that anon. Read the full story

What is Jacob's House?
What is ForePlay: Divine Reckonings?


Matthew Archambault
Actor, Jacob's House

Productions - Jacob in Jacob's House (Schulenburg); Barry Tanner in The Lesser Seductions of History (Schulenburg). Staged Readings - Coach Jim Brindell in Volleygirls (Ackerman). Foreplays - Will & Quince in The Imagination Compact: The Mechanicals (Pracht & Ackerman). Have Anothers - Doctor Hargraves Moss in Opaline (Gael). 36 Flux Sundays, starting September 7th, 2008.

Do you have a favorite Bible character?
Not really...I have bad associations with my Christian past...

Are you blessed?
I consider myself very lucky. My duty is to be ready for those moments when opportunity presents itself.

If you were wrestling an angel, what moves would you use?
First, confusion. I'd try some bizarre stuff that would throw the angel off guard...then, at it's most uncomfortable/off-base, I'd strike quickly, directly, hoping to end the fight fast. That'd probably be a blow to the head with something heavy and blunt nearby.

What would you do for more life?
I'd do a lot of things!

What's the weirdest thing in your parents' attic?
I spoke to my father a couple days ago, and he told me he has a musical in the attic that he wrote when he was in college up there! He used 'popular songs from the day,' and has mixed feelings about whether or not he wants to find it...

What is your prior experience with the Old Testament?
I went to Monsigneur Clarke for first and second grade. My early memory of learning about the Bible is leaning over to a boy sitting on the floor next to me and saying, 'You don't really believe this, do you??" He was terrified at question...and I knew then I was in a minority. Now I feel that maybe I'm not really in the minority...there's a lot of self-deception going on when it comes to religion.

If you believe in a deity or deities, what kind do you believe in?
Why can't folks be happy with the beings we have?

Anything else coming up for you that Flux readers should know about?
My hostile takeover of Flux Theatre Ensemble, planned for early Fall, 2012.

Matthew Archambault has worked with The Mortals, Columbia Rep, Brooklyn on Foot, Wayside Theatre, Virginia Shakespeare Festival, Roxy Regional Theatre, Theatre at Monmouth, and Monomoy Theatre, among others. Read the full story

(All photos by Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Jessica Angleskhan, Zack Calhoon, Jane Lincoln Taylor)

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