It Is Magicby Mickle Maher
Houston Premiere
Performances
Feb 9, 2024 -
Mar 2, 2024
“Things are getting crazy at the local Playhouse…”
Cast & Personnel
Director
Assistant Director
Choreography
Cast
Fight Choreography
Scenic Design
Costume Design
Lighting Design
Sound Design
Prop Design
Stage Manager
Deck Crew
The Play
Deb and Sandy are auditioning Tim for the role of the Wolf in an adult adaptation of The Three Little Pigs, but there’s a mysterious haze in the basement of the Mortier Civic Playhouse and that, along with interruptions from the director of ‘the Scottish play’ that’s having its opening night upstairs, is making things, well, even hazier. Then the mysterious Liz shows up throwing the room into utter chaos and revealing the deep, ancient evil at the heart of the community theater audition process.
It Is Magic is the latest play by Mickle Maher, writer of such Catastrophic favorites as There Is a Happiness That Morning Is; The Hunchback Variations; Song About Himself; Spirits to Enforce; The Strangerer; Jim Lehrer, The Theatre and Its Double, and Jim Lehrer’s Double; and Catastrophic commissioned world premieres of The Pine and Small Ball, the latter of which was co-produced by former Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey.
Directed by Catastrophic core artist Jeff Miller, whose past directing credits include Catastrophic hits Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class, and Baby Screams Miracle. Miller also teamed with actor Luis Galindo to co-direct Suzan-Lori Parks’ The Book of Grace in 2022, in which Galindo also starred. The Houston Press hailed the production as a triumphant “resurgence of the magical power of theater.”
It is Magic features an all-star cast of Catastrophic core artists: Amy Bruce, Tamarie Cooper, Dillon Dewitt, Luis Galindo, and Courtney Lomelo. THE PLAYWRIGHT
MICKLE MAHER
Mickle Maher’s plays have been produced Off-Broadway and throughout the world. Catastrophic has produced a whopping 12 productions of his plays, some of them more than once: last season’s It Is Magic, Song About Himself, The Hunchback Variations, There Is a Happiness That Morning Is, The Strangerer, Jim Lehrer and The Theater and Its Double and Jim Lehrer’s Double, and the world premieres of The Pine and Small Ball, commissioned and co-produced by Catastrophic and former Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey. Maher is a co-founder of Chicago’s Theater Oobleck and has taught playwriting and related subjects at The University of Chicago, Columbia College, and Northwestern University. His plays are published by Hope and Nonthings.
“Maher [is] one of the most original voices in American theater today.” – Houston Chronicle
In the Media
IT IS MAGIC preview on KPFT’s Open Journal: Listen to the interview
KPFT’s Duane Bradley and Stephanie Coleman catch up with It Is Magic director Jeff Miller and actress/Catastrophic Producing Artistic Director Tamarie Cooper.
LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW
IT IS MAGIC at Catastrophic Set to Create Its Own Brand of the Eerie
January 29, 2024 |
Houston Press
| Margaret Downing
