Flux Theatre Ensemble

(Photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Cotton Wright)

A spirited review from RetroVision Media that makes (with the upcoming post from Seanrants) two reviews that work Winona Ryder into the mix.

Read it here, and then go get your tickets! Read the full story

(Photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Cotton Wright, Zack Robidas)

A nice write up of Pretty Theft (and Desire Under The Elms) at The Fifth Wall. This is (and will almost certainly be) the only review that mentions me (I was the ticket tearer).

Read it here, and then go get your tickets! Read the full story

(Photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Maria Portman Kelly, Marnie Schulenburg)

Wondering why you should see Pretty Theft? Here is a reason for every dollar of our ticket price. Read them, and then go get your tickets!

1. The Ensemble
"This ensemble could easily stand in the ranks of the greatest ensembles ever assembled"
-Toby Thelin, Theatre Knights (&Daze)

2. The Playwright
"(Adam) Szymkowicz has not only taken the notion of theft and flipped it on its head — he’s taken a story about human beings at their worst and shown how we can claw our way back from the brink by finding the good within ourselves."
-Steven Snyder, The Villager

3. The Director
"A taught production...disturbing but touching...Angela Astle, the director, elicits some strong, affecting performances"
-Anita Gates, The New York Times

4. The Story
-"...It's these elements that come together to make Pretty Theft a sometimes sad, sometimes funny, and at times nostalgic coming-of-age story."
-Patrice Contino, Flavorpill

5. Candice Holdorf as The Waitress
"Candice Holdorf makes the most of every scene, suggesting a lifetime of disappointment and settling for a character not even granted a first name."
-Doug Strassler, OffOffOnline

6. Cotton Wright as The Supervisor/Allegra's Mother
"(Cotton) Wright's simple yet distinctive physical choices as Allegra's Mom, the Supervisor, and one of Joe's ballerina's gave her a specificity that allowed her really ground the play."
-Zack Calhoon, Visible Soul

7. Heather Cohn's set design
"The technical sureness of Heather Cohn’s set pays big dividends, as the ballet barres become the coffee shop counter, a bed-sized platform skilfully portrays several different rooms, and cubes outfitted with handy cloth pouches and that clever mirrored platform do most of the rest of the scenery work."
-Jon Sobel, Blogcritics

8. Marnie Schulenburg as Allegra
"Wonderfully effective in the first play of the Flux Theatre Ensemble's Angel Eaters trilogy last winter, Schulenburg delivers a restrained, affecting performance as the quietly lonely Allegra."
-Mark Peikert, Backstage

9. Becky Kelly's Costume Design
"Becky Kelly's costumes are well-considered and spot on with a great use of color."
-Chris Harcum, nytheatre.com

10. Maria Portman Kelly as Suzy
"Equally compelling is Maria Portman Kelly as Suzy, whose pouty, mean-girl petulance does not overwhelm her affability as an actress."
-Kitty Lindsay, Theatre Is Easy

11. Andy Fritsch's Lighting Design
"The lighting design by Andy Fritsch also added a lot to the sheer visual beauty of this show."
-Toby Thelin, Theatre Knights (& Daze)

12. Zack Robidas as Bobby
"Zack Robidas...provides howling comic relief as the heroine’s appallingly selfish boyfriend"
-Patrick Lee, Just Shows To Go You

13. Ashley Martinez's Choreography
-"Sometimes lithe and lovely, sometimes screeching and twisted, these ballerinas serve as the linchpins which keep everything crazily bound together."
-Karen Tortora-Lee, Theatre Buzz

14. Brian Pracht as Joe
"Pracht is nothing short of a divine presence, heartbreaking and true"
-Doug Strassler, OffOffOnline

15. Kevin Fuller's Sound Design
"Kevin Fuller's sound design add(s) to this half-realistic, half-impressionistic world in frequently subtle ways."
-Chris Harcum, nytheatre.com

16. Todd d'Amour as Marco
"I’ll be damned if d’Amour doesn’t give one of the better performances as a villain I’ve seen all year."
-Ethan Stanislawski, Tynan's Anger

17. Lynn Kenny as The Psychiatrist
"Every performance is nuanced and extremely well crafted;...Lynn Kenny’s Nurse Ratchet-like Supervisor"
-Toby Thelin, Theatre Knights (&Daze)

18. Audience Members Love It!
"This show is never boring and will sit with you for long after you have left the theatre."
-posted on the Theatermania user website

You don't need reasons to be pretty when you have 18 reasons to see Pretty Theft.
(Sorry.)

Now get your tix before I'm forced to make more show based puns... Read the full story

Flux blog reading friends,

Be sure to go and support (or at least buy the book) New York Theater Review's 2009 collection of plays and theatre essays. New York Theater Review has been a friend to artists of Flux for some time now - Riding the Bull and Adam Szymkowicz's Food For Fish were published in the 2006 and 2007 editions, and this upcoming edition features a play from Ellen McLaughlin ( who participated in our Food:Soul staged reading of This Storm Is What We Call Progress) and David Ian Lee's Sleeper (developed at Flux Sundays). It also features short plays from our friends at BlueBox Productions Sticky series, which has frequently featured the work of Flux Sunday regulars like Erin Browne, Jeremy Basescu, myself and Michael Swartz. Editor Brook Stowe is one of the great champions of important Indie theatre work, and I am so excited about this edition - read on for more!

Justin Tracy leads off the 2009 edition with an appreciation of playwright, teacher and critic Arthur Sainer; Cynthia Croot sits down with six Arab and Arab-American theater artists to discuss similarities and differences in Middle Eastern and NYC theater and Lane Pianta contributes an insightful piece on the theater of Ben Spatz and his Urban Research Theater.

(Photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Candice Holdorf, Cotton Wright, Marnie Schulenburg, Lynn Kenny)

Doug Strassler at Offoffonline has written a great review for Pretty Theft!

Read it here, and then come see the show! Read the full story

(Photo: Isaiah Tanenbaum. Pictured: Marnie Schulenburg, Brian Pracht)

Steven Snyder of The Villager not only reviews the show, but weaves in an interview he conducted with Adam - good and insightful reading. Check it out here, and and then come see the show! Read the full story