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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE, PLEASE

THE FLEA
ANNOUNCES
SHARAÉ MOULTRIE
TO JOIN
ARDEN: BUT, NOT WITHOUT YOU
BEGINNING FEBRUARY 26

OKWUI OKPOKWASILI TO PLAY FINAL PERFORMANCE FEBRUARY 25

New York, NY (February 24, 2022) The Flea announced today Sharaé Moultrie will join cast of ARDEN: But, Not Without You beginning Saturday, February 26. Moultrie will replace Okwui Okpokwasili, whose last performance will take place on Friday, February 25.

The Flea’s Artistic Director, Niegel Smith, says, “We wish Okwui the best, as she takes her first Broadway bow, and are so thankful that Okwui has written a new monologue that Sharaé will premiere in Arden starting February 26^th.”

Moultrie most recently joined the cast of the International Tour of Dreamgirls, playing the incomparable Deena Jones (a role she premiered in China).
Arden: But, Not Without You is a genre-bending new work, commissioned by The Flea. In addition to Okpokwasili, Arden is currently led by Peter Born, 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.

BIOGRAPHY
SHARAÉ MOULTRIE is a NYC based actor and singer. She has performed across the globe, singing at renowned venues such as Feinstein’s/54Below, Joe’s Pub at the Public, and the Bitter End and music festivals including the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, the largest arts festival in the world. She was recently seen in the 95^th Annual Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. As a musical theater performer, some of her favorite roles include Deena Jones (Dreamgirls, International Tour), Emmie Thibodeaux (Caroline, or Change), and Lady Larken (Once Upon A Mattress).

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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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