Main Street Theater Celebrates National Native American Heritage Month With 26 MILES By Quiara Alegría Hudes

 

In early 2024, Main Street Theater will be producing the regional premiere of 26 Miles by Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner Quiara Alegría Hudes (In the Heights, The Elliot Trilogy).

The play will be directed by Amelia Rico whose vision for the production hinges on Indigenous heritage. Ms. Rico shared, “As a Tejana, Indigenous to South Texas and Central Mexico, I hope to celebrate our roots in Indigeneity by uplifting not only Chicano theatre, but also returning to its origins in Indigenous storytelling and spirituality.”

“As someone who struggled with her identity for much of her life, the story of 26 Miles really resonated with me on a deeper level,” offered Ms. Rico. “On the surface it is about a mother and a daughter re-connecting through a road trip across America, but digging deeper and viewing it through my own personal experience with loss and discovery, I feel that the true theme is about reconnecting with our mother-identity. This is not just a mother/ daughter story - this is a story of loss and reclamation, a story of disconnection and reconnection. This is my story and this is your story.”

The production runs Feb. 10 – Mar. 3, 2024. Performances are Thursday – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. Tickets are $35 - $59. Opening Night, Feb. 10, will feature a special Song and Drum performance by Houston Aztec Dance.

The cast is Dwight Clark, Joy Germany, Anthony Hernandez, and Rosarito Rodriguez. Rebecca Skupin is the production stage manager. The set designer is Art Ornelas. Jacob C. Sanchez is the sound designer. Afsaneh Aayani is the costume designer. Lighting design is by John Smetak. Rodney Walsworth is the properties designer.

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.

Quiara 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.

Now in its 48th season, Main Street Theater provides theater experiences for all ages.  The MainStage produces professional, intimate, literary plays for adults and operates under an Actors’ Equity Association union contract; the Theater for Youth produces professional, engaging productions based on children’s literature for families and school groups, both in-house and on tour around Texas; and we offer Education and Outreach programs on-site and at satellite locations around the Greater Houston area for youth aged 4 – high school.  We work out of 2 facilities: our Rice Village home on Times. Blvd., and as part of the MATCH (Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston) on Main Street. 

Main Street Theater is a member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for not-for-profit theaters, of Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (formerly ASSITEJ), the world theatre network of theatre for children and young people, and a founding member of Houston Arts Partners. Main Street Theater is funded in part by the City of Houston through Houston Arts Alliance. Main Street Theater is also funded in part by a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance. This project is generously funded by the Houston Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs, and Mid-America Arts Alliance.

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