Lucy Cashion to Direct The Midnight Company's Production of SPIRITS TO ENFORCE

The Midnight Company, in a collaboration with St. Louis University’s Lucy Cashion, is producing Mickle Maher’s SPIRITS TO ENFORCE. This is the fourth Maher play that Midnight Company has produced. Maher is the founder of Chicago’s Theatre Oobleck and has authored more than 10 plays. Cashion will direct. She and Midnight Company’s founder and artistic director Joe Hanrahan recently sat down with Broadway World to discuss their production of SPIRITS TO ENFORCE.  

Cashion said, “I really wanted to direct a play by this playwright.” She shared that she had seen Maher’s play THE STRANGERER in New York City in 2011. It was an entry in the New York International Fringe Festival that was picked up by one of the Off-Broadway companies for an extended run. Cashion shared that she really appreciated how interesting the language was and the unique way it represented politics. “As the artistic director of ERA, we produce devised plays, adaptations, and new commissions but our mission doesn’t include producing plays that are sitting on the shelf,” Cashion said.  

Cashion reached out to Hanrahan because they are the only company in town that has produced Maher’s works and saw a potential for collaboration. Hanrahan reminded her that she had seen their production of Maher’s THE HUNCHBACK VARIATIONS. Cashion interjected, “I love that play!”  

Hanrahan mentioned that he is attracted to Maher’s plays because of his language and conceptual work. “He takes on ideas that you wouldn’t expect,” and he continued, “I’m grateful that we have someone talented like Lucy who can interpret the work.” Hanrahan shared that he has seen shows that Cashion has directed for ERA and other companies. “Her shows are always events,” he gushed.  

SPIRITS TO ENFORCE is inspired by Shakespeare’s THE TEMPEST. In the play a group of 12 ‘superheroes’ named The Fathom City Enforcers, inhabit the island Sycorax. Each of the 12 have some vague powers with varying degrees of impressiveness. They are raising money and selling tickets for their fictitious production of THE TEMPEST. Cashion says, “The show is experimental. It is about processing trauma through art.” She continued, “All 12 of the characters were spirits on the island when Prospero was shipwrecked during THE TEMPEST, and now they are doing a reenactment.” She shared that she is really attracted to scripts that recontextualize by taking characters and reframing their relationship to a play. In this play the characters are experiencing divine inspiration to produce the play and ‘superhero’ is a euphemism for artist.  

Cashion shared that she likes to have an idea of how to rehearse a play when she starts the process as the director. She said, “when we did the first read through for this play, I heard a lot that I hadn’t considered before.” Following the read-through, she met with the actors to discuss logistics and expectations. She shared that SPIRITS TO ENFORCE is very orchestral with many lines that overlap. She blocked the movements in the show within two weeks and asked her cast to be off book (have their lines memorized) by an earlier than usual date when rehearsing a play. She said, “this is not how I would normally direct a play.”  

Hanrahan shared that audiences will want to see this play because it is smart and intriguing. He said, “This script is entertaining, full of comic book lore, chorale arrangements, and text from Shakespeare’s masterpiece THE TEMPEST.” Hanrahan calls SPIRITS TO ENFORCE an utterly unique theatrical trip. 

In addition to producing, Hanrahan will be acting in the ensemble as one of the twelve superheroes. He will be joined by Ashwini Arora, Kayla Bush, Cassidy Flynn, Alicen Moser, Joe Taylor, Will Bonfiglio, Miranda Jagels Felix, Celeste Gardner, Spencer Lawton, Ross Rubright, and Rachel Tibbets.  

The Midnight Company’s production of SPIRITS TO ENFORCE, directed by Lucy Cashion, will play at The Kranzberg Black Box Theatre from May 2nd through May 18th.  The curtain time for performances on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays is at 8:00 PM, with a 2:00 PM matinee on Sunday, May 5th. Tickets are available at Metrotix by clicking the link below.  

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