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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

THE FLEA
ANNOUNCES
ARDEN: BUT, NOT WITHOUT YOU
FINAL EXTENSION THROUGH SUNDAY, MARCH 13

NEW TRAILER HERE

New York, NY (March 1, 2022) The Flea announced today ARDEN: But, Not Without You is now extended through Sunday, March 13 by popular demand. Tickets are now on sale for performances through March 13.

New material by Okwui Okpokwasili has been added into the production consisting of a monologue to cross divisions and join in a common effort.

“Arden feels like a poem, an ode to new beginnings, a ritual to solemnize a space, and a group embrace. The performers let us in, open their arms, feed off our energy, and offer us blessings. Together, we can hopefully leave more at peace and bask in this much-transformed version of the Flea.”
–TheaterMania

“There are chants, songs, poems, poetic movement, childhood anecdotes, exhortations, communal prayers. But most of this is threaded through a loud, bluesy rock concert, the effect of which is wonderfully entertaining.”
–New York Theater

Arden: But, Not Without You is a genre-bending new work, commissioned by The Flea. Arden is led by Peter Born, Sharaé Moultrie, Diana Oh, Niegel Smith, Carrie Mae Weems and Nia Witherspoon.

Smith and Witherspoon co-direct a group of performers that includes Smith, Weems, Oh, Okpokwasili, Born, and Jack Fuller. Oh and Fuller also serve as Co-Music Directors.

ARDEN’s band features Serena Ebony Miller (bass), Bernice “Boom Boom” Brooks (percussion), and Viva DeConcini (guitar).

The design team includes Born (Environmental Designer), Tony Award winner Linda Cho (Costume Designer), and Hao Bai (Projection, Sound, and LX Design).

To view and download photos, please click here.

Tickets for ARDEN are priced $15-$35 and are available now at www.theflea.org

This last year has been a momentous transformation for The Flea. They have proudly focused their new mission to support and invest in experimental art by Black, brown and queer artists, and are the only theater in New York City focused on supporting experimental work at this intersection.

Diana Oh describes Arden as, “Four Generations of Deeply Intimately Bound All-Kinds-of-Doing-Shit Artists sharing of themselves in a Tender-Ass Room full of Queer Femme Shamanic Energy who Genuinely and Gently Welcome You: Social Anxieties, Yummy Freakiness, and All.”

Okwui Okpokwasili adds, “We assume nothing. We know nothing, other than a shared desire to reach out and learn about how little we have known and how much we assume. We bring each other offerings and practices and we ask people to come and join us in these offerings. Can we come together in this spirit? There will be music, there will be dance, there might be a party. You bring what you can, we will hold a space for it.”

And Diana brings it all back, “When the world be moving so fast, and I be so gentle, this is the room I wanna be in.”

Come as you are.

For all information, please visit www.theflea.org.

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The Flea Theater, led by Artistic Director Niegel Smith and Board Co-Chair Nona Hendryx, supports and invests in experimental art by Black, brown and queer artists. Winner of several Obie Awards, a Special Drama Desk Award for outstanding achievement and an Otto Award for political theater, The Flea has presented over 100 theatrical, musical and dance performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include premieres by Steven Banks, Thomas Bradshaw, Erin Courtney, Bathsheba Doran, Will Eno, Karen Finley, Amy Freed, Sarah Gancher, Sean Graney, A.R. Gurney, Jennifer Haley, Hamish Linklater, Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio, Itamar Moses, Anne Nelson, Qui Nguyen, Adam Rapp, Jonathan Reynolds, Kate Robbins, Roger Rosenblatt, Elizabeth Swados, and Mac Wellman. Successes include Drama Desk nominated She Kills Monsters, These Seven Sicknesses, Restoration Comedy, The Mysteries and ten World Premiere productions by A.R. Gurney, including the WSJ Best New Play of 2013, Family Furniture.

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