Marian

Marian,
or The True Tale of Robin Hood

Written by Adam Szymkowicz
Directed by Kelly O’Donnell

(Previews January 28 and 29)
Opening Night: January 30
Final Performance: February 11

@ New Ohio Theatre
154 Christopher Street, Ste. 1E, New York, NY 10014

map

 

What’s a Living Ticket? This production continues our Living Ticket initiative, which makes Flux’s shows free for all to attend. Well, not exactly free: it costs a lot to create these productions, and we want to provide our team a living wage. So while you don’t have to pay anything, we encourage you to support Flux with a donation when you reserve your Living Ticket. To learn what it would take for us to pay a living wage, check out our Open Book program, which shares our production budget and suggests levels of giving.

RESERVE LIVING TICKETS to Marian, or The True Tale of Robin Hood


The Story

Adam Szymkowicz’s Marian, or The True Tale of Robin Hood is a gender-bending, patriarchy-smashing, hilarious new take on the classic tale. Robin Hood is (and has always been) Maid Marian in disguise, and leads a motley group of Merry Men (few of whom are actually men) against the greedy Prince John. As the poor get poorer and the rich get richer, who will stand for the vulnerable if not Robin? What is the cost of revealing your true self in a time of troubles? Modern concerns and romantic entanglements clash on the battlefield and on the ramparts of Nottingham Castle. A play about selfishness and selflessness and love deferred and the fight. Always the fight. The fight must go on.

Marian is the first play to come out of Flux’s FluxForward program.


 

The Cast

 

Jessica Angleskhan is Alanna Dale

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
fssshhhhew (said in a whisper)
Steal from the rich, give to the actors.

Jessica Angleskhan is honored to join Flux and the Merry Players in Sherwood Forest! Past Flux shows include Rizing and Jacob’s House. Other NYC theater includes Othello (Oberon, Theater Row), A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Le Cid (Storm Theatre Co). TV Credits include co-starring roles in 30 Rock and Law and Order:SVU. Numerous commercial, print, and voice over credits for clients including Comcast, Budweiser, Lipitor, Lancome, Johnnie Walker, and others. Also look for Jessica onstage as a Super (that means I don’t sing) at the Metropolitan Opera! As always, for my little Behr.

C. Bain is Much the Miller’s Son

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
“why me?”
Steal from the rich, and then walk around your house in their agent provocateur negligee saying “yes, baby, you’re cute” when you pass the mirror.

C. Bain is a gender-liminal writer and performer based in Brooklyn. He is an artistic associate at Sacred Circle Theatre Company, and the author of the full-length poetry collection Debridement (Great Weather for Media 2015, finalist for the 2016 Publishing Triangle Awards.) He is a member of the Actor’s Center and also studies at the Studio with Brad Calcaterra. He does bodywork, teaches poetry workshops, and strives to keep it cute. His real life is under his dead name at corrinabain.com.

Becky Byers is Marian/Robin

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
The sweet sound of justice.
Steal from the rich, because people make choices and then there are consequences.

Becky Byers is a Creative Partner with Flux Theatre Ensemble.  With Flux: Dog Act (NYIT Nomination – Featured Actress), Hearts Like Fists (NYIT Nomination – Lead Actress), Once Upon a Bride There Was a Forest (NYIT Nomination – Featured Actress); Jane the Plain. Off-Broadway: Retro Productions’ The Runner Stumbles, co-produced with The Bleecker Company. Regional: Contemporary American Theatre Festival – A Discourse on the Wonders of the Invisible World. NY Theater: Gideon Productions’ Advance Man and Blast Radius in The Honeycomb Trilogy, Kill Shakespeare; Vampire Cowboys’ Geek!; Becky is a 2010 NYTheatre.com Person of the Year. Love to W&P.

Alexandra Curran is Tommy of No Consequence

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
It politely says ‘arrow’ in Michael Caine’s voice.
Steal from the rich, and then take a nap or have a taco because you deserve it.

NY Theater: Wolf In The River (The Flea), Our Dead Friend’s Porn (NY Theater Festival), Neighborhood 3: Requisition of Doom (The Flea), Student Body (The Flea). Television: Hawaii 5-0 (CBS). Alexandra is absolutely thrilled to be a part of this band of Merry Personages! www.alexandracurran.com.

Kevin R. Free is Prince John

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
Fortunately, I don’t have a bow.
Steal from the rich, and do your best not to give it all back to them in 4-8 years.

