An Impressive Flux
OF ALL THE young theater companies currently operating in New York City, Flux Theatre Ensemble has consistently been the most fearless and ambitious in its programming. Even when its productions overreach, theres never the sense of wasted time. So when, after casting the show and talking about a design aesthetic, Flux was denied the rights to Archibald MacLeishs Pulitzer Prize-winning J.B., a retelling of the story of Job, artistic director August Schulenbergs reaction shouldnt have been so surprising.
I had this idea that I was going to write a play that sort of kept all the artistic personnel, all the actors wed already cast, Schulenberg remembers. It would be written thinking about the design conversations wed already had, sort of working in the aesthetic that wed already been talking about, and that would hit on all the things we liked about J.B. but would be its own thing.
Written over the course of a single weekend, the resulting play, Jacobs House, will premiere April 30. Taking the Biblical story of Jacob wrestling the angel, Schulenberg has come up with a story of three children dealing with an odd provision in their fathers will. However big the play has been, Schulenberg says, its always really about these three kids who lost their father and dealing with the grief of that but also the release of that, because he is really a monster. Hes not a particularly moral man. He lies and steals throughout his life. But because he lies and steals, the people hes close to have a better life. Theres something really American about these sort of larger-than-life people who just take and take. But at the same time, because they take and take, theyre able to give so much to the people they love.
Schulenberg is still a little stunned at the way all of the pieces came together at the last minute, in true Mickey-and-Judyputting-on-a-show-in-the-barn fashion.
The way Ive been thinking about it, its like that magic trick where you have a bunch of glasses on a sheet on a table and you pull out the sheet and all the glasses remain on the table and nothing falls and nothing breaks, Schulenberg says. There is a sense of loss, but I have to say, its been really exciting. I think one of the reasons you do theater is for things like this, for situations where at the last minute things come up and you rally and you find a way to make the show go on. And so its been a really exciting, rewarding process and oddly enough, one of the least stressful processes weve had working on a show.
Though Schulenberg claims hed prefer to not write every show in a frenzied 48 hours with a cast already in place, he does show signs of becoming addicted to the adrenaline of last minute theatrical magic. Having a theater company is so difficult and its so hard and its so much work, he says, and really the only reason to do it, I think, are for experiences like this, experiences where you are sort of rallying on your feet, inventing something in the moment and having a great time doing it. Theater should be more like this, in a weird sort of way. Not hastily thrown together, but more adventure. More exciting. Thats the kind of theater company I want to be a part of. And thats the kind of theater company New York needs more of.
>>JACOBS HOUSE Through May 22, Access Theater, 380 Broadway (at White St.), 212-352- 3101; $18.