HAPPY IN THE POORHOUSE

Written and Directed by

Derek Ahonen

March 11 – April 26, 2010
Theatre 80 Saint Marks

Paulie “The Pug” is a Coney Island dreamer… just one MMA fight away from the big time. If only he could keep his wife from screwing her ex-husband, his brother-in-law from going to the slammer, and his best friend from taking a bite out of his neck, he’d be on top of the world. A raucous, irreverent action-packed comedy full of weak wrists and strong hearts, Happy In The Poorhouse is an unsanitized story of love, sex, and chasing after dreams even when you’ve got a black eye and a broken spirit.

Starring:

“Happy in The Poorhouse has a knockabout physicality that grabs your attention. But what holds it is the working-class poetry of Derek Ahonen’s script. Mr. Ahonen brings the populist instincts of a born entertainer. He might be a contender yet.”

“This gleefully crass comedy by the Amoralists is like a shotgun blast, with a charming cast, a favorable rate of funny jokes, and an undercurrent of genuine warmth help animate Paulie’s frantic campaign against uselessness and the death of dreams.”

“If John Cassavetes had been hired to do a movie remake of ‘The Honeymooners,’ the results might have been something like the very funny (and very poignant) new play ‘Happy in the Poorhouse.’”

“There’s no denying Ahonen’s forging a unique voice. HAPPY IN THE POORHOUSE IS A FUN RIDE.”

Production Team:

Stage Manager: Judy Merrick/Dan Stern
Assistant Director: Dan Lockhart
Set Design/Fight Director: Alfred Schatz
Production Manager: Sean Bauer
Lighting Designer: Jeremy Duncan Pape
Props Designer: Judy Merrick
Sound Designer: The Hernandez Brothers
Costume Designer: Ricky Lang
Spiritual Adviser: Larry Cobra