The Fled Collective Announces 2023 Season Featuring a Hip Hop Musical, New Plays & More

The antiracist theater collective will present its second season at Tribeca's Flea Theater as the organization's Key Resident Company-a reparative grant and partnership offered to a company that centers Black, Brown, and Queer artists.

The Fled Collective's second season was planned using an unconventional democratic process they call "The Pitch Party," an annual blowout event where members present in-depth project proposals and the collective votes in real-time to choose a season by the end of the night. In addition to workshop productions of new plays, The Fled's season will continue a commitment to rapid-fire artistic reaction to an ever-changing world, as well as the continued work of building a more equitable New York theatre industry and community.

The Fled Collective announced their 2023 Season via Instagram along with a GoFundMe page accepting donations to support the production of the season and paying artists as part of their Pillar of Equity: "We Value People Over Profits." All donations are 100% tax-deductible thanks to our fiscal sponsors at The Tank.

The Fled Collective's 2023 Season

RADIO FLED: Season 2

Live radio show hosted by Dolores Avery Pereira and Briar Robin Pollock

Radio Fled is a series of live community conversations with theater professionals and listeners who "call in," discussing various topics around building an equitable theater industry. Created and hosted by Dolores "D-Lo" Avery Pereira (she/her) and co-producer and co-host Briar Robin "Bri" Pollock (they/them). Radio Fled's first season featured episodes such as "How to Create a Brave Space" to "Anti-capitalism in the Arts," "Representation in Playwriting & Dramaturgy," and ended the season with a Live Recording with a studio audience featuring guests Erin Cherry (After Forever) and Elizabeth Van Dyke (New Federal Theatre). Stay tuned for Radio Fled episodes to be announced and information on where to listen.

Step Kids

Written by Tyrone L Robinson, produced by Dolores Avery Pereira

October 16 - 22 in The Siggy

Step Kids is a one act hip hop musical that tells the story of a group of teenagers auditioning for the elite All Stars step dance team. Competition is tough and no mis-step goes unnoticed by "The Voice of God". After much scrutiny and questioning, our heroine, Yessica shares her love of Step. In her explanation, she goes into the history of Step Dancing in America and its African Roots, leading her to find her own voice. The audience gets a beautifully recounted history lesson on the history of Step in America along with a High energy show full of music and dance.

Tyrone L Robinson (he/him) is an actor, director, and playwright. Most recently, Robinson wrote music and lyrics for the musical Show Way (Kennedy Center, Washington, DC). His music was featured at New York's Public Theatre in the Emerging Writer's Group reading of Bliss by Jerome A. Parker. Bliss starred Andre' DeShields and Daphne Rubin-Vega. Robinson has written commissions for First Stage Milwaukee, TheatreWorks USA, and Children's Theatre Charlotte. Awards include ASCAP Frederick Loewe Award for theatre music composition, the 2013 New York City production of Show Way at Vital Theatre Company was nominated for an Off-Broadway Alliance Award (Best Family Show), Evelyn Russell Layton Award. M.F.A. NYU Tisch School of the Arts. Full bio at www.tyronelrobinson.com

SERIALS: Season 2

Late-night episodic play competition returns for Season 2, produced by Michael Ortiz, Kristan Seemel, and Elizabeth Spindler

Ongoing Performances in The Siggy

The beloved late-night play competition is BACK, reclaimed, and newly imagined to prioritize BIPOC and Queer voices. SERIALS is a raucous night of serialized plays featuring The Fled's resident actors and some of NYC's hottest rising playwrights and directors. Teams perform original short episodic plays while the audience votes for its favorites to return with a new installment. SERIALS was originally created by Dominic Spillane and Stephen Stout and further developed by members of The Flea Theater's former resident artist company, The Bats.

The Premiere Cycle for Season 2 will be February 9-11 in The Siggy at the Flea Theater.

SWAY

Workshop production. Written by SMJ, directed by Daniella Caggiano

May 15-28 in The Siggy

Rising social media influencers (Shay, Teegan, & Paige) are selected for an exclusive retreat at the Spahn Ranch with the very popular & mysterious influencer and reality star, Charlie. Once their phones are taken away, the influencers start to encounter the ghosts of the past, their present insecurities, and a promising yet dangerous future. SWAY investigates the need for and the exploitation of human connection in the current era of influencing. SWAY was recently named a semifinalist for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's 2022 National Playwrights Conference and a semifinalist for the 2022-2023 New Dramatists Princess Grace Award Fellowship.

SMJ (they/them) is an NYC-based, mixed-race, and Trans non-binary playwright, educator, and theatermaker. They are a 2022-2023 Dramatists Guild Foundation Fellow. Their work has been seen in various forms throughout the US and the UK including the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, Carnegie Mellon University, DR2 Theatre, Art House Productions, The Artist Co-op, Fort Salem Theater, Access Theater, Fresh Ground Pepper, and the HMBG Foundation. SMJ has been a semifinalist for the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center's National Playwrights Conference, the Princess Grace Award at New Dramatists, and The Civilians' R&D Group as well as a finalist for the Doric Wilson Independent Playwright Award and The 5th Avenue Theater's First Draft Commission. They're a graduate of Otterbein University and the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center. SMJ is a member of the Dramatists Guild and Ring of Keys. www.smjwrites.com

Fled (Re)Acts

Conceived by Jon Jon Johnson

Dates and Location TBA

Fled (Re)Acts is a "variety" night, inspired by DMV's "Forum ReActs," is a generator for rapid fire artistic response to current events. In the wake of major news, The Fled will gather artistic cohorts and audiences to collaboratively generate art that prompts engagement and offeres and antidote to doomscrolling.

Learn more and stay up-to-date on The Fled Collective and how you can join the movement at www.TheFled.com. Join their mailing list and follow them on social media, @thefledcollective on Instagram and Facebook, and @fledcollective on Twitter. Questions or responses may be sent to info@thefled.com.

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