ON TOUR: Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical!

Parents can order mementos of your visit in advance and have them ready when you come to the theater. Orders may be placed by clicking the image below or scanning the QR code.

DON’T LET THE PIGEON DRIVE THE BUS! THE MUSICAL!

Based on the book by Mo Willems

SOLD OUT!

When a bus driver takes a break from the route, a very unlikely volunteer springs up to take his place – a pigeon! And you’ve never met one like this before! From the Caldecott Honor award-winning book, Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus! The Musical! is sure to get everyone’s wings flapping with its innovative mix of songs, silliness, and feathers.

Recommended for Pre-K and older.

Tour Performances

  • Performance Times arranged with each school
  • Performance length is 45 minutes (plus a short Q&A and photo session with the actors after the show)
  • $1,000.00 for a single performance
  • $1,500.00 for back-to-back performances
  • Travel fees are not included in the performance price and are determined based on the location of the venue
  • Audience Limit: 450
  • Technical Requirements

Darwin in Malibu

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).

LOCATION

Main Street Theater – Rice Village
2540 Times Blvd.
Directions

PERFORMANCES AND TICKETS

PLEASE NOTE: Patrons will be required to wear masks and show their vaccination card or negative COVID test result (within 48 hours) prior to entering the theater. Photo copies 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).

Previews: Sept 26, 30 and Oct 1

Opening Night: Oct 2, 2021
Playing Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm
though Oct 24, 2021

Tickets: $59 – $35

Open Captioning

Sunday, Oct. 3 at 3pm
Open “in-sync” Captioned Performance

HELPFUL INFO

Seating Charts
Parking/Dining

Please note: no outside food/snacks are allowed at the theater. You may purchase concessions at the show.

Children under the age of 9 are not allowed in the theater.

Part of the Art Logo

Special opportunities for each of the MainStage productions to help you connect with the work at MST in new ways.

 

PART OF THE ART Series Events for Darwin in Malibu

Sept. 7 at 6:45pm: Join us for a free, first read-thru of Darwin in Malibu. For who are new to us, this is a Part of the Art Series event where you get to be a fly on the wall for the very first rehearsal, hearing the cast read the play aloud for the first time together. PLEASE NOTE: Masks and proof of vaccination required. We will not be serving drinks at eats at this rehearsal, due to COVID.

October 3: Following the matinee, Dr. John Lienhard, originator of The Engines of Our Ingenuity and Prof. Emeritus of Engineering and of History at the University of Houston, will give a post-show talk followed by an open discussion with the artists and audience.

October 10: Prof. Scott Solomon, evolutionary biologist, Rice University, will give a post-show talk about Charles Darwin, his views on religion, and other aspects of his personal life.

October 17: Following the matinee, join us for a discussion with playwright Crispin Whittell. The discussion will be at the theater but we will Zoom Crispin in, as he is in England!

This production is generously supported in part by:

Guarantor

Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley

Miss Bennet:
Christmas at Pemberley

by Lauren Gunderson
and Margot Melcon

November 20 – December 19, 2021

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!

“Main Street Theater’s ‘Christmas at Pemberley’ is a sublime gift…From the paintings on the wall of the Pemberley library, to the questions that emerge from the play itself (‘Can one live a large life in mind alone?’, Mary asks), to the comic references to Pride and Prejudice that delight at every turn, this show is a holiday gift.” Houston Chronicle

Bennet is back on stage in the flesh, and it’s been revivified, botoxed, and lightened….such easy wit and gliding gait….The actors are having more fun….We’re having more fun, too….The cast meshes well and creates a lovely fairy-tale atmosphere. Austen is well served all round.” Houston Press

“For the third time Chaney Moore will take on the role of Mary Bennet, the overlooked Bennet sister brought to life in Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley about to go back on stage at Main Street Theater — and she’s happy to do so.” Houston Press interview with Chaney Moore

LOCATION

Main Street Theater – Rice Village
2540 Times Blvd.
Houston, TX 77005
Directions

PERFORMANCES AND TICKETS

Previews: Nov 18 & 19, 2021

Opening Night: Nov 20, 2021
Playing Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm
though Dec 19, 2021

Tickets: $59 – $35

Open Captioning

Sunday, Nov. 21 at 3pm
Open “in-sync” Captioned Performance

PLAN YOUR VISIT

Seating Charts
Parking/Dining

Running Time: 2 Hours and 20 minutes including a 15 minute intermission

Please note: no outside food/snacks are allowed at the theater. You may purchase concessions at the show.

Children under the age of 9 are not allowed in the theater.

Mother of the Maid

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.

To Stream: When you purchase your tickets, you don’t have to choose a date that you want to stream the video. You can watch any time between now and February 27!

You’ll be given a code that you will apply as your “promo code” once you create your free Broadway On Demand account. You’ll be able to watch Mother of the Maid at a time that’s good for you between now and February 27! Specific instructions will be in your confirmation email once you purchase your tickets.

LOCATION

Main Street Theater – Rice Village
2540 Times Blvd.
Directions

PERFORMANCES AND TICKETS

Previews: Jan 30 and Feb 3 & 4, 2022

Opening Night: Feb 5, 2022
Playing Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm
though Feb 27, 2022

Tickets: $59 – $35

Open Captioning

Sunday, Feb. 6 at 3pm
Open “in-sync” Captioned Performance

HELPFUL INFO

Seating Charts
Parking/Dining

Running Time: 2 Hours including a 15 minute intermission

Please note: no outside food/snacks are allowed at the theater. You may purchase concessions at the show.

Children under the age of 9 are not allowed in the theater.

