DEINDE


.by August Schulenburg
.directed by Heather Cohn
.April 27 – May 12, 2012


The Secret Theatre
44-02 23rd Street
Long Island City, NY 11101
click HERE for directions

 

photo by Isaiah Tanenbaum

THE STORY: In the not-too-distant future, the pressure to cure a global pandemic spurs the creation of DEINDE, a device that allows a team of brilliant quantum biologists to think directly into a powerful computer. At first, they use this prosthetic for the mind under strict rules of engagement, but soon noble ideals and personal passions lead a few to break the rules. They discover that DEINDE’s power is far greater than anyone first imagined, and their world spins out of control, raising questions of morality, consciousness, and what it means to be human in an age of rapid technological change.

DEINDE is presented as part of The BFG Collective at The Secret Theatre with Boomerang Theatre Company and Gideon Productions.

Watch the TRAILER HERE

THE CAST

Read about the cast HERE.

THE CREATIVE TEAM

Read about the Playwright, Director, Designers, and the rest of the Creative Team.

REVIEWS

Click to read what people are saying about DEINDE.

Sol Marina Crespo

(Mindy Alvarez)
This is Sol’s third time on the Flux stage. Recently, she played Corey in Menders and Sickles/Chorus in Ajax in Iraq. For Pregones Theater: Aloha Boricua, Las facultades, Game Over, The Beep. For Full of Noises: Glinda in Wizard of Oz, Hermione in Andromache. Other credits include: Anna in Closer; Carla in Kennedy’s Children; Patria Mirabal in Las Hermanas Mirabal. For her performance of Griseldi in The Missteps of a Salsa Dancer she was awarded the HOLA award for Outstanding Performance of a Featured Actress. solmarina.com

Ken Glickfeld*

(Malcolm Forner)
Ken was seen on the Flux stage in Angel Eaters. He has appeared with Atlantic Theater Company, American Globe Theatre, Peculiar Works Project and The Workshop Theater among others. Some NYC credits: Spaceship To Venus, Can You Hear Their Voices, Uncle Vanya. Regional Credits include Dr. Jeykll & Mr. Hyde (Utterson),To The Ladies (John Kincaid), Sherlock’s Last Case (Watson), Speed the Plow (Charlie Fox), Twelfth Night (Sir Toby Belch). Films: Soldiers in the Shadows, Don’t Drink the Water (Woody Allen, Dir.), The Accountant. Member of Workshop Theater.

Rachael Hip-Flores

(Jenni Long)
Rachael was seen in last year’s ForePlay: New World Iliads. Webseries: Anyone But Me (IAWTV, Streamy, Indie Soap Awards Winner, Best Lead Actress in a Drama, five further nominations), Good People in Love, (Best Lead Actress in a Drama, Indie Intertube Award Nominee). Selected Theater: Narrator 1 (Theater Row), Two Gentlemen of Verona (TBG Theater), Trying (Bushwick Starr), Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare’s Globe), and readings with Harvey Fierstein, Kristen Johnston, Lee Tergesen, Reed Birney, and Lynn Nottage.

David Ian Lee*

(Cooper Sands)
David assistant directed Flux’s Ajax in Iraq and has contributed to many ForePlays and Flux Sundays. As a playwright, works include The Latchkey Pool, The Delaware Codicil, Liberty & Joe DiMaggio, The Curing Room and Sleeper As an actor, he has performed internationally and with Actors Theatre of Louisville, Utah Shakespeare, Milwaukee Rep., etcetera… Most recently, David served as Assistant Director with The Pearl Theatre Company.

