THEATRE | THURSDAYS–SUNDAYS, NOVEMBER 13–30 | $20–40
FUSION Theatre Company Presents ONE FLEA SPARE
FUSION Theatre Company is thrilled to present ONE FLEA SPARE by Naomi Wallace. The cast features Jacqueline Reid (Darcy Snelgrave), David Sinkus (William Snelgrave), Matthew Van Wettering (Kabe), and Jayce Ross (Morse). We also welcome Arron Shiver (Bunce) back to the boards since his turn as Stanley in FUSION’s 2003 production of A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE. FUSION Co-Founder Laurie Thomas directs the production.
“A tough and transcendent piece of proper grown-up theatre.” —The Guardian
The wealthy Snelgraves are shut up in their house. It’s 1665, and there’s a pandemic of sorts—the bubonic plague has descended upon London. The couple has only hours left of a 28-day quarantine when their home is mysteriously invaded by a sailor, Bunce and Morse, a young neighbor girl. With the arrival of these pesky newcomers, the Snelgraves' quarantine must begin all over again. As the shut-in days drag on, the boundaries that previously defined life are rewritten and abandoned. Sound familiar?
“[Naomi Wallace] speaks to, and for, the body as eloquently as any American writer since Walt Whitman.” —American Theatre
Naomi Wallace’s ONE FLEA SPARE made its New York premiere at The Public Theater in March of 1997 and won the OBIE Award for best play. She is also the recipient of a genius grant from the MacArthur Foundation, the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (twice), and an Arts and Letters Award in Literature. Her raison d’ étre as a playwright is to “write as though the lives of others depend on it.” Uniquely, her plays are characterized by a fluidity of time. “I feel like the past and present—that there’s always an active kind of liquid relationship between the two. And, how in our lives the past at times can seem far more present and relevant or alive inside us...” The prescience of Wallace’s ONE FLEA SPARE, given our collective experience of the 2020 pandemic, is beyond uncanny as the play acts as an ultimatum, urgent and intense, for the present moment.
Performances will be on Thursdays & Fridays at 7 PM, Saturdays at 2 PM & 7 PM, and Sundays at 3 PM. Opening night features a pre-show reception with doors opening one hour prior to curtain. Additional performances will be at Taos Center for the Arts on Saturday, November 29, at 7 PM and Sunday, November 30, at 2 PM.
FUSION | 708
708 1st. St. NW
Downtown ABQ
NOTE: Contains adult content.
Individual Tickets: General Admission: $40 | Seniors over 65: $35 | Students: $20
Thanks to the City of Albuquerque, Pay What You Wish Ticketing is available!
NAOMI WALLACE is a playwright and screenwriter from Kentucky who lives in North Yorkshire, U.K. Her plays, which won a MacArthur “genius” prize and Obie award, have been produced in the United Kingdom, Europe, the United States and the Middle East include In the Heart of America, Slaughter City, One Flea Spare, The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, Things of Dry Hours, The Fever Chart: Three Vision of the Middle East, The Liquid Plain and The Breach. Her stage adaptation of William Wharton’s novel Birdy was produced on the West End in London.
One Flea Spare has been incorporated in the permanent repertoire of the French National Theater, the Comédie- Francaise. Only two American playwrights have been added to La Comédie’s repertoire in 300 years. Films: Lawn Dogs, The War Boys, Flying Blind (co-written with Bruce McLeod). Awards: Susan Smith Blackburn Prize (twice), Joseph Kesselring Prize, Fellowship of Southern Writers Drama Award, a Horton Foote Award and a National Endowment for the Arts grant.
Wallace has received an Arts and Letters Award in Literature and the inaugural Windham Campbell prize for drama. Wallace's libretto, The Trials of Patricia Isasa, won the Opus Wards for "Concert of the Year, in Modern and Contemporary Music" from the Quebec Arts Council.
Wallace is writing the book for the new John Mellencamp musical, Jack and Diane, and co-writing with Ismail Khalidi a play for Ashtar Theater in Ramallah, Guernica, Gaza: Visions from the Center of the Earth.
Actors' Equity Association (AEA), founded in 1913, represents more than 45,000 actors and stage managers in the United States. Equity seeks to advance, promote and foster the art of live theatre as an essential component of our society. Equity negotiates wages and working conditions, providing a wide range of benefits, including health and pension plans. AEA is a member of the AFL-CIO, and is affiliated with FIA, an international organization of performing arts unions. The Equity emblem is our mark of excellence.