Methods in Madness & Polly

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When an artist sets out to investigate the line between art and madness, he finds himself in a dangerous dance with existential questions:

Why create art? 

Does it heal or harm us? 

Must artists suffer?

What’s the price of so-called “genius?”

Methods in Madness is a theatrical experiment + autopsy + installation that aims to examine the creative process and correlations between mental health and artistry.  Helmed by multidisciplinary artist  and Flux Creative Partner Corey Allen—whose visual art and performances, inspired by the works of James Baldwin, Beauford Delaney, Nina Simone, and Julius Eastman, anchor the installation—Methods in Madness will evolve daily.

Featuring interactive media, surprise guest respondents and select excerpts of Allen’s play Polly, a dumbshow for smart people desperate to survive the fallout, the experience invites audiences to interrogate the challenges of navigating an absurd world while considering their own artistic journeys. Flux Theatre Ensemble is proud to support Corey’s vision as artistic collaborators and co-producers!


Corey Allen: Lead Artist of Methods in Madness and Playwright of Polly

Corey Allen (he/him): With Flux, Corey is one of the Lead Artists of Our Options Have Changed, and acted in The Sea Concerto and AM I DEAD?. Corey is an actor, writer and teaching artist from San Diego, California. He is an Assistant Professor at the University of Texas at Austin, holds an MFA in Acting from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign and a BA in Drama from UC Irvine. New York City credits include: Moony’s Kid Don’t Cry (DramaLeague). Regional Credits: Shakespeare Theatre: An Oresteia, Macbeth; Huntington Theatre Company: A Raisin in the Sun, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom; Pioneer Theatre Company: Two Dollar Bill, A Few Good Men; Great River Shakespeare Festival: Othello, Twelfth Night, A Midsummer Night’s Dream; Utah Shakespeare Festival: Cyrano de Bergerac, The Two Gentlemen of Verona; Repertory Theatre of St. Louis: Alabama Story, The Fall of Heaven; Orlando Shakespeare Theatre: Best of Enemies. Film work includes: Halston, Lost & Found, Proximity. Television: Happy!, Mindhunter, Manh(a)ttan, Power, Madame Secretary. www.corey-allen.com


Creative Teams for Methods in Madness Polly

Jason Tseng (Lead Organizer, Methods in Madness; they/them) is a queer, non-binary Chinese-American playwright based in New York City, originally hailing from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Their plays have been presented and developed by Flux Theatre Ensemble, Judson Arts, Mission to dit(Mars), Theatre COTE, Inkubator Arts, Second Generation, Downtown Urban Arts Festival, and LA Queer New Works Festival. They are a Creative Partner of Flux Theatre Ensemble, a member of The Civilians’s 2019/2020 R&D Group, a member of Mission to dit(Mars)’s Propulsion Lab, and their plays have been honored as Semi-finalists for the New American Voices Playwrights Festiva, Bay Area Playwrights Festivall and the Eugene O’Neil National Playwrights Conference. Jason’s full-length plays include Rizing (World Premier, Flux Theatre Ensemble), Like Father, Same Same, Ghost Money, Fear and Wonder, and The Other Side. Find more at www.jasontseng.com

Corinna Schulenburg (Lead Organizer, Polly, she/her) is a trans artist and activist committed to ensemble practice and social justice. As a playwright, her work with Flux includes Riding the Bull, Rue, Other Bodies, The Lesser Seductions of History, Jacob’s House, DEINDEHoney Fist, Salvage, The Sea Concerto, and Operating Systems. With Flux, she directed Ajax in Iraq (NYITA nomination), A Midsummer Nights Dream, and the Food:Souls Goldsboro and Volleygirls. As an actor with Flux, she has played Samantha in Metra, Max in World Builders, Dr. X in Hearts Like Fists, Ezekiel in 8 Little Antichrists (NYITA nomination), and the Professor in Rue.

Heather Cohn (director, Polly, she/her) is a producer, director, fundraiser, and strong believer in collective leadership. She is a co-founder and Creative Partner with Flux Theatre Ensemble, an Indie theatre company founded in 2006. With Flux, Heather has produced nearly 30 full productions, including 18 world premieres. She directed 9 Flux productions, with playwrights including Corinna Schulenburg, Kevin R. Free, Kristen Palmer, Erin Browne, and Johnna Adams. She served as Assistant Director to Austin Pendleton on Johnna Adams’s Gidion’s Knot and most recently as assistant director for Andrea Thome’s Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes). She has also directed with companies including Rattlestick, Lark Play Development Center, Planet Connections, the EstroGenius Festival, MTWorks and Cherry Lane. And most importantly, she’s a proud mom to Mercena.

