Madness, Mission, and Magic
Welcome back, dear Fluxers and seekers of the artistic unknown,
Autumn has landed, and with it, a whirlwind of creative projects, milestones, and something thrillingly strange. We’re excited to share all that’s been brewing.
🎭 A New Workshop: Corey Allen’s Polly/Methods in Madness 🎭
What do we mean when we say “madness” in the context of artistry? Multidisciplinary artist and Flux Creative Partner Corey Allen is here to explore just that. This fall, we’re thrilled to support Polly/Methods in Madness, a theatrical experiment, autopsy, and installation that probes the line between creation and chaos. Inspired by James Baldwin, Beauford Delaney, Nina Simone, and Julius Eastman, Corey leads us through an experience that evolves daily. You’ll find interactive media, surprise guest respondents, and excerpts from Corey’s play Polly, an exploration for “smart people desperate to survive the fallout.” Polly features a plethora of Flux creative partners— Heather Cohn directs an ensemble made of Alisha Spielman, Lori Parquet, Anna Rahn, and Christopher Wight. Polly/Methods in Madness is organized by Corinna Schulenburg, and Jason Tseng.
As Corey and the Flux team continue this journey, we invite you to join us in interrogating the sometimes wild, sometimes wondrous world of the creative mind. The world can be absurd, but there’s solace in investigating it together.
Polly/Methods in Madness runs Nov 4 - 24 at The Brick Theater.
Get tickets at The Brick HERE
(PSST! Use the code OPENINGWEEK for $20 tickets for any performance 11/8-11/10!), and you can also get discounted packages to see both Methods in Madness and Polly HERE)
🎧 Sharing Power Podcast: Season 2 Premiere! 🎧
Our podcast series, Sharing Power, is back for a second season! Co-hosted by Flux Creative Partners Lori Elizabeth Parquet, Corinna Schulenburg, and Jason Tseng, Sharing Power explores distributed leadership and consent-based processes with creators across the arts.
For our first episode, we welcomed Ari Glass and Daniel Park of Obvious Agency—a worker-owned cooperative making waves in the world of interactive and co-creative art. Obvious Agency blends theatrical and digital arts, inviting audiences to explore immersive worlds they help shape, from the personal to the radical. As Daniel shared:
“We can’t keep looking at how theatre is traditionally made in this country, because those best practices do not serve us. So let’s look at this other field and learn from them and bring that back to the arts and culture and see how things start to work.”
And Ari offered this insight:
“If theatre’s dying but video games are ascending, how do we bring the joys and pleasures from gaming to immersive theater, where we want audiences to really have meaningful choice?”
Catch this conversation on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, and check out the full transcript. We’re diving deep into new ways of making art together and look forward to your thoughts!
🌱 Our New Mission Statement 🌱
We’ve been crafting, refining, and reimagining what Flux stands for in a world that’s constantly changing. After a year-long collaborative process—filled with story circles, chart paper, and plenty of late-night Google Docs—our new mission is here:
“Flux Theatre Ensemble pollinates plays and culture to grow creative kinship. Against the dominance of exploitative systems, Flux advances collective care, long-term artistic collaboration, and shared power. Rooted in New York City theatre, we follow where our people lead: across distance, disciplines, and generations. Rising toward liberation, we create the worlds we need, an act of play at a time.”
Our 2010 mission was our guiding light for over a decade, but as we evolve, so does our purpose. Here’s to the next decade and beyond, rising toward a world we’ll create, one act at a time.
🌌 MAP Fund Grant: Portal Magic Consensus Time 🌌
We’re MAP Fund Grantees! We are deeply honored to receive this support to realize the next chapter of our Portal Project—a journey into alternate universes. In Portal Magic Consensus Time, our ensemble of artists grapples with a portal that leads to a world untouched by the COVID-19 pandemic. The big question? To open or close it, and if open, for whom?
Created by Heather Cohn, Sarah Elizabeth Grace, Fiona Hansen, Miranda Holliday, Montserrat Mendez, Emily Rondon, Corinna Schulenburg, Jason Tseng, and Justin Woo, this project is an exploration of alternate paths, selves, and decisions. What would you say to the version of yourself that never lived through a pandemic? Let’s find out together.
🎉 Developing New Plays with Two New Readings! 🎉
In August we had the trill to pair up with longtime Flux collaborator Kristen Palmer with a new staged reading, of her play What She Left Us! Directed by Flux Creative Partner Heather Cohn, Kristen’s latest work saw both familiar and new faces come together, including Chris Wight, Jane Lincoln Taylor, Rebecca Ana Peña, and Allison Cachay Narva—as well as real-life father-daughter duo David and Emma DelGrosso.
In October, we also had the chance to bring a staged reading of Amy Dellagiarino’s Sicko to Los Angeles! Directed by Brian Pracht and staged at the Hudson Theatre, Sicko was a night to remember, featuring a cast we couldn’t be prouder of. Love to Tania Verafield, Susan Louise O’Connor, and Rachael Hip-Flores for their great work. Big thanks to Theatre of Note for making this possible and for all the supporters who joined us!
🎸 A Shout-Out to F*CK7THGRADE at The Wild Project 🎸
Our Creative Partner Kia has been working behind the scenes at The Wild Project, supporting the unforgettable queer musical memoir F*CK7THGRADE—written by Jill Sobule with a book by Liza Birkenmeier. Directed by Lisa Peterson, this production dives into adolescent romance, pop stardom, and all the messiness of middle school (because let’s be honest, does anyone ever really leave it behind?). The show runs from November 1-16, with performances Mondays, Thursdays, and Sundays at 7:00pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00pm.
Featuring Sobule herself alongside an incredible cast, this show is packed with nostalgic tracks and heartfelt reflections. Grab your tickets and join us for a trip back to the school halls—this time, with a lot more insight.
It’s shaping up to be a remarkable season, and we’d love for you to be part of it. Come see the work, join the conversation, or drop by our InFlux Discord to keep the creative sparks flying. And, as always, feel free to send us your thoughts (or any secret messages of your own).
Yours in artistic inquiry, cosmic portals, and the creative covenhood,
The Flux Team