InFLUX Theatre Collective Brings THE CHOICE to HERE in New York City

This August, Philadelphia's newest women-run theatre company is bringing The Choice, their award winning show, to New York. inFLUX Theatre Collective, founded by Jacqueline Libby, Christine Octavia Shaw, and Jacinta Yelland will present this interactive new work of theatre as part of Sublet Series: Co-op at HERE in New York City, August 5th-7th. With original direction by Sarah Sanford (Pig Iron Theatre Company, dir. Underground Railroad Game), The Choice welcomes audiences into the womb where it happens. Three women race against their biological clocks, asking the existential question: Should we be having children? Comical, controversial, and uninhibited, The Choice puts a woman's womb into the audience's hands, asking them to decide - should she, or shouldn't she? The Choice is part of HERE's curated rental program which provides artists with subsidized space and equipment, as well as a technical liaison.

Performances will be held August 5th-7th at HERE: 145 6th Ave NYC. Tickets available through HERE: https://ci.ovationtix.com/219/production/1128177

Pack a lunch for your children while 10 months pregnant! Laugh with a middle-aged Australian mum! Panic about the future of the human race amidst climate catastrophe! Tell a woman what to do with her body! All this and more await audiences of The Choice. A highly interactive show, The Choice places a woman's decision to have children into the audience's hands - inviting them to experience the joys, confusions, pressures, and failures of a woman's reproductive decision.

The Choice premiered in September 2021 where it won the Fringie for Best Work of Theatre in the 2021 Philadelphia Fringe Festival. It will now have its New York debut as part of HERE's curated rental program - Sublet Series: Co-op. As reproductive issues have catapulted into the spotlight, The Choice arrives in New York to give audiences the chance to actively engage in conversations around reproductive decisions. The Choice asks audiences to confront not only our current political landscape but also all the issues that go into this decision: the looming climate catastrophe that forces us to consider our inevitable contribution to an overcrowded planet; the ethics of having a child while knowing they will face a world worse than our own; media outlets that bombard women with headlines on the "baby bust" and the impacts of a declining population. The Choice confronts audiences with these pressing issues - asking them how do we make this choice at this moment in our history? Can we still live in the era of MY body, MY choice? Or is it time for our reproductive decisions to prioritize others?

The Choice unpacks these issues onstage drawing from the performers' life experiences and inviting the audience to be part of the discussion in real-time. On the relevance of this project, director Sarah Sanford says, "The Choice recognizes that a woman's right to choose gets more complicated when positioned next to the planet's lack of voice. It asserts that in our society, women often find themselves at the center of a public debate that careens from the moral, to the scientific, to the political, and this show searches for a new way to talk about all these things."

The Choice serves as Chapter 1 of The Motherhood Project, a decade long series of performances by inFLUX Theatre Collective. The members of inFLUX, currently ages 26, 30 and 36, are facing down the decade in which their reproductive choices become more important, more scrutinized, and more impactful. In response to these pressures, the company came together to create The Motherhood Project where they will create five live performances over the next decade exploring their evolving relationship to motherhood. On the project, performer and creator Jacinta says, "So often discussions about having or not having children are pushed to the side, or just too difficult to have. The goal over this decade is to create space for honest conversations around these deeply personal and often stigmatized topics. In doing so we hope to create a community that will support and uplift people as they define their own relationships to motherhood."

The Choice invites an audience into the wild world of reproductive decisions! Christine says "I could not be more excited to bring this show to new audiences - especially at this moment - the audience actually impacts the show each night, ultimately taking a stance on whether Jacinta should have a child. It's a scary but thrilling ride - especially right now! I'm so excited for New Yorkers to join us!"