Season Announcement
Secrets, lies, and chaos abound in MainStage Irving-Las Colinas' 2023-24 season
Four actors play 150 different characters in The 39 Steps.
To kick off its 51st season, MainStage Irving-Las Colinas is debuting a first: its first produced show at its downtown Irving venue, MainStage 222.
Three plays and two musicals performed at Irving Arts Center will follow, each embodying the season's scandalous title "Secrets, Lies, and Chaos."
"We’re thrilled to bring you six stellar productions, ranging from smash-hit musical comedies to sentimental fantasies to classic dramas," says MainStage board of directors president Steven Merritt.
First up is Kim Rosenstock's Tigers Be Still, a quirky, endearing comedy about hope and human connection.
Sherry Wickman is a recent college grad with a masters degree in art therapy whose job search hasn’t quite gone as planned. Unemployed and overwhelmed, she retreats to her childhood bed and remains there … until an unexpected employment opportunity gives her a renewed sense of purpose and hope. Now if only her mother would come downstairs, her sister would stop watching Top Gun from the couch, her first patient would do even one assignment, her new boss would leave his rifle at home, and someone would catch the actual tiger that escaped from the local zoo, everything would be just perfect. It runs August 11-29, 2023, at MainStage 222.
Next up is the smash-hit musical comedy Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, about two con men, one heiress, and the opportunity of a lifetime.
Lawrence Jameson makes his lavish living by talking rich ladies out of their money. Freddy Benson more humbly swindles women by fabricating stories about his grandmother's failing health. But the French Riviera isn’t big enough for both of them, so they agree on a winner-take-all wager: The first person to successfully steal $50,000 from the young heiress Christine Colgate will get to stay in town, while the loser has to leave. Based on the 1988 film of the same name, it boasts music and lyrics by David Yazbeck and book by Jeffrey Lane. It runs November 3-18, 2023, at Irving Arts Center.
Bringing us into 2024 is the fast-paced whodunit The 39 Steps. This farcical tale of an ordinary man on an extraordinarily entertaining adventure combines a Hitchcock masterpiece with a juicy spy novel (plus a dash of Monty Python).
London, 1935. The rather dull Richard Hannay encounters a woman who claims to be a spy. When she’s suddenly murdered, Richard finds himself the focus of a nationwide manhunt led by a mysterious organization called “The 39 Steps.” Expect nonstop laughs, over 150 zany characters (played by a ridiculously talented cast of four), an onstage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers, and some good old-fashioned romance. It runs January 19-February 3, 2024, at Irving Arts Center.
One part period drama, one part fairy-tale, J.M. Barrie’s Dear Brutus is a poignant exploration of choice, consequence, and circumstance.
An eclectic group of guests are invited to an enchanting country house for Midsummers Eve. Their mysterious host, Lob, spins a tale of a mystical forest outside the home where they can find dreams and desires answered. Each with their own problems and each curious as to what their “second chance” at life may look like, the guests wander into the woods and seize the opportunity to explore a parallel version of themselves. The Irving Arts Center stage will transform into a wooded wonderland March 8-23, 2024.
Audiences will then be transported to a ritzy hotel in 1928 Berlin with Grand Hotel, The Musical.
Based on Vicki Baum's novel of the same name, this hauntingly beautiful musical follows a cast of eccentric characters as they whirl through the Grand Hotel’s revolving doors, leading to fateful encounters and shadowy secrets. Meet the beautiful prima ballerina, the charming but broke young baron, the determined Hollywood hopeful, the deathly ill bookkeeper, the honest, hardworking father-to-be, and the cynical doctor, whose stories all intertwine through a series of fateful encounters. It runs May 3-18, 2024, at Irving Arts Center).
The season concludes with Lillian Hellman’s compelling drama The Children’s Hour.
An unruly student at a rural Massachusetts boarding school falsely accuses her two female teachers of engaging in a romantic relationship. Suddenly the two women must navigate the truth among the lies as they fight to save their reputations, their families, and the school itself. But as the schoolgirl’s rumor escalates to scandal and the outraged community quickly withdraws all their students, a witch hunt ensues that ultimately leads to terrible and tragic consequences. It runs September 20-October 5, 2024, at Irving Arts Center.
Season tickets and flex passes range from $95-$120 and will be available for purchase beginning July 10 at the Irving Arts Center box office, by visiting www.IrvingArtsCenter.com, or calling 972-252-2787.
Single tickets for Tigers Be Still will go on sale July 15. Tickets for all remaining productions in the 2023-24 season will go on sale September 15.
