Flux Theatre Ensemble

Here they are! When Isaiah Tanenbaum wasn't busy heroically playing Xavier, the hard-nosed journalist and announcer of the Ladyhawks, he was taking these pictures - most are from our rehearsal that day, but a few are from the party itself. For more info on the event, go here; and to read artist/audience thoughts about the event, go here.

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: The cast.)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Matthew Archambault as Coach)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Tiffany Clementi, Cailtin Kinsella, Christina Shipp, Jane Lincoln Taylor)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Jessica Angleskhan, Cailitn Kinsella)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: David Crommett)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Jane Lincoln Taylor)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Christina Shipp, Catherine Porter, Cotton Wright)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Candice Holdorf, Tiffany Clementi, Jessica Angleskhan, Cailtin Kinsella, DeWanda Wise)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: DeWanda Wise, Jessica Angleskhan, David Crommett, Tiffany Clementi, Elise Link)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: The Volleygirls with Coach Matthew Archambault and director August Schulenburg)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Jessica Angleskhan, DeWanda Wise, Elise Link, Christina Shipp, Cotton Wright)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Catherine Porter, Matthew Archambault, Candice Holdorf, Cotton Wright)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. The Volleygirls and Coach!)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Food homemade by Fluxers)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Matthew Murumba, Frosty Beverage)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Matthew Crosby, Christina Cohn)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Tiffany Clementi, Raffle Ticket)

(Photo: By Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Rob Ackerman)

The event went really well! Thanks to everyone who made the trek on a grey day to support our work and share in Rob Ackerman's Volleygirls. Our extreme staged reading was a whirlwind process, but we landed in a good place, and thanks to the commitment of the cast, the reading captured a little of the kinetic thrill of Rob's play.

We'll be posting pictures and a deeper round-up, but I wanted to try something new on the blog by first directly soliciting feedback from the audience and artists who were there in the comments section: what did you like? Any performances or moments you thought were particularly successful? Any sets you weren't quite able to spike? Any thing we could've done to make the event run more smoothly? PLEASE post your responses in the comments.

As for me, I'm remembering many things fondly, but here's a few specifics:

1. Tiffany's Jess chastizing Isaiah's Xavier immediately after kissing him.
2. DeWanda's 'nice' face as Ingrid - it still makes me laugh when I think about it.
3. David's Phil and Jane's Carla rocking out to the Ladyhawk's cheers.
4. Jessica's delivery of "passing" as Marisol - a little detail that probably no one noticed but me - but she captured Marisol's conflict of needing to lead but being afraid of the consequences in that one moment (and throughout).
5. Cotton's "And I am by myself. All alone. Do you get that?" as Katie, the girl who has dominated everyone she meets, and by doing so, made herself entirely alone - in that moment, Cotton showed us the cost.

As for things we could have done better, I wish I'd taken Rob's suggestion for Jocelyn's entrance - she rocks out privately to some MJ before realizing she's being watched, then runs from embarassment - and I chose to have her notice the audience watching her. Despite Caitlin's hilarious and heartfelt cut-loose dancing, I think Rob's suggestion of having Katie (another character) walk by and notice her might have played more clearly - I had thought the convention of the audience being an equal partner in the play would carry the discovery, but I think Rob was right.

SO how about you? What do you think worked? What didn't? And THANK YOU again for everyone who showed their support! Read the full story

Flux is thrilled to be presenting a staged reading of Rob Ackerman's Volleygirls as the next installment of our potluck play reading series, Food:Soul. We've helped develop this play over the past months, and were so thrilled to see it produced at A.C.T. We very much hope you'll join us Sunday, August 9th at 4:00 PM at Blondies Sports on The East Side at 1770 Second Avenue (Bet. 92nd & 93rd).

But this is no ordinary Food:Soul. In order to help raise money for our upcoming production of The Lesser Seductions Of History, we're making this one a party! With live bands, $3 drafts, and Flux's homecooked delights, we sincerely hope you'll join us to celebrate Rob's play, and help us meet our mid-season fundraising goal.

Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Click here now to get your tickets and save! The doors open at 4 for Flux-cooked food and cheap drinks, the staged reading of Volleygirls starts at 5:30, and the bands start rocking at 7! If you can't make the reading, come after 7 for the bands for only $10 and party late with Flux.

Out of town on August 9th? Don't worry, you can still be a part of the action by joining in our raffle. We have some great prizes - check it out here!

Whether you join us for the party, participate in the raffle, or just choose to make a mid-season donation here, your generosity is helping us meet our goal of landing on the moon with The Lesser Seductions Of History. Thank you for your support!













To learn more about past Food:Soul's click here, here and here. To learn more about our development of Volleygirls, click here, here, and here, for a little taste.

We very much hope to see you there!

Are you missing Rob Ackerman while he's away in SF at A.C.T? Then check out this great entry in the A.C.T blog about his writing process for Volleygirls.

Bump, set, spike! Read the full story