A New Artistic Director For A Formerly Modest Company In The Midst Of Transformation

“Smith is now two days away from the opening of the first show of his first season at the Flea, Thomas Bradshaw’s ‘Fulfillment,’ a comic drama about New York strivers and a supposedly perfect downtown apartment. The season also happens to be one of the last before the Flea — founded in 1996 by Mr. Simpson and others, to raise ‘joyful hell in a small space’ — itself trades up to a new $21 million home. It’s tempting to spot a sly metaphor.”