In just a short time, the young company received a real-world education in how to make the best of a difficult situation.
Flux, an award winning theater ensemble which regularly develops plays, had been planning to do Archibald MacLeish's Pulitzer Price-winning classic "JB" as part of their 2009-2010 season, titled "Give and Take."
"Flux normally lives with a play we're interested in producing—new or classic—for over a year, discussing and workshopping it, before moving into production mode," says Flux artistic director and "Jacob's House" playwright August Schulenburg.
As anyone who's used an existing modern play knows, you need to obtain the rights to produce the work, which can be a time-consuming and costly process—one with which Flux had some experience.
"The only other time we've obtained rights for a playwright we didn't have a working relationship with, however, was when we produced John Clifford's translation of 'Life Is A Dream.' We obtained the rights at a similar time in our pre-rehearsal process without any trouble. Because 'JB' felt like a similar classic, we assumed there would be no difficulty."
The company had moved forward with the show while they were in the process of securing the rights, which they formally began in early January.
"We were pretty far along," says Schulenburg. "We had cast the show, we had a design team, we had a few production meetings, we had space, and we had an exploratory reading series based on the scenes of 'JB' already set in motion."
Unfortunately, the company had not anticipated they would be not be granted the rights. Word of the denial came the week of February 15, hardly two months before the show was to open, forcing the group to scramble.
They looked at the possibility of substituting another show.
"We had a number of plays we were excited about doing, but we were concerned about doing something that was very different from 'JB.' 'JB' was a part of our season for a particular reason because it was in conversation with the other plays we'd already done."
Opting neither rush through another play, nor abandon the show entirely, Schulenburg decided to compose an entirely new play based on the themes, concept, and cast of the ill-fated "JB."
The result—after a single weekend of writing by Schulenburg—is "Jacob's House." Schulenburg presented the first draft of the play to the ensemble less than 24 hours after it was finished—not even two weeks after "JB" fell through.
"We all decided to move forward with it, which was both really daunting and really exciting," says Schulenburg. "Daunting because usually the development process for a new play is a lot longer for us, but exciting because it felt like we were meeting the challenge in a really unique and exciting way and in a way that really captures the show must go on spirit."
Because "JB" had been cast, Schulenburg was given the rare opportunity to mold his play to a group of actors. "Being able to write for specific voices," he says, was "freeing." Other components of the play—setting, concept, and plot—were similarly inspired by "JB."
"It did instigate the creative process," says Schulenburg.
"JB" was set to take place in the storage room of a theater. For "Jacob's House," Schulenburg re-imagined the storage room as an attic. "That was a very strong image to me: all these boxes and all of these dress forms, and the storage room being transformed. So I decided it would be an attic in 'Jacob's House' because I think attics naturally have this sort of haunted, charged feel."
"Jacob's House," a meditation on faith and history, uses the biblical story of Jacob wrestling with an angel as a frame for a more contemporary story about a recently deceased patriarch.
"I imagined these three children gathering after the death of their father, who is the Jacob figure in the play, and trying to figure out his legacy and a unique provision of the will," says Schulenburg. "As they are figuring out what to do, they start telling stories about him and those stories come to life on stage. What that allowed me to do was enter into this mythical world."
Those familiar with "JB" will recognize some influence here: "JB" uses the biblical story of Job as a frame. "I couldn't write a play based on Job because we all just felt too connected to 'JB,'" says Schulenburg. "But I've always really been fascinated with the story of Jacob wrestling the angel."
Though the themes and structure of "JB" were influential in composing "Jacob's House," Schulenburg was careful to make the play accessible to viewers not familiar with MacLeish's work.
"I think that for those audience members who know 'JB' really well there will be a degree of extra interest. But... nobody needs to know 'JB' or even know the genesis of the play to enjoy it, to engage with it."
Now, while gearing up to premiere a play with the ink barely dry on the manuscript, Schulenburg views the experience with mingled excitement and humility.
"There's still that sense of unreality to it even though I go to these rehearsals and we're going to be opening this play," says Schulenburg. "Even though it came from this place of loss, it just feels like this tremendous gift. This play [that] wasn't even going to exist a month or so ago is now such a big part of our lives."
"It's just been such a joy. I guess I feel really in a weird way blessed. And that is so connected to the play—the idea of stealing a blessing or ripping a blessing from an adversity—so that's just been really cool."
"Jacob's House" runs from Friday, April 30 to Saturday, May 22 with performances Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8:00 and Sundays at 7:00 at the Access Theater (380 Broadway, NYC).