Off-Broadway/NYC: NIGHT OF THE LIVING N-WORD!! (Playwright/Actor, FringeNYC; Overall Excellence in Playwriting Award) The Fantasticks, From My Hometown (Amas Musicals), Taking A Chance On Love (York Theatre), The Conjure Man Dies (New Federal Theatre); Too Much Light Makes The Baby Go Blind. Regional: The Guthrie, People’s Light, CENTERSTAGE, Kennedy Center, Idaho Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cincinnati Playhouse, Arden Theatre. Recordings: Welcome to Night Vale (Kevin); 200 audio books. Film/TV; Award-winning web series, “Gemma & The Bear.” His play, AM I DEAD?, was commissioned and will be produced by Flux Theatre Ensemble in 2017. www.kevinrfree.com

Aaron Parker Fouhey is Sir Lenny the Observant

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
Floof!
Steal from the rich, until you’re the rich!

Aaron is thrilled to have the opportunity to make merry with such talented cast and creative team! NYC-U/S Waffles-Uncle Vanya—The Pearl Theatre Company, Channing-Night of the Living N-Word!!!—New York International Fringe Festival, ensemble –The Seedling Project--Partly Cloudy People, ensemble-a cautionary tail—The Flea, ensemble-Shotz—Amios. Regionally-Huntington Theatre Company, Boston.
BFA in Acting—Boston University, Classical Acting Certificate—LAMDA. Seeking Representation!

Jack Horton Gilbert is Little John

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
Wee!
Steal from the rich, they have the best stuff.

Jack Horton Gilbert is an New York based, Ohio born playwright and actor. A member of The Flea Theater’s resident acting company, The Bats, as well as a founding member of Decent Company and Crazy Raisin Productions; Jack’s writing focuses on the absurd, the magical, the human, and the spaces between. His plays have been produced and read all over NYC and Ohio, including The American Theatre of Actors, The Tank, Standard Toykraft, and Stage Left Studio. His full-length piece Mea Culpa was recently published in the Adirondack Plays: Anthology Of New Plays.

Mike Mihm is Friar Tuck/Sherriff of Nottingham

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
whistlllllleeeeeeeeeessewwwwwthoop!
Steal from the rich? There will be no more stealing from the rich by that pig-headed thief Robin.

Mike Mihm: This is Mike’s fourth show with Flux, others include Salvage, Menders, and Ajax in Iraq. Off-Broadway: Blood Potato and In God’s Hat (Apothecary). Other New York work: Hot Season (Strange Sun), readings with the Lark, New Dramatists, Classic Stage Company. Regional: The Tall Girls (Luna Stage), Mister Roberts, A Christmas Carol (Cincinnati Playhouse), Peribanez (Quantum Theatre). Film: Taking of Pelham 123, The Dying Western, Cold Storage, Old Maid, Let it be War, The New Moon Party. BFA, Ohio University.

Nandita Shenoy is Lady Shirley

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
Pow!
Steal from the rich, and give to the ladies.

Nandita Shenoy is an actor-playwright who recently starred in the Off-Broadway production of her play Washer/Dryer at Ma-Yi Theater Company. Washer/Dryer premiered at East West Players in Los Angeles and was subsequently produced in Chicago by Rasaka Theater. Other acting credits include World Premiers of Eric Pfeffinger’s Some Other Kind of Person and Richard Dresser’s Trouble Cometh as well as a season in the Repertory Company at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. She is a proud member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, the Dramatists Guild, and Actors Equity. Nandita holds a BA in English literature from Yale University. www.nanditashenoy.com

T. Thompson is Will Scarlett

Sound their arrow makes leaving the bow?
You wish you were this awesome!!!
Steal from the rich, duh!

T. Thompson is a Brooklyn based performer. They most recently performed in the 28 Hour Festival at the Flea Theater. Taylor Macs 24 Decade History Of Popular Music, St. Ann’s Warehouse, Night of the Living N- Word, NYC Fringe Festival. The Messiah Complex (title role) at BRIC Arts Media. Other credits include the OBIE award winning Fire This Time Festival plays Slavesperience, Time in the Penn, and You Mine. As a member of the Hotel Savant Theatre Co., their roles include Dryope in Men Go Down- Part 3, PS 122 and Alas, the Nymphs… BAM Next Wave Festival, Fury #2 in Funeral Games, The Public Theater. T has also collaborated with Michelle Matlock (OVO), Lee Frisari(Sez.me) and Becca Blackwell (They,Themself, and Schmerm), on an exploration of gender, race and punk rock in the piece Sum of Us at (Dixon Place), with their band Inner Princess.

