World Premiere of FLEX by Candrice Jones
THEATRESQUARED TO STAGE THE CO-WORLD PREMIERE OF
FLEX
by Candrice Jones
directed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg
Co-World Premiere with Theatrical Outfit
Debut of newest work by Arkansas native and 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award winner will conclude T2's Season 16
TheatreSquared (T2) will produce the co-world premiere of FLEX by Candrice Jones, an Arkansas native and winner of the 2020 Steinberg Playwright Award, as the final production in its Season 16 lineup. Recently workshopped at the 2021 Arkansas New Play Festival, Flex will debut in full production alongside the 2022 Festival. Performances are scheduled June 19- July 24, 2022.
FLEX tells the story of a girls’ high school basketball team from Plainnole, Arkansas. It’s 1997, and the women of the Lady Train team are inspired by the successes of the WNBA. With aspirations of going pro, they must first navigate the pressures of being young, Black, and female in rural Arkansas. Will their fouls off the court tear their team apart? Or can they keep their pact to stick together through hell or high water? This powerful new play celebrates the fierce athleticism of women’s basketball with all the adrenaline and swagger of a four-quarter game.
"We’ve never had so many people tell us on their way out of a workshop reading, ‘you have to do this play,’" said T2 Director of New Play Development Dexter Singleton. "The audience loved it. The artists loved it. And now, all of Northwest Arkansas will have the chance to love it, too. The incredible humanity, compelling story, and sheer energy of Flex are simply not to be missed."
Playwright, poet, and educator Candrice Jones, originally of Dermott, Arkansas writes "love letters for and to women of the American South." She is a Steinberg Playwright Award winner, a VONA Playwriting alum, and CalArts Critical Studies MFA recipient. She is the author of the full-length play, Crackbaby (2010 Wasserstein Prize Nomination). She has been a resident fellow at Ground Floor housed by the Berkeley Rep, the Bay Area Playwrights’ Festival, and MacDowell’s Colony of the Arts. She received a 2019-20 Many Voices Fellowship and a 2020-21 Jerome Fellowship from The Playwrights' Center.
TheatreSquared’s production is helmed by Delicia Turner Sonnenberg. She is a founder and the former Artistic Director of MOXIE Theatre, which she led for 12 acclaimed seasons. Turner Sonneberg has also directed plays for The Old Globe Theatre, La Jolla Playhouse, Cygnet Theatre, New Village Arts, Diversionary Theatre, and the Playwright’s Project as well as staged readings for theatres around the country.
TheatreSquared’s production is a co-world premiere with Theatrical Outfit in Atlanta, GA, where it will be produced in the fall of 2022. FLEX was presented at NNPN’s 2020 National Showcase of New Plays and developed at the 2019 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, a program of the Playwrights Foundation.
About the Arkansas New Play Festival
Now in its fourteenth year, TheatreSquared’s Arkansas New Play Festival seeks to champion diverse plays that address important social, economic, and racial issues; to be a place our community can see themselves reflected on stage, and to present socially conscious new work. The festival has launched more than 60 new plays and now allows for artistic collaboration in both digital and in-person workshop formats. During 2020, the Arkansas New Play Festival workshop for Russian Troll Farm by Sarah Gancher launched that play toward being named as New York Times Best Theater of the year.
The 2022 Arkansas New Play Festival is supported by Barbara Shadden, in memory of Harry Shadden, and by the National Endowment for the Arts.
About TheatreSquared
TheatreSquared’s signature offering of bold new plays in an intimate setting has driven its growth to become the state’s largest theatre, offering more than 350 performances annually in two intimate spaces and online. The playwright-led company is one of mid-America’s leading laboratories for new work, having launched more than 60 new plays. Notable collaborators have included Bryna Turner, Anne García-Romero, Pulitzer Prize finalist Lisa D’Amour, Qui Nguyen, Mona Mansour, Tony Award nominee Lee Blessing, Amy Evans, and many others. TheatreSquared’s remarkable expansion—with a twentyfold increase in audience in just the past decade—parallels the emergence of its home region in the northwest corner of Arkansas as a booming population center and destination for American art. Offering far-reaching access and education programs and an open-all-day gathering space, The Commons Bar/Café, TheatreSquared remains rooted in its founding vision, that "theatre—done well and with passion—can transform lives and communities.
About Theatrical Outfit
Theatrical Outfit is proud to be Atlanta's second-oldest professional theatre, pursuing a mission to produce world-class theatre that starts the conversations that matter and helps create a community grounded in justice, equity and dignity. We believe in authentic storytelling that creates a place to have conversations about topics that are relevant to our lives; produces unforgettable artistic experiences; and strives to reconcile the complex past of the South with an equitable future. We invest in Atlanta by telling the unique stories of our city; respecting its rich history while laying the foundation for its future; and contributing to an inclusive and strong community. We live our values by affording equity and dignity to each person in our community; honoring the legacy of our city, our space and our art form; and serving and supporting those in need.