Happiness is …. a benefit for Soup & Bread

Wrangling soup cooks and crock pots every winter is a lot of work — but thankfully it’s not yet a 24/7 job. This past month, in between doing other things that pay the bills, it was great to spend some time working on Theater Oobleck‘s revival of Mickle Maher’s play There Is A Happiness That Morning Is.  Oobleck is a 25-year old Chicago-based company dedicated to producing original works of theater created and developed by its ensemble. I’m honored to have been involved with more than a dozen Oobleck shows and to have been an ensemble member for the last five years — and I’m even more honored that the company has offered to host a benefit performance of this brillant, hilarious, and devastating play for Soup & Bread on Thursday, February 28.

“Happiness …” is hard to explain, and if I told you it was a comedy, in rhymed verse, about the poet William Blake and the problem of having sex in public, that would probably only confuse things further. Really, “Happiness …” is about love and sex and death and delusion and the importance of making a space for art in our tiny little worlds. Did I mention it’s also very, very funny?

Justin Hayford, writing in the Reader, says that this remount of our 2011 hit is “richer, funnier, and more heartbreaking than ever.” And WBEZ critic Kelly Kleiman calls it “the most remarkable mix of poetry and drama you are ever likely to see.” You can see for yourself in this four-minute trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yHMCUPPIXcY#!

So please, join us on Thursday, February 28, at 8 PM at Victory Gardens Biograph Theater. Sheila and I will be on hand to answer all your questions about Soup & Bread. We’ll even sell you a cookbook in the lobby if you like. Tickets are $15 or, per standard Oobleck policy, “more if you’ve got it, free if you’re broke.” Half of the box office take for the night will go to Soup & Bread. We hope to see you there!