The Flea Theater will present the World Premiere of THE NOMAD, a new musical with book & lyrics by Tony Award nominee Elizabeth Swados and Guggenheim Fellow Erin Courtney, composed & directed by Swados. Performances begin tonight, February 19. The production runs through April 6, 2015.
THE NOMAD follows young rebellious iconoclast Isabelle Eberhardt into the Sahara desert. Join holy men, kief smokers, spies, soldiers and tribes of nomads on this legendary journey. Embracing the unknown, Isabelle finds utter beauty and terrifying madness in her quest to live and die by her own rules.
THE NOMAD features The Bats:
Kyra Atekwana, Tommy Bernardi, Sydney Blaxill, Matthew Bovee, Glenna Grant,
Ryan Neal Green, Michael Lapinsky, Teri Madonna, Mike Nelson, Neil Redfield, Dave Resultan, Ben Schrager, and Ryan Stinnett, with a creative team that includes Ani Taj (Choreography), Trevor Bachman (Musical Direction), by
Kris Kukul (Musical Arrangements),
Lydia Fine (Set, Props, Costume and Puppet Design),
Daisy Long (Lighting Design), and
Janie Bullard (Sound Design).
Elizabeth Swados has composed, written, and directed theater for over thirty years and is perhaps best known for her Broadway and international hit Runaways. Her short animated documentary My Depression: The Up and Down and Up of It will premiere on HBO in the spring of 2015 in tandem with the release of the paperback version of My Depression: A Picture Book. Aside from The Nomad, Ms. Swados' newest musical Piano Bar will be featured at Joe's Pub this spring and her horror opera based on the story of the Golem will open next fall at NYU's
Abe Burrows Theater. Swados has had over thirty works performed in New York as well as in festivals and tours around the world. She also does workshops with at risk teenagers and people who suffer from cranial facial disorders. She is a full time teacher in the drama department at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. Her articles have been published in the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, and Vogue. Her awards include five Tony nominations, three Obie Awards, a Guggenheim Fellowship, Ford Fellowship,
Helen Hayes Award, Lila Acheson Wallace award, and a Special International PEN Citation. Her most recent awards include Best Book for Young Adults from New York Public Library and the Gaudium Award for enhancing the lives of others through art.
Erin Courtney's play A Map of Virtue, produced by 13P and directed by
Ken Rus Schmoll, was awarded an Obie and described as "one of the most terrifying plays of the past decade" by Alexis Soloski in the New York Times. Her newest play I Will Be Gone will be part of the 2015 Humana Festival at The Actors Theater of Louisville and will be directed by
Kip Fagan. Ms. Courtney's other plays include Honey Drop, Black Cat Lost, and Demon Baby. Her work has been produced and developed by the Theater Ninjas, Clubbed Thumb, The Flea, The Atlantic, New York Stage and Film, Adhesive Theater,
Soho Rep, The Vineyard, and The Public. She has collaborated with
Elizabeth Swados on the opera Kaspar Hauser. She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, was a resident at the MacDowell Colony, a recipient of a NYSCA grant and two MAP Fund grant from the Rockefeller Foundation. Demon Baby is published in two anthologies; New Downtown Now, edited by
Mac Wellman and
Young Jean Lee and published by University of Minnesota Press, and Funny, Strange, Provocative: Seven Plays by Clubbed Thumb edited by
Maria Striar and Erin Detrick and published by Playscripts, Inc. A Map of Virtue and Black Cat Lost are published by 53rd State Press. She is an affiliated artist with Clubbed Thumb, a member of 13P, and a member of
New Dramatists. She teaches in the MFA playwriting program at Brooklyn College and is a co-founder of Brooklyn Writers Space.
Mac Wellman's MFA program at Brooklyn College, 2003. BA, Brown University, 1990.
The Bats are the resident acting company members of The
Flea Theater. Each year over a thousand actors audition for a place in this unique company. The Bats perform in extended runs of challenging classic and new plays. The Bats have recently appeared in premieres by
A.R. Gurney,
Will Eno,
Adam Rapp,
Beau Willimon,
Mac Wellman,
Elizabeth Swados,
Thomas Bradshaw,
Itamar Moses,
Sheila Callaghan,
Julian Sheppard, Ken Urban,
Tommy Smith,
Jonathan Reynolds,
Trista Baldwin, Laurel Haines,
Qui Nguyen, Sean Graney, and
Amy Freed.
The
Flea Theater, under Artistic Director
Jim Simpson and Producing Director
Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading off-off-Broadway companies. Winner of a Special Drama Desk Award for outstanding achievement, Obie Awards and an Otto for political theater, The Flea has presented over 100 plays and numerous dance and live music performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include the premieres by
Steven Banks,
Thomas Bradshaw,
Bathsheba Doran,
Will Eno,
Karen Finley,
Amy Freed, Sean Graney,
A.R. Gurney,
Hamish Linklater, Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio,
Itamar Moses,
Anne Nelson,
Qui Nguyen,
Adam Rapp,
Jonathan Reynolds,
Roger Rosenblatt,
Elizabeth Swados, and
Mac Wellman. Recent successes include Drama Desk nominated She Kills Monsters, These Seven Sicknesses and Restoration Comedy, The Mysteries and eight World Premieres by
A.R. Gurney including the WSJ Best New Play of 2013, Family Furniture.
THE NOMAD runs tonight, February 19, through April 6, Thursday - Saturday and Monday at 7PM and Sunday at 3PM. Tickets are $15 - $70 with the lowest priced tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis. Limited $100 VIP tickets are available. The
Flea Theater is located at 41 White Street between Church and Broadway, three blocks south of Canal, close to the A/C/E, N/R/Q, 6, J/M/Z and 1 subway lines. Purchase tickets by calling 212-352-3101 or online at
www.theflea.org.