Matthew Trumbull is Sir Theo the Punctual

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
LOOK OUT
Steal from the rich, swell the ranks of the merely budget-conscious.

Matthew is happy to be in a Flux production for the first time since DEINDE in 2012. He was most recently seen in the 2016 FringeNYC Festival play Off Track by James Comtois (‘a nuanced performance full of humor and charm’-Time Out NY), and received the 2015 NYIT Award for Outstanding Performance in a Lead Role for The Temple, or Lebensraum by Nat Cassidy. Matthew’s solo play, The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children won a FringeNYC Award for Solo Performance and was an Audience Pick at the Minnesota Fringe Festival. His current play-in-progress, Bottom of the Eighth, was workshopped by Flux at their Annual Retreat this year. Love to Stephanie.

Marnie Schulenburg is Lucy

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
fewooush
Steal from the rich, give to myself, JUST KIDDING! Give to the poor : )

Marnie Schulenburg – NY/Regional Theatre: How I Learned to Drive (Second Stage), South Pacific, The Foreigner, Henry V, and Two Gentleman of Verona (PSF), The Yellow Wood (NYMF dir. B.D Wong), Hearts like Fists, The Angel Eaters, and Pretty Theft (Flux Theatre Ensemble). TV/FILM: Alison Stewart on As The World Turns, Young & The Restless, Jo Sullivan on One Life To Live, plus guest star & recurring roles on Manhattan Love Story, Royal Pains, Alpha House, Blue Bloods, Army Wives, & Fringe. Marnie can also be seen in films such as Made For Each Other, Penny Dreadful, and The Golden Scallop. Marnie is very excited to be back with her Flux Family!


 The Creative Team

Adam Szymkowicz, Playwright

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
Shazam!
Steal from the rich, have a fun time!

Adam’s plays have been produced throughout the U.S., and in Canada, England, The Netherlands, New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Greece, Slovenia and Lithuania. Adam received a Playwright’s Diploma from The Juilliard School’s Lila Acheson Wallace American Playwrights Program and an MFA from Columbia University where he was the Dean’s Fellow. Szymkowicz is a two-time Lecomte du Nouy Prize winner, a member of the Dramatists Guild, Writer’s Guild of America, and was a member of Primary Stages’ Dorothy Strelsin New American Writer’s Group, the MCC Playwright’s Coalition and of the first Ars Nova Play Group. He has been to The Orchard Project and to JAW at Portland Center Stage, served twice as Playwright in Residence at the William Inge Center, and took part in The Dramatists Guild Fund’s Traveling Masters program.  Szymkowicz  has been commissioned by South Coast Rep, Rising Phoenix Rep, Texas State University,The NOLA Project, Single Carrot Theater, and Flux Theater Ensemble. His plays are published by Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, Playscripts and Original Works Publishing. His plays Pretty Theft and Hearts Like Fists were both produced by Flux Theatre Ensemble to critical praise, inspiring many subsequent productions. adamszymkowicz.com

Kelly O’Donnell, Director

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
ffffffffllllllllllux!
Steal from the rich, and probably get arrested…

Kelly O’Donnell is a Flux Creative Partner and co-founder. Directing work includes Tiny Houses by Stephanie Zadravec (New Dramatists Playtime LAB), Colchester by Adam Szymkowicz (Portland Center Stage, JAW), Hearts Like Fists by Adam Szymkowicz, Jane the Plain by Corinna Schulenburg, Dog Act by Liz Duffy Adams, Honey Fist, and Riding the Bull by Corinna Schulenburg (Flux Theatre Ensemble), 3Christs (Peculiar Works Project), A Flea in Her Ear (NYU Tisch Undergraduate/Lee Strasberg School), Tartuffe (Lafayette College), Our Lady of 121st Street (The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute). A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Romeo and Juliet (Stages on the Sound). She has been nominated twice for Outstanding Director by the New York Innovative Theatre Awards. Plays that she has directed have been named “Critics’ Picks” by the New York Times, Backstage, and Theatre is Easy; and “Audience Favorite” by the Village Voice. kellyod.com

Jodi M. Witherell, Production Stage Manager

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
Pshhhhhhhhhhhhhong!
Steal from the rich, give to the theatre people.

