In an unprecedented partnership, The Catastrophic Theatre and the UH School of Theatre & Dance are co-presenting a visiting production of Will Eno’s new play, “Wakey, Wakey.”
Created by Austin’s Hyde Park Theatre, a champion of new alternative theatre, and described by The New York Times as “glowingly dark, profoundly moving,” “Wakey, Wakey” grapples with the human impulse to continue expressing oneself — even as we near our inevitable end. The play revolves around a dying man named Guy, played by artistic director Ken Webster, and his caretaker, played by Rebecca Robinson. The result is joyous, surprising, frequently funny and ultimately rapturous.
“Wakey, Wakey” offers a kind of spiritual a bookend to Eno’s Pulitzer Prize-nominated one-man play “Thomas Pain (Based on Nothing),” which was staged by Catastrophic in 2016 and described by the Houston Press as offering a “searing lesson in how life is messy and wonderful and sucks from time to time.” Blown away by the original production, the Austin American-Statesman wrote, “[Ken Webster] turns the play into an outright celebration of what it means to live a worthwhile life that leaves an impact on other people.”
Eno will also serve as an artist-in-residence at the SoTD during the production, offering UH students a chance to get up-close-and-personal with the esteemed playwright.