What the Constitution Means to Me

Regional Premiere

By Heidi Schreck

Fifteen year old Heidi earned her college tuition by winning Constitutional debate competitions at American Legion posts across the United States. In this hilarious, hopeful and achingly human new play, she resurrects her teenage self in order to trace the document’s profound impact on women’s bodies—starting with her great-great-grandmother, a mail-order bride who died under mysterious circumstances. This witty and searingly personal exploration breathes new life into our founding document and imagines how it will shape the next generation of American women.

Schreck’s timely and galvanizing play became a sensation off-Broadway before transferring to Broadway where it received two Tony Award nominations among countless other accolades, including Finalist for a Pulitzer Prize.

Content warning: What the Constitution Means to Me contains mentions of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking, and discussions of abortion and its stigmatization. If you would like further information regarding this content warning, please email shannon@mainstreettheater.com

The New York Times hailed What the Constitution Means to Me as “not just the best play to open on Broadway so far [that] season, but also the most important.”

“Uproariously funny, wrenchingly moving, critically challenging and politically inspiring.” – David Cole, The New York Review of Books

“A charming and incisive analysis of gender and racial biases inherent to the U.S. Constitution that examines how this living document could evolve to fit modern America.” – 2019 Pulitzer Prize Committee

Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley

Regional Premiere

By Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon

It’s finally here! The final installment of the Christmas at Pemberley trilogy follows two close friends: Mr. Darcy’s younger sister, Georgiana, and the youngest Bennet sister, Kitty. It is Christmastime at Pemberley and the pair impatiently await the imminent arrival of Henry Grey, Georgiana’s shy, secret correspondent. When Henry enters a family holiday in full force and is met by the unwelcoming presence of Mr. Darcy, Georgiana fears her chance at love will be lost forever. But somehow, love always finds a way!

Main Street has previously produced the first two plays in the trilogy, Miss Bennet and The Wickhams, both of which became hits and holiday favorites for many families across Houston and beyond.

26 Miles

Regional Premiere

By Quiara Alegría Hudes

The custody battle left them estranged for eight years. The road trip destination is two thousand miles across the country. The mother’s skin is brown; the teenage daughter’s skin is white. So what if reality’s nipping at their heels? This reunited pair runs frantically and hilariously from the secrets in their lives, hunting valuable antiques, chasing arctic explorers, getting lost in Wyoming’s wilderness – and finding their way again as mother and daughter.

Alegría Hudes won the Pulitzer Prize for Water by the Spoonful and was a Pulitzer finalist for her play Elliot, A Soldier’s Fugue which Main Street Theater produced in 2020. For the screen, Alegría Hudes adapted her Tony Award-winning Broadway musical In the Heights into a major motion picture and wrote Vivo, an animated feature, both with collaborator/composer Lin-Manuel Miranda.

“Charming, spunky, and ultimately heart-rending…The car trip from Paoli, PA, to Yellowstone Park is transforming and restorative.” —NY Times.

Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word

World Premiere

By Thomas Meloncon

A small town in East Texas. The local NAACP office is planning a funeral for the “N word.” A close-minded white man is on his way to the office to have a frank discussion with the legendary Stagolee, a black man known for his father’s legendary status and swagger. A world premiere production of nationally recognized Houston playwright Thomas Meloncon’s newest work.

Taking Steps

By Alan Ayckbourn

A tongue-tied solicitor has bitten off more than he can chew overseeing the sale of a crumbling, possibly haunted house that, um, used to be a brothel. Then in the course of one hectic night and morning, two couples, the solicitor and realtor, each immersed in their own personal problems, end up in more of a mess than ever. And it all happens in a highly ingenious and original theatrical setting in which all the rooms, passages and stairs of this three-story house are on a single level. Did we mention there’s a ghost?! Let’s just say that in this British farce by the brilliant Alan Ayckbourn, hilarity definitely ensues!

TBD