Main Street Theater Announces 38th MainStage Season and 33rd Theater for Youth Season

Main Street Theater announces its 38th MainStage Season and 33rd Theater for Youth Season. All MainStage productions will take place at MST – Rice Village.

LIFE IS A DREAM
by Pedro Calderón de la Barca
translated and adapted by Nilo Cruz
directed by Pablo Bracho
September 20 – October 14, 2012

“Astrological omens predict that if King Basilio's son Segismundo is crowned, he will become a horrible tyrant who will bring destruction to his kingdom. Basilio imprisons Segismundo for life, but decades later he decides to let his son prove his ability to defy the stars. Allowed to rule the palace, Segismundo wreaks bloody vengeance on the kingdom, confirming the prediction of the stars, and the prince is returned to his prison. In Nilo Cruz's translation of Calderón de la Barca's classic, the question of whether life is a dream or an illusion takes on a renewed relevance and urgency.” –Dramatists Play Service

A philosophical allegory of the human situation and the mystery of life, this fantastical play remains one of Calderón's best-known works. Nilo Cruz’ adaptation is a sublime translation which renders Calderon’s soaring poetry into richly elegant, modern language.

Produced by South Coast Repertory Theatre in 2007, Main Street will present the Regional Premiere of this stunning adaptation.

LOVE GOES TO PRESS
by Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowles
November 23 – December 16, 2012

From the book jacket: “In this romantic farce, set in a press camp on the Italian front in 1944, two female war correspondents – smart, sexy, and famous for scooping their male competitors – struggle to balance their professional and their love lives. Complications ensue when one of our heroines unexpectedly encounters her ex-husband, a famous writer whom she had divorced on the grounds of plagiarism. Written in the aftermath of WWII, this comedy opened in London in 1946 and on Broadway in 1947. At the time a relief for the survivors of Blitzkrieg and ration cards, today it is a devilishly entertaining portrayal of the Battle of the Sexes!”

Love Goes to Press premiered on Broadway in 1947 with a very short run. It is currently being produced Off-Broadway at the Mint Theater Company.

MEMORY HOUSE
by Kathleen Tolan
January 17 - February 10, 2013

As Katia struggles to finish her college essay by TONIGHT’S midnight deadline her mother Maggie tries to motivate and encourage her while baking a pie. Mother and daughter wrestle with lingering issues from Katia’s adoption from Russia, and her parents’ divorce and her fear of leaving home as they pick their way through the very human, very honest, and sometimes very funny struggle of how to connect with each other and face the future.

Trinity Repertory Theatre commissioned Memory House, and its world premiere was at The Actors Theatre of Louisville 2005 Humana Festival of New American Plays. Memory House was also produced Off-Broadway in 2005 at Playwrights Horizons.

HENRY V
By William Shakespeare
A Co-production with Prague Shakespeare Festival
Directed by Guy Roberts
March 21 – April 14, 2013

This majestic play is set in England in the early fifteenth century, young King Henry V has just assumed the throne. Bitter civil wars have left the people of England restless and dissatisfied. Furthermore, in order to gain the respect of the English people and the court, Henry must live down his wild adolescent past. He lays claim to certain parts of France, based on his distant roots in the French royal family and on a very technical interpretation of ancient land laws. When the young French prince (the Dauphin) sends Henry an insulting message in response to these claims, Henry decides to invade France. The climax of the war comes at the famous Battle of Agincourt, at which the English are outnumbered by the French five to one. What happens in the end is nothing short of a miracle…

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