Rhyme Time

By now, audiences know to expect lively and unusual productions from the Catamounts, so it will surprise no one to hear that the company is staging There Is a Happiness That Morning Is — a play written entirely in rhyming verse. “We picked it because it’s a really fun piece,”...

By Juliet Wittman

March 13, 2014

Audio By Carbonatix

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By now, audiences know to expect lively and unusual productions from the Catamounts, so it will surprise no one to hear that the company is staging There Is a Happiness That Morning Is — a play written entirely in rhyming verse. “We picked it because it’s a really fun piece,” says director Meridith C. Grundei, “a hard piece to tackle, an irreverent play about sex, love and William Blake. It’s a very challenging script to memorize as an actor, but in terms of not getting stuck in the verse, you don’t, and that has to do with the playwright” — Chicago’s much-lauded Mickle Maher.

The plot concerns “two college professors who are lecturing on Blake," Blake says. "It’s about joys and discoveries, the nuances of Adam and Eve and the Garden of Eden, and the Dean being this godlike figure. The night before, these professors were having sex on campus — publicly — and they’re asked to apologize. The audience is a part of the lecture: They’re the students.” Savvy audiences also know the best night to attend is Saturday, when a food truck pulls up after the show to dispense food fitting the play’s theme — in this case, lamb, bok choy and almonds.

There Is a Happiness That Morning Is opens tonight and runs through March 30 at the Dairy Center for the Arts, 2590 Walnut Street in Boulder; tickets, $20, are available at thecatamounts.org or 303-444-SEAT.
Thursdays, Fridays, 8 p.m.; Saturdays, 7 p.m. Starts: March 7. Continues through March 22, 2014

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Juliet Wittman is an investigative reporter and critic with a passion for theater, literature, social justice and food. She has reviewed theater for Westword for over a decade; for many years, she also reviewed memoirs for the Washington Post. She has won several journalism awards and published essays and short stories in literary magazines. Her novel, Stocker's Kitchen, can be obtained at select local bookstores and on Amazon.

Contact: Juliet Wittman