Lynn Cohen, Jessica Frances Dukes, Déa Julien, Kyra Miller, And Vanessa Aspillaga Bring Paradigm Shifting Projects To The Flea Next Week

The Muse Project, in association with The Tank, will present Musings: a collection of Mini Muse presentations at The Flea Theater as a part of their Anchor Partnership. The Muse Project gives women performers the time, space, and opportunity to experiment with and explore their fantasy projects. Musings will showcase the exciting, fresh, paradigm-shifting storytelling that 5 of New York's leading stage actresses have developed through intensive workshops, called Mini Muses. The week will culminate in a party on October 19th, the 'Mini Gala' - a wine and cheese event to celebrate the week's presentations; and 'Tea Time,' a one-of-a-kind Muse pilot program, where a veteran stage actress discusses her experiences building her career. Actress Florencia Lozano is set to partake as the Tea Time guest.

The Mini Muse presentations will give audiences an inspired taste of what these women actors are working on, and each presentation will be followed by a talkback. Vanessa Aspillaga will be presenting from a piece that incorporates music and her visual art, a creative memoir of sorts - with collaborator José Zayas; Lynn Cohen will be presenting from a piece that reimagines Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz - with collaborators Lewis Black, Ron Cohen, and Ian Morgan; Jessica Frances Dukes will be presenting from her first solo show exploring a complex familial lineage of race, class, and identity in America - with collaborators Taylor Barfield and Seret Scott. Déa Julien will be presenting from a piece that seeks to tell the story of a young Syrian refugee and her relationship to the wealthy American woman who sponsors her for a year - with collaborators Kylie Brown, Caroline Hewitt, and Megan Sandberg-Zakian of Maia Directors; and Kyra Miller will be presenting from a new piece exploring puppetry, Gaslight, and Bluebeard - with collaborators Noel Allain and Katie Pearl. Actresses Chelsea Dee and Zainab Musa are 2018 Muse alternates. Tickets ($15 - $50) are available for advance purchase at theflea.org/shows/musings.

Vanessa Aspillaga will present October 20th and 21st at 3pm.

Vanessa Aspillaga (2018 Muse). Broadway: Anna in the Tropics. Recent Off - Broadway: Amy and the Orphans (Roundabout - Lucille Lortel nom), Daphne' s Dive, Paradise Park (Signature), Domesticated, The Clean House (Lincoln Center), underneathmybed (Rattlestick - Drama League nom, HOLA Award), Chasing Manet (Primary Stages), The Cataract (Women's Project), As You Like It (NYSF - Delacorte). Film includes: Detours, Alex of Venice, Gun Hill Road, Morning Glory, Love and Other Drugs, Petty Crimes, My Best Friend's Wife, Pyrite, Stringer, Mr. Wonderful. TV includes: Madame Secretary (CBS), High Maintenance (HBO), Search Party (TBS), Blue Bloods (CBS), Falling Water (USA), Flesh and Bone (STARZ), The Jim Gaffigan Show (TV Land), Nurse Jackie (SHOWTIME), Elementary (CBS), The Good Wife (CBS), Rubicon (AMC), Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Law & Order (NBC). Member LAByrinth Theater Company, Usual Suspect at New York Theatre Workshop.

Lynn Cohen will present October 16th and October 18th at 7pm.

Lynn Cohen (2018 Muse). Film and TV roles have ranged from the nanny Magda in Sex and The City to the silent warrior Mags in Hunger Games; Catching Fire, the eloquent Golda Meir in Steven Spielberg's Munich and the feminist Maman in Louis Malle/Andre Gregory's Vanya on 42nd Street. Selected New York Theater credits include Big Love (Signature Theatre); I Remember Mama (Transport Group; Lucille Lortel Award nomination); Hamlet (Public Theater with Kevin Kline); Macbeth (Shakespeare in the Park with Liev Schreiber); Traveling Lady (Cherry Lane Theatre); Uncle Vanya (Andre Gregory production); Chasing Manet (Primary Stages, Drama League nomination). On Broadway, she appeared in Peter Hall's production of Orpheus Descending and Lincoln Center's mounting of Ivanov with Kevin Kline. Regional theatre work has taken her to such venues as Minneapolis' Guthrie Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville; Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; Chicago's Goodman Theatre, and many more. Various other TV credits include such shows as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Blue Bloods, Master of None, Chicago Med, The Affair, Getting On, and Law and Order (all three series). Lynn is a recipient of a Fox Fellow grant, a Bowden Award from New Dramatists, the Richard Schiff Award from Actors Equity and a Lily Award.

Jessica Frances Dukes will present October 17th at 3pm and October 20th at 7pm.

Jessica Frances Dukes (2018 Muse). Writer and Performer, Obie Award Winner. Off - Broadway: Playwrights Horizons - Bootycandy; Soho Rep - Is God Is; Billie Holiday Theatre - Yellowman; The Flea - A Blanket of Dust. Regional: Yale Rep - Native Son; McCarter Theatre - Intimate Apparel; Actors Theatre of Louisville - Macbeth (Lady Macbeth); Arena Stage - King Hedley II, Vanya, Sonia, Masha, Spike; Centerstage - Detroit 67, Beneatha's Place, Clybourne Park; Detroit Public Theatre - Detroit 67; Arden Theatre - Stick Fly; Geva Theatre - A Raisin in the Sun, The Piano Lesson; Indiana Repertory - The Piano Lesson; Cleveland Playhouse - Trip to Bountiful; Ford's Theatre - Jitney; Woolly Mammoth (Company Member) - Bootycandy, The Vibrator Play, Eclipsed, Fever Dream, Full Circle, Starving, and more; The Folger Theatre - Conference of The Birds; ACTCO/ Tribute Productions - Spunk (Helen Hayes Nomination); and more. TV/Film: New Amsterdam (airing next Tuesday at 10/9 central on NBC); NCIS New Orleans (CBS); The Good Wife (CBS); Bernard & Huey; and more being announced soon. MFA - The Catholic University of America. www.jessicafrances-dukes.com.

Déa Julien will present October 15th at 7pm and October 18th at 3pm.

Déa Julien (2018 Muse). West Side Story 1st Nat’l Tour (Rosalia / dir. Arthur Laurents & David Saint). New York: STET (Abingdon Theatre, The Muse Project / Tony Speciale), Intimacy (The New Group / Scott Elliott), Blueprint Specials (Public Theater UTR & Waterwell / Tom Ridgely), Lawnpeople (Cherry Lane / Elena Araoz), Julius Caesar (Access Theater), Abraham’s Daughters, The Seven little Foys (Fringe NYC), Suzan-Lori Parks’ 365 Days / 365 Plays (Public Theater). Metropolitan Opera Children’s Chorus. Regional: The Wolves (Theaterworks). Film: Cut in Half (dir. Susan Seidelman), Public Speaking, Fan Girl. Love & Thanks to Sinclair, this gorgeous company, et la famille. @deakjulien, www.deajulien.com.

Kyra Miller will present October 16th at 3pm and October 17th at 7pm.

Kyra Miller (2018 Muse). Kyra is a native Brooklynite, an actress and singer who also writes her own work. She has performed her shows at Joe's Pub (Chosen, Matt Ray on piano), the Cornelia St. Café, the Bushwick Starr, the Irondale Center, and with Women of Letters at the Bell House. Her latest piece, the bruce & billy show, featuring the music of Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, debuted at Pangea in 2016 (directed by Barb Jungr). She is delighted to be working with the Muse Project at the Flea. Acting credits include: Rebecca in Rags at Theatreworks Silicon Valley (nominee 2018, Best Actress in a Musical, SF Bay Area Critics Circle award), The Time of Your Life (Seattle Rep and A.C.T., co-production with Steppenwolf, dir. Tina Landau), The Light in the Piazza (Philadelphia Theater Company, dir. Joe Calarco), A Chorus Line (the 5th Avenue Theater, Seattle), Biography (Pearl Theater Company), and The Man of La Mancha (New Orleans, Big Easy Award for best actress in a musical), as well as roles at the Westport Country Playhouse, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and Portland Stage Company. She is a former member of the Woodshed Collective. MFA, University of Washington. Proud member AEA. www.kyramillernyc.com.

Actress Jocelyn Kuritsky is the Producing Artistic Director of The Muse Project. She is also the founder of the new initiative, Staging Film, and she is a founder and the actor-in-residence of the Lucille Lortel Award winning immersive theater company, Woodshed Collective. www.jocelynkuritsky.com.

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