The Flea Premieres New Adaptation of THE TROJAN WOMEN Tonight

The Flea Theater presents the New York premiere of Ellen McLaughlin's adaptation of THE TROJAN WOMEN. It will be directed by Resident Director Anne Cecelia Haney, featuring members of The Bats, The Flea's resident Acting Company. Previews begin tonight, August 24th, with opening night slated for Thursday, September 1st.

The women of Troy have been sold into slavery. Their husbands are dead, their city is destroyed, and it seems as though the gods have forgotten them. As they wait to be taken away, the women grapple with grief, fear and the gravity of total loss - of their family, of their home, of everything that was familiar and loved to face a future in a new and hostile land. Known as the first anti-war play in the western canon, THE TROJAN WOMEN presents audiences with an enduring message about the consequences of perpetual war.

The Flea's production features The Bats: DeAnna Supplee (Hecuba), Rebeca Rad (Helen), Casey Wortmann (Andromache), Lindsley Howard (Cassandra), Phil Feldman (Talthybius), Thomas Muccioli (Poseidon), Kyra Riley (Chorus), Clea DeCrane (Chorus), Jennifer Tchiakpe (Chorus), Jenny Jarnagin (Chorus), Amanda Centeno (Chorus), and Chun Cho (Chorus). The creative team includes Marte Ekhougen (scenic & costume design), Scot Gianelli (lighting design), Ben Vigus (sound design), Martha Beggerly (stage manager), Eugene Ma (assistant director) and 2016 Outstanding Emerging Choreographer Bessie Award- winner Joya Powell (choreographer).

THE TROJAN WOMEN runs tonight, August 24, through September 30. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 9PM and Sunday at 3PM. Tickets are $15-$20 with the lowest priced tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis. 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.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

Ellen McLaughlin (playwright). Ellen McLaughlin is an award-winning playwright and actor. Her plays include Tongue of a Bird, A Narrow Bed, Iphigenia and Other Daughters, Infinity's House, Helen, The Persians, Oedipus, Ajax in Iraq, Kissing the Floor, Septimus and Clarissa, Pericles and Penelope. Her work has been performed Off-Broadway in New York, as well as regionally and overseas. Producers include The Public Theater, National Actors Theatre, Classic Stage Co., New York Theatre Workshop, The Guthrie, The Intiman, The Mark Taper Forum, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and The Almeida Theatre in London. Among her honors are the Susan Blackburn Prize and the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Writer's Award. She has taught playwriting at Barnard College since 1995. Other teaching posts include Princeton University and Yale School of Drama. As an actor, she is most well known for having originated the part of the Angel in Tony Kushner's Angels in America, appearing in all workshops and productions of the play through its Broadway run in 1993-94.

Anne Cecelia Haney (director). Anne Cecelia Haney is a Brooklyn-based director, translator, and musician. Blending a text- based approach with a subtle, surrealist vision, she develops new work that draws on classical and historical influences, while exploring new modes of storytelling and responding to contemporary political and social happenings. Anne's work has been presented in NYC at Dixon Place, The Bushwick Starr, Cloud City, The Flea Theater, The Brick Theater, IRT, The Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival, Emerging Artists Theater, Columbia University, and the NYU Department of Dramatic Writing; in LA at Highways Performance Space; and in various warehouses, bookstores, kitchens, and living rooms across the country. She assisted director Michael McQuilken on productions for BAM's Next Wave Festival and the Prototype Festival, and writer/director Adam Rapp on productions at The Flea and The Atlantic Theater Company. She is the Artistic Director of Crown Heights 20/20 Arts, a network of existing Brooklyn storefronts repurposed as free rehearsal and performance spaces for artists of all types, and a collaborator with Old Sound Room Performance Ensemble. Anne holds a B.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Virginia.

JOYA POWELL (choreographer). 2016 Outstanding Emerging Choreographer Bessie award winner Joya Powell is the Artistic Director/Choreographer of Movement of the People Dance Company. She is passionate about community, activism, and dances of the African Diaspora. She has collaborated with Director Benjamin Kamine on such works as: JOB by Thomas Bradshaw (The Flea), True Bible Tales by Robert Askins (E. 14th St. Y), and Happily Ever by Amina Henry (Brooklyn College); Director Christopher Burris on productions such as: The Brothers Size by Tarell A. McCraney (Luna Stage), Ducklings by Amina Henry (The National Black Theater), Are You Not Entertained? by Dennis Allen II and The Minstrel Show by Amina Henry both co-directed by Benjamin Kamine (13th St. Theater). Joya has also collaborated on the following projects: Tom Block's Oud Player on the Tel directed by David Winitsky (13th St. Theater); readings at New Dramatists including Melissa Tien's Yellow Card Red Card and Betty Shamieh's Fit for a Queen both directed by Tamilla Woodard. Joya is a part of the Artistic Resource Group at The Flea, the Resident Choreographer for Table Theater, and an Adjunct Professor at SUNY Old Westbury. www.movementofthepeopledance.com

THE BATS are the resident Acting Company members of The Flea Theater. Each season, over a thousand actors audition for a place in this unique company. The Bats perform in extended runs of challenging classics, as well world premieres of new plays. They are the lifeblood of The Flea.

THE Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Niegel Smith 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 premieres by Trista Baldwin, Steven Banks, Thomas Bradshaw, Sheila Callaghan, Kim Davies, Bathsheba Doran, Will Eno, Karen Finley, Amy Freed, Sean Graney, A.R. Gurney, Laurel Haines, Jennifer Haley, Hamish Linklater, Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio, Itamar Moses, Anne Nelson, Qui Nguyen, Adam Rapp, Jonathan Reynolds, Roger Rosenblatt, Todd Shalom, Julian Sheppard, Tommy Smith, Elizabeth Swados, Ken Urban, Mac Wellman, Beau Willimon, BrIan Watkins, and Frank Winters, among others. Highlights include Drama Desk nominated She Kills Monsters, These Seven Sicknesses, Restoration Comedy, The Mysteries and eight World Premieres by A.R. Gurney including the WSJ Best New Play of 2013, Family Furniture.

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