Main Street Theater Announces Upcoming Season

Main Street Theater (MST) announces its 44th Season which includes six productions on the MainStage and six at its Theater for Youth for 2019-2020.

MST's MainStage Season reflects the theater's commitment to offering intellectually and emotionally engaging stories from the most insightful and articulate writers for the stage. "I seek out plays that will evoke a sense of curiosity in both our audiences and in our artists," says MST Executive Director Rebecca Greene Udden. The new season will open with Tom Stoppard's latest play, The Hard Problem. MST has long been a champion of Stoppard's work, most recently producing his epic trilogy, The Coast of Utopia. Jane Austen returns channeled through Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon's The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, a companion piece to Miss Bennet which delighted audiences the past two seasons. In January 2020, MST will partner with Prague Shakespeare Company once again, bringing Guy Roberts' one-man Hamlet back to Houston. Pulitzer-prize nominee Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue will follow, a moving portrait of a Puerto Rican military family by Pulitzer Prize winner and Tony Award nominee Quiara Alegría Hudes (In the Heights, Water by the Spoonful). Next will be the sharp, humorous exploration of new motherhood from Molly Smith Metzler (Orange Is the New Black, Shameless), Cry It Out, which is receiving extensive national attention. Following Cry It Out is Master Class, Terrence McNally's fiery drama about La Divina herself, Maria Callas, with Celeste Roberts in the lead role. The 44th Season will close with a summer production that is still under consideration.

Main Street's Theater for Youth season is its 40th Anniversary Season and boasts many of children's literature's greatest works. MST reaches over 140,000 children, educators, and family members yearly through its professional Theater for Youth whose productions are often based on literature children are reading at home or at school. The 2019-2019 season will include A Year with Frog & Toad, The Best Christmas Pageant Ever, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, and Charlotte's Web. The Summer 2020 production is TBA. MST will tour Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat across Texas as well in the spring of 2020.

Subscriptions are on sale now for both stages. Patrons can visit MainStreetTheater.com or call 713-524-6706.

2019-2020 MainStage 44th Season

The Hard Problem

by Tom Stoppard

September 14 - October 6, 2019

Previews: September 8, 12, & 13

If there are nothing but facts and matter, what is consciousness? This is what scientists have deemed "the hard problem." In Tom Stoppard's brilliant and most recent play, Hilary, a young psychology researcher at a prominent brainscience institute, is nursing a private sorrow while delving into examination of the hard problem at the think-tank. Is the day coming when the computer and the MRI scanner will answer all the questions psychology can ask? Or is there more to being human... Hilary's personal journey alongside her professional exploration takes the audience on a ride through the mind and heart like only Tom Stoppard can.

The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley

by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon

November 23 - December 22, 2019

Previews: November 17, 21, & 22

Regency romance is back for the holidays with Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon's The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley-a companion piece to the duo's delightful Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley-both continuations of Jane Austen's popular novel, Pride and Prejudice. As the events of Miss Bennet unfold upstairs at Pemberley, the servants below stairs find themselves in the midst of a different holiday scandal. An unwelcome visitor has stumbled into the hall in the middle of the night-Mr. Darcy's nemesis and Lydia's incorrigible husband, Mr. Wickham! Skyler Sinclair will reprise the role of Lydia from Miss Bennet in The Wickhams.

Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue

by Quiara Alegría Hudes

February 8 - March 1, 2020

Previews: February 2, 5 & 6

Elliot Ortiz is a young soldier, like his Pop was before him, like his Abuelo before that. But despite the things they share-their love of music, their love for each other, and their experiences of war-even when they desperately need to communicate, they just can't seem to make it work.

This powerful portrait of a Puerto Rican military family by Pulitzer Prize winner and Tony Award nominee Quiara Alegría Hudes (In the Heights, Water by the Spoonful) is a breathtaking symphony of music, memories, and the things that mark our bodies...and our souls.

Houston audiences will have the rare opportunity to follow Hudes' Elliot Trilogy playing concurrently. Main Street's production of Elliot, A Soldier's Fugue, Part I of the Trilogy, and Stages Repertory Theatre's production of Water by the Spoonful, Part II, which open 1 day apart in February. Mildred's Umbrella will produce a staged reading of the final installment of the trilogy, The Happiest Song Plays Last, during the first week of March 2020.