Matthew Murumba*

(Bobby Pachachi)
Matthew has been working with Flux for years. Projects with the company include A Midsummer Nights Dream, countless Have Anothers, Food:Souls, and ForePlays. Theater: Narrator 1 (Theater Row), Death in Mozambique (Cherry Lane Theatre). TV/Film: Law & Order (Co-Star), two Comedy Central Pilots (Series Regular/Co-Star), Kofi (Cannes Film Festival/Heartland Film Festival). He is also a Board Member/Member in Residence of the theater/film collective Stage 13.
matthewmurumba.com

Alyssa Simon*

(Dara Sands)
This is Alyssa’s first show with Flux! She has performed in many NYC theaters and with many companies, most frequently at the Caffe Cino-award winning Brick Theatre, where she is a Master Mason. Her next project is a fall production of Stelios Manolakakis’ The Rose Of Sharon, in the title role. alyssasimon.com

Isaiah Tanenbaum

(Mac Silverhorn)
A Creative Partner of Flux, Isaiah has appeared in seven productions: Menders (Aimes), Jacob’s House (The Messenger), The Lesser Seductions of History, (Lee), Angel Eaters (Enoch), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Flute), Life is a Dream (Clarin) and of course Prince Gutty in Rue. He has also appeared in countless roles in Have/Anothers, Food:Souls, and ForePlays. Isaiah’s full-length plays developed with Flux include The Transcendental Etudes and ¡Viva Fidel!.
isaiaht.info

Matthew Trumbull*

(Daniel Nemerov)
This is Matthew’s first Flux production! Off-Broadway: TheatreJam 3 (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater). Indie Theatre: Metaphor; The Zebra Shirt of Lonely Children; Glee Club; Effie Jean in Tahiti; (Blue Coyote Theater Group). As You Like It (Boomerang Theatre Company).Trayf (Brick Theater). Viral (Gideon Productions). Action Philosphers! (Impetuous Theater Group). Infectious Opportunity (Nosedive Productions, Inc.), Dear Ruth; The Desk Set (Retro Productions). nytheatre.com “People of the Year”, 2009.

Nitya Vidyasagar*

(Nabanita Ghosh)
Nitya played Puck in Flux’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Off-Broadway: The Glorious Ones (Lincoln Center Theater), Serendib (Ensemble Studio Theater). Other theater credits include A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey), Love’s Labour’s Lost (The Shakespeare Theatre Company), Coney Island Avenue (NYTW 4th St Theatre), Monetizing Emma (NYC Fringe), Cecilia’s Last Tea Party (Passage Theatre Company). Film & TV: Sesame Street, Smash, The Good Wife, Wall Street:Money Never Sleeps, Split Ends, Sita Sings The Blues.

*appearing courtesy of The Actors’ Equity Association

August Schulenburg (Playwright)

August is a founding member of Flux and current Artistic Director. As a playwright for Flux, his work includes Riding the Bull, Rue, Other Bodies,The Lesser Seductions of History, Jacob’s House and DEINDE. With Flux, he’s directed Ajax in Iraq, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the ForePlay Dream Chain, and the Food:Soul Volleygirls. As an actor with Flux, he played Ezekiel in 8 Little Antichrists (NYITA nomination), Professor in Rue, Guthbert in the Food:Soul Lickspittles, Buttonholers, and Damned Pernicious Go-Betweens. Gus will reprise his role as Dr. X in Flux’s upcoming Hearts Like Fists. August has also worked as a playwright, actor and director with The Lark, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Chelsea Playhouse, Theater for the New City, Portland Stage Company, Dayton Playhouse, Colonial Players, Pennsylvania Shakespeare Festival, Contemporary Stage Company, Abingdon Theater Company, Gideon Productions, Impetuous Theater Group, Decades Out, Soundtrack Series, Wolf 359, Blue Box Productions, APAC, Boomerang Theatre Company, Piper McKenzie, Theater at Monmouth, and the Orlando Shakespeare Festival; and his plays have been published in the New York Theater Review and in Stage and Screen. augustschulenburg.wordpress.com

Heather Cohn (Director)

