Flea Extends 'The Break-Up And The Happy Sad' Until 4/26

Due to unprecedented  popular demand, The Flea Theater has announced a 3-week extension of their World Premiere production of THE BREAK-UP AND THE HAPPY SAD. Directed by Sherri Kronfeld, this evening-length work features two thematically related one act plays by Tommy Smith and Ken Urban. Originally scheduled to end April 7, performances will continue through April 26.

THE BREAK-UP AND THE HAPPY SAD is about nine New Yorkers looking for happiness. In The Break Up, a man falls in love with his drug dealer, with disastrous results.  In The Happy Sad, Stan loves Annie, but Annie doesn't love Stan. Marcus loves Aaron, but Marcus doesn't like monogamy.

The production features nine members of The Bats, the resident acting ensemble at The Flea: Felipe Bonilla, Havilah Brewster, Jane Elliot, Pete Forester, Tom Lipinski, Stephen O'Reilly, John Russo,  Annie Scott and Ronald Washington. The design team includes sets by John McDermott, lights by Ben Kato, costumes by Erin Murphy and sound by Brandon Wolcott.

Tommy Smith (playwright, The Break-Up) has written plays including White Hot, Sextet, Air Conditioning, Sunrise, Demon Dreams and Caravan Man (with Gabriel Kahane).  Tommy's work has been seen at Williamstown Theatre Festival, The Ontological Theatre, 78th Street Theatre, The Huntington Theatre, ACT Theatre, Portland Center Stage, Eugene O'Neill National Playwrights Conference, Soho Rep Writer/Director Lab, among others.  He is a two-time winner of the Lecomte du Nouy Prize for emerging writers (2005 and 2006).  Recently, he directed/co-conceived Reggie Watts' Disinformation at The Public Theatre's Under The Radar Festival. Tommy is a graduate of The Juilliard School's Playwriting Program, and a recipient of the 2008 P73 Playwriting Fellowship.

Ken Urban (playwright, The Happy Sad) has had work produced and developed by Target Margin, Moving Arts, Soho Rep, Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab, Annex Theatre, The Chocolate Factory, and LunaStage, among others. His plays include The Private Lives of Eskimos, I
(HEART) KANT, The Female Terrorist Project, The Absence of Weather, and Wasps. His work is published in New York Theatre Review, Plays and Playwrights 2002, The Best Women's Stage Monologues 2001, DUO!: Best Scenes for the Twenty-First Century , and One on One: The Best Women's Monologues for the 21st Century. He is the Founding Artistic Director of The Committee Theatre Company  and is currently a Playwriting Fellow at the Huntington Theater in Boston. He was named one of 2007's People of the Year by nytheatre.com. He teaches at Harvard University.

Sherri Kronfeld has directed new work by Joe Basile, Sabrina Chapadjiev, Phil Hopkins, Adam Klasfeld, Lucas Rockwood and others at venues including Ensemble Studio Theater, FringeNYC,  American Living Room at HERE,  Brooklyn Playwrights Collective, Sanctuary Playwrights at chashama and the Little Theater at Tonic. She has been assistant director to Adam Rapp, Jim Simpson and Andrew McCarthy. She has also worked as a theater reviewer at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Kronfeld studied theater at Barnard College,  Columbia University, where she received the Distinction for Thesis Award for directing and playwriting.

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 80 plays and numerous dance and live music performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include Anne Nelson's The Guys, A.R. Gurney's O Jerusalem, Screenplay, Mrs. Farnsworth and Post Mortem, Roger Rosenblatt's Ashley Montana Goes Ashore..., Kate Robin's The Light Outside, Elizabeth Swados' JABU, Talking Band's The Parrot, Karen Finley's Return of the Chocolate Smeared Woman, Glyn O'Malley's A Heartbeat to Baghdad, Yussef El Guindi's Back of the Throat, Julian Sheppard's Los Angeles, Adam Rapp's Bingo with the Indians and most recently, Will Eno's Oh, The Humanity and other exclamations.

THE BREAK-UP AND THE HAPPY SAD  runs April 10 – April 26, Thursday - Saturday at 7pm, with an additional show Sunday, April 13 at 7pm. (Note, April 18 is at 9pm.)  The Flea Theater, is located at 41 White Street (between Broadway & Church Streets -- accessible from the A,C,E,N,R,Q,W,6,J,M,Z to Canal or 1 to Franklin Street). Tickets are $20. For  a complete performance calendar and ticketing, visit
www.theflea.org or call 212-352-3101.

To post a comment, you must register and login.