Cry It Out

by Molly Smith Metzler

March 28 - April 19, 2020

Previews: March 22, 26, & 27

On maternity leave for the first time, Jessie and Lina tiptoe to their shared backyard for a precious cup of coffee and a chat during naptime. This new comedy takes an honest look at the absurdities of being home with a baby, the dilemma of returning to work, and how class impacts parenthood and friendship. A whip-smart exploration of new motherhood from Molly Smith Metzler (Orange Is the New Black, Shameless), Cry It Out captures the belly laughs, raw rage, and secret confidences that come with the early days of parenthood.

Master Class

by Terrence McNally

May 16 - June 14, 2020

Previews: May 10, 14, & 15

Inspired by a series of master classes the great diva conducted at Juilliard toward the end of her career, this fiery drama puts Maria Callas at center stage again as she coaxes, prods, and inspires students-"victims" as she calls them-into giving the performances of their lives while revealing her own. As she slips off into memories, we experience her days at La Scala, her marriage to Meneghini, and her great doomed love for Aristotle Onassis. But the dazzling theatricality comes from Callas' emotional explosions, her cutting wit, and the soaring music as each student sings an aria that exposes the Divina's vulnerabilities ... and her genius.

TBA

July 18 - August 9, 2020

Previews: July 12, 16, & 16

Season Extra

Prague Shakespeare Company's

Hamlet

By William Shakespeare

Adapted, Directed, and Performed by Guy Roberts

One man. Seventeen Characters. Ninety Minutes. In his tour-de-force one-man presentation of Hamlet, Guy Roberts presents unique insights into the mind of Shakespeare's greatest and most famous creation. Using only Shakespeare's words, in a conflated text that incorporates the First Folio (with additional text from the First and Second Quarto), the audience experiences the world of the play through Hamlet's eyes - only seeing and hearing the scenes and moments that the character Hamlet himself experiences in the play. Taking this singular journey with the Prince of Denmark, audiences will understand the actions, themes and motives of the play's main character as never before. Whether seen as story of devastating human domestic passions or a suspenseful political mystery of intrigue, revenge and betrayal, the tragedy of Denmark's "sweet prince" continues to challenge and inspire.

Originally performed 10 years ago in Prague and on tour in Houston, TX USA (in association with Classical Theatre Company, JJ Johnston Artistic Director, who also co-directed the Houston version with Roberts), the production drew rave reviews. This new version builds on Roberts' ten years of growth as an artist since the original production. PSC Artistic Director Guy Roberts starring as Hamlet, states, "People change, grow and develop, as does a cultures' response to an artistic work. The world is very different today than it was ten years ago, and so my Hamlet must likewise grow and change. It would be impossible and ill-advised to simply remount a decade old success. It is incredibly exciting for me to once again, after ten years, examine Hamlet, the play and man."

2019-2020 Theater for Youth 40th Anniversary Season

A Year with Frog & Toad

Based on the books by Arnold Lobel

Family Performances: September 29 - October 26, 2019

School Matinees: September 24 - October 25, 2019

Recommended for Pre-Kindergarten and Up

The Best Christmas Pageant Ever

Based on the book by Barbara Robinson

Family Performances: November 10 - December 21, 2019

School Matinees: November 5 - December 19, 2019

Recommended for Kindergarten and Up

The Diary of Anne Frank

Based upon Anne Frank: The Diary of a Young Girl

Family Performances: January 26 - February 16, 2020

School Matinees: January 22 - February 14, 2020

Recommended for Fifth Grade and Up

The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley

BASED on the book Flat Stanley by Jeff Brown

Family Performances: March 1 - April 4, 2020

School Matinees: February 25 - April 3, 2020

Recommended for Kindergarten and Up

Charlotte's Web

Based upon the story by E.B. White

Family Performances: April 19 - May 9, 2020

School Matinees: April 14 - May 15, 2020

Recommended for First Grade and Up

Season Extra

Dr. Seuss's The Cat in the Hat

Based on the book by Dr. Seuss

Family Performances: March 10, 11, & 15, 2020

On Tour: February 11 - May 21, 2020

Recommended for Pre-Kindergarten and Up

Photo by Pin Lim / Forest Photography.