<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN">
<HTML><HEAD>
<META content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" http-equiv=Content-Type>
<META name=GENERATOR content="MSHTML 9.00.8112.16484">
<STYLE></STYLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY bgColor=#ffffff>
<DIV><FONT size=2><SPAN><B></B><?xml:namespace prefix = o ns =
"urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><EM><B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN"
lang=EN>Cleveland Public Theatre’s "Happiness" offers a marvelous take on
William Blake</SPAN></B><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></EM></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p><EM> </EM></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bob
Abelman<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">News-Herald,
Chagrin Valley Times, Solon Times, Geauga Times Courier<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Member,
International Association of Theatre Critics <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #1f497d; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">This
review will appear in the News-Herald</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"> on
5/24/13<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></B> </P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><B style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></B></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The ancient Greeks
believed that poets are inspired by muses.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>They remove from the artist all human senses and replace them with divine
inspiration. Playwright Mickle Maher’s muse must have stopped off at <SPAN
class=st><SPAN style="COLOR: #222222">Dionysus’ place for a few drinks, for his
work is infused with a delightful, drunken nonsense rather than no sense, and is
inspired by the poetry of others.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><SPAN><FONT size=3
face=Arial>Case in point:<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Maher’s
</FONT></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>1999 play “<SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">An Apology for the
Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This
His Final Evening.</SPAN>”<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This
comedy is based on the </SPAN><SPAN class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">German
legend popularized by Marlowe and, later, by Goethe, about a man who sells his
soul to the devil in exchange for power and knowledge.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Rather than exploring the tale’s grand
themes, Maher has Faust </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>spend his final hour on earth speaking to a group of strangers about
nothing in particular.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>In Maher’s 2001 play “<SPAN style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">The
Hunchback Variations,” </SPAN>Beethoven and Quasimodo pair up to conduct a panel
discussion about an obscure stage direction mentioned in Chekhov's “<SPAN
style="mso-bidi-font-style: italic">The Cherry Orchard</SPAN>.” <SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This play was recently turned into
an opera.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>“The Strangerer” takes place during the 2004 presidential debate between
George W. Bush and John Kerry.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The
two politicians are so bored by the proceedings that they spend the evening
devising ways to murder PBS moderator Jim Lehrer and raise the same moral
questions addressed in </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Camus’s
“The Stranger.” <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><SPAN class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Which
brings us to </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Maher’s riveting and
wonderfully ridiculous comedy “There Is a Happiness That Morning Is,” <SPAN
class=st><SPAN style="COLOR: #222222">currently on stage at Cleveland Public
Theatre. <SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The muses must have been
<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>on quite a bender.
<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0pt"><SPAN class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Written
in the </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #333333; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>rhymed verse</SPAN><SPAN class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"
lang=EN> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">of
William Blake, “Happiness” features two professors whose area of expertise is
Blake’s 18<SUP>th</SUP> century poetry.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>They have recently engaged </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">in a scandalous
display of public lovemaking on the main lawn of their rural New England campus
– a natural and joyful act Blake himself would have appreciated – and must now
apologize to their students to save their jobs.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Bernard (Brian
Pedaci) employs Blake's “Songs of Innocence” – a collection of poems that
reflect the innocent, pastoral world of childhood – to explain his jubilant
behavior.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>“I'll show that what we
did beneath that tree/relates directly to Blake's poetry,” he says.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Ellen (Derdriu Ring), a reputable
scholar on Blake’s darker “Songs of Experience,” uses this collection of poems
and the </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>foreboding "The Sick Rose” in particular </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">to justify her
actions and rail against the school’s inept administrator (Matthew
Wright).</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN></SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">The actual printed
volumes of Blake’s poems contain </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">engravings
and verses by the author that are inextricably intertwined, part of a singular
vision where neither image nor word dominates the other.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>The same can be said for this play and
director Beth Wood’s playful staging of it.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This production flows beautifully and
provides just enough activity to balance out its astounding
verbosity.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>Poetry on the page in one thing, but effectively communicating it aloud
to an audience is quite another.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>Ring and Pedaci have mastered rhyming pentameter to the point where it
sounds like natural speech.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Ring’s
poignant performance also reveals the play's occasional dark places and gently
unveils its weighty themes, while Pedaci’s impishness radiates throughout the
production and captures all that is alarmingly charming in Maher’s and Blake’s
writing.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>All the rhyming ends when the college president – a deeply troubled,
humorless and unpoetic fellow – enters two-thirds through the play.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is also where the play’s comedy
shifts into overdrive, the result of Wright’s astounding ability to
t</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">urn
himself inside-out emotionally and physically.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>His pathetic presence is felt even
before his entrance, as President James Dean loiters in the audience while
uncomfortably, painfully eavesdropping on Bernard and Ellen’s lectures.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Wright is a treat.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P
style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; TEXT-AUTOSPACE: ; mso-layout-grid-align: none"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">So too is
</SPAN><FONT size=3><FONT face=Arial><SPAN>Todd Krispinsky’s set design.<SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>Krispinsky has created the kind of
ecologically friendly classroom one envisions Henry David Thoreau lecturing and
living in, where the blackboard and podium are supported by tree stumps and
surrounded by wild grasses.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>All this is complemented by </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Stephanie Fisher’s
costume design, J. Scott Franklin’s original compositions, and Benjamin
Gantose’s subtle lighting.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>Still, as in Maher's other plays, the characters in “Happiness” spend
</SPAN><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">90
uninterrupted minutes explaining themselves, which may not be everyone’s idea of
a good time.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For those who enjoy
language, don’t mind a smattering of well-placed poetic profanity and recognize
the earlier references to </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: black; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Camus,
</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt; mso-ansi-language: EN; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"
lang=EN>Chekhov and </SPAN><SPAN class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">Goethe,
it most certainly will be.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>This is
wonderful piece of theater, full of worthwhile risk-taking and incredible
craftsmanship.<o:p></o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt; BACKGROUND: white"
class=MsoNormal><SPAN class=st><SPAN
style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Arial','sans-serif'; COLOR: #222222; FONT-SIZE: 12pt"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></SPAN></P>
<P style="LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt" class=MsoNormal><FONT
size=3><FONT face=Arial><SPAN><EM>The regional premiere of “There Is a Happiness
That Morning Is”</EM></SPAN><SPAN> <EM>continues through May 25 in Cleveland
Public Theatre’s James Levin Theatre, 6415 Detroit Avenue in Cleveland’s Gordon
Square Arts District.</EM></SPAN><SPAN> <EM><SPAN
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> </SPAN>For tickets, which range from $10 to $25,
call 216-631-2727 or visit </EM><A href=""><EM><FONT
color=#0000ff>www.cptonline.org</FONT></EM></A><EM><B>.</B><o:p></o:p></EM></SPAN></FONT></FONT></P>
<P style="TEXT-ALIGN: center; LINE-HEIGHT: normal; MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"
class=MsoNormal align=center><FONT
face=Arial></FONT></o:p></SPAN> </P></FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>