The Bats
Being a Bat
Get a behind the scenes look at what it’s like to be a member of The Bat Theater Company from the Bats themselves.
Letter from a "Mad Man"
“My first audition for a play in NY was for The Flea’s production of Brecht’s “Baal” in 2000. To this day it remains one of the best experiences I have had as an actor.
At the time I had no idea what The Flea was, who Jim Simpson was, or what lay in store for me.
As a “Bat”, myself and the rest of the cast worked incredibly hard both mounting the show and working at the theater. I practically lived at The Flea.
Jim Simpson is one of the finest directors with whom I have ever had the pleasure of working. His vision for the theater is clear: it should be vibrant, energetic, daring, and accessable. He challenges his actors- there is no better theater in NY for a young thesp who wants to cut their teeth and develop their chops. When asked for advice by young actors in NY, I always point them to The Flea.
It was there that I met other young, incredibly talented actors, with whom I have had the pleasure of working many times since… Many of them remain close friends.
My memories of my time at The Flea are nothing but fond, and I remain hopeful that I will work with Jim there again one day.”
—Michael Gladis (currently in Mad Men)
Bat Auditions September 2009
Bat Auditons September 2009- the line wrapped around Broadway with eager actors ready to sign up!
Bat Press
The Flea is named Best Off-Off-Broadway Theater to Act With by Backstage.
Read more here
The New York Times describes The Bats as “the fuel in the theater’s engine.”
Read more here
CLICK HERE for information on September 2010 Bat Company auditions.
Who are The Bats?
The Bats are the resident acting company of The Flea Theater. Each year over a thousand actors audition for a place in this unique company. The Bats perform in extended runs of challenging classic and new plays. Not a school, but a repertory company, the Bats also work to support all the visiting performing artists at The Flea Theater.
Past Bat productions include: Benten Kozo, an Obie award winning production that played for over 6 months; Ajax (por nobody), a world premiere by Alice Tuan which played for 4 months and toured internationally; Baal by Bertolt Brecht, which also played for 4 months; two runs of Mac Wellman’s Cellophane; the premiere of Len Jenkin’s Like I Say and Margo Veil; the New York premiere of JABU by Elizabeth Swados; the world premiere of Screen Play by A.R. Gurney written expressly for the company; the New York premiere of Yussef El Guindi’s Back of the Throat which ran for over 6 months; The Great Recession by Thomas Bradshaw, Sheila Callaghan, Erin Courtney, Will Eno, Itamar Moses and Adam Rapp; and the world premiere of Jonathan Reynolds’ Girls in Trouble.
The Bats have recently appeared in World Premieres by Will Eno, Adam Rapp, Beau Willimon, Julian Sheppard, Ken Urban, Tommy Smith and Jonathan Reynolds.
Bats on Broadway
In October 2009, two of our Bats were seen on Broadway: Hannah Shankman in Hair, and Blair Baker in Oleanna. Many of our Bats have been seen in recent major New York productions at venues such as Signature Theater, Shakespeare in the Park/The Public, Playwrights Horizons, PS 122, Theater Row, and many more.
The Press Love The Bats!
“The performances by the Bats, the Flea’s young resident company, are all well thought out and fresh. The Bats are most definitely a talented group of young artists.” – NYtheatre.com
“One of Simpson’s best ideas is to have a resident company of young actors — called The Bats — who are selected each year from over a thousand candidates coming out of acting programs in the region and around the country.
The Bats are used in supporting roles in mainstage productions, but form the ensembles of the more experimental fare that is produced in the small basement space (an unusual oblong playing area that seems to push writers and directors to come up with bold cinematic staging concepts). The players change each season but the work of The Bats has been consistently strong in every Flea production I’ve seen over the past few years.” – Connecticut Post