Heather is a co-founder of Flux Theatre Ensemble and serves as the Producing Director. Previous directing credits for Flux include Menders, August Schulenburg’s The Lesser Seductions of History (nominated for Best Director, NYIT Awards) and Other Bodies (FringeNYC Excellence Award for Outstanding Direction); staged readings of Jose Rivera’s Sueño and Adam Szymkowicz’s Pretty Theft, August Schulenburg’s Channeling and Bekah Brunstetter’s Miss Lilly Gets Boned. Outside of Flux: David Stallings’ The Stranger to Kindness (nominated for Outstanding Direction, Planet Connections Awards); Blood (EstroGenius Festival); The Ballad of Lulu and Dad (Artistic New Directions); Paint (On the Square Productions); and Tulpa, or Anne & Me (Crossroads Theatre Project). Women’s Project Producers’ LAB (2008–2010).

Jodi M. Witherell (Production Stage Manager)

Jodi is pleased to be returning for her seventh show with Flux! Most recently, she was seen as PSM for Menders and Ajax in Iraq (Flux). Favorite credits include: Jacob’s House, The Lesser Seductions of History, Angel Eaters: Part One of The Angel Eaters Trilogy and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Flux); Fresh Kills (WMC); Reefer Madness, The House of Blue Leaves, Torch Song Trilogy, The Full Monty, The Spitfire Grill (GP); Joseph and the . . . Dreamcoat, 1776 and Moon Over Buffalo (St. Bart’s); The American Dream and Other Fractured Fairy Tales (Streetlight); Romeo and Juliet (American Globe); Queen LTC (Pembi Players); The Beginning of the And (Audax).

Will Lowry (Set Designer)

Will Lowry is a multidisciplinary designer with an MFA from UNC Greensboro and also a creative partner of Flux. He has previously collaborated with Flux on Menders, Ajax in Iraq, Lesser Seductions of History and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Select work includes scenery for Little Shop of Horrors (Palace Theater), Tuxedo Junction (Birmingham Children’s Theatre), and The Woman in Black (California Theater Center); costumes for Le Grand Cirque: Adrenaline (Sydney Opera House), Trapezium (Playhouse on Park), and Spitfire Grill (Mill Mountain); and lighting for Around the World in Eighty Days (Playhouse on Park), South Pacific (Waterside Theater), and Urinetown (Taylor Theater, UNCG). will-lowry.com

Kia Rogers (Lighting Designer)

Kia has designed lights for many Flux productions, including Menders, Ajax in Iraq, Jacob’s House and Dog Act. Boomerang credits: Uncle Vanya, Venus Observed, Endless Summer Nights. Off Broadway: Sistas The Musical at St. Luke’s, Made In Heaven at The SoHo Playhouse, Passage through Light and Shadows at Theatre at St. Clement’s. International credits:Associate Lighting Designer for Slutforart/98.6 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Favorite Off-Indie credits: Universal Robots, and All The Rage. Kia was the resident lighting designer at Manhattan Theatre Source. She is a returning guest artist at UNCW since 2006. kiarogerslightingdesign.com

Stephanie Levin (Costume Designer)

tephanie is a NYC-based costume designer who originally hails from the Yankee South. Recently, she has worked with Gregg Barnes and William Ivey Long, as well as collaborating with AGGROCRAG, The Woodshed Collective, and the machine comedy collective. An NYU Tisch graduate, she studied at Playwrights Horizons Theater School, directing productions of Jack, or the Submission, Zoo Story, and God’s Ear, and designing innumerable shows including Spring Awakening, The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, and Ubu Roi.

