Methods in Madness & Polly

Jason Tseng (Lead Organizer, Methods in Madness; they/them) is a queer, non-binary Chinese-American playwright based in New York City, originally hailing from the suburbs of Washington, D.C. Their plays have been presented and developed by Flux Theatre Ensemble, Judson Arts, Mission to dit(Mars), Theatre COTE, Inkubator Arts, Second Generation, Downtown Urban Arts Festival, and LA Queer New Works Festival. They are a Creative Partner of Flux Theatre Ensemble, a member of The Civilians’s 2019/2020 R&D Group, a member of Mission to dit(Mars)’s Propulsion Lab, and their plays have been honored as Semi-finalists for the New American Voices Playwrights Festiva, Bay Area Playwrights Festivall and the Eugene O’Neil National Playwrights Conference. Jason’s full-length plays include Rizing (World Premier, Flux Theatre Ensemble), Like Father, Same Same, Ghost Money, Fear and Wonder, and The Other Side. Find more at www.jasontseng.com

Corinna Schulenburg (Lead Organizer, Polly, she/her) is a trans artist and activist committed to ensemble practice and social justice. As a playwright, her work with Flux includes Riding the Bull, Rue, Other Bodies, The Lesser Seductions of History, Jacob’s House, DEINDE, Honey Fist, Salvage, The Sea Concerto, and Operating Systems. With Flux, she directed Ajax in Iraq (NYITA nomination), A Midsummer Nights Dream, and the Food:Souls Goldsboro and Volleygirls. As an actor with Flux, she has played Samantha in Metra, Max in World Builders, Dr. X in Hearts Like Fists, Ezekiel in 8 Little Antichrists (NYITA nomination), and the Professor in Rue.

Will Lowry (Scenic Designer, Polly; he/him) is a multidisciplinary designer with an MFA in Design from UNC Greensboro. He has been a Flux Creative Partner for a decade, and this is his twentieth show with Flux. He has created over 130 scenic, lighting, projection, and costume designs for theaters along the East Coast and beyond, including productions at Dupont Underground (DC), Mill Mountain Theatre (VA), Warehouse Theatre (SC), Playhouse on Park (CT), Birmingham Children’s Theatre (AL), Palace Theatre/Spirit of the Dance Productions (SC/UK), Curtain Call Theatre (NY), California Theatre Center (CA), Southeast Missouri State University (MO), College of Southern Nevada (NV), and the Sydney Opera House (AUS). In NYC, he contributed to multiple Broadway productions as a studio assistant and graphic designer, and he recently created the digital theatre experience GPS at Lehigh University (PA), where he serves as an Assistant Professor of Theatre. Love to B,L,&P.

Nathanael Brown (Sound Designer, Methods in Madness & Polly; he/him) is a New York/New Jersey based Sound Designer and Engineer that has designed and engineered shows at Cherry Lane Theatre (NY), The Tank (NY), and Alexander Kasser Theater (NJ). He has done work with the Great River Shakespeare Festival in Winnona Minnesota. His last show with Flux was Metra, A Climate Revolution Play with Songs.

Lori Elizabeth Parquet, (Dramaturg, Methods in Madness & Polly; Actor, Polly; she/her), is a Flux Creative Partner and actor, director, and playwright from New Orleans, Louisiana with a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Cornell University. Her New York City stage credits include Macbeth, Dispatches From (A)mended America (Off-Broadway, Epic Theatre Ensemble), The Providence of Neighboring Bodies (Dutch Kills Theater/Ars Nova), The Honeycomb Trilogy: Sovereign (Gideon Productions), Medea (Phoenix Theatre Ensemble), Dog Act, Ajax in Iraq, Honey Fist, Operating Systems (Flux Theatre Ensemble), and Republic, Baal, Murder In the Cathedral (JACK/Hoi Polloi). She made her international debut performing in Pillars of Society at Teater Ibsen in Skien, Norway. She also performed in The Providence of Neighboring Bodies at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2018. In 2019 she was nominated for and won the New York Innovative Theatre Award for Best Actress in a Lead Role for her performance in Operating Systems. As a director, Lori has directed Topdog/Underdog at Princeton Summer Theater and assistant directed The Public Theater’s most recent Shakespeare in the Park productions of As You Like It, and Twelfth Night.  She was alsoas an acting coach on Disney’s Hercules, a Public Works production.  Lori just served as Associate Director of New York City Center’s Encores: Off-center production of Maria Irene Fornes’ Promenade and has directed many readings and workshops with Public Works, Flux Theatre Ensemble, The Brooklyn Generator, and other theatre companies across New York City.  As a playwright, Lori was selected as one of six featured playwrights for Season Five of The Fire This Time Festival, which produced a reading of her full-length play In Communion, and her short plays have been produced through Flux Theatre Ensemble, New York Madness, and other NYC indie theatres and festivals.

