Main Street Theater

2007 - 2008 MainStage Season
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Individual tickets for whole season on sale August 1st.

The Best Man
by Gore Vidal - August 25 - September 16, 2007
THE BEST MAN plays out over two days at the nominating convention of an unnamed political party as two candidates seek the endorsement of a dying former U.S. president. William Russell, a statesman whose record of public service is exemplary but whose private life is less so, seems to have the edge over Joe Cantwell, a cunning political animal whose private life is nevertheless above reproach. When Cantwell threatens to ruin Russell by exposing his history of mental illness, Russell must decide whether or not to use the same dirty tricks on his opponent.

The Busy World Is Hushed
by Keith Bunin - September 22 - October 21, 2007
A drama about conflicts of family and faith concerning Hannah, an Episcopal priest and scholar, who hires a skeptical young man to help her write a book on a newly discovered gospel (which may predate the Big Four). Hannah's certainty about her faith has estranged her own son, but that same certainty, along with her vigorous questioning of the orthodoxies of the church, has a strong appeal to the young writer. Through this surrogate son she is able to forge a new understanding with her own. Featuring Main Street Theater Artistic Director Rebecca Greene Udden as Hannah.

Mr. Pim Passes By
by A. A. Milne - November 10 - December 23, 2007
In this bright comedy of manners by the author of the Winnie-the-Pooh stories, a somewhat traditional English household is amusingly thrown into disarray when Mr. Pim, a man simply passing through, casually drops a piece of information which could – and nearly does – completely unravel the inhabitants' very mundane and conventional lives. Rescheduled from last season. Recommended for all audiences ages 13 and up.

Caroline, or Change
book and lyrics by Tony Kushner, music by Jeanine Tesori
January 2 - January 20, 2008
In Lake Charles, Louisiana in 1963, Caroline Thibodeaux is a maid for a Jewish family whose young son, Noah, prefers Caroline's company to that of his stepmother, Rose. While Caroline is not happy working in the hot, muggy basement laundry room, she is much more disturbed by the changes that the American civil rights movement threatens to bring about in her carefully ordered world. When Rose enlists her help in teaching Noah not to leave money in his pants pocket, the tide of social change begins to affect her life firsthand, and she must come to terms with the end of segregation. Featuring Tamara Siler as Caroline.

Translations
by Brian Friel - February 23 - March 22, 2008
TRANSLATIONS is set in 1833 in a rural community in County Donegal, Ireland. In a nearby field encampment, a detachment of the Royal Engineers working on the first British maps of the area are recording the local Gaelic place names and rendering them into English. This simple bureaucratic action of the colonizers has far-reaching personal and cultural effects on the small group of the hedge-school. A love that transcends language and logic finds its way into this beautifully stirring tale.

Present Laughter
by Noël Coward - May 10 - June 8, 2008
Garry Essendine, an aging matinee idol, may be teetering reluctantly towards middle age but everyone, both male and female, is infatuated with him. Flamboyant and witty, wearing a silk dressing gown and equipped with the requisite cocktail, his life is one long performance in which he can never be himself. About to set off on an extended tour of Africa, Essendine is visited by practically everyone he knows, including his ex-wife/manager, lawyer, secretary, butler, business partners, an admiring young playwright and a recent one-night stand. An acknowledged self-portrait of the playwright himself, PRESENT LAUGHTER is a marvelously comic exaggeration of the life that whirled around Coward in his heyday. Starring Main Street favorite Joel Sandel as Garry.