See ATWT's Marnie Schulenburg on Stage

(All Photos by Isaiah Tanenbaum)

Is beauty a thief or a gift?

Flux’s 2009/10 season, “A Season of Give and Take” begins with Adam Szymkowicz’s PRETTY THEFT, a play about ballerinas, boxes and the dangers of beauty. After losing her father, Allegra falls under the wing of bad girl Suzy, only to find an unexpected friendship with Joe, an autistic savant. When things between them take a violent turn, Allegra and Suzy escape on a cross-country trip. The girls end up befriending Marco, a mysterious thief who claims he cannot be caught. Newest Flux member Angela Astle stages this unsettling play from the critically acclaimed playwright of Nerve, Food for Fish and Incendiary.

PRETTY THEFT features Todd D’Amour*, Candice Holdorf*, Maria Portman Kelly*, Lynn Kenny, Brian Pracht, Zack Robidas, Marnie Schulenburg, and Cotton Wright*.

*Appearing courtesy of Actors’ Equity Association

The creative team for PRETTY THEFT includes Kate August (Stage Manager), Heather Cohn (Set Design), Andy Fritsch (Lighting Design) Kevin Fuller (Sound Design), Becky Kelly (Costume Design), and Ashley Martinez (Choreographer).

The production, produced by Flux Theatre Ensemble, will play at the Access Theater Gallery Space (380 Broadway at White Street, 4th Floor) April 23-May 17, Thursday through Saturday at 8pm and Sundays at 7pm. Tickets ($18) are available online at www.fluxtheatre.org

Adam Szymkowicz (Playwright) Adam’s plays Food For Fish and Nerve were called “fabulously weird and weirdly fabulous” and “sweet, sexy, neurotic friendly”, respectively, by the New York Times. His work has been produced throughout the U.S., and in Canada, England, The Netherlands and Lithuania. Adam’s plays have been presented or developed at such places as MCC Theater, Ars Nova, South Coast Rep, Playwright Horizons, LAByrinth Theater Company, The Lark, Julliard, Manhattan Theatre Source, Clubbed Thumb, Theatre of Note and Studio Dante. Plays include Deflowering Waldo, Open Minds, Anne, The Art Machine, Food For Fish, Hearts like Fists, Herbie, Incendiary, Bee Eater, Temporary Everything, Susan Gets Some Play and Nerve. Adam’s plays have been published by Dramatists Play Service, The New York Theater Review and in various Smith and Kraus anthologies. Adam is a two-time Lecomte du Nouy Prize winner, a member of the Dramatists Guild, the MCC Playwright’s Coalition and was a founding member of Ars Nova Play Group. Adam received his playwriting MFA from Columbia University where he was the Dean’s Fellow and, subsequently, received a Playwright’s Diploma from the Julliard School.

Angela Astle (Director) came to New York from Denver, Colorado in August 2007. She was the Venue Director for the New York International Fringe Festival 2007 where she first met Flux Theatre Ensemble. She was invited to be the associate director for Flux’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream while also associate producing Lysistrata at Gallery Players. Past directing credits include Dead Man Walking (Tim Robbins’ play based on the movie and book of the same name) and Waffles by Martha Garvey as part of the Estrogenius Festival 2008 at Manhattan Theatre Source. Waffles was selected for encore performances during the “Best of Estro Week”. Other recent directing credits include A Place for Owls by Fiona Jones, and What We Planned For by Jen Thatcher. Angela is currently the Associate Producer at New Perspectives Theatre Company.

Flux Theatre Ensemble is a group of multi-faceted theatre artists composed of playwrights, directors, actors and designers. Through continual collaboration and development of new works, re-imagined classics, and ensemble-based projects, Flux creates seasons with an underlining theme that unites work that is character-driven, globally engaged and uniquely theatrical. Flux is the proud recipient of two NYC Fringe Festival Awards. In 2007 the Village Voice Audience Favorite Award for August Schulenburg’s Riding the Bull and in 2008 for Heather Cohn’s “Outstanding Direction” of Other Bodies. nytheatre.com chose Flux Theatre Ensemble as one of their “People of the Year” for 2008 saying “This rising theatre company had a hit in the New York International Fringe Festival with Other Bodies, written by artistic director August Schulenburg, and then went on to mount the fall's most ambitious indie show, Johnna Adams's Angel Eaters Trilogy.”

