Catastrophic’s THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS is Mesmerizing, Momentous Masterpiece

Mickle Maher's There Is a Happiness That Morning Is is already on my list of best plays of the 2011-2012 theatre season.

If The Catastrophic Theatre had not produced this brilliant play, what other theatre would have?

I suspect the answer to that question is-----NONE.

I am embarassed to say that I have never seen a Mickle Maher play.

As the result of Friday night's opening, I am now hungry to read all of his plays.

Mr. Maher has a gift of language that is poetic by nature.

In a play about two college English/poetry professors, Maher has them so into the world of poetry, they speak in rhyming couplets.

What a brilliant choice this is, Mr. Maher!

Maher takes us into the classroom of both professors to begin the process of saying they are sorry for, upon reading and analyzing William Blake's poems, making love in the middle of the day beneath a tree in the school's quadrangle.

 The first lecture we experience is that of Bernard's(Troy Schulze), a published poet, given in the morning which focuses on a poem from Blake's Song of Innocence.

The other lecture occurs in the afternoon by his lover, Ellen (Amy Bruce), a reputable scholar on Blake's Songs of Experience.

 Both professors are in the trial of their life and must justify their actions or they will lose their jobs.

As a lover of poetry, I am totally mesmerized and drawn into the action when these two professors take us on a journey of spirituality, passion, and emotional highs with their love of Blake's words.

This play also has me hungry to go back and discover Blake all over again to see what new epiphanies I might have had thirty-six years after I studied him in college.

The progress of kundalini through the different chakras leads our two professors to different levels of awakening and mystical experience, until the kundalini finally reaches the top of the head, Sahasrara chakra, producing an extremely profound mystical experience and enlightenment.

Ironically, the base chakra is sexual passion.

If we cannot give into and embrace our sexuality, then is is doubtful that we will every achieve the true enligtenment of the seventh chakra.

There Is a Happiness That Morning Is is such a profound piece of theatre, that three days after opening night, my brain has not stopped processing its brilliance.

Part of what makes the play so all-encompassing is that we are sitting on risers in The Catastrophic Theatre's office in a micro-theatre that we cannot escape.

Trust me, if this play had been done in a bigger space, I dare say that it might not have been as powerful as we experience it a few feet away from the actors in this micro-theatre.

Director Jason Nodler once again shows us what a creative genius, what a true lover of theatre, and what a passionate director he is.

His casting could not be more impeccable. 

Mr. Nodler has found a true masterpiece in this play and he wants to share it with the world.

Thank you, Mr. Nodler, for sharing with us.

We are all the better for your gift.

Troy Schulze as Bernard could not be in better hands.

Mr. Schulze is one of my favorite actors working in Houston theatre today.

I think because he always ingeniusly finds the passion, the power, and the purpose behind each character he inhabits.

Amy Bruce as Ellen igives a powerhouse performance.

Ms. Bruce is absolutely riveting dissecting Blake's poetry and justifying her actions.

Kyle Sturdivant is so right on as the college's Dean that we are totally blown away after he shares his secrets with Ellen and Bernard and everyone sitting in the classroom that day.

Kevin Taylor lights the micro-theatre with perhaps half a dozen light cues, never getting in the way of Maher's masterpiece.

The Catastrophic Theatre has a huge hit on its hands with Mayer's There Is a Happiness That Morning Is so I highly recommend that you get your tickets before the run sells out.