FLEX
by Candrice Jones
directed by Kendra Ware
With all the swagger of a four-quarter game, FLEX tells the story of the Lady Train, a high school basketball team whose futures ride on reaching the state championship. It’s 1998, and the newly-formed WNBA inspires dreams of going pro—but the realities of being young, Black women in rural Arkansas and a teammate’s pregnancy threaten to block their shot. Will their choices off the court tear the team apart, or bring their dreams closer? Candrice Jones’s award-winning, adrenaline-packed play celebrates the fierce athleticism of women’s basketball and the joy of teamwork.
Actors Theatre of Louisville is thrilled to have FLEX back in our court five years after developing the play as part of our 2020 new play festival. FLEX was only days away from a world premiere in the Bingham Theatre when the pandemic forced theatres around the country to suspend live events, and it has since been recognized as a breakout play. With this production, Actors Theatre is also proud to welcome back Kendra Ware, our recent Lloyd Richards New Futures Resident Artist, as the show’s director.
“Critic’s Pick! A slam-dunk debut… There’s an alchemy to FLEX that conjures ardent home-team affinity from the audience… But the special sauce is also in the careful economy of Jones’s character development, which offers just enough detail to inspire curiosity about who these women could become without claiming to know exactly who they are.”
—The New York Times
FLEX
With all the swagger of a four-quarter game, FLEX tells the story of the Lady Train, a high school basketball team whose futures ride on reaching the state championship. It’s 1998, and the newly-formed WNBA inspires dreams of going pro—but the realities of being young, Black women in rural Arkansas and a teammate’s pregnancy threaten to block their shot. Will their choices off the court tear the team apart, or bring their dreams closer? Candrice Jones’s award-winning, adrenaline-packed play celebrates the fierce athleticism of women’s basketball and the joy of teamwork.
Actors Theatre of Louisville is thrilled to have FLEX back in our court five years after developing the play as part of our 2020 new play festival. FLEX was only days away from a world premiere in the Bingham Theatre when the pandemic forced theatres around the country to suspend live events, and it has since been recognized as a breakout play. With this production, Actors Theatre is also proud to welcome back Kendra Ware, our recent Lloyd Richards New Futures Resident Artist, as the show’s director.
“Critic’s Pick! A slam-dunk debut… There’s an alchemy to FLEX that conjures ardent home-team affinity from the audience… But the special sauce is also in the careful economy of Jones’s character development, which offers just enough detail to inspire curiosity about who these women could become without claiming to know exactly who they are.”
—The New York Times
by Candrice Jones
directed by Kendra Ware
Dates and Tickets
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