Will Lowry (Scenic Designer, Polly; he/him) is a multidisciplinary designer with an MFA in Design from UNC Greensboro. He has been a Flux Creative Partner for a decade, and this is his twentieth show with Flux. He has created over 130 scenic, lighting, projection, and costume designs for theaters along the East Coast and beyond, including productions at Dupont Underground (DC), Mill Mountain Theatre (VA), Warehouse Theatre (SC), Playhouse on Park (CT), Birmingham Children’s Theatre (AL), Palace Theatre/Spirit of the Dance Productions (SC/UK), Curtain Call Theatre (NY), California Theatre Center (CA), Southeast Missouri State University (MO), College of Southern Nevada (NV), and the Sydney Opera House (AUS). In NYC, he contributed to multiple Broadway productions as a studio assistant and graphic designer, and he recently created the digital theatre experience GPS at Lehigh University (PA), where he serves as an Assistant Professor of Theatre. Love to B,L,&P.

Nathanael Brown (Sound Designer, Methods in MadnessPolly; he/him) is a New York/New Jersey based Sound Designer and Engineer that has designed and engineered shows at Cherry Lane Theatre (NY), The Tank (NY), and Alexander Kasser Theater (NJ). He has done work with the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winnona Minnesota. His last show with Flux was Metra, A Climate Revolution Play with Songs.

Kia Rogers (Lighting Designer, Polly; she/her) is a New York City based lighting designer for Theatre and Dance.

International credits: Lighting Designer for The Baby Monitor, Belgrade, Serbia for the Belgrade Pride Festival, and the OnStage Festival and Rome, Italy. Associate Lighting Designer for Slutforart/98.6 inGothenburg, Sweden with Muna Tseng.

West coast designs: El Portal’s Monroe Forum Theatre, Los Angeles and Z Space, San Francisco. Dance designs: Flamenco Vivo National tours, Forward Motion, Kinesis Project Dance Theatre, Lighting Designer and mentor for Ethical Culture Fieldston High School Dance Company since 2015. Guest Lighting Designer: Lafayette College, Easton PA,  the University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Wilmington, NC and for the South Carolina Governors School of the Arts, Greenville, SC. Awards: Outstanding Lighting Design for Real, 2019 and Jane The Plain, 2014 by the New York Innovative Theatre Awards, Outstanding Lighting Design for Mr. Toole, 2016 by the Midtown International Theatre Festival.

Nominations: Operating Systems, 2019, Rizing, 2016 and The Gin Baby, 2014 by the New York Innovative Theatre Awards Kia is a member of Rising Phoenix Repertory and a Creative Partner with Flux Theatre Ensemble since 2010.

Lori Elizabeth Parquet, (Dramaturg, Methods in Madness & Polly; Actor, Polly; she/her), is a Flux Creative Partner and actor, director, and playwright from New Orleans, Louisiana with a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Cornell University. Her New York City stage credits include MacbethDispatches From (A)mended America (Off-Broadway, Epic Theatre Ensemble), The Providence of Neighboring Bodies (Dutch Kills Theater/Ars Nova), The Honeycomb Trilogy: Sovereign (Gideon Productions), Medea (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble), Dog ActAjax in IraqHoney Fist, Operating Systems (Flux Theatre Ensemble), and RepublicBaalMurder In the Cathedral (JACK/Hoi Polloi). She made her international debut performing in Pillars of Society at Teater Ibsen in Skien, Norway. She also performed in The Providence of Neighboring Bodies at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018. In 2019 she was nominated for and won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role for her performance in Operating Systems. As a director, Lori has directed Topdog/Underdog at Princeton Summer Theater and assistant directed The Public Theater’s most recent Shakespeare in the Park productions of As You Like It, and Twelfth Night.  She was alsoas an acting coach on Disney’s Hercules, a Public Works production.  Lori just served as Associate Director of New York City Center’s Encores: Off-center production of Maria Irene Fornes’ Promenade and has directed many readings and workshops with Public Works, Flux Theatre Ensemble, The Brooklyn Generator, and other theatre companies across New York City.  As a playwright, Lori was selected as one of six featured playwrights for Season Five of The Fire This Time Festival, which produced a reading of her full-length play In Communion, and her short plays have been produced through Flux Theatre Ensemble, New York Madness, and other NYC indie theatres and festivals.

Anna Rahn (Costume Designer and Actor, Polly; she/her) last appeared with Flux in Our Options Have Changed, Am I Dead? The Untrue Narrative of Anatomical Lewis, the Slave, Rizing, Honey Fist, and Ajax in Iraq. Other credits include Powwow Highway (Rabbit, HERE Arts Space), Unsex Me Here (Goneril, HERE Arts Space), Man and Coconut (Melissa, IRT Theater). She holds a BA in Performance Studies from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Acting from the American Repertory Theatre.

 

Genevieve Wilson (Methods in Madness & Polly, Collaborator, she/her) is a Director, Music Director, Composer and Multi-instrumentalist. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, she trained as a classical and jazz pianist, then studied Musical Theatre at the Victorian College of the Arts before moving to NYC on an acting scholarship. Now based in Brooklyn, she was recently the Director for the moving Off-Broadway workshop production of SKIN: A New Musical by Andrew Strano and Yuriko Shibata.
Other work includes the NYC Premiere of Bubble Boy, Single Asian Female, 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, {Title of Show} and Are We Okay? She also composed the original score for the award winning series Ghost Girl, additional scoring for the festival nominated film Pulling Wool, and the music for The Longest Road: A CATAN Parody Musical. Genevieve provides live, improvisational accompaniment for Night Captain, an internationally touring musical improv team, and co-hosts and produces OYOYO, a monthly variety show. She also live scores Bound, a two-prov long form show and Wonderland, a comedy variety special featuring Meg Stalter. Genevieve is passionate about working with driven and creative people, telling and creating shows for and about women, giving life to authentic queer stories and exploring new, thought provoking ideas through music and theatre.

