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Spirits to Enforce

Ticket Price

Pay What You Can

We Suggest $35
More If You Have it
Less if you don't

Location

Barnevelder
2201 Preston Street
Houston, TX
Venue Info

Performances

Dec 10, 2008 -
Dec 20, 2008

Cast & Personnel

Director
Cast
Scenic Design
Sound Design
Stage Manager
Assistant Stage Manager
Booth Crew

The Play

Here’s the scenario: superheroes are holed up in a submarine where they are conducting a telethon to raise money to put on a production of Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Times are tough for this pack of thespian crusaders. All are fearless defenders of the island of Fathom Town, a place they keep safe and tidy with their oddball traits. The Intoxicator gets the bad guys buzzed, Memory Lass remembers the future, and The Pleaser, well you can figure that out. Then there’s Snow Heavy Branch guy who can’t stop talking about a gondola. Of course, there’s an evil doer (gotta have one), Dr. Cannibal (as in Caliban), who has his own sordid history with The Tempest. Turns out they all do, as the gang discovers they are all remnant spirits of Prospero’s Isle. Snippets of their literary legacies come through in various phone conversations. They also find that fundraising and putting on a show may be a way harder job than fighting evil. Bard wonks should pay close attention to choice Tempest-isms cleverly tucked into phone chats.

The Playwright

MICKLE MAHER is a cofounder of Chicago’s Theater Oobleck and the author of numerous plays, including An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, and The Hunchback Variations. Recent plays include The Strangerer, Spirits to Enforce (Theater Oobleck),Cyrano (translator) and The Cabinet (Redmoon Theater), and Lady Madeline (Steppenwolf). His plays have appeared Off-Broadway and in numerous theaters around the world. He is published by Hope and Nonthings. He has been the recipient of a Creative Capital grant (for The Strangerer) and, recently, an NEA grant to develop his Hunchback Variations into an opera. He currently teaches at the University of Chicago.

In the Media

Capsule Stage Reviews: Spirits to Enforce
December 18, 2008 | Houston Press | Lee Williams
Spirits dares to be inventive
December 12, 2008 | Houston Chronicle | Everett Evans
REVIEW: The Catastrophic Theatre’s Spirits to Enforce
December 12, 2008 | Dancehunter | Nancy Wozny

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