THE STRANGERER

Hey y'all... Come see my new play. Here's the advance story from The Chronicle.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/features/6058295.html

Catastrophic Theatre presents two Maher plays
By EVERETT EVANS Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle
Oct. 14, 2008, 5:12PM


A 2004 presidential debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry takes a surreal turn as it falls under the influence of existentialist author Albert Camus.

Twelve financially strapped superheroes turn to telemarketing to finance their production of Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Welcome to the mind of Mickle Maher.

The Catastrophic Theatre is introducing Houston audiences to the phenom of Chicago's alternative theater scene with area premieres of the two plays whose distinctive premises are cited above.

Catastrophic artistic director Jason Nodler is directing both The Strangerer, opening Friday at DiverseWorks, and Spirits to Enforce, opening Dec. 3 at Bar- nevelder Movement/Arts Complex.

"Maher has this incredible ability," Nodler says, "to collide various familiar elements in fresh ways, in service of a broadly accessible theme."

"A lot of my work has involved adaptation," Maher says, noting that his use of literary or historical elements often is more like "reimagining or mutation."

Nodler notes that one needn't know anything about Camus or politics to get The Strangerer, nor about Shakespeare or superheroes to enjoy Spirits to Enforce.

Spirits premiered in 2003 and Strangerer in 2007 at Chicago's Theater Oobleck, the company Maher co-founded in 1988 and where most of his plays originated. You've got to love a theater named for the green gunk that falls from the sky and threatens to drown the kingdom in Dr. Seuss' Bartholomew and the Oobleck.

Nodler was unaware of Maher's work until earlier this year. After attending Stages' Mr. Marmalade, starring Mikelle Johnson (Nodler's significant other), they went to dinner with Alex Harvey, that production's director. Harvey said he knew of a play that would be ideal for Nodler and Catastrophic.

"He pitched The Strangerer to me, and I thought it just sounded cute," Nodler recalls. "Alex said, 'Just read it' and gave me the script. I knew immediately that, not only did I want to do this play, I wanted to do all of his (Maher's) stuff."

Hence, Catastrophic's back-to-back scheduling of The Strangerer and Spirits.
Nodler originally planned to do the two plays in repertory, until Hurricane Ike and its aftermath upset rehearsals. Even though the shows now will play consecutive runs, Nodler is rehearsing both casts simultaneously — "a wonderful extended discovery process" of Maher's creativity.

The Strangerer was sparked by a news tidbit that some found amusing, ironic or just unlikely: The Stranger, Camus' 1942 classic, was on Bush's 2006 summer reading list. This led Maher to view Bush and recent politics through the prism of Camus' writings — not only The Stranger, in which a detached antihero commits a senseless murder, but The Myth of Sisyphus, The Plague and other Camus works.

The play begins as a re-creation of the first of Bush and Kerry's three debates, with moderator Jim Lehrer introducing the participants. But the action quickly veers into the absurdist realm. For one thing, Bush keeps trying to kill Lehrer.

"The play offers incisive parodies of all three men," Nodler says, "yet it's remarkably free of partisanship. Maher imagines Bush not only as a person capable of understanding the philosophy contained in Camus' writings, but as someone who embodies it. He is the existential hero of the piece."

"The play doesn't work unless he (Bush) is sympathetic," Maher says. "Even with Macbeth or Iago, vile as their pro- jects or goals in the world may be, you root for them on some basic level."

Maher's Bush is also a theater lover. "I think all politicians like theater because that's what politics is," Maher says. "Bush's 'mission accomplished' appearance on that troop ship was a great theatrical moment that had to be scripted and directed like any play. They (politicians) have to be good at that kind of thing. In the play, Bush's attempts to kill Lehrer are his effort to produce a good theater moment that his audience will remember. So why is he having such a hard time?"

Nodler finds the play's comment about theater its most surprising element.
"It's the smartest and most poignant philosophy of theater I've encountered," Nodler says. "There's a statement about theater's power to make accessible broad truths about the human experience."

• When: Previews Thursday, opens Friday. 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through Nov. 8
• Where: Catastrophic Theatre, at DiverseWorks, 1117 East Freeway
• Tickets: $15; 713-880-5216

 

Yep. There's plenty of parking. I'd love it if you guys came.

Thanks for coming, Clutch. And thanks for the kind words. I'm so glad you had a good time. It was great to see you.

 

Oh, and since finalsbound mentioned the area, it's a little tricky to find - sort of tucked away - but it's right by downtown. Basically two blocks from I-10 and Main Street (which is where Main becomes N. Main).

 

Thanks, oomp.

The Chronicle reviews it here:

http://www.chron.com/entertainment/arts/

Catch this debate — The Strangerer
By EVERETT EVANS
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Oct. 19, 2008, 3:29PM

Think you couldn't sit through one more political debate?

Think again.

The Strangerer is likely the most bizarre and hilarious one you'll ever experience.

Catastrophic Theatre has mounted a letter-perfect Houston premiere of Chicago playwright Mickle Maher's absurdist political satire. As inspired as it is strange, the play imagines the first 2004 debate between George W. Bush and John Kerry as it would play out under the influence of Albert Camus' The Stranger and other works of the famed existentialist author-philosopher.

The concept was sparked by the news that The Stranger was on Bush's 2006 summer reading list — a notion that (fairly or unfairly) many found startling.

With the world growing more surreal by the moment, it's an achievement that The Strangerer makes the current political scene weirder than it is already. It's certainly a pivotal achievement of Catastrophic's fine rendition that Paul Locklear's uncannily apt Dubya emerges as funnier than the genuine article.

The piece begins deceptively, virtually a documentary recreation of the actual event. Jim Lehrer (Sean Patrick Judge) seats himself at the moderator's desk, counts down, introduces Kerry (Troy Schulze) and Bush, and explains the rules.

But as Kerry drones his answer to the first question, Bush pulls a knife from his lectern and rushes to plunge it into Lehrer's back. Ominous music rises (as in a "Spaghetti Western" showdown), wind rushes and the lights fade to black.

Moments later, lights up. The unflappable Lehrer resumes his seat, explains that the attack was a staged murder, planned in advance, and the debate continues.

Yet Bush keeps interrupting with his attempts to kill Lehrer — shooting him, trying to smother him with a pillow, offering him a bourbon and cyanide. Lehrer apparently has not agreed to these follow-up attempts; he stops cooperating.

As the debate progresses, Bush unwinds his convoluted memory of the previous evening: how he and Kerry attended a performance of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, witnessed a perfect theatrical moment and agreed to create one at the debate by killing Lehrer.

Kerry insists he is just as intent upon killing Lehrer, but that it's the wrong time and place. So the debate goes. No matter what Lehrer asks, each candidate justifies the killing but dithers over when and how it should be accomplished.

Of course, a senseless killing is the central event in The Stranger. There are other connections to its content and philosophy that there isn't space to detail here.

For those who wish to find topical political commentary, the issue becomes a metaphor for the Iraq War. Bush delivers several speeches recounting disturbing images of decay and destruction. These passages add dark resonance and dramatic heft to anchor Maher's bright jibes.

At the same time, The Strangerer offers a genuine reflection on the challenge of creating authentic theater — which, depending on your priorities, may register as profoundly as the play's political and philosophical dimensions.

Jason Nodler's astute, assertive direction crystallizes the play's moods, whether enigmatic, ruminative or sharply satiric. He and his three actors work the script's many levels without crossing into caricature.

Bush is the engine of the play, the role with the most brilliant material, and Locklear responds flawlessly.

Maher hands him inspired speeches, such as a tortured attempt to explain his thought-to-speech processes, which Locklear delivers perfectly. Then there is the slew of priceless malapropisms that sound real as those Bush actually has spoken. Among the play's best: "decapulate," "satisfiction" and "the Middle-Evil times." Locklear gets the idiosyncrasies, mannerisms, even those long and desperate "What's he trying to say?" pauses, which he times artfully.

Yet his portrayal is not a mockery. He acts an earnest, struggling human being — as Maher apparently intends, the existential hero of his own absurd saga.

Schulze's Kerry projects that Kerryesque air of genial yet pretentious ineffectuality. Maher's joke is that Kerry admits he is asleep most of the time and Schulze amusingly suggests that — especially when he actually dozes, eyes closed, mouth falling open, head lolling back.

Judge is likewise spot-on as Lehrer, from the cadences of his dutiful introduction to his placid and unflappable demeanor. He's funny just sitting and listening intently, head cocked, seemingly so concerned yet at the same time oblivious.

Jodi Bobrovsky's set creates a convincingly real debating arena, which Kirk Markley's lighting periodically devolves into a surreal realm.

The Strangerer may be Theater of the Absurd — yet it's also the funniest and most acutely meaningful example of the genre I've encountered in ages.

THE STRANGERER

• When: 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays through Nov. 8
• Where: Catastrophic Theatre, at DiverseWorks, 1117 East Freeway
• Tickets: $15; 713-880-5216

 

Deal.

 

Thanks, HP.

Here's another great review for the play:

http://www.houstonpress.com/2008-10...s-and-l-a-is-burning-cav-pag-the-strangerer/2

Admit it, you're in the mood for another presidential debate, aren't you? Okay, don't groan, and don't stop reading, because Catastrophic Theatre's dramatic presentation of Mickle Maher's phantasmagoric 2004 head-to-head between Bush and Kerry, moderated by Jim Lehrer, is a must-see. Whatever you may think of these three empty suits, you won't think of them in the same way after this absurdist romp, which is wickedly accurate. The debate begins in documentary style with Lehrer (Seán Patrick Judge) doing a sound check, straightening his coat, putting in eye drops. The two participants enter — wild-eyed and wary Bush (Paul Locklear) and doe-eyed, stiff Kerry (Troy Schulze). During the first answer, Bush inexplicably stabs Lehrer in the back. Music from a Sergio Leone spaghetti western starts, as does the sound of wind, and the lights soar to white and then quickly cut to black. When they come back on, Lehrer, fixing his hair, explains that what we've seen is a theatrical moment staged by all three of them. What Lehrer doesn't get is that Bush is going to keep trying to kill him — with a gun, a pillow, cyanide — all senseless, without motive, somewhat like the main character in Camus's The Stranger (the book Bush was said to have read one summer, which set Maher on track to write this marvelous invention). We delve into Bush's psyche (yes, he's got one, and it's a beaut) as he attempts to make sense of the world and where exactly he fits into it. Fatuous Kerry drifts off to sleep — "He's a zombie," Bush jokes — and Lehrer is pompous and out-of-touch. Only Bush connects. Locklear gives the performance of his life, nailing W. with his weird pauses and malaprops ("middle-evil" is especially fine for "medieval"). He glides through the difficult non-sequitur monologues, giving Bush a comprehensible, maddening humanity. Just as spot-on are Judge and Schulze. Matter of fact, the entire production is incredibly realized. "Perfectness," as W. might say. Through November 8. DiverseWorks, 1117 East Fwy., 713-880-5216. — DLG

 

Last call for THE STRANGERER...

Only three more performances.

This Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m.

Thanks again to Clutch, oomp and MadMax for coming out. Would love to see more folks from the board this weekend.

For tickets, call 713-880-5216 or visit catastrophictheatre.com.