Season Announcement
Dallas-Fort Worth theater casts a spooky spell with 2021 streaming season
MainStage Irving-Las Colinas is "embracing the mayhem" this year with a season made up entirely of streaming shows.
The four plays, including a collection of short plays by David Ives, are a little glam, a little thoughtful, and a lot spooky.
"We're dedicated to providing entertaining, safe, and accessible theatre as we continue navigating the pandemic in 2021," says board president Clayton Cunningham. "While we're hopeful that gathering together will be possible later in the year, we wanted to provide our patrons with a list of confirmed productions that we know they will love."
First up is Lives of the Saints, a collection of six short plays by David Ives that will be directed by Andi Allen. The playlets span:
- A friendship almost founders over a gift gone unappreciated.
- A washing-machine repairman falls in love with a picture-perfect washer.
- A pair of lookalikes named Bebe W.W. Doppel-gängler attempt to solve an identity crisis with the help of a doctor and his nurse.
- A man feels he never truly knew the woman who birthed him, and now that she's gone, he'll never get the chance. Or will he?
- A ridiculous Masterpiece Theatre-style murder mystery with suspects and a bumbling Scotland Yard detective confounded by philosophical quandaries.
- Two women preparing a funeral breakfast in a church basement muse on life, death, and the meaning of Polish jokes.
It's all streaming online March 12-27, 2021.
Bell, Book and Candle by John Van Druten is next, and the 1950s play is known as the inspiration for the hit TV show Bewitched. In a world where witches can't fall in love, Gillian Holroyd complicates her situation by casting a spell over Shepherd Henderson out of spite. When he falls head over heels in love with her, Gillian must choose whether to love a mortal, or lose him entirely. Directed by Rose Anne Holman, it streams May 7-22, 2021.
B.J. Cleveland directs Elizabeth L. Fuller's Me and Jezebel, a hilarious and true story about when the playwright met her screen idol. On May 28, 1985, the star-struck Fuller's dream came true when the legendary Bette Davis came to dinner at her Connecticut home. Four weeks later, as the hotel strike in New York dragged on, she was still there. It streams July 23-August 7, 2021.
The season concludes with Bad Seed by Maxwell Anderson, from William March's novel. In a small Southern town where Colonel and Christine Penmark live with their daughter, Rhoda, Mrs. Penmark is alarmed when one of her daughter’s classmates mysteriously drowns at a picnic. As the truth begins to reveal itself, the Penmark family starts to question whether their daughter is as innocent as she seems. Directed by Bruce Coleman, it streams September 10-25, 2021.
Subscribers of the 2020-2021 season will be sent tickets for all the updated productions. All streaming ticket-buyers will be able to transfer streamed tickets to traditional tickets should performances be moved to live performances in the Dupree Theatre.
Streaming season four-packs will be available for purchase at www.MainStageIrving.com on February 2 at noon. Ticketing questions should be directed to the Irving Arts Center box office (972-252-2787) or MainStage's administrative office (972-594-6104 or info@irvingtheatre.org).
Cliburn Junior 2023 winner Seokyoung Hong (center) with second-place Yifan Wu (left), and third-place Jan Schulmeister. Photo by Ralph Lauer 
Clayton Stephenson competed in the 2015 Cliburn Junior Competition and returned for the 2022 Cliburn International Competition, where he was a finalist. Photo courtesy of The Cliburn 
Italian pianist and Cliburn alum Alessandro Deljavan will serve on the jury. Photo courtesy of Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth 