TAKING STEPS Comes to the Main Street Theater This Month

Main Street Theater is producing the rollicking British farce, Taking Steps by internationally-acclaimed playwright, Sir Alan Ayckbourn. When the play first premiered in England, on its original opening night, the laughter was so loud it broke the theater's PA system!

Taking Steps runs May 18 – June 16, 2024. Performances are Thursday – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm. Tickets are $35 - $59.

MST will host a Pride Night event in connection with the June 6 performance, and the May 19 performance offers open captioning.

About the play

A tongue-tied solicitor has bitten off more than he can chew overseeing the sale of a crumbling, possibly haunted house that, um, used to be a brothel. Then in the course of one hectic night and morning, two couples, the solicitor and realtor, each immersed in their own personal problems, end up in more of a mess than ever. And it all happens in a highly ingenious and original theatrical setting in which all the rooms, passages and stairs of this three-story house are on a single level. Did we mention there's a ghost?! Let's just say that in this British farce by the brilliant Alan Ayckbourn, hilarity definitely ensues!

About the playwright

A playwright and theatre director, to date Alan has written 90 plays - Constant Companions attracted four-star reviews when it premiered in September 2023 at the Stephen Joseph Theatre where nearly all his plays are first staged.

Before the pandemic his other work, having won countless awards, could be seen on stage and television throughout the world so it was good news when Birthdays Past, Birthdays Present was staged in Germany to a terrific response.

Relatively Speaking, How The Other Half Loves, The Norman Conquests, Season's Greetings, A Chorus of Disapproval, Absurd Person Singular and Woman in Mind were all recently revived to great acclaim.

In New York, his biennial visits with the SJT company performing his plays for the Brits Off Broadway Festival at 59E59 Theatres regularly received an enthusiastic reception. Sadly, COVID has meant there has been no recent return visit to the festival.

He wrote a best-selling guide to writing and directing, The Crafty Art of Playmaking. This is still in print. His first 'novel', The Divide, was published in 2019.

Inducted into American Theatre's Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Critics' Circle Award for Services to the Arts, he became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards. He was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre. (www.alanayckbourn.net)

About the production

Andrew Ruthven is the director. The cast is Aaron Alford, Callina Anderson, David Harlan, Philip Hays, Chaney Moore, and Chris Szeto-Joe. Rebecca Skupin is the production stage manager. The set designer is Ryan McGettigan. Jonathan Harvey is the sound designer. Macy Lyne is the costume designer. Lighting design is by Hudson Davis. Rodney Walsworth is the properties designer and set dresser.

About Main Street Theater

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.

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