THEATRE + COMEDY

Main Street Theater presents Bunnicula. Adapted for the stage by Jon Klein. Based on the book by Deborah and James Howe. Music by Chris Jeffries. Directed by Mark Adams. Performances are at Main Street Theater–Chelsea Market, 4617 Montrose Boulevard in the Museum District. Weekend Family Performances are Saturdays at 1pm and 4pm: April 16 & 30 and May 7 & 14, 2011.

“Today, vegetables. Tomorrow, the world!” This hysterical musical based on James and Deborah Howe’s wildly popular children’s book, Bunnicula, will have everyone laughing!

About Bunnicula
When all of the vegetables in the house start turning white, Harold the Dog and Chester the Cat try to alert the Monroe family to the possibility that the bunny they brought home from the movie house (where they saw Dracula) might actually be a vampire bunny! This spirited musical tale of mystery will thrill children and animals alike with something they can really sink their teeth into.

Recommended for First Grade and up.

About Author James Howe
James Howe is the author of over eighty books for young readers, including the modern classic Bunnicula and its highly popular sequels. In 2001, Howe published The Misfits, the story of four outcast seventh-graders who try to end name-calling in their school. The Misfits is now widely read and studied in middle schools throughout the country, and was the inspiration for the national movement known as No Name-Calling Week, an event observed by thousands of middle and elementary schools annually.

Totally Joe, a companion novel to The Misfits, was published in 2005, and a second companion novel, Addie on the Inside, is being published in 2011. Howe's many other books for children from preschool through teens frequently deal with the acceptance of difference and being true to oneself.

About Author Deborah Howe
Deborah Howe wrote the children's books Bunnicula and Teddy Bear's Scrapbook along with her husband James Howe in the late 1970s. She died of cancer at age 31 shortly after Bunnicula was published. She graduated from Boston University and worked as a theater actress before becoming a writer. She was survived by her parents, her husband James, and her younger brother.

Her work won awards in states across the country, including the South Carolina Book Award, the Iowa Children’s Choice Award, the Cooperative Children's Book Council, the Emphasis on Reading Book Award (AL), and more.

About the Production
Mark Adams returns to MST to direct Bunnicula after directing Madeline’s Christmas earlier this season at Main Street. Miriam Daly is the music director. The cast includes Brandon Balque, Mitchell Greco, Meghan C. Hakes, Alan Hall, Philip Hays, and Jessica Knapp.
The design team includes Jodi Bobrovsky (set design), Carrie Cