Complete Cast & Design Team Set for BATHHOUSE.PPTX at The Flea

The Flea has revealed the complete cast and design team for the world premiere production of BATHHOUSE.PPTX, written by Jesús I. Valles (they/them) and directed by Obie Award winner Chay Yew (he/him). BATHHOUSE.PPTX will run at The Flea Theater (20 Thomas Street) from Tuesday, March 19 through Monday, April 22, with opening night set for Saturday, March 23. In line with The Flea’s radical new operating model, BATHHOUSE.PPTX has been developed in partnership with Valles as co-producer on all elements of their production.

When he selected BATHHOUSE.PPTX as the recipient of the 2023 Yale Drama Series Prize, one of the theater world’s most prestigious playwriting prizes, Jeremy O. Harris (he/him) said, “This is one of the most exciting, speculative fictions I’ve encountered in years, using a unique dramaturgy to explore a queer history that is quickly being erased. It brought to mind the works of many heroes like Samuel Delany, Martin Crimp, and Kathy Acker.”

In this deft ensemble driven production, Sam Gonzalez (he/him) performs the role of ‘Presenter,’ a queer latiné student, whose PowerPoint presentation on the history of cleanliness and bathing quickly starts to burst at the seams with appearances from the ghosts of a bathhouse at the end of the world, A Conquistador! Wearing One of Those Hats!, A Very Real Twink, and even Laura Linney.

This bevy of characters from past and present are all inhabited by a shape shifting cast of actors including Claudia Acosta (she/her) as ‘Chela’ and others, Manuel C. Alcazar (he/him) as ‘Daniel’ and others, Esteban Andres Cruz (they/them) as ‘Mx. Vazquez’ and others, Yonatan Gebeyehu (he/him) as ‘Shaun’ and others, and Gilbert Diego Sanchez (he/they) as ‘Carlos’ and others. 

The design team includes You-Shin Chen (Scenic Design), Reza Behjat (Lighting Design), Haydee Zelideth Antuñano (Costume Design), John Gasper (Sound Design) Nicholas Hussong (Projection Design), and David Anzuelo (Intimacy and Fight Direction). BATHHOUSE.PPTX’s Production Stage Manager is Bea Perez-Arche and the Assistant Stage Manager is Abi Rowe.

Tickets are $20 – $35, with a pay-what-you-can option available as well. Tickets for Flea Champions go on sale February 1. Tickets for the general public go on sale February 8. Learn more at www.theflea.org.

 The Flea was refounded in 2021 with the mission to support and invest in experimental art by Black, brown, and queer artists. The Flea provides space, financial support, producing partnership and other resources so that they may develop and share their vision in community with audiences.

 

BIOGRAPHIES

 

Sam Gonzalez

(Presenter, he/him) is an actor and native New Yorker based in NYC. He’s an alum of the Atlantic Theater Company Acting School where he also served on the faculty for 6 years. He is a member of the resident acting company at Mercury Store in Gowanus. Credits include Invasive Species (The Tank); Cuck, Cuck, Bull; Vile Isle (Columbia);Big Green Theater (The Bushwick Starr); Salt Kid Watches Brooklyn Burn (Joe’s Pub), Lulu is Hungry; Blue Plate Special (Ars Nova); and The Velveteen Rabbit (Atlantic Theater Company). thesamgonzalez.com

Claudia Acosta

(Chela and others, she/her) is a New York based actor, director, producer and teaching artist. As an actor, she has most recently appeared in Boundless Theater Company’s How to Melt ICE. Other credits include: Page 73’s Man Cave, Rattlestick Playwright's Theater Seven Spots on the Sun, WP Theater Architecture of Becomin), HERE Don Cristobal Billy Club Man, Platforma Internațională de Teatru București in Romania Two Arms and a Noise. She has worked with INTAR, Teatro IATI, Chautauqua Theater Company and many others. Originally from Texas, she has also been in many productions at Hip Pocket Theater, Cara Mia, Artes De la Rosa, and Teatro Dallas. She is a guest narrator for Performing Arts Fort Worth and Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra in their annual bilingual Children’s Educational Programs at Bass Performance Hall. Claudia is also a guest director at Lehman College for Anna Deveare Smith’s Fires in the Mirror, Luis Alfaro’s Electricidad at Lehman College, and Macbeth SUNY New Paltz. She also directed Teatro Dallas’s Grave is Given Supper in association with New Ohio’s Ice Factory Festival. Claudia is a founding collective member and former producer of readings and workshops for the Obie Grant winner, The Sol Project. Claudia has co-produced and facilitated Echoes Writing Group for Primary Stages. She has been a teaching artist for over fifteen years serving many organizations including MTC, Arts Connection, New York Theater Workshop and Lincoln Center Education. She is thrilled to join The Flea to be part of Jesús’s world.

MANUEL C. ALCAZAR

(Daniel and others, he/him) is a proud Mexican-born actor, excited to come back to the stage after a whole P-word. NY Credits: Dream Babies, Love Like a Hun (NY Premiere), Beauty and the Beast, Me and my Girl, Guys and Dolls, Sons and Dogs, 29Lives: The Musical, The Jaguar Woman. Regional: Sister Act (La Comedia Dinner Theatre, OH), Grease (Esperanza Iris, MX). Film: The Amazing Ray. Web series: “New Height” and “29Lives”. He is a graduate of AMDA NY. IG: @manuelcalcazar. Website:www.manuelcalcazar.com

 

Esteban Andres Cruz

(Mx. Vazquez and others, they/them) was born in Berwyn, raised in Cicero, IL and grew up on Chicago’s stages. They are thrilled to be making their debut at The Flea in this poem of healing by fellow LPC member, Jesús I. Valles.  In addition to acting, Esteban is also a dancer, improviser, writer, jazz musician, choreographer, poet, playwright and playwright doula.  NY credits: Halfway Bitches Go Straight to Heaven (Drama Desk Nomination Best Featured Actor), Cornelia Street, world premiere by Simon Stephens directed by Neil Pepe and featuring Mary Beth Piel and Norbert Leo Butts. Selected Regional credits: St Louis Shakes, La Jolla Playhouse, Milwaukee Rep, Theatre at the Center (IN), Cygnet Theatre (SD), NYSF, Celebration (LA), Pasadena Playhouse, Peninsula Players (WI), St Louis Rep, Miami New Drama, Williamstown.  In Chicago: Steppenwolf, Writers, Victory Gardens (w/ Chay Yew), About Face, The Factory, Urban Theatre, Teatro Vista, Jackalope, Raven plus many more. Esteban is an ensemble member with A Red Orchid Theatre in Chicago and a part of the Latinx Playwrights Circle (LPC), in NYC. Esteban is a 2019 TCG National Fox Fellow Acting Award Winner, 2009 Jeff Award Winner for Best Actor and the 1994 After Dark Award for Best Choreography. Film: Spa Night (Spirit Award’s Cassavetti Award winner), Rattled, Valley of Bones (starring Alexandra Billings), The Thin Line (with Lily Gladstone), A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas. TV: “Chicago Fire,” “Awkward,” “Easy,” “Idiot Sitter,” “The Bridge,” “You're The Worst” and “South Side.” @estebanandrescruz.actor www.estebanandrescruz.com Love to Jimmy & Tes & all the familia, chosen and bloody.

 

Yonatan Gebeyehu

(Shaun and others, he/him). Off-Broadway: TFANA: Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens. Moliere in the Park: Tartuffe. BEDLAM: Persuasion; New Georges/The Thank. I Thought I Would Die, But I Didn’t. MTC: Where the Mountain Meets the Sea (u/s). Regional: Shakespeare Theater of DC, Portland Stage Company, Montana Rep. TV: “Prodigal Son” (FOX), “Elementary,” “Madame Secretary” (CBS). Digital: Lessons in Survival (Vineyard), 86’d (Bric Arts). Training: University of California San Diego: MFA in Acting. Columbia University, B.A. in English.

 

GILBERT D. SANCHEZ

(Carlos and others, he/him/they) is an actor and cabaret singer based in Brooklyn, New York. His cabaret persona, Ms. Zilbert, has produced multiple original shows including Cats: The Other Cats Musical, Mother Disco: I am the Mother of Disco, and Me & My Good Judys at Good Judy. Theatre: Ritchie Valens in Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story (Bucks County Playhouse), Showgirls the Musical (off Broadway). TV: “Law and Order: Organized Crime,” “New Amsterdam,” “Bull and The Path.” @gilbertwithaz “for the boys.”

 

BEA PEREZ-ARCHE

(Production Stage Manager, she/her/they) is a Cuban American theatre artist focused on creating community through her work in the arts. She has primarily worked at The Public Theater on Shakespeare in the Park, the Under the Radar Festival, and the Public Shakespeare Initiative. She is an Associate Artist at Sanguine Theatre Company and has collaborated with a range of institutions including The Flea, The Civilians, Tectonic Theater Project, One Whale’s Tale, Women’s Project, La Mama, Little Island, Chelsea Factory, and Ballet Collective. She received her BFA in Theater Arts from Boston University and currently freelances as a stage manager, director, and dramaturg.

 

ABI ROWE

(Assistant Stage Manager, she/her) is so excited to be at the Flea for this incredible show! Off Broadway credits include: Islander, Jersey Boys, Sleep No More, Is There Still Sex in the City, Wolf Play (MCC Theatre), A Bright New Boise, My Broken Language (Signature Theatre), As You Like It (The Public), Cyrano (The New Group).  Regional: Fiddler on the Roof (Papermill Playhouse), Candide (Skylight Music Theatre), Cinderella (Geva Theatre), A View From the Bridge, Yasmina’s Necklace (Goodman Theater). International: West Side Story (IHI Stage Around Tokyo).

