Hearts Like Fists

Flux represented last night at the final Julliard performance of Adam Szymkowicz’s new play, Hearts Like Fists. Adam is the playwright of our upcoming Spring show, Pretty Theft; and so Jason, Cotton, Christina, Heather, Johnna, Isaiah and myself left our Flux Sunday adventures a little early to check it out.

And it was a delight! In contrast to the darker, more grounded aspects of Pretty Theft, Hearts Like Fists is pure unadulterated buzzing fizzing farce; a genre send up of super heroes that explores what brave people do to hide their more vulnerable parts.

My favorite parts were the list of villain names (Tarantula Sue!), the extended awkwardness of the Commissioner scheduling a date with one of the Crimefighters; and the dangerously beautiful Lisa bursting into Peter’s lab to profess her passion right as the hapless nurse was about to ask the good doctor out. There is also a moving scene where the usually nameless victims of Dr. X are made memorably human, deep in the satisfaction of their requited love, that stands out like an island of simple goodness in the otherwise madcap world of the play. We all left the show eager to return to work on Pretty Theft!