Tribeca Theater's Gift to Its Neighbors

Carol Ostrow, producing director of The Flea, at a rehearsal in one of its two theaters. Photo: Carl Glassman

Carol Ostrow, producing director of The Flea Theater, proudly talks about how theater lovers come from all over the city, and well beyond, to see its productions.

From all over­—except Tribeca.

After 18 years on White Street, too many neighborhood residents still don’t know about them, Ostrow says. She’s bent on changing that. Starting this season, anyone living or working in Tribeca can get a free ticket to a Flea show.

“I am willing to take a bet,” Ostrow said, seated in her tiny, basement office, “that if you come to our play, you’ll find it interesting enough that whatever you do afterwards you’ll mention us and say, ‘I went to the Flea this afternoon. Do you know about the Flea?’”

The efforts began in January, said Dominic Spillane, who is in charge of  audience development.

“A Flea actor and volunteer walked the streets and got every address in 10013 and 10007,” Spillane said. “And then we looked up the names of the residents in white pages.”

By the end of March, they had collected addresses of 5,000 local residents, each of whom received a personal letter from Spillane, offering them a free ticket to a show.

This season’s productions are “The Recommendation” by Jonathan Caren (“Class, race, power and what happens to a friendship when the tables get turned.”) through Oct. 7, and “Sarah Flood in Salem Mass” by Adriano Shaplin (“A radical re-telling of the events leading up to the Salem Witch Trials.”) through Oct. 27.

According to Ostrow, the theater’s mission—“to raise a joyful hell in a small space”—has remained the same since it was founded by director Jim Simpson, designer Kyle Chepulis and playwright Mac Wellman.

“It is joyful,” she said, “because we want you to experience the theater in a positive way, and we want to raise hell by trying to talk about the world we live in.”

And the space is still small. One theater seats 75, the other 40. Before the shows begin, the actors are in the front of the house taking tickets, and during intermission, they may be selling beer or manning a cash register.

“This is not the Broadway experience,” Ostrow notes. “There are no bells and whistles. When you are a member of the audience at the Flea you are very aware that the actor is three feet away. Many people leave the theater and say, ‘Oh, it was so real. It was unbelievable.”

Ostrow says that she looks forward to the day when local residents realize that “some of the best theater in New York is only a few blocks away.”
“I want them to be fleabitten,” she said, laughing. “To get the appetite for us and come back.”

For a free ticket, go to theflea.org and enter the promotional code: tribeca.