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There is a Happiness That Morning Is

By Mickle Maher

Directed By Jason Nodler
Featuring Amy Bruce and Troy Schulze

September 23 – October 23 at the Catastrophic Micro-Theatre

Bernard and Ellen are college professors and scholars of the poet William Blake. The night before we meet them, they have been overtaken by their common passion and spontaneously made love on the public green for all to see. Now they must apologize for or successfully defend their act, to the students that witnessed it, or lose their tenured positions. Moreover, what they do next will profoundly impact each one's ability to remain in the lives they've know for literally decades before.The play is presented as two lectures – one idealistic and impassioned, the other defiant but conflicted. Delivered entirely in rhymed verse, the play nevertheless possesses a pronounced comedic and contemporary sensibility. The verse is quick and the rhymes are sharp, but it is what's at their bottom that matters. Though they speak of Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, they do so in the service of a real, hard look at love, its difficulties and its miracles.

In There is a Happiness That Morning Is, Maher is focused on how differently two people can view even the most intimate shared experience and the impact that difference might have on their lives.

Of course, all Maher plays are up to something more than meets the eye. His work is known for wildly inventive conceits married to deeply resonant themes. In Spirits to Enforce, Maher recast Shakespearean characters as superheroes to examine nostalgia and a yearning to return to a fulfilling former life. The Strangerer mashed up the Bush-Kerry presidential debates with Albert Camus' classic text, casting Bush as an existential hero in search of meaning. One need not be familiar in any way with Blake, Shakespeare or Camus to experience the grandest qualities of his plays. The clever setups are always transcended by deeper questions.

Maher's plays are reliably touching, but are also always extraordinarily funny. The sort of funny that has audiences falling out of their chairs. If you saw Catastrophic's productions of The Strangereror Spirits to Enforce, you know exactly what we're talking about. Audiences left the theatre laughing their heads off while expressing wonder and awe at having seen something unique and magnificent.

Mickle Maher is a cofounder of Theatre Oobleck, and has been a playwright/adaptor/translator for 20 years. He has authored eight plays for Oobleck, including The Strangerer (funded by a grant from Creative Capital), Spirits to Enforce, and The Hunchback Variations. Other plays include Cyrano (translator) and The Cabinet for Redmoon Theater, and Lady Madeline for Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Maher's works have been produced throughout the country and in Europe.

In 2008, The Catastrophic Theatre produced Maher's The Strangerer and Spirits to Enforce to both popular and critical acclaim. The Houston Chronicle called Maher "one of the most original voices in American theatre today."

There Is a Happiness That Morning Is was first produced in Chicago by Theatre Oobleck in April 2011. Here's what critics said about the world premiere:

 

There Is a Happiness That Morning Is opens Friday September 23 and runs Thursday – Saturday evenings at 8:00 pm and Sunday evenings at 7:30 pm through October 23.

All regular performances are PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN.

 

This play will be performed in our Micro-Theatre at the Catastrophic Office, 1540 Sul Ross (at Mandell), across from The Menil Collection. Seating is extremely limited and reservations are strongly encouraged.

Opening night party Friday September 23. Tickets are $50 and include buffet and open bar.

For tickets, visit catastrophictheatre.com or call the box office at 713-522-2723.