'09-'10 Season
Tough Plays for Tough Times
The Flea announces its upcoming season
Jim Simpson, Artistic Director and Carol Ostrow, Producing Director announced today the line up for the Flea Theater’s Fourteenth Season.
Says Simpson “In choosing a season we aim for a balance between planning and spontaneity that allows us to continue producing work that reflects and responds to the world around us.” Adds Ostrow, “In the fall of 2009 we will produce just such a work— we have commissioned six gifted writers to create ten-minute plays that explore the impact of the economic crisis on their generation. The evening, presented under the title The Great Recession will feature new work by Thomas Bradshaw, Sheila Callaghan, Erin Courtney, Will Eno, Itamar Moses and Adam Rapp— all writers recently nurtured by The Flea. The plays will be performed by The Bats, and each writer is creating their piece especially for the talents of our company.” The show begins November 20th, and runs through December 30th.
First up, however, is another World Premiere. The Oldsmobiles, a one-act by political pundit Roger Rosenblatt will open in early October. Previously, The Flea produced the World Premiere of Rosenblatt’s Ashley Montana Goes Ashore in the Caicos…starring Bebe Neuwirth and Jeffrey DeMunn. Perched on top of the Manhattan Bridge, Mr. and Mrs. Oldsmobile, a couple who are aging but not yet old, who are still in great shape contemplate what’s left to come and if it is worth living for. Previews are scheduled to begin October 1st, opening night is October 17th at 7pm, and the show runs through November 14th.
In January 2010, The Flea plays host to The Best of Edinburgh. This year’s winner is Little Gem, the debut play by the playwright Elaine Murphy about three generations of women in an Irish family. Little Gem won the annual Carol Tambor Best of Edinburgh Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe. The winning play comes from Guna Nua Theater company in Dublin. To be eligible for this award a show must have received a four or five star rating in The Scotsman. The Flea is delighted to be chosen as the venue this season. The show will begin performances during the week of January 4th.
The centerpiece of our spring season shows The Flea at its audacious and eclectic best with The Vultures, written in 1882 by iconoclast playwright Henri Becque. Brilliantly exposing everything from human avarice to institutional fraud, the play is incredibly timely. It calls for a cast of 16 and will be directed by Simpson. The Vultures will be performed in repertory in two parts, for 6 weeks by a combination of emerging actors chosen from The Bats and established names. The Vultures Part One begins previews February 25th. The Vultures Part Two begins previews February 26th. The plays run in repertory through March 27th.
Last up will be a production of The Parents’ Evening by Bathsheba Doran. Ms. Doran’s first play Feminine Wash was produced at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival while she was a student at Cambridge University in England. She worked as a television comedy writer before coming to the United States on a Fulbright. She recieved her M.F.A. from Columbia University and went on to become a playwrighting fellow at Julliard. Plays include The Parents’ Evening, Living Room in Africa (Edge Theater, NY), Nest (commissioned and produced by Signature Theater in DC), Until Morning (BBC Radio) and adaptations of Maeterlinck’s The Blind (Classic Stage Company), Great Expectations (with Kathleen Chalfant at The Lucille Lortel) and Peer Gynt (dir. Andre Serban at the Theater of the Riverside Church). Doran’s work has been developed by the O’Neill Playwriting Center, Lincoln Center and Sundance Theater Lab among others. She is a 2009 recipient of the Helen Merrill Playwriting Award, a Cherry Lane Mentor Project fellow as well as the recipient of three Lecomte du Nouy Lincoln Center playwriting awards, and a Susan Blackburn Award finalist. She is currently under commission from Atlantic Theater, South Coast Repertory and Playwrights Horizons. Her work is published by Samuel French and Playscripts Inc. She lives in New York City. In The Parents’ Evening, Mother and Father confront conflicted views about parenting and the boundaries of love. The play begins April 16th and runs through June 12th.
Throughout the season The Flea will continue to present its free and ongoing Music and Dance series – Music With A View and Dance Conversations. As always there are sure to be some surprises Downstairs @ The Flea, the theater’s 40-seat late-night venue.
Tickets will be onsale in the fall. Check back soon for casting and more information on our season.