Fleavenby Miki Johnson
World Premiere
Performances
Nov 2, 2012 -
Nov 17, 2012
“The mall is the town. The town is the mall. The mall is a disco mall.”
Cast & Personnel
Director
Assistant Director
Music Direction
Choreography
Cast
- Daniel Adame
- Shanon Adams
- Ashley Allison
- Noel Bowers
- Joe Folladori
- Xzavien Hollins
- Hoja Lopez
- Mlee Marie
- Jeff Miller
- Karina Pal Montaño-Bowers
- Damon Price
- Candyce Prince
- Troy Schulze
- Kyle Sturdivant
Scenic Design
Costume Design
Lighting Design
Sound Design
Prop Design
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Booth Crew
The Play
Fleaven is the tale of Heaven, a disco professional laid low by the town’s town villain Flame who was left behind as Heaven achieved international disco stardom with the band Denim Shorts. Turning to hip hop and Rick James covers, Flame and his entourage terrorize the townspeople in an attempt to reunite with Heaven, leading (of course) to an epic disco-mall showdown. Told in a startlingly original style, Fleaven explores the breaking up and reconciliation of a deep friendship gone dark.
Fleaven is unlike any play you’ve ever seen. It sings and plays, rhymes and raps, dances and roller-skates its way through a Seussian disco dreamscape. Johnson’s unique voice is whimsical and pithy, heartfelt and hilarious throughout. Fleaven is a world unto itself, a joyride in the truest sense of the word.
Fleaven features the most eclectic ensemble in Catastrophic history including local actors from Catastrophic and other local theatres; prominent local musicians; notable local dancers; and a hilarious assortment of weirdos to complete the carnivalesque atmosphere.
The Playwright
MIKI JOHNSON was born in the small town of Green, Ohio. She received her BFA in creative writing at The University of Pittsburgh. While there, she and a friend produced Samuel Beckett's Happy Days, in which she played Winnie. And she's been acting ever since. Miki received her MFA in Acting from Yale University in 2005. Many plays and many cities later, she returned to Pittsburgh to play the lead role in After Mrs. Rochester, where she met her partner Jason. They moved to Houston and she began setting the town on fire with her extraordinary performances at The Catastrophic Theatre and Stages Repertory Theatre. In her first year here, she was named "Best Actress" and later "Best Playwright" by The Houston Press.
She has recently been signed by Antje Oegel at AO International Talent Agency for her writing. One of her newer plays, God is a Good God, has been selected for development at Super Labs, a new play development program co-run by Clubbed Thumb and Playwright's Horizons in NYC. The development workshop will be held in spring, 2014 in New York.
As for on-stage performances, Miki has appeared in Catastrophic's Endgame, Crave, Bluefinger, The Designated Mourner, Our Late Night, Spirits to Enforce, and Big Death and Little Death. At Stages Repertory Theatre, she appeared in Mr. Marmalade and Oh! The Humanity. Miki has had two other plays produced by Catastrophic Theatre in 2012: Fleaven, a hip-hop musical written in rhyme; as well as her play American Falls for which she was awarded Best Playwright of 2012 by the Houston Press at their annual Houston Theatre Awards.
In the Media
Houston playwright’s second world premiere is a slice of disco Fleaven — and offers hope for more
November 20, 2012 |
culturemap
| Tarra Gaines
Catastrophic’s disco flashback is seventh ‘Fleaven’
November 12, 2012 |
Houston Chronicle
| Everett Evans
Catastrophic Theatre: “Fleaven”
November 8, 2012 |
KUHA The Front Row
| St. John Flynn
Fleaven: Imagining An Entire Town Contained Within a Huge Shopping Mall
November 5, 2012 |
Houston Press
| Jim Tommaney
Top Five Things to Do This Weekend
November 2, 2012 |
Houston Press
| Olivia Flores Alvarez