Jodi M. Witherell (Stage Manager): was most recently seen as PSM for That Which Isn’t (Theater Accident) and All Systems Go: Mission 4 (Mission to (dit)Mars), Favorite credits include: miscellaneous work on Mac Rogers’ Universal Robots and The Honeycomb Trilogy (Gideon Productions); The Listeners (The Brick); Moby Dick (Fireboat Productions); Rizing, Salvage, Once Upon a Bride…, Jane the Plain, Honey Fist, Hearts Like Fists, Deinde, Ajax in Iraq, The Lesser Seductions… and many others with Flux; as well as shows with The Gallery Players; Avalon Studios; The St. Bart’s Players; Working Man’s Clothes; Pembi Players; Playwright’s Company; Audax Theatre Group; Streetlight Productions and The American Globe Theatre. NYIT Award Winner: Outstanding Stage Manager 2016.

Sol Crespo, Assistant Director

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
That’s right!
Steal from the rich, cause the rich ain’t shit.

Sol Marina Crespo is a New York based actor, writer, director and producer. She is also a Creative Partner at Flux Theatre Ensemble producing and developing new work and programs such as ForePlay and #StandUp: The Street Harassment Plays. For Flux, Sol has performed in: Ajax in Iraq, Menders, Deinde, Jane the Plain and Salvage (Flux Theatre Ensemble). She has won multiple awards including: Ford Foundation Fellowship for Career Advancement (2007); Person of the Year by NYTheatre.com (2012) and The Eben Demarest Trust by The Pittsburgh Foundation (2016).

Rocio Mendez, Fight Director

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
Pooofffff
Steal from the rich, Then make them buy your dinner too!

Rocio is an actor/fight director. Rocio has worked with great theaters such as The Pearl Theater Company, American Globe Theater, The Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, The Classical Theater of Harlem, and The Brick. Rocio been in various short, independent films, and TV shows. She was a Nominee for The NYIT Arts Award for Outstanding Choreography/Movement for Hearts Like Fists with The Flux Theater Ensemble. She also teaches a Stage Combat undergraduate course at The New School and is a teaching artist with Opening Act.

Heather Cohn, Producing Director/Production Manager

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
Ooops
Steal from the rich, and give it to the artists.

Heather Cohn is a co-founder and the Producing Director of Flux Theatre Ensemble. For Flux: Johnna Adams’ Sans Merci, Corinna Schulenburg’s Salvage, DEINDE, The Lesser Seductions of History (nominated for Outstanding Direction, New York Innovative Theatre Awards) and Other Bodies (FringeNYC Excellence Award for Outstanding Direction), and Erin Browne’s Menders. Outside of Flux includes: David Stallings’ Dark Water and The Stranger to Kindness; Daniel Guyton’s Rosie The Retired Rockette; and Aliza Einhorns’s Blood. Member – Women’s Project Producers’ LAB (2008-2010).

Will Lowry, Scenic Designer

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
ffwwwwwwwwzzZZZZZZZZZLPP. squish.
Steal from the rich, and give it to the artists.

Will Lowry is a multidisciplinary designer with an MFA from UNC Greensboro, and he has been a Creative Partner with Flux since 2011. This is his fifteenth Flux production, the most recent being Rizing. He has completed over 110 scenic, costume, and lighting designs ranging between New York, regional, and academic theatre, and he has worked as an assistant on eleven Broadway productions. He recently completed a two year post-doctoral fellowship at Furman University, and this year he joined the faculty of Lehigh University as an assistant professor of theatre. Love to B&P. will-lowry.com

Izzy Fields, Costume Designer

Izzy hails from Houston, Texas and is currently based out of New York City. She made her way to New York by way of Chicago for undergrad at De Paul University. Since 2006 she has designed for over 20 theatre companies in the New York City area. Much of her current work can be seen off-Broadway: Fault Line Theatre, Atlantic Theatre Company Stage 2, National Yiddish Theatre, to name a few. In 2014 she became an artistic associate at Fault Line Theatre and has enjoyed designing many new works by award winning playwrights such as Beau Willimon, Michael Perlman and Crystal Finn.

Jessica Greenberg, Lighting Designer

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
“Diiinnng!” (sound of a Macbook starting up)
Steal from the rich, and buy some LEDs.