Martha Goode (Sound Designer)

Favorite Sound Design credits include: As You Like It, The Clean House, Photograph 51 (Vermont Stage Company), Costa Rehab, Anaϊs Nin Goes to Hell, The Oath and Barrier Island (MTWorks), The Witlings (Magis Theatre Company), Every Man (winner Samuel French Short Play Festival) To Barcelona! and Eli and Cheryl Jump (Ignited States), Don’t Shoot Your Eye Out! (The Brick Theatre). Martha is the Managing Director of MTWorks, a theater company that produces new plays inspired by playwrights and regions outside of New York, that question the boundaries of our society, humanity, and individuality. MTWorks.org

Michael Lawrence Eisenstein (Fight Choreographer)]

Michael is very happy to return to choreograph for Flux after choreographing their production of Jacob’s House. Michael was trained in stage combat by J. David Brimmer and has assisted Brimmer on The Cripple of Inishmaan, Made in Poland and Crazy for You. On his own Michael has choreographed for New York Classical, [by the mummers], the Classical Studio at NYU and The Secret Theatre. Thanks so Flux for another great opportunity, Mom for letting me play with swords when I was little, and Nora for letting me have knives on our walls.

Ingrid Nordstrom (Dramaturg)

Ingrid began her relationship with Flux as the Dramaturg for A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Since then she has been both an Actor and Dramaturg with them and various other playwrights and Off Off Broadway Companies. She was last seen as an actor in Flux’s Menders as Tam and Anisa in The Lesser Seductions of History. Anyone who knows her knows her love of physics and science so researching for DEINDE has been exponentially fun for her! Thanks to the Flux Creative Team for making this such an fascinating project.

Emily Owens, PR (Press Relations)

Director Heather Cohn has realized the play with insight and simplicity, aided immeasurably by a stellar cast and an excellent design team….DEINDE is one of the smartest, sharpest, and most important new plays of the theatre season. This is the kind of work that the deep-pocketed nonprofit institutions that dominate our theatre ought to be looking for and mounting, and I’m proud to be calling attention to it any way that I can.

–Martin Denton, nytheatre.com (read full review)

A complex and engaging new play that satisfies both brain hemispheres….The set’s plexiglass aesthetic (cleanly designed by Will Lowry) assists in the fluidity of the narrative and offers an appropriate sterility to the lab. For science geeks and others, DEINDE is a clever amalgamation of science fiction and theatre.

–Molly Marinik, Theatre is Easy (read full review)

In DEINDE, Schulenburg explores technology, relationships, that old standby hubris, and, oh yeah, the meaning of life. That’s a lot to cover in a two-act play, and he does it with humor, compassion, and some gorgeous dialogue.

–Wendy Caster, Show Showdown (read full review)

Something wonderful is happening at the Secret Theater. Science fiction has taken over this Long Island City that’s begun to play host to a series of intellectually stimulating pulp theater, starting with Mac Rogers’ ongoing Honeycomb Trilogy with Gideon Productions there. Now, the provocative cyber-thriller Deinde joins the ranks as well. Who’d have thought such a small Off-Off-Broadway venue could provide such fertile soil for the sandbox of one’s mind?

–Doug Strassler, New York Press (read full review)

…the masterful staging of layering three different scenes into one room, so that we swing from sickbed to laboratory to break room, creates stirring contrast between these friends and competitors, even as the self-made gods begin to struggle against their restraints.

–Natalie Zutter, TOR.com (read full review)

The play, which is put on by Flux Theatre Ensemble, is engaging for its humor, its rich characters and the actors who bring them to life, and for the complex and chilling inquiries into how we define being human as technology becomes an increasingly prevalent force in our lives.

–Matthew Taylor, BORO Mag (read full review)

Schulenburg does a good job of establishing his nerd cred in a scene referring to the Star Trek episode where Picard learns to play the Ressikan flute…The playwright also shows that he’s put a great deal of thought into how enhanced intelligence would affect human culture. What sort of poetry, music or humor would appeal to these mental ubermen? Schulenburg goes into each of these matters in impressive detail.

–Charles Battersby, Theater for Nerds (read full review)

DEINDE explores these themes through the time-honored tropes of artificial intelligence and the terrors of unbridled tech, matched with clever dialogue and soul-searching ruminations on life and love. Produced in our time of iPhones and SIRI, DEINDE feels prescient, as well as connected to science fiction’s past.

–Kaila Hale-Stern, io9 (read full review)


Production Photos

(click to enlarge)

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