"Best Underappreciated Indie Theatre Company Whose Work You Should Get Your Ass To"

New York Press

“Flux Theatre Ensemble is a smart company, unafraid of challenging material, and they make a point of engaging their audience at every turn.” nytheatre.com

“Even though we may already know that theater brings a transforming magic to our mortal world, it's a pleasure to have a production as delightful as this one to remind us.” Patrick Lee, TheaterMania (A Midsummer’s Night Dream)

“One could say it is one of the most intelligent and perceptive works to have taken the indie theater stage this year, and that would still not be doing the play justice. Nathanial Kressen, nytheatre.com (Other Bodies)

"One of the pleasures derived from attending lots of Off-Off-Broadway plays is the chance to discover new talent, and Johnna Adams' wildly ambitious…new trilogy is currently offering a bumper crop of it." Mark Peikert, Backstage (The Angel Eaters Trilogy)

ATWT Stars in NYC Fringe Festival

Marnie Schulenburg (pictured), who plays Alison Stewart, will appear in a production of Anais Nin Goes to Hell as part of the 11th annual New York International Fringe Festival at the Connelly Theater, located at 220 East 4th Street from August 8th until August 24th, 2008. For tickets and more information please call (866) 468-7619 or visit www.nycfringe.org.

Billy Magnussen, Casey, will appear in a production of Paper Dolls as part of the 11th annual New York International Fringe Festival, running August 8 through August 24 at the Players Theatre, located at 115 MacDougal Street in New York City. For more information, please visit www.paperdollstheplay.com.

10 Questions With ATWT's Marnie Schulenburg

Q. When did you first know you wanted to be an actress?

A. I always knew I wanted to be a performer. I started dancing when I was in kindergarten and singing in elementary school. I didn’t begin vocal lessons until seventh grade, but I was always in my school choirs, participating in shows and dancing before then. I was mainly focused on singing and musical theater until I went to college, and I fell in love with Shakespeare, Moliere, Euripides, Tennessee Williams and many other amazing playwrights.

Q. What were some of the early things you did (acting-wise)?

A. Well, the first play I was ever in was “Nounsense,” a play written by one of my fifth-grade teachers, and it was sort of like a “Schoolhouse Rock!” show, which taught correct grammar, sentence structure, etc. It was very cutesy and a lot of fun.

Then I got involved in All-Cape Theatrical, a musical program for kids 14 and up. I learned a lot about performance through that program.

Q. How did you get the part of Alison on “As the World Turns”?

A. I went in for a general meeting with Mary Clay Boland (“ATWT” casting director), and we talked about how I just moved to Astoria, Queens, a couple months before and that it was about an hour and half subway ride away from the studio. So, she was nice enough to let me read something since I had come all the way out there. I then did a cold read of a scene she had, and I guess she liked it, because she then called Executive Producer Chris Goutman down to see me do the scene. Well, the rest is history! I started full time about two months later. But first I shot an episode on “The Young and the Restless” and a series of Web episodes to reintroduce the character of Alison to the “ATWT” audience.

Q. Who do you have the most fun with?

A. I don’t know if there’s one person in particular, because everyone is so different and fun in their own ways. Of course it also has to do with who I work the most with, which is Agim Kaba (Aaron), and for a while Jen Landon (Gwen) and Jesse Lee Soffer (Will), who I had so much fun with to the point where I would break at the end of a lot of scenes because I couldn’t keep a straight face with them.

Q. What do you like most about playing Alison? What can you relate to about her?

A. I like how lovable she is. She has such endearing qualities, and the writers have been doing a great job creating little quirks for me to play. And I love her silly sarcasm! I think that is what I relate to the most. I can be very sarcastic, as a matter of fact, and Alison can be very similar to the point of being blunt, but never maliciously mean.

Q. You’ve been on “As the World Turns” for a little more than a year now; how has it been so far?

A. I absolutely love being on the show! Every person who works on the show is incredibly talented, passionate and caring. The show is perfect for me – it’s challenging, it keeps me acting (which I love), it keeps me in New York, which is where I want to be, and it allows me to do small theater and musical theater projects on the side.