Part of the Art Logo

Special opportunities for each of the MainStage productions to help you connect with the work at MST in new ways.

 

PART OF THE ART Series Events for Mother of the Maid

February 13, 2022: Following the matinee, joins us for a post-show talk and discussion:
Joan of Arc: Her History, Her Story in Contemporary Media, and Her Legacy as a Female Warrior
with Joan of Arc expert Professor Bonnie Wheeler, English Department, Southern Methodist University, and multimedia medievalism expert Prof. Lorraine Kochanske Stock, English Department, University of Houston

Production Sponsor

Dog Act

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.

LOCATION

Main Street Theater – Rice Village
2540 Times Blvd.

PERFORMANCES AND TICKETS

Previews: Mar 20, 24 & 25, 2022

Opening Night: Mar 26, 2022
Playing Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm
though Apr 16, 2022

Tickets: $35 – $59

ONLINE 4/7 – 4/17!

Tickets: $30 – $54

Open Captioning

Sunday, Mar. 27, 2022 at 3pm
Open “in-sync” Captioned Performance

HELPFUL INFO

Seating Charts
Directions

Please note: no outside food/snacks are allowed at the theater. You may purchase concessions at the show.

Children under the age of 9 are not allowed in the theater.

April 10, 2022: Following the matinee, join us for a Part of the Art Series post-show talk and discussion with playwright Liz Duffy Adams. Even if you are not attending the performance this day, you’re welcome to join us. Just plan to be at the theater about 5:15pm!

Production Sponsor

Janet Hansen

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter

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.

LOCATION

Main Street Theater – Rice Village
2540 Times Blvd.
Directions

PERFORMANCES AND TICKETS

Previews: May 8, 12 & 13, 2022

Opening Night: May 14, 2022
Playing Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm
Extended through June 12, 2022
There is no performance May 29.

Tickets: $35 – $59

Open Captioning

Sunday, May 15, 2022 at 3pm
Open “in-sync” Captioned Performance

HELPFUL INFO

Seating Charts

Running Time: 2 hours and 30 minutes including a 15 minute intermission

Please note: no outside food/snacks are allowed at the theater. You may purchase concessions at the show.

Children under the age of 9 are not allowed in the theater.

Part of the Art Series Post-Show & Panel Discussions

May 22 at 5:45pm: Join Main Street Theater and TEATRX, a Latinx Theatre Company based in Houston, on May 22 for a post-show discussion about the importance of sharing stories by Latinx artists and showcasing the range of Latinidad in the Latinx community and in MST’s production. TEATRX co-founders Benito Vasquez and Marissa Castillo, also a cast member of Aunt Julia, will be guiding the discussion. Director Amelia Rico, cast members Ricardo Hernandez-Morgan and Amanda Martinez, and costume designer Laura Moreno will be joining the discussion as well. As always, you are welcome to join us for the discussion even if you aren’t seeing the play that day. Just plan to arrive at the theater around 5:45pm.

May 24 at 6:30pm: Join Main Street Theater and MECA (Multicultural Education and Counseling through the Arts) for a panel discussion about what it means to be fully committed to sharing Latinx culture through the arts.

with

Armando Silva, Arts Program Director, MECA

Amelia Rico, director of Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter and MST Director of Digital Production

Sloane Teagle, MST Artistic Inclusion and Community Engagement Director

Melissa Molano, Houston theater artist

Vivienne M. St. John, Main Street Theater Theater for Youth Artistic Director

Rebecca Greene Udden, Main Street Theater Founding Artistic Director

Free Beer Friday Sponsor

The Real Inspector Hound

The Real Inspector Hound

By Tom Stoppard

 

EXTENDED THROUGH AUGUST 13!

Attending the premiere of a new murder mystery, two feuding theater critics soon find themselves drawn into the play-within-a-play! In the hilarious spoof of Agatha Christie-style mysteries that follows, the mists roll in around isolated Muldoon Manor, and the critics become implicated in the lethal activities of an escaped madman. It’s brilliant comedy as only Tom Stoppard can do!

The Real Inspector Hound is an exceedingly clever lampoon, sharply in focus…” —The New York Times “What absurd fun Tom Stoppard created when he let fantasies run wild.” —Evening Standard “Witty and delicious parody of the fog bound whodunit.” —Guardian “A tour de force of theatrical metaphysics.” —Daily Mail “A masterpiece…. Stoppard mines murder mystery conventions and strikes gold.” —Independent on Sunday

Special 2021-22 Season Celebration on August 6!
Join us on August 6 at 6:30pm for The Real Inspector Hound, a VIP reception, and an exclusive preview of the 2022-23 Season! Individual tickets: $150 (FMV $60). Sponsorships available. Contact marlen@mainstreettheater.com for sponsorship details.

LOCATION

Main Street Theater – Rice Village
2540 Times Blvd.
Directions

PERFORMANCES AND TICKETS

Previews: July 10, 14 & 15, 2022

Opening Night: July 16, 2022
Playing Thursdays – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm
through Aug 13, 2022

Tickets: $35 – $59

Open Captioning

Sunday, July 17, 2022 at 3pm
Open “in-sync” Captioned Performance

HELPFUL INFO

Seating Charts

Running Time: 1 hour and 15 minutes with no intermission.

Please note: no outside food/snacks are allowed at the theater. You may purchase concessions at the show.

Children under the age of 9 are not allowed in the theater.

PRODUCTION GUARANTORS

Ken Bohan & Dean O’Kelley

PRODUCTION SPONSORS

Jane Evans & Jack Blaylock