Anna Rahn (Costume Designer and Actor, Polly; she/her) last appeared with Flux in Our Options Have Changed, Am I Dead? The Untrue Narrative of Anatomical Lewis, the Slave, Rizing, Honey Fist, and Ajax in Iraq. Other credits include Powwow Highway (Rabbit, HERE Arts Space), Unsex Me Here (Goneril, HERE Arts Space), Man and Coconut (Melissa, IRT Theater). She holds a BA in Performance Studies from UC Berkeley and an MFA in Acting from the American Repertory Theatre.

Braxton Rae (Methods in Madness & Polly, Collaborator, they/them) is an early career director, deviser, and creator whose creative work and scholarship is focused on blackness, queerness, feminism, and marginalized identities more broadly. Additionally, Braxton is interested in the craft of intimacy work and how to stage intimacy with care and safety being a priority. Braxton’s main artistic goals are to foster a community within the arts that has a focus on diversity, equity, and inclusion. Additionally, Braxton aims to create art that starts conversations, is compelling, beautiful, makes people think and question their own internal biases, and that begets social change.

Julianna MacKenzie Kantor (Prop Designer & Organizer, Polly; she/her) is a New York based queer performance artist, director, deviser, and creative from Charlotte, North Carolina. In May of 2023 she graduated from  Hofstra University (Long Island, NY), with her BFA in Drama Performance and minor in Musical Theatre. She has specialized training in Shakespeare, Viewpoints, intimacy directing, musical theatre, and devising. Throughout her college and professional career she is lucky to have studied under and worked with Kevin R Free, Crista Marie Jackson, Emily Hartford, Tom McCoy, as well as many others at Hofstra University. Outside of Hofstra she has studied with SITI Company, as well as closely observed the work of Anne Bogart-who has served as a huge inspiration to her career and aspirations. She believes in expanding her skills and experience as much as possible both within and outside the world of performance. In addition to performance she has varied experience in directing, teaching, stage managing, carpentry, props mastering, and administration. While she is passionate about many different kinds of theatre, she is most interested in projects with the following elements: community outreach, accessibility to the arts, experimental and new works, ensemble based experiences, advocacy and social justice, and/or empowering young people through the arts.

Alisha Spielmann (Actor, Polly; she/her) is a New York City based Actor and Singer. Productions with Flux Theatre Ensemble: Sans Merci, Jane the Plain, Rizing, World Builders, AM I DEAD? The Untrue Narrative of Anatomical Lewis, The Slave, and The Sea Concerto. Off Broadway: The Honeycomb Trilogy, Part Two: Blast Radius (Gideon Productions); The Runner Stumbles (Retro Productions/The Bleecker Company). She’s been in over 20 full length productions in NYC (many award nominated and self originated roles) and numerous readings and workshops. Alisha can currently be seen on Amazon starring in the series Producing Juliet by Writers Guild of America award winner Tina Cesa Ward; as well as feature films How Dark They Prey and The Moose Head Over The Mantle; and short films The Sound of Light, Missing You, Into The Burning, Freedom Point, and Type A. She is a Creative Partner with Flux Theatre Ensemble and a Company Member of Retro Productions.  Born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota, she received her BA in Music and Theater from St. Olaf College. In her spare time she enjoys running, cooking, and keeping up to date with super cool technology. www.alishaspielmann.com 

Chris Wight (Actor, Polly; he/him) appeared as Dog in Flux’s acclaimed production of Dog Act, as well as in Hearts Like Fists and Rage Play. He is also a longtime artistic member of Ensemble Studio Theatre, where his many performances include the world premier of Tennessee Williams’ Spring Storm with Peter Sarsgaard, the NY premier of David Ives’ Lives of the Saints and the NYT Critic’s Pick Something Like Loneliness. There and elsewhere in NYC he’s performed in new works by acclaimed writers like Lucy Thurber, Cassandra Medley, Jen Silverman, Sheri Wilner, Rachel Bonds, Jeffrey Sweet, Robert Simonson, Arthur Giron, Jon Marans, Cheryl L. Davis, Julie Selbo, Egon Tobiáš, C. Quintana and many others. He has composed and performed original music for shows including Dog Act and Hearts Like Fists and for several short films, performing vocals, guitar, keys, bass, banjo, blues harp, washtub, on virtual turntables and with improvised instruments. Chris was Director of Development for SITI Company and has done development for TADA! Theater and Dance and EST; was manager of EST’s annual Summer Conference and the Under the Radar dance residency; is a former bookkeeper for WPP Theater, EST and other arts non-profits, and a former auditor for New York State Council on the Arts.

