THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS to Premiere at The Tank

THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS - a new play by Mickle Maher - will premiere as the season opener at The Tank theater company this fall with Previews beginning September 11 and Opening on September 12th at The Tank (151 West 46th Street / 8th Fl.) HAPPINESS is scheduled to run through September 27th.

Maher's comedy in rhymed verse is told in two sections with the poetry of William Blake at the center. First published in 1789, Blake's series of poems, Songs of Innocence, is the subject of an address by Bernard, a middle-aged, barely published poet of scant scholarship. Then in the latter portion Songs of Experience (also published by Blake in 1794) are explored by Ellen, a reputable Ph.D. and Bernard's lover. Having engaged the evening before in a highly inappropriate display of public affection on the main lawn of their rural New England campus, the two undergraduate lecturers must now, in class, either apologize for their behavior or effectively justify it if they want to keep their jobs.

The Tank - a midtown theater company dedicated to developing and presenting new works for the stage by emerging artists, announces this 2015 - 2016 Flint & Tinder season opener. Other NYC premiers this season include new plays from Chicago, Baltimore, Paris and North Carolina.

This fine work is presented as part of Theater at The Tank's flagship program, Flint & Tinder that is curated by Josh Luxenberg, Jon Levin, and Rosalind Grush. Flint & Tinder is a series of exciting and newly devised shows featuring physical theater, clowning and puppeteering. Past shows have included Manual Cinema's Ada/Ava (NY Times Critics' Pick) and Split Knuckle Theater's The Curious Case of Phineas Gage (recent Time Out New York Critics' Pick in the New York International Fringe Festival). Says Artistic Director Rosalind Grush: "I am so excited to be following up our wildly successful 2014-15 season by bringing such beautiful and powerful work from around the country and the world to New York City, and we are also very proud that the majority of this season supports work by incredibly talented women." The Flint & Tinder season as presented by The Tank fills a gap in the New York art scene by showcasing incredibly imaginative artists for a diverse audience, and providing a unique package of resources for artists pushing the boundaries of the theatrical artform.

THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS

CAST & CREATIVE

Mickle Maher (Playwright) Maher's plays have appeared Off-Broadway and around the world, and have been supported by grants from the NEA, the Rockefeller MAP fund, and Creative Capital. They include Song About Himself; An Apology for the Course and Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening; The Hunchback Variations; The Strangerer; Spirits to Enforce ; Cyrano (translator) The Cabinet; Lady Madeline; The Pine; and An Actor Prepares (an adaptation of Stanislavsky's seminal book). He is a cofounder of Chicago's Theater Oobleck, and has taught playwriting and related subjects at the University of Chicago, Columbia College, and Northwestern University. Maher's plays are published by Hope and Nonthings.

Kirk Anderson New York stage debut. His most recent work was with Chicago's Trapdoor Theatre on The Woman Before, where he also appeared in their production of Overweight, unimportant: Mishape. He was in the first production of Theater Oobleck's There Is A Happiness That Morning Is. Prior to that he was seen in TUTA's production of The Wedding. He has also performed at the Goodman Theatre in The Ballad Of Emmet Till. At Steppenwolf he has appeared in the Diary of Anne Frank, Huck Finn, Lady Madeline, Uncle Vanya, The Duel, and Penelope, as fight choreographer. Other credits include Dandelion Wine with Chicago Children's Theatre, Accidental Death Of An Anarchist with Next Theatre Company, Mozart And Salieri with TUTA. With European Repertory Company he appeared in Teibele And Her Demon, Go Away-Go Away, Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead, (After Dark Award), Slavs!, Zoyka's Apartment, and Ivanov. Other notable credits include: Action Movie, The Play, Defiant Theatre; Comedy Of Errors and Hamlet with Shakespeare Repertory.

Colm O'Reilly is a company member of Theater Oobleck, with whom he's appeared in Song About Himself, There is a Happiness that Morning Is, An Apology for the Course & Outcome of Certain Events Delivered by Doctor John Faustus on This His Final Evening, The Strangerer (Off-Broadway and in Chicago), Letter Purloined, The Hunchback Variations, and Spirits to Enforce. Other credits include Sweet Bird of Youth (Goodman); Trevor (A Red Orchid Theatre), Heart is a Lonely Hunter (Steppenwolf); Elevator Tours (Barrie Cole); Still in Play, The Caretaker, Waiting for Godot, Texts for Nothing, Love Horse (Curious Theatre Branch); The Cabinet (Redmoon). He also played Stanislavski #1 in Mickle Maher's adaptation of An Actor Prepares at the University of Chicago. He is the recipient of 3 Orgie Theater Awards.

Diana Slickman has been a writer and performer in Chicago theater for three decades. A Theater Oobleck ensemble members since 2003, she has appeared in several productions including Spirits to Enforce, Letter Purloined, and earlier this year in Mickle Maher's Song About Himself. She's also a member of BoyGirlBoyGirl, a group solo performance ensemble, with whom she has co-created a dozen or so shows inspired by found text. Diana has appeared in recent shows with The Goodnight Ladies, Dog and Pony Theater, and the side project. She is a Neo-Futurist of '90s vintage, where she wrote for and performed in Too Much Light Makes the Baby Go Blind and many of their prime time productions, including Drinking and Writing and The Sycamore Story. Diana also performs her own writing at various live lit shows around Chicago, including Write Club, Essay Fiesta, and the Paper Machete.

Theater Oobleck is an artistic collective dedicated to producing and performing original works of theater for the benefit of, and at low or no cost to, the members of the Chicago community and beyond. All our works are created and developed by members of the Oobleck ensemble, working in concert to create a collaborative vision without an overseeing director. We have produced about seventy world-premiere productions over the past twenty-seven years, as well as eighteen remounts of earlier productions.