Darwin in Malibu

Regional Premiere
By Crispin Whittell

Now available in-person AND online for streaming!

Malibu, California. One hundred and twenty years after his death, Charles Darwin (‘the Devil’s Chaplain’) is hanging out at a beach house overlooking the Pacific with a girl young enough to be his daughter. His peace is rudely disrupted when his old friend Thomas Huxley (‘the Devil’s Disciple’) washes up on the beach, closely followed by the Bishop of Oxford, Samuel Wilberforce. These three find themselves entangled in an enthralling and thought-provoking comedy about God and science.

“A hoot and a half…Wonderfully entertaining.” —Financial Times (London). “Fiercely intelligent…an exceptionally spry play with big ideas and a big heart. You should see it—not just because it’s there, but because we are here.” —Guardian (London)

PLEASE NOTE:

Patrons will be required to wear masks and show proof of a negative COVID test result (within 48 hours). A vaccination card may be shown in lieu of the test. Photocopies or a photo on your phone of medical records will be accepted.

Our HVAC systems have been upgraded with germicidal UV light purification systems. These systems use photohydroionization technology which is the same technology that is been used in the medical industry to destroy airborne micro-organisms (germs, viruses, and bacteria).

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

By Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon
Directed by Robin Robinson

A sequel to Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, Miss Bennet is set two years after the novel ends and continues the story, this time with nerdy middle-sister Mary as the unlikely heroine. Mary is growing tired of her role as the dutiful middle sister in the midst of everyone else’s romantic escapades. When the family gathers for Christmas at Pemberley, an unexpected guest sparks Mary’s hopes for independence, an intellectual match, and possibly even love!

Chaney Moore and Lindsay Ehrhardt are back to reprise their roles as Mary Bennet and Anne de Bourgh. They will be joined by an entirely new cast.

To Stream: When you purchase your ticket, you don’t have to choose a date that you want to stream the video. You can watch any time through December 19! You’ll be given a code. Then you’ll sign up for a free Broadway On Demand account and be able to watch Miss Bennet at a time that’s good for you! Specific instructions will also be in your confirmation email once you purchase your tickets!

Mother of the Maid

Regional Premiere
By Jane Anderson

Now playing in person and online through February 27, 2022

In this riveting new play, Jane Anderson reimagines Joan of Arc’s epic tale through the eyes of her mother. Isabelle Arc is a sensible, hard-working, God-fearing woman. Her headstrong daughter, on the other hand, communes with Saint Catherine, wears men’s clothing, and prepares to lead the French army into battle. Motherhood in the fifteenth century isn’t easy! Isabelle closely follows the baffling yet awe-inspiring journey of her curious, extraordinary daughter. Isabelle remains steadfast in her love and presence for daughter to the end, facing her own fears and doubts about her own faith along the way.

PLEASE NOTE: Upon arrival at the theater, MainStage patrons are required to show proof of a negative COVID test result (within 48 hours). A vaccination card may be shown in lieu of the test. Photocopies or a photo on your phone of medical records will be accepted.

Masks are also required for MainStage audience members. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

IN PERSON AND ONLINE:

Dog Act

By Liz Duffy Adams

The post-apocalyptic wilderness was never funnier! Follow the adventures of Zetta Stone, a traveling performer, and her companion Dog (a young man undergoing a voluntary species demotion) as they wander through the former northeastern United States. Zetta, Dog and their little vaudevillesque troupe are on their way to a gig in China, assuming they can find it. A theatrical, darkly comic variation on the classic doomsday genre that hysterically and poignantly celebrates the need for language and stories when civilization has fallen into chaos. Recommended for mature audiences due to profanity, violence, and adult situations.

Houston audiences will have a wonderful opportunity to sample Liz Duffy Adams’ work when the Alley Theatre offers the world premiere of her newest play, Born with Teeth, around the same time as Main Street’s production of Dog Act.

Notes from the Artistic Director

The times we live in and the Pandemic we’re still living through make post-apocalyptic stories seem more plausible than ever. Over the last two years I have been thinking a lot about society’s breakdown, and this play seems timely to me. Just think about the events of January 6, 2021. As I watched the events unfold on television, I believed then that there was a real possibility that the mob might be successful in some way. Ten years ago we couldn’t have imagined anything like that.  Now we’ve seen it unfold in real time.

In Dog Act there has been great devastation and total breakdown of what we now would consider normal. These characters are generations removed from whatever events transformed the world, but they are doing their best to forge new systems and hang on to the memory of what is important to them. If you know the party game of “Telephone”– in which a word or phrase is passed one by one around a circle until it returns to the beginning completely transformed — you’ll see the parallel here: language has become altered over time, memories are misremembered and the words to the beloved songs are unrecognizable from the original, but the shape or sense of the originals are still there. The way fragments from the Bible, from Shakespeare, from popular songs and literature are all intermingled is really brilliant, in my opinion. I think it’s great fun to trace these references.

There are only two literate characters in the play, Vera and Dog. They had been living in a former walled (and therefore protected) college campus. They had access to the books and knowledge of the before times, so their speech is clear, without the convolutions of the other characters. Yes, the Scavenger class is profane and basically without vocabulary except for curses. Their ethos – reuse, recycle, repurpose – is more about survival than quality of life. They know they need a leader, whom they call ‘The Wendy,’ a barely remembered fragment from the Peter Pan story. They are the lost boys grown into feral men. They need structure, rules to live by, and they find it in Wendy. But the heart of the play is Zetta, whose memory is capacious and whose imagination is unrestrained. Zetta, the storyteller, the repository of memory and knowledge (however convoluted) will go on with the show, keeping the stories, the history and the connections alive for the next generation.

-Rebecca Greene Udden, Main Street Theater Artistic Director

COVID PROTOCOLS:

Patrons will be required to show proof of a negative COVID test result (within 48 hours). A vaccination card may be shown in lieu of the test. Photocopies or a photo on your phone of medical records will be accepted. Masks are strongly recommended but not required. All protocols remain subject to change.

EXTENDED THROUGH JUNE 12!

Available to watch online through June 5

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter

Based on the novel by Mario Vargas-Llosa

English-Language Premiere
A play by Caridad Svich

WATCH ONLINE OR IN PERSON AT THE THEATER!

Based on the autobiographical novel by Nobel Prize-winning Latin-American writer Mario Vargas-Llosa, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter follows the passionate love story between a young Vargas-Llosa and an older divorcee in 1950s Lima, Peru. A boisterous, high-spirited comedy with a big-hearted romantic story at its center, Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter is what playwright Svich calls “a coming-of-age story about the performance of everyday life, the wonderfully disordered nature of love, and an homage to the golden age of radio and the spirit of classic screwball comedies.”

TO VIEW ONLINE:

1. Click the Buy Tickets button below and choose the Aunt Julia Streaming option.
2. You do NOT need to choose a date.
3. Soon after you purchase your online ticket, you will receive an email from us with a code and the link to follow to watch the play.
4. You’ll select Aunt Julia, and when you get to the payment page, USE YOUR CODE (you are NOT being asked to pay again!).
5. You will be able to watch online starting today! Once you activate your code, you will have 24 hours to watch the production.