Reviews are rolling out for the New York premiere of Candrice Jones' Flex Off-Broadway at Lincoln Center Theater. The play opened July 20 at the Mitzi E. Newhouse Theater after beginning previews June 23. LCT Resident Director Lileana Blain-Cruz (The Skin of Our Teeth, White Girl in Danger) directs.
The new play follows an Arkansas all-girls high school basketball team in 1997 juggling aspirations of going pro in the WNBA and the pressures of being young, Black, and female in rural Arkansas
Read the reviews here.
New York Stage Review (David Finkle)
The New York Sun (Elysa Gardner)*
New York Theater (Jonathan Mandell)
New York Theatre Guide (Allison Considine)
The New York Times (Naveen Kumar)*
Off Off Online (Adrienne Onofri)
Talkin' Broadway (Howard Miller)
*This review may require creating a free account or a paid subscription.
Playbill will continue to update this list as reviews come in.
Starring in the cast are Brittany Bellizeare as April Jenkins, Christiana Clark as Coach Francine Pace, Eboni Edwards as The Sophomore and The Referee, Renita Lewis as Donna Cunningham, Erica Matthews as Starra Jones, Ciara Monique as Cherise Howard, and Tamera Tomakili as Sidney Brown. Rounding out the company as understudies are Alaina Kai Chester, Halili Knox, and Stephanie Everett. Casting is by Daniel Swee.
The work received its co-world premiere in 2022 via runs at Arkansas' TheatreSquared and Georgia's Theatrical Outfit, and was previously developed at the 2019 Bay Area Playwrights Festival, NNPN's 2020 National Showcase of New Plays, and the 2021 Arkansas New Play Festival.
The production features sets by Matt Saunders, costumes by Mika Eubanks, lighting by Adam Honoré, and sound by Palmer Hefferan. Charles M. Turner III is stage manager, and Jenna Clark Embrey and Kim Euell served as dramaturgs.
Also currently playing LCT is the Tony-nominated revival of Lerner and Loewe's Camelot, in the company's Vivian Beaumont Theatre through July 23.
Visit LCT.org.
Cast of FLEX
Erica Matthews and Tamera Tomakili in FLEX
Christiana Clark and the cast of FLEX
Ciara Monique and Renita Lewis in FLEX
Brittany Bellizeare, Tamera Tomakili, and Renita Lewis in FLEX
Cast of FLEX
Erica Matthews and Renita Lewis in FLEX
Erica Matthews in FLEX