Q. Who have you learned the most from?

A. I have learned a lot from all the actors on the show, because everyone has their own style and process to connect with the character they are playing. And I have learned what works for me now by watching and growing with them.

Q. What is a favorite or funny special moment you can remember from filming “ATWT”?

A. There were so many amazing and challenging moments for me since I joined the show, but one of the few very silly moments for me was during a scene I did with Jen and Jesse. One day I just could not stop laughing on all my tag lines, which are the last lines of a scene. It had been a long day, and we had one last scene after lunch to finish, so everybody was ready to go right away. I was busy joking around with one of the cameramen. I was in a different room of the set we were shooting on, and I didn’t even hear the stage manager say “ACTION!” I finally noticed the silence and that Jen, Jesse and Agim are saying their lines in the other room, the room that I was supposed to be in to have an intense moment with Agim. So, I slowly walked in hoping I could play it off like I was entering late. But it was too late for all of us, because all their eyes looked at me as I nonchalantly entered, and I could see they were all on the brink of laughing, wondering what the heck I was doing. It was pretty ridiculous!

Q. What are some exciting things coming up for Alison that you are allowed to disclose to me?

A. Well, things are going to come to a climatic halt with Matt and Alison since she knows the truth about who he works for. Also, she’s going to focus on her future and career like Dusty wanted her to.

Q. Your brother, Gus Schulenburg, and other New York actors founded the Flux Theatre Ensemble, which you sometimes participate in. Can you tell me a little about the group?

A. Gus and several other actors started working together two and a half years ago and decided to form Flux Theatre Ensemble. They have a yearly season of shows, and they also spend Sundays work-shopping new plays. This way, actors have an outlet if they are too busy with working means-to-an-end jobs, and the playwrights get to hear their work out loud. It’s a win-win situation for everyone involved.

Y&R and ATWT Crossover Characters

A crossover of CBS's The Young and the Restless and As the World Turns will result in a new Web series, L.A. Diaries, which will begin streaming today, Thursday, Feb. 22 on cbs.com's innertube. Nine webisodes of the series will feature the backstory and friendship between Y&R's Amber Moore (Adrienne Frantz) and Alison Stewart (Marnie Schulenburg), a new character on ATWT.

Schulenburg will be introduced to the audience on the Thursday, Feb. 22 episode of Y&R when Amber seeks out her old friend Alison for help with an important problem. The same day, L.A. Diaries will begin telling the story of Alison and Amber's friendship and the saga of how they came to be living where they are today. Alison will make her debut on ATWT on Wednesday, March 21.

"We are so excited to have this opportunity to introduce a character from ATWT on Y&R, and to enable the audience to see their history through the webisodes of L.A. Diaries," said Barbara Bloom, Sr. Vice President, Daytime Programs, CBS. "It's a wonderful chance for the fans of both shows to tune in and see some backstory on the characters, which is something we don't often get to do in daytime."

"As the World Turns" Brings Back Ali

Marnie Schulenberg has been cast as Alison Stewart on "As the World Turns." She was last played by Jessica Dunphy. When Dunphy left the soap to pursue other opportunities, Alison the character moved to Seattle to join boyfriend Aaron Snyder (Agim Kaba).

Alison was a bad girl just like big sis (and bio mom) Emily Stewart (Kelley Meninghan Hensley) when she first came to Oakdale, but by the time she left, she had finally matured and gotten her man. Now it seems the newest incarnation of the character resembles Alison during her teenage years. In an interesting crossover, the character will first be seen on "The Young and the Restless" (both are CBS soaps, but "Y&R" is not a Procter & Gamble-owned soap like "GL" and "ATWT" are) on Feb. 22nd. Ali will help friend her Amber (herself a character crossover from "Bold & Beautiful," played by Adrienne Franz) trick Chancellor heir Cane into marriage.

You can get caught up to date on Alison's shenanigans on the Internet by watching the Innertube original series "L.A. Diaries" at www.cbs.com/innertube. Schulenberg will debut on "ATWT" on Mar. 21.