Jay Villa (Methods in Madness, Filmmaker, he/they) is an actor and filmmaker born and raised in New Orleans. Their training includes the Stella Adler Acting Conservatory and The National Theater Institute. Now based out of Brooklyn, NY; his work hinges on the intersection of queerness and Latine identity. He is currently in post-production for a short film, Plato Lleno, executively produced by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Plato Lleno explores familial love and hardship through a queer lens, and premieres later this year. They are also growing their social portfolio and exploring the creative lens amongst the social landscape.
IG: thejayvilla

Dubem (Methods in Madness, Guest Respondent, he/him), Igbo for “Guide Me”, is a multidisciplinary artist from Oklahoma, blending music, theatre, still and moving imagery, and cultural storytelling. As a first-generation Igbo American representing Onitsha Ado and Duncan, Oklahoma, Dubem’s work bridges the African diaspora and his Indigenous mixed race identity, drawing from his heritage to create genre-spanning soundscapes influenced by artists like Bob Marley, Omou Sangaré, Emily King, Björk and other artists, as well as his own vision of musical theater. In the Brooklyn Arts District, Dubem has performed as an actor at BAM in Kevin Spacey’s Richard’s Rampage and the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Caesar. At Theatre for a New Audience, he appeared in Arin Arbus’ King Lear and The Killer starring Michael Shannon. His time working on Kwame Kwei-Armah’s Marley at Baltimore’s Center Stage, a musical about the life of Bob Marley, left a lasting impact, particularly during the Baltimore uprising after Freddie Gray’s murder, heightening his understanding of theater’s immediacy in times of social unrest. Dubem has also spent considerable time immersing himself in the local music community between Brooklyn and Harlem, and Harlem to Houston, where he has been encouraged in his songwriting process by artists like Zamy Maa, T’nah (T’nah Apex), Ignabu (Cinque Ubangi Kemp), Bria Monét, Kingsley Ibeneche, Billzegypt, and M3CCA from Houston. In 2019, he worked with JOJO ABOT, which was an immersive dive into interdisciplinary art, further shaping his creative process. His work focuses on healing and cultural reconnection through art.

Amen Igbinosun (Guest Respondent, Methods in Madness), was born in Benin City, Nigeria, and raised in Rahway, NJ, after immigrating to the United States as a child. A middle child of seven siblings, Amen earned a full football scholarship to Fordham University. After graduating, Amen toured the country performing theatre for young audiences, honing his skills in storytelling and fostering meaningful connections with communities. He went on to earn an MFA in Acting from Harvard University’s American Repertory Theatre program, where he also studied at the Moscow Art Theatre. Amen expanded his creative work in theatre, writing, producing, educating, and performing. His television roles include appearances in TNT’s The Last Ship and the History Channel miniseries Texas Rising, where he worked alongside industry legends like Bill Paxton and Ray Liotta. He also appeared in Tina Fey’s comedy pilot, The Kicker, as well as in acclaimed animations, video games, and commercials. Throughout his career, Amen has remained dedicated to using the arts as a platform for authentic storytelling, creating connections across cultural and social boundaries.

Fiona Hansen (Stage Manager, Methods in Madness & Polly, they/them) recently graduated from Ohio Wesleyan University studying Theatre and English with a minor in dance. Fiona is one of the co-creators of Flux’s Portal Project and serves on their Second Circle (Flux’s board). They have previously directed a production of Medusa’s Tale by Carol S. Lashof and a Zoom theatre production of Fourteen by Alice Gerstenberg with their impromptu theatre company “FAB Directors.” Their work has also been featured onstage in their school’s fall cabaret “Inter/Sect,” directed by Ares Harper, and they performed as Toby Belch in their school’s production of “Twelfth Night: 2020,” directed by Bradford Sadler.