The Catastrophic Theatre Presents EDDIE GOES TO POETRY CITY By Richard Foreman

Eddie dreams of escape-from the office where he suffers at the hands of his co-workers, from a doctor whose treatments seem far worse than any medical complaint, perhaps from even the play itself!

He dreams of escaping to Poetry City, a place he imagines to be Paradise. When he arrives, however, he finds that Poetry City "melts language," and totally disrupts the normal laws of cause-and-effect. Entirely disoriented, Eddie attempts to navigate this new and bewildering reality, and slowly comes to consider that his confusion, struggles, and failures may comprise a sort of poetry in themselves and may provide access to Paradise after all. Not in Poetry City, but right here and now, hidden in between moments but accessible to those who know where to look.

Foreman's plays, particularly under the direction of Catastrophic core artist Greg Dean, are imagination machines. They provoke laughter or even tears from places so deep within, you didn't know they were there. They poke and yank at the nerves and thrust you, id-first, into waking dreams. When you wander back into the world, you'll find yourself awake in ways you hadn't realized possible and you might find yourself in a new world, one vibrating with new possibilities.

Eddie Goes to Poetry City is directed and designed by Greg Dean and stars Catastrophic core artists Noel Bowers, Karina Pal-Montaño Bowers, Jenna Morris, and Gabriel Regojo.

Eddie Goes to Poetry City runs February 10 - March 4, 2023 at the Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston (MATCH). Tickets are on sale now and can be purchased at matchouston.org or by calling the MATCH box office at 713-521-4533. Performances are Thursdays at 7:30 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m., and Sundays at 2:30 p.m. Tickets to all performances are Pay-What-You-Can. Not recommended for children under 13.

Richard Foreman (Playwright) - Foreman describes his work as "total theatre" and his plays are driven by the notion of a constant reawakening of the audience. To this end, he founded the Ontological-Hysteric Theater in New York City in 1968. The experimental playwright has won multiple Obie awards, a MacArthur Fellowship, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Foreman has been described as one of the most original minds ever to grace the American Theatre. Instead of focusing on conflict to shape his theatrical structure, Foreman's work draws on design, text, and live performance to reimagine the traditional relationship between the stage and audience. In addition to many plays, he has written operas, novels and books on performance theory.

He has gained acclaim as director for such productions as Bertolt Brecht's The Threepenny Opera at Lincoln Center and the premiere of Suzan-Lori Parks's Venus at The Public Theater. The New York Times calls him "the reigning philosopher vaudevillian of the New York avant-garde...creating fractured dreamscapes in which life is the banana cream pie that keeps hitting you in the face."

Greg Dean (Director) has had an extensive career as an actor, director and designer based in Houston, TX. He was most recently (barely) seen as Willie in The Catastrophic Theatre production of Happy Days, and in James Lecesne's one-man show, The Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey at Unity Theater.

And while it is believed by some that he appeared in The Catastrophic Theatre's third iteration of Drama Squad, Mr. Dean must politely insist that it was not he, but Mortando the Clown - a loathsome and entirely separate person - who sang and danced so poorly at the Orange Show in the fall of 2021.

During the recent pandemic, he directed two films: Will Eno's one-woman show, Lady Grey (in ever lower light) for Mildred's Umbrella Theatre Co., and Herzstück, for The Catastrophic Theatre, which he also wrote, designed, and acted in.

Prior to that, played Jax in Brendan Borque-Sheil's Sunrise Coven for Rec Room's Sound Scripts series, and directed Footfalls and Not I (part of "Samuel Beckett's Ladies Night") for Mildred's Umbrella; he played Gabriel in Baby Screams Miracle, and Frank In The Studio in Tragedy: a Tragedy, both for The Catastrophic Theatre, the Doctor in Woyzeck at Rec Room, Blore in AgathaChristie's And Then There Were None at Unity Theatre, Arnold in Ike Holter's EXIT STRATEGY for Rec Room, and Russell in Evocation to Visible Appearance for Horsehead Theatre. He directed Jim Lehrer, The Theater And Its Double, And Jim Lehrer's Double, one half of The Catastrophic Theatre's production of Mickle Maher's The Lehrer Plays.

In 2017, Greg directed the world premiere of Snow White, which he adapted from Donald Barthelme's novel of the same name. He was Jack in The Designated Mourner (which he also played in Catastrophic's 2010 production of the play). Audiences also saw him as Tilden in Buried Child, and, prior to that, reprising the role of Quasimodo (Best Actor, Houston Press Theatre Awards 2015) in Catastrophic's remount of Mickle Maher's The Hunchback Variations, which he also directed and designed.

He appeared as Ray in the Hune Company production of David Harrower's Blackbird, performed, directed and designed Wallace Shawn's one-man play, The Fever, produced by 14 Pews (in a luxury suite at La Colombe d'Or) and played Sid in the Bobbindoctrin Puppet Theatre/Two Star Symphony collaboration, Dance Macabre: The Constant Companion, at 14 Pews.

Also with Mildred's Umbrella, he played Hannibal in Cloud Tectonics, co-directed, designed, and played Karl in The Marriage of Bette and Boo, directed, designed, and played the title role in Dracula (2004), directed, designed, and played The Stage Manager in Things Being at the Worst, and was scenic designer for Carnival Round the Central Figure, Foxfinder and The Flu Season.

His work with The Catastrophic Theatre includes Christmas in A Very Tamarie Christmas, Public Speaker/Astronaut in Middletown, Morris the Hesitant in The Pine, Vladimir (for the third time!) in Waiting for Godot, "Greg Dean" in both Tamarie for President and The Tamarie Cooper Doomsday Revue, Hamm in Endgame, A (and scenic designer) in Sarah Kane's Crave, co-director/designer (set, props and sound) of Richard Foreman's Paradise Hotel, Theo Van Gogh, et al. in Bluefinger, Richard in Hunter Gatherers (twice!), and Lewis in Our Late Night, for which he also served as scenic designer. Other stage credits include Davies in The Caretaker for Stagger Lee Presents, and, for Infernal Bridegroom Productions: Endgame, Eddie Goes to Poetry City, Quartett, Samuel's Major Problems, Woyzeck, Guys and Dolls, and The Cherry Orchard among others.

He has also worked with the Houston Shakespeare Festival, the Classical Theatre Company, The Alley Theatre, the West-Mon Repertory Theater, and the Urban Theatre Project.

He can be seen in the films Lillian, Abide, Dropa, Backroad, Urban Shakedown, Thank You For Your Service, The Good Friend, Persistence of Vision, and Let It Come Down, among others, and in music videos for The Manichean ("Leopards") and Glass the Sky ("Touch.")

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