Flux Theatre Ensemble presents

RIZING

by Jason Tseng
directed by Emily Hartford

featuring Flux’s LIVING TICKET

WORLD PREMIERE
PREVIEWS MAY 20 AND MAY 21
OPENING NIGHT MAY 22
MAY 20 – JUNE 4 @ ACCESS THEATER

Flux Theatre Ensemble will present the world premiere of Jason Tseng’s (Searching for Susan) Rizing, May 20 – June 4 at The Access Theater Black Box (380 Broadway, New York, NY). The production will be directed by Emily Hartford (Co-Founder, Rabbit Hole Ensemble) and will feature Tonia E. Anderson* (Prospect Park, New York Madness), Jessica Angleskhan* (Jacob’s House, Flux Theatre Ensemble), Arthur Aulisi* (2008 Person of the Year, Indie Theatre Hall of Fame), Daryl Lathon* (The Honeycomb Trilogy, Gideon Productions), Lori E. Parquet (The Honeycomb Trilogy, Gideon), Anna Rahn* (Honey Fist with Flux), Debargo Sanyal* (When January Feels Like Summer, Ensemble Studio Theatre), Alisha Spielmann* (Jane the Plain with Flux), and Gavin-Keith Umeh (Law & Order: SVU).

*Appears courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association.

The creative team will include Scenic Design by Will Lowry (Jane The Plain with Flux), Lighting Design by Kia Rogers (2014 NYIT Award for Jane the Plain), Sound Design by Janie Bullard (2014 USITT/LDI Rising Star Award Winner, 2014 NYIT Nominee for Jane the Plain with Flux), Costume Design by David Withrow (Assistant Costume Designer, Cinderella on Broadway), Gore Design by Stephanie Cox-Williams (2015 NYIT Award Winner for Innovative Gore Design, R&J&Z, Hard Sparks), and Dramaturgy by Christine Zagrobelny (Welcome to The Fall, Communal Spaces Festival). The Production Stage Manager will be Jodi M. Witherell (Salvage with Flux).

Rizing is set many years after the zombie apocalypse in Shelter, the last living city on Earth. Infected family members, friends, and lovers have been rehabilitated thanks to a daily regimen of drugs and therapy, but the living that have brought them back do not trust them, and Shelter’s two-tiered society is poised on the verge of all-out war. Characters on both sides must choose between rebuilding the world as it was and creating a new one by force.

In addition to Rizing’s fresh take on a classic sci-fi genre, the play breaks ground by leaving the gender and race of each of its characters completely open.

Rizing will be presented by Flux Theatre Ensemble at The Access Theater Black Box (380 Broadway, New York, NY) on select dates, May 20 – June 4, 2016. Opening night is May 22nd.

Continuing the successful experiment pioneered with Salvage, no financial transaction is required to attend a Flux performance. Instead, Flux offers “Living Tickets.” In their commitment to financial transparency, Flux shares their operating budget and leaves it to each audience member to donate as they see fit. Living Tickets will be available in mid-April. fluxtheatre.org/living-ticket

JASON TSENG (Playwright) Jason Tseng makes plays, comics, illustrations, and games– mostly about queer people and people of color. His other plays include Apotheosis, a pan-mythic gender epic, and AirBnB, a queer Asian romantic comedy. Most recently, his work has been featured in GeeksOut’s LGBT comics anthology Power, Sub Rosa Magazine, and Nonprofit Quarterly. He produces the podcasts Play x Play–the podcast featuring the best plays you’ve never heard of–and Queer and Present Danger, a queer nerd pop culture podcast. Find more at JasonTseng.com

EMILY HARTFORD (Director) is a director, actor, puppet designer, and fundraiser. She has directed pieces in Flux events including SpeakUp: The Street Harassment Plays and Breathe Free, and assistant directed the Flux productions Salvage and Jane the Plain. Emily is a co-founder of the New York Innovative Theatre Award-winning company Rabbit Hole Ensemble.

FLUX THEATRE ENSEMBLE produces transformative theatre that explores and awakens the capacity for change. As an ensemble-artist driven company, Flux believes that long-term collaboration and rigorous creative development can unite artists and audiences to build a creative home in New York.

Flux is the proud recipient of two NYC Fringe Festival Awards (2007 Village Voice Audience Favorite Award for Riding the Bull; 2008 Outstanding Direction Award for Other Bodies) and a nineteen-time New York Innovative Theatre Award nominee between 2008-2015, including wins for The Angel Eaters Trilogy, Ajax in Iraq, and Jane the Plain. In 2011 The New York Innovative Theatre Awards also awarded the prestigious Caffé Cino Fellowship Award to Flux for “consistently producing outstanding work.” Flux received a Citation for Excellence in Off-Off Broadway Theatre from the Independent Theater Bloggers Association and was named one of Indie Theatre Now’s 2014 “People of the Decade.”