New York designs with La Mama Experimental Theatre Club, The Adjusted Realists, 59E59, New Opera NYC, Red Fern Theatre, Castillo Theatre, Two Headed Calf, Midlantic Theatre, Lumiere Ballet, Alivewire Theatrics, The Exchange / Orchard Project, Cloud City, Dixon Place, and Epic Theatre Ensemble Education Programs. Regional designs with Yale Dramat, SB Dance, Salt Lake Acting Company. Associate Artist with Playmachine (NYC) and CrisisART (Arezzo, IT). Assistant Professor of Theatre Design at Weber State University. BA : Hampshire College / MFA : UMASS Amherst. www.jessicagreenberg.com


Sara Slagle, Properties Designer

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
Like swan singing star-crossed choirs
Steal from the rich, and recirculate through the economy.

Previously with Flux: Sans Merci; Honey Fist; Once Upon a Bride There Was a Forest. Off-Broadway: Long Story Short (59E59) Recent New York: Good Boys and True; The Butter and Egg Man; An Appeal to the Woman of the House; Day in the Death of Joe Egg (Retro Productions). 3 Christs (Peculiar Works Project). Lickspittles, Buttonholers and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens (Boomerang). Evita; Proof; Equus; RENT; Run For Your Wife (TGP).

Sienna Gonzalez, Lighting Design Assistant

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
Fwooooopah!
Steal from the rich, and cry as I give it back by buying their products I’ve been taught to want.

Sienna Gonzalez is originally from Culver City, CA, but is now based in New York as a designer/stage manager. Recent credits include: Phantasmagoria; Or Let Us Seek Death! (La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club; Asst. Stage Manager), Proof (The Producer’s Club; Lighting Designer), and You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown (The York Theatre Company; Asst. Lighting Designer). She holds a BFA in Design & Production for Stage and Screen from Pace University.

William Peterson, Lighting Design Assistant

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
*sonic boom*
Steal from the rich, and spread the love.

William is a freelance lighting designer from Ogden, Utah where he designs for Good Company Theatre, BRINE Dance, and more. He received the 2016 National Barbizon Award for Excellence in Lighting Design from the Kennedy Center for 9 Circles (Weber State University). In NYC, he worked with The Adjusted Realists at 59E59, and with New Opera NYC (Asst. LD under Jessica Greenberg). He is the Assistant Master Electrician for Salt Lake Acting Company and the Production Stage Manager for CSU: Summer Arts program. — BA – Theatre Arts Design/Tech – Weber State University. www.william-peterson.com

Stephen R Scheide, Fight Assistant

Sound his arrow makes leaving the bow?
Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!
Steal from the rich, and buy yourself a taco. It’s not really stealing if it’s for a taco.

Originally from Seattle, Stephen R Scheide is a fight choreographer and actor currently living in New York. Past fight credits include Oedipus El Rey (Ese Teatro), Night, Mother (KTO Productions), Antigone (Mercer Island High School) and Hamlet (Ghost Light Theatricals). Most recently his choreography was seen in The Greenhouse Ensemble’s production of Danny and the Deep Blue Sea, directed by Austin Pendleton. Stephen’s educational workshop, “Shakespeare and the Sword”, teaches middle & high school students basic stage combat in conjunction with text analysis. stephenrscheide.com

Lauren Girouard, Scenic Assistant

Sound her arrow makes leaving the bow?
Zzzing!
Steal from the rich, and use the spoils to keep arts programs in schools.

Lauren Girouard is an undergraduate theatre arts and neuroscience student at Furman University in Greenville, SC. Designs for Furman include scenery and lighting for The Birthday Party, and sound for Durang/Durang and Hair. This is her second time working on a Flux production, having served as scenic design assistant on Tartuffe (produced by Lafayette College in conjunction with Flux). She has also assisted with several other regional and academic designs, including The Adding Machine (College of Southern Nevada), In the Next Room (or the Vibrator Play) (Warehouse Theatre, SC), and Hair (Furman University).

More headshots and bios coming!

Sound Designer: Jacob Subotnick
Marketing Director / Photography: Isaiah Tanenbaum
PR/Communications: Corinna Schulenburg
Postcard Design: Kristy Caldwell
Flux Theatre Ensemble Creative Partners (not already listed above): Emily Hartford, Rachael Hip-Flores Lori Parquet, Kia Rogers, Alisha Spielmann, Chinaza Uche

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