Braxton Rae (Methods in Madness & Polly, Collaborator, they/them) is an early career director, deviser, and creator whose creative work and scholarship is focused on blackness, queerness, feminism, and marginalized identities more broadly. Additionally, Braxton is interested in the craft of intimacy work and how to stage intimacy with care and safety being a priority. Braxton’s main artistic goals are to foster a community within the arts that has a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Additionally, Braxton aims to create art that starts conversations, is compelling, beautiful, makes people think and question their own internal biases, and that begets social change.

Julianna MacKenzie Kantor (Prop Designer & Organizer, Polly; she/her) is a New York based queer performance artist, director, deviser, and creative from Charlotte, North Carolina. In May of 2023 she graduated from  Hofstra University (Long Island, NY), with her BFA in Drama Performance and minor in Musical Theatre. She has specialized training in Shakespeare, Viewpoints, intimacy directing, musical theatre, and devising. Throughout her college and professional career she is lucky to have studied under and worked with Kevin R Free, Crista Marie Jackson, Emily Hartford, Tom McCoy, as well as many others at Hofstra University. Outside of Hofstra she has studied with SITI Company, as well as closely observed the work of Anne Bogart-who has served as a huge inspiration to her career and aspirations. She believes in expanding her skills and experience as much as possible both within and outside the world of performance. In addition to performance she has varied experience in directing, teaching, stage managing, carpentry, props mastering, and administration. While she is passionate about many different kinds of theatre, she is most interested in projects with the following elements: community outreach, accessibility to the arts, experimental and new works, ensemble based experiences, advocacy and social justice, and/or empowering young people through the arts.

Miranda Holliday (Organizer, Methods in Madness; any pronouns) is a vocalist and theatre artist from Columbus, NJ with a passion for empowering others through art. Their training in music and theatre includes a semester with the National Musical Theatre Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center, a summer intensive program at the Westminster Musical Theatre Intensive and at Albright College where she co-majored in Theatre and Political Science with a minor in Religious studies. At Albright, Miranda’s training included a focus on their skills as a singer, actor, voice, playwright, designer, director, and improv artist. They are now a recent graduate of the NYU Tisch Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program. Miranda is one of the generative artists co-creating Flux’s Portal Project.

Alisha Spielmann (Actor, Polly; she/her) is a New York City based Actor and Singer. Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she received her BA in Music and Theater from St. Olaf College.  She can currently be seen on Amazon starring in the streaming series ProducingJuliet by Writers Guild of America Award winner Tina Cesa Ward, as well as the feature film The Moose Head Over The Mantel written and directed by Jessi Gotta of An Inappropriate Film. Alisha has also been a part of the New York Theatre scene for quite some time and has been in over 20 full length theatrical productions both Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway (many award nominated and many self-originated roles) and numerous readings and workshops. Highlight productions include Off Broadway: Mac Rogers’ The Honeycomb Trilogy, Part 2: Blast Radius with Gideon Productions, The Runner Stumbles with The Bleecker Company/Retro Productions; and Off Off Broadway: Johnna Adams’ Sans Merci and World Builders, both with Flux Theater Ensemble. She is a Creative Partner with Flux Theatre Ensemble and a Company Member of Retro Productions. Upcoming projects include the feature film How Dark They Prey and the short films Type A and This Is Not What We Planned. In her spare time she enjoys running, cooking, and keeping up to date with super cool technology. www.alishaspielmann.com

Chris Wight (Actor, Polly; he/him) appeared as Dog in Flux’s acclaimed production of Dog Act, as well as in Hearts Like Fists and Rage Play. He is also a longtime artistic member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, where his many performances include the world premier of Tennessee Williams’ Spring Storm with Peter Sarsgaard, the NY premier of David Ives’ Lives of the Saints and the NYT Critic’s Pick Something Like Loneliness. There and elsewhere in NYC he’s performed in new works by acclaimed writers like Lucy Thurber, Cassandra Medley, Jen Silverman, Sheri Wilner, Rachel Bonds, Jeffrey Sweet, Robert Simonson, Arthur Giron, Jon Marans, Cheryl L. Davis, Julie Selbo, Egon Tobiáš, C. Quintana and many others. He has composed and performed original music for shows including Dog Act and Hearts Like Fists and for several short films, performing vocals, guitar, keys, bass, banjo, blues harp, washtub, on virtual turntables and with improvised instruments. Chris was Director of Development for SITI Company and has done development for TADA! Theater and Dance and EST; was manager of EST’s annual Summer Conference and the Under the Radar dance residency; is a former bookkeeper for WPP Theater, EST and other arts non-profits, and a former auditor for New York State Council on the Arts.

MORE COLLABORATORS TO SHARE SOON!

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