 

You-Shin Chen

(Scenic Design) is a USA-based Taiwanese scenic designer. As a theatre collaborator, she is committed to diversity and humanity. You-Shin centers humans, both the characters and the viewers, and their experiences in her process of creating a three-dimensional space. Her design works have been seen across the continental US and Europe. Some of her favorite credits include: How To Defend Yourself (NYTW); Wolf Play (SohoRep & MCC, Lortel Awards); Red Velvet (STC, DC); Dragon King’s Daughter (Kennedy Center, DC); Mlima’s Tale (St. Louis Rep); Mrs. Murray’s Menagerie (ArsNova, Lortel Awards); Troy Anthony’s The Revival: It Is Our Duty (The Shed, NYC); Walden (TheaterWorks Hartford, Connecticut Critics Circle Awards). Collaborator with the feath3r theory. Assistant professor at Muhlenberg College. Local USA829, IASTE. www.youshinchen.com

 

Reza Behjat

(Lighting Design) is an Obie Award-winning lighting designer for live performances based in New York. Off-Broadway: The Ally (Public Theater), Pool Project (59E59), Bees & Honey (MCC Theater), Hang Time (Flea), Arden of Faversham (Redbull Theater), Good Enemy (Audible), Vagrant Trilogy (Public Theater), Wish You Were Here (Playwrights Horizons), English (Atlantic Theater), Out of Time (NAATCO), P.S (Ars Nova), Henry VI (NAATCO), Hamlet (Waterwell), etc. Regional: Milwaukee Rep, Seattle Rep, Steppenwolf Theatre, Berkeley Rep, Guthrie Theater, Hudson Valey Shakespeare, Wilma Theater, Arizona Theater Company, Actor Theater of Louisville, Geva Theater, Long Warf, Alabama Shakespeare, etc. Awards: Obie Award in Design category for English and Wish You Were Here (2022), Knight of Illumination Award for Nina Simone: Four Women (2019).

 

Haydee Zelideth ANTUÑANO

(Costume Design) is a Chicana artist and costume designer. Clothes carry on public conversations with others and share stories about who we are, who we are not, and who we wish to be. They are a means of exploring how image can open up perceptions of race, class, socioeconomic status, and more - all of which is what most interests her. She grew up on both sides of the Mexican border and these experiences inform her point of view and how she approaches her work, giving depth, dimension and color to the specificities of someone’s life. www.haydeezelideth.com

 

John Gasper

(Sound Design) is a sound designer, musician and performer. He has made sounds and performed with Elevator Repair Service, Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble, Advanced Beginner Group, Bailey Williams, Sarah Blush, Sibyl Kempson, New Saloon, Lisa Clair Group, Karinne Keithly Syers, Salon Seance, and more. His work has been seen and heard at Playwrights Horizons, The Bushwick Starr, Abrons Arts Center, NYU Skirball, The Chocolate Factory, JACK, The Brick, and theaters around the country. His music for theater is available on cassette via Kapha Selections. MFA: PIMA at Brooklyn College.

 

Nicholas Hussong

(Projection Design) is a designer for live and digital performance and events. Creative Producer at Dwight Street Book Club. Broadway: Skeleton Crew (Tony Nomination). Off-Broadway: Skeleton Crew, These Paper Bullets (Atlantic, Drama Desk Nom), Wet Brain (Playwrights Horizons), On That Day in Amsterdam (Primary Stages, Drama Desk Nom), White Guy on the Bus (59E59), Chick 6 (LaMama), Until the Flood (Rattlestick). Other credits include: The Wizard of Oz (Geva), RENT! (Paper Mill Playhouse), Vietgone(The Guthrie), To the Yellow House (Lajolla), Kleptocracy (Arena), Until the Flood (15 regional and international locations); Haint Blu, Hair & Other Stories (Urban Bush Women); Woman's Party (Clubbed Thumb); Grounded (Alley); Arden Theater, Playmakers Rep, Berkshires Theatre Group, Other work includes; Atlanta Opera, Virginia Museum of Art, David Zwirner Gallery, Marc Jacobs, Mass MoCA, Complex Magazine, AMC+, San Diego Shell, San Diego Symphony, Nashville Symphony, Hartford Symphony, Tony Awards (CBS), Ask Ronna Podcast. He also designed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany, China, Canada and Vienna. Co-Creator of FEAST, an immersive dining experience with Listen&Breathe (Nantucket & Ireland). Yale MFA. UAW & USA829 www.nickhussong.com

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