Taking it to the streets

Houston theater company's new season hits the street with world premieres and audience favorites

When Main Street Theater announced its new season for 2023-24, executive artistic director Rebecca Greene Udden touted it as "building on the momentum from this season and producing many new titles." The slate of shows offers three regional premieres and a world premiere by a nationally renowned Houston playwright.

The Mainstage season opens on September 16 with What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Shreck. A regional premiere, the play won the Obie Award for best play of 2019, and was both a Tony nominee and Pulitzer Prize finalist. Based on her own experiences earning her college tuition by debating the Constitution in competitions across the U.S., the play was hailed as “Uproariously funny, wrenchingly moving, critically challenging, and politically inspiring" by the New York Review of Books.

Offering a new perspective on one of our country's founding documents, What the Constitution Means to Me also examines how it will shape the next generation. Shannon Emerick will play the role of Heidi. "I am beyond excited a honored!" she told CultureMap about taking on the role. What the Constitution Means to Me runs through October 8.

Rolling into the holidays is Main Street's second regional premiere of the season, Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley, the final installment of Main Street's wildly popular Christmas at Pemberley series. This entry, by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, authors of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley and The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, is also based on Jane Austen's iconic characters in Pride and Prejudice.

This finale of the series concentrates on Mr. Darcy's younger sister Georgiana and the youngest Bennet sister, Kitty, who are impatiently awaiting the arrival of Georgiana's secret correspondent, Henry Grey. If previous Christmas at Pemberley incarnations are an indication, Georgiana and Kitty should be a holiday hit. The show runs November 18 through December 17.

26 Miles by Quiara Alegría Hudes opens 2024, running February 10 to March 3. In this regional premiere, a brown-skinned mother and her white-skinned teenage daughter, estranged after an eight-year custody battle, reunite on a road trip across the country. As they find their way back to themselves, they encounter all manner of obstacles from each other and the world around them. They hunt for valuables, get lost in Wyoming, and more in a play that is heartfelt and funny.

Audiences will recall playwright Alegría Hudes, who 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. The New York Times called 26 Miles “charming, spunky, and ultimately heart-rending."

Courtesy of Main Street Theater

The Pemberley Estate returns for Christmas.

Houstonian and TSU professor Thomas Meloncon's Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word takes place in 1990, where an East Texas office of the NAACP is planning a funeral for the N-word. This world premiere brings to light how language affects us. The action focuses on a close-minded white man who's determined to have a frank discussion about this funeral with Stagolee, a black man known for his father’s legendary status and swagger. Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word runs March 30 to April 21, 2024.

In renowned British playwright Alan Ayckbourn's Taking Steps, a solicitor finds himself in over his head, overseeing the sale of a run-down, possibly haunted, house that was once a brothel. As two couples, the solicitor, and the realtor move through a tumultuous night and morning, chaos ensues — and there's a ghost. This classic British farce runs May 18 to June 9, 2024.

At press time, Main Street was finalizing its final show of the season, which is set to run July 13 to August 4.

Season tickets are currently on sale, with prices starting at $210. Discounted student subscriptions are also available. All performances take place at Main Street Theater's Times Village location. Full details are available on Main Street Theater's website.

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Houston's iconic Rothko Chapel receives new grant to restore Beryl damage

Courtesy of the Rothko Chapel

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Houston's beloved Rothko Chapel is one step closer to recovery after Hurricane Beryl in 2024. A substantial new grant from Bank of America will fund the restoration of Mark Rothko pieces damaged by the storm.

“This grant comes at a pivotal moment – not only for the Rothko Chapel, but in the broader context of our changing climate and growing vulnerability to extreme weather events,” said David Leslie, executive director of the Chapel. “The conservation process will require extensive time, specialized materials, and expert technical support to stabilize and restore these works, ensuring they can once again inspire visitors within this sacred space. Bank of America’s support underscores the urgent need to preserve culturally significant artworks like these, especially as we face new environmental challenges that threaten our artistic legacy.”

The Bank of America Art Conservation Project has been used to fund the preservation and restoration of culturally significant artworks since 2010. In 2021, the project also funded the restoration of an 13th Century Incan textile housed at Houston's Menil Collection. This year's other recipients include the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City, Sir John Soane's Museum in London, and the Sydney Opera House.

Since 1971, Rothko Chapel has been one of the best meditative spaces in Houston. Commissioned by John and Dominique de Menil in 1964, Rothko designed the space and painted its famous black panels. Rothko himself did not live to see the completion, dying by suicide in New York in 1970. Now, the chapel stands as a non-denominational spiritual center, hosting concerts, mindfulness clinics, and other events designed to promote mental healing in visitors.

When Hurricane Beryl hit Houston on July 8, high winds and torrential hammered the chapel's roof. Water leakage damaged the walls and one of Rothko's black triptychs on the east side of the building. It took seven months of work before the chapel was reopened to the public in December, but the damaged art was still housed off site for restoration. Bank of America's grant should hopefully speed up the process of returning the iconic pieces back to public view.

“It is devastating to see the domino effects of an event like Hurricane Beryl, jeopardizing the storied institutions and culturally significant works that provide so much context into the Houston identity,” said Hong Ogle, President, Bank of America Houston. “I am very proud that Bank of America’s Art Conservation Project allows us to support the arts in a unique and impactful way and preserve the works that mean the most to our community.”

In addition to the restoration, Rothko Chapel recently broke ground on a $42 million campus expansion. Two new buildings to the north with house administrative services and an archive, and a meditation garden dedicated to Kathleen and Chuck Mullenweg. A new program center will follow after.