[Preview] SMALL BALL - new musical produced by Daryl Morey opens April 6!

Next up are two more really wonderful plays, running in rep (alternating performances in same space), each by the writer of SMALL BALL, the great Mickle Maher.

THE STRANGERER is set at the first Bush-Kerry debate moderated by Jim Lehrer but is mashed up with Camus (The Stranger and other of his work) in a way that casts Bush as the existential hero. This was the first of Maher's plays we produced and it is amazing, hilarious, and very meaningful. During the first run there were several stories about the greatness of the actor playing Bush but all three were incredible and they're all reprising their roles from the 2008 production. Sean Judge (who plays Pippin in Small Ball) plays Jim Lehrer and not only in this play...

JIM LEHRER AND THE THEATER AND ITS DOUBLE AND JIM LEHRER'S DOUBLE is a followup to THE STRANGERER but focuses exclusively on two characters: Jim Lehrer the retired newsman and Jim Lehrer the amateur playwright. Sean will do Lehrer 1 in this one and we have another dynamite actor playing Lehrer 2. This one is super funny but also super spooky. It owes a lot to Edgar Allan Poe and theatrical madman Antonin Artaud.

They're both amazing and they both open the weekend after SMALL BALL closes and will have a very limited run from May 17-June 3.

Thanks so much for asking. More info on each play at http://catastrophictheatre.com where you can also reserve your pay-what-you-can tickets.

 

A lot of people think Morey probably has an account here. I can tell you for certain that he doesn't, though he appreciates the site and community here impossibly much.

 

Truth. Especially about them being favorites. Although I didn't direct "DOUBLE" previously. This will be its Houston premiere and its second production ever after its premiere with Mickle's home company in Chicago.

And, owing to illness, I won't be directing these two but that's to the best... We will have two of our finest directors on these two plays. I directed The Strangerer in its Houston premiere in 2008 and my fingerprints will be all over the remount, though it will benefit a lot from the fresh eyes of a super talented director from our company of core artists.

 

Of THE STRANGERER, The Houston Chronicle wrote: “The Strangerer may be Theatre of the Absurd — yet it's also the funniest and most acutely meaningful example of the genre I've encountered in ages.”

You can read a ton of incredible reviews of that production on this page of our website:

https://catastrophictheatre.com/production/the-strangerer-2008/

 

I have all the info. Ask me a question and I'll be delighted to answer it.

 

Last call, gang. We've sold out our final Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but we have a handful of tickets remaining for the final performance, a Sunday matinee at 2:30 p.m. And I intend to be at that show if health allows.

If you haven't seen this and want to see it, I highly recommend reserving at http://smallballmusical.com for final Sunday tickets. They may all be gone by tomorrow.

This incredible new musical would not exist if it weren't for clutchfans.net generally and @rimrocker in particular. And neither would my incredibly rewarding friendship with Daryl Morey. So thanks to @Clutch, @Jeff, and all other mods for creating and nurturing such an unbelievable community and thanks to @rimrocker, whom I met IRL as a result of this site while we were both in Albuquerque and caught a game together, for giving me the idea to contact Daryl.

And great thanks to to each of you that came out to support and see the play. The responses to it, from you guys, the cf.net members that made it out to the show, both public and private, have been beyond touching to me and they've all been such great responses. I'm so pleased so may of you guys enjoyed it.

Theatre can be difficult in the way that a play can matter so deeply and for so long to the people involved in making it and then, without fail, the
'baby' we have birthed together is 'murdered' according to a pre-determined schedule, in this case just over 6 weeks after it was 'born.' And then you're on to the next one, the next 'baby' to be birthed then murdered again. It makes theatre the most existential art form and it can be tough emotionally to never actually cross any kind of finish line because as soon as you do you're off to the races again.

This one has been special and different in every one of those ways. It took 2.5 years to make and we couldn't be at all certain we'd have a good response. Throughout the entire, nearly sold-out run, we had a TREMENDOUS response. And I fully believe the play will go on to have a future life, though I can't speak specifically to that yet. Even if that weren't happening though, and I think it will since the play exceeded all expectations, this one would be different for the fact of getting to work so closely and for so long with Daryl on it. Talk about a dream come true. (In fact we exchanged texts late on opening night in which I thanked him for a dream come true and he told me it couldn't be my dream come true because it was his - we agreed it was nice that we both felt that way. And we agreed that there was a much bigger dream yet to come true in just a few more weeks if we can beat the Warriors and go on to win the title.)

And after catching it in its final performance in Houston (this Sunday) I'll join the core artists behind the show (of course including our executive of the year, DM) at Monday night's game.

This has all been so special. To each and every one of you that made it out or was helpful in any way, thank you for being a part of it. This one's gonna leave a mark.

Again, if you want to see it act now. The last tickets, which are always pay-what-you-can at The Catastrophic Theatre, are available at http://smallballmusical.com but they won't be there for long. I hope that everyone that wants/wanted to see it has/had the chance to.