The Flea Presents MAC WELLMAN: PERFECT CATASTROPHES

The Flea Theater presents Mac Wellman: Perfect Catastrophes, A Festival of Plays featuring full productions of five works by Wellman - including the World Premiere of the full-length play The Invention of Tragedy and the premiere of a new one-act titled The Fez. As a part of the festival, The Flea will hold a symposium examining Mac Wellman's profound impact on the American theater from October 4 through 6. Perfect Catastrophes runs August 24 through November 1.

Producing Director, Carol Ostrow says, "Flea co-founder Mac Wellman has lost none of his relevance and resonance. The Flea is proud to produce two untouched works - The Invention of Tragedy written in the wake of 9/11 - which no one has dared to produce - and The Fez - that began its theatrical life as a tee shirt. How Mac is that?"

Niegel Smith, The Flea's Artistic Director says, "Mac Wellman is one of our nation's most under-sung vanguards of dramatic truth, experimentation and the poetic absurd. This festival and symposium celebrates his genius with exciting new productions that will delight and charm while pointing to the serious concerns of our day."

Sincerity Forever

Directed by Resident Director Dina Vovsi
August 24 through October 7 in The Siggy, opening September 7.
Sincerity Forever is a comedy about a group of young residents from the fictional southern town of Hillsbottom, a place with a prominent community of Ku Klux Klan members, many of them in their teens. They hang out in their cars on serene nights with friends and crushes, and question, as teens do, absolutely everything.

Bad Penny

Directed by Associate Artist Kristan Seemel
August 24 through October 7 in The Pete opening September 7.
A man and a woman sit in a park. They appear to be a couple, but aren't. The man is clutching a car tire. The woman has a penny in her pocket. The mythical Boatman of Bow Bridge is coming. He is coming to take away the person who is in possession of the penny. How do we make choices in the face of the end of the world as we know it?

The Invention of Tragedy

World Premiere
Directed by Guest ArtistMeghan Finn
September 7 through October 14in The Sam, opening September 21.
A chorus of students, all alike and all unalike, are trying like the devil to tell a simple story-perhaps the story about the tragedy of the Sandwich Man-with sandwich boards upon which nothing is written, and hence, say nothing. The Invention of Tragedy is Wellman's examination of the post-9/11 world and America's general and genial acceptance of the Iraq war.

The Sandalwood Box*

Directed by Resident Directors Kate Moore Heaney and Tyler Thomas
September 26 through November 1 in The Siggy, opening October 5.
In a surreal landscape on the border between dream and reality we follow the journey of Marsha Gates, a young college student who has lost her voice. On her way to speech therapy, Marsha meets Professor Claudia Mitchell, who captures the most captivating catastrophes of the world and preserves them in a sandalwood box.

The Fez*

World Premiere
Directed by Associate Artist Michael Raine
September 26 through November 1 in The Siggy, opening October 5.
The charmed spell of the theater has somehow absented itself, and something strange
happens. A play that was originally printed on a tee shirt is finally produced!

* The Sandalwood Boxand The Fez will be presented on a double-bill as one performance.

Mac Wellman: Perfect Catastrophes runs August 24 through November 1,Thursdays through Mondays at 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., with Sunday matinees at 3 p.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets start at $37 with a limited number of $17 tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis. The Flea Theater is located at 20 Thomas Street between Church and Broadway, three blocks north of Chambers, close to the A/C/E, N/Q/R/W, 4/5/6, J/M/Z and 1/2/3 subway lines. Purchase tickets by calling 212-352-3101 or online at www.theflea.org

To post a comment, you must register and login.