#SERIALS@THEFLEA Returns To The Flea 10/20-11/5, 12/1-17

Following three sold-out runs, The Flea Theater is set to announce Cycles 4 and 5 of #serials@theflea, the raucous late-night play competition featuring The Bats and some of NYC's hottest young playwrights. Live music and free beer from official sponsor Sixpoint Brewery help fuel this weekly event, which runs Thursday, Friday & Saturday nights at 11pm, October 20-November 5 and December 1-17. All tickets are only $10.

"This late-night raucous event continues to sell out because it¹s just that good," says Artistic Director Jim Simpson. "Join us downtown for a beer and some wild, imaginative theater; not improv, and not for the faint of heart."

In #serials@theflea, five teams of Bats perform original ten-minute episodic plays. The audience votes for its three favorite pieces, which return the next week with a new installment. The teams with the two least popular stories must likewise come back the following week, but with entirely different serialized plays.

Participating playwrights include Lucy Alibar (Too Little Too Late), E.J.C. Calvert (The Bird Girl), Jonathan Caren (The Recommendation at The Old Globe), Adam Collier, Joshua Conkel (milkmilklemonade), Stacy Davidowitz(Pink!), Dylan Dawson (The Tenant), Lila Feinberg (Monkey Bowl), Halley Feiffer (How to Make Friends and Then Kill Them), Edith Freni (Baby Girl), Jonathan Goldberg (The Landwhale Murders), Angela Hanks (breathe into this bag), Joshua Elias Harmon (Love in the Time of Channukah), Jessica S. Hinds (Nevin), Lucas Kavner (Fisheye), Boo Killebrew (They're Just Like Us), Daniel Kitrosser (The Mumblings), Krista Knight (Salamander Leviathan), JC Lee (Julliard Playwriting Fellow), Eric John Meyer (The Sister at The Brick), Michael Mitnick (2nd Stage Uptown's The Sex Lives of Our Parents), Jordan Seavey (The Truth Will Out), Zachary Smilovitz (Wanton Displays of Affection), Kevin Christopher Snipes (The Chimes at SPF), Chris Sullivan (EST/Youngblood), Laura von Holt, and Emily Chadick Weiss (EST/Youngblood).

Bands for Cycle 4 & 5 include Boy Girl Party, Leigh Jones, Lucas Kavner, Teen Girl Scientist Monthly, Uzimon and more TBA!

Created by Bat company members Dominic Spillane and Stephen Stout, in
collaboration with Jim Simpson, #serials@theflea features participating directors by Liz Carlson, David Chapman, Wes Grantom, Luke Harlan, Kel Haney, Portia Krieger, Mia Rovegno, BrIan Smith, Sarah Elizabeth Wansley and Pirrone Yousefzadeh.

The production features over 40 members of The Bats, The Flea's resident company of actors, including Tiffany Abercrombie, Crystal Arnette, Yoni Ben-Yehuda, Satomi Blair, Jenna Bosco, Veracity Butcher, Jenelle Chu, Ugo Chukwu, Thomas Crawford, Greg Engbrecht, Eric Folks, Bobby Foley, Katherine Folk-Sullivan, Cleo Gray, John Paul Harkins, Grant Harrison, Kana Hatakeyama, Halima Henderson, Alex Herrald, Josephine Huang, Amanda Idoko, Raul Sigmund Julia, Vin Kridakorn, Maren Langdon, Bruce Lemon, Betsy Lippitt, Sean McIntyre, Michael Micalizzi, Kate Michaud, Seth Moore, Megha Nabe, Sade Namei, Joy Notoma, Margaret Odette, Frank Paiva, Daniel phai, Briana Pozner, Donaldo Prescod, Ivano Pulito, Joann Sacco, Michelle Silvani, Dominic Spillane, Stephen Stout, Akyiaa Wilson, Monica Wyche and Wilton Yeung.

Dominic Spillane (Producer) is in his second year as a member of The Flea Theater's Bat company. Last season, he was seen in Sheila Callaghan's Recess directed by Kip Fagan, and Adam Rapp's Classic Kitchen Timer as a part of The Great Recession: an evening of six original one-act plays. Dominic recently returned from Williamstown Theater Festival as a part of John Guare's Six Degrees of Separation directed by Anne Kauffman. He was also a part of the Williamstown fellowship that originated Amy Herzog's After the Revolution, which was produced by Playwrights Horizons last fall. Dominic wrote, directed, and produced the short film Falling Down in 2007 which toured 4 international film festivals, as well as various plays, and one-act festivals in Los Angeles.

Stephen Stout (Producer) is co-creator and co-producer of the sold-out late night hit #serials@theflea at The Flea Theater. As a member of The Bats at The Flea, he has performed in Sheila Callaghan's Recess and Erin Courtney's Severed as part of The Great Recession, Itamar Moses' Love/Stories or but you will get used to it, The Footage, and readings/workshops with writers Thomas Bradshaw, Len Jenkin, Itamar Moses, Sam Marks, and Mac Wellman. Other recent NYC Credits include: Salamander Leviathan (Ars Nova), Clown Bar (Rising Phoenix Rep, dir. Kip Fagan), File Under: Superwolf by Bekah Brunstetter (Superwolf at ART/NY), ...things i found on craigslist (Theatre for a New City) by christopher oscar peña, The Spanish Tragedy (Red Bull Theatre - Revelation Readings Series), La Boheme (spoken) (The Cell), Three Sisters (The Assembly) and three seasons with The Aquila Theatre Company. Film credits include: Mystery Team (Sundance '09) and Checkout (HBO US Comedy Arts Festival). He also produces programming for the Old Vic New Voices Network in New York City for London's The Old Vic Theatre, with whom he has produced London Calling (The Vineyard Theatre), Biting the Big Apple (The Public Theater), Live in London, Empire State of Mind (The Old Vic), and The Arden Project (3LD Arts & Technology Center) - the first transatlantic digitally webcast performance featuring new work by top emerging British and American Playwrights performed simultaneously in both cities.

The Bats are the resident Acting Company members of The Flea Theater. Each year over a thousand actors audition for a place in this unique company. The Bats perform in extended runs of challenging classic and new plays. The Bats have recently appeared in World Premieres by A.R. Gurney, Will Eno, Adam Rapp, Beau Willimon, Mac Wellman, Elizabeth Swados, Thomas Bradshaw, Itmar Moses, Sheila Callaghan, Julian Sheppard, Ken Urban, Tommy Smith, Jonathan Reynolds, Trista Baldwin and Laurel Haines.

The Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Jim Simpson 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 and Otto awards, The Flea has presented nearly 100 plays and numerous dance and live music performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include the premieres of Anne Nelson's THE GUYS; six plays by A.R. Gurney (POST MORTEN, O JERUSALEM, SCREENPLAY, MRS. FARNSWORTH, A LIGHT LUNCH and OFFICE HOURS); and plays by Mac Wellman, Roger Rosenblatt, Elizabeth Swados, Karen Finley, Adam Rapp, Will Eno, Thomas Bradshaw, Jonathan Reynolds, Bathsheba Doran, Steven Banks, Trista Baldwin, Laurel Haines, Sheila Callaghan and too many more to mention.

#serials@theflea runs October 20 - November 7 and December 1 - 17, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 11pm. Check www.theflea.org for the full performance schedule. The Flea 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. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door beginning 1 hour prior to each performance. Reserved seating is available for Thursdays only by emailing serialreserve@theflea.org. Each ticket purchase includes a free beer. Sixpoint Brewery is the official sponsor of #serials@theflea.