The Flick
The Flick
By Annie Baker
Directed by Summer Bohnenkamp
Sep. 1 – 24, 2017
Tickets: $29.50
Preview Performances: Aug. 30 – 31 | Tickets: $15
Shimberg Playhouse, Straz Center for the Performing Arts
Please note: due to Hurricane Irma, an additional performance has been scheduled for 8pm, Wed., Sep. 20.
Distinctions
Broadway World
- Best of the Decade
- Best Performances of the Decade – Georgia Mallory Guy
What It's About
In a run-down movie theater in central Massachusetts, three underpaid employees (Georgia Mallory Guy, Brian Shea, and Thomas Morgan) clean the theater between screenings and attend to one of the last 35-millimeter film projectors in the state. Their tiny battles and not-so-tiny heartbreaks play out in the empty aisles, becoming far more gripping than the lackluster, second-run movies on screen.
Why It’s For You
Remember the first time you got up the courage to tell someone you loved them? Can you still remember that one person you never told? Or the first time you stood up for a belief? The Flick portrays a stage of life everyone has been through – or are in right now. A time of finding your identity and purpose, figuring out your future, and experiencing setbacks and disappointments. A time of searching for a better life without quite knowing at times how to achieve success or how to overcome failure.
With keen insight and a finely-tuned comic eye, The Flick is a hilarious and heart-rending cry for authenticity in a fast-changing world. Bay area theatergoers may recall Baker’s work from the recent critically-acclaimed production of The Aliens at Stageworks Theater, directed by Jobsite Producing Artistic Director David M. Jenkins.
- 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Drama
- 2013 Obie Award for Playwriting
- 2013 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play
- 2013 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Play
- 2013 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
Why We Chose It
We think it won all of those awards for a reason. It’s simply that good. It speaks to a younger generation without alienating older generations through the universality of several of the show’s themes. It’s very “real” like Time Stands Still and extremely funny like All New People.
Funny, heartbreaking, sly, and unblinking. The Flick may be the best argument anyone has yet made for the continued necessity, and profound uniqueness, of theater. – New York Magazine
About The Playwright
Anne Baker is author of several award-winning plays, including Circle Mirror Transformation (2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play) and The Aliens (2010 Obie Award for Best New American Play). Baker is also the recipient of a 2014 Guggenheim Fellowship, an American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, a Hull-Warriner Award, a Steinberg Award, and the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library.
Critic Reviews
...you'll want to discuss [The Flick] with some pie after the show ... [it] sticks with you long after its curtain call. Dialogue-driven with a mix of post-9/11 cynicism and the '90s-style introspection of Clerks and Empire Records ... The performances make The Flick a must-see. – Tampa Bay Times
The fine Jobsite Theater production ... gives us many opportunities to laugh — but the laugh is on all of us who know too well the taste of failure and thwarted hopes. Fortunately for Baker’s characters (and for us), there are some glimmers of victory in the otherwise forbidding landscape. Sometimes good emerges from evil; sometimes the impossible comes within reach. – Creative Loafing
This is the most fun a movie geek like me has had at the theater in a long, long while ... there's no better gift to give yourself right now than treating yourself to see The Flick – a funny, moving, hands-down terrific show at a time when we need it the most. – BroadwayWorld
News
Cast & Crew
- Summer Bohnenkamp – Director
- Kristen Garza – Technical Director
- Vivian Rodriguez – Stage Manager
Cast
- Georgia Mallory Guy – Rose
- Thomas Morgan – Avery
- Brian Shea – Sam
- Dreamer/Skylar
- David Jenkins (Sep. 1-3)
- Kari Goetz (Sep. 7-10)
- Nick Hoop (Sep. 14-17)
- Jamie Jones (Sep. 21-24)
Crew
- Teah Banks – Asst. Stage Manager
- David M. Jenkins – Sound Designer
- Ryan E. Finzelber – Lighting Designer
- Brian Smallheer – Scenic Designer
- Katrina Stevenson – Costume Designer
Patron Reviews
It was outstanding! Great work. 
– Catherine Matthews
What a treat! Funny yet poignant it was a great day spent at the theater … All in all a GREAT start to our 2017-2018 season! – Lori Pate
See it! The Flick is complex and challenging with performances that will make you forget you are watching a play. It will give you a lot to talk about on the ride home (you might end up sitting in the driveway discussing it). If Brian Shea’s performance doesn’t break your heart, you don’t have one. – Clare Ward-Jenkins
This play is subtle at times but speaks volumes about the talent in our community! The actors’ portrayal of these characters is authentic in the quiet moments we’ve all experienced where we look back and think, “Was that more than just a moment? Was that a turning point?” I wanted to smack them, hug them and buy them a beer. If you need a break from Irma cleanup, a night to feel normal again after this funky week or just some good company, great talent and A/C, check this out and support your local theater! – Stephanie Gocklin
Loved it! What a treat. I caught it Thursday night to distance myself from the Irmacane that has stolen any semblance of knowing what day of the week it is. The time flew by. At intermission, my seat-mates, and new acquaintances, wondered with me if the show was really over with so much up in the air. We hadn’t pre-read our program to know the length. Then every black out we said, ” No. Really? Not yet?!?” The evening delivered what was needed by all of us…a sense of community, getting absorbed in brilliant characters’ lives, and much to ponder about the unexamined assumptions in our own lives. Thank you all For jobs well done. – Michele Young
Get your asses out to see The Flick from Jobsite Theater at the Straz! Saw the preview last night and enjoyed it tremendously. Go. – Rob Broadwater
Well acted and thought provoking. Touching and challenging at the same time. – Beverly Hanlon
OMG saw this opening night. I left deep in thought and happily satisfied and entertained. It was full of raw emotions and hilarious comedy. Also a lot of fun movie fun facts. See it, man! – Lauren Farrington
Saw this opening night, it’s a fabulous play! – Karissa Francis
I absolutely LOVED Annie Baker’s The Flick … I highly recommend it. Really, really great! – Jonathan Harrison
Such a fun show! – Susan Belvo
Definitely go see The Flick at Jobsite Theater if you get the chance. Clever, subtle, and over all very real performances by Brian Shea, Thomas Morgan, and Georgia Mallory Guy … If you’ve ever worked in a movie theatre (or probably any similar service) you will know all of these people and feel personally attacked by how authentic it is. – Erica Garraffa
Haven’t laughed that hard in a long, long time. This play is brilliant! – @nataliesymons
Loved the cameo for preview last night! Great show. 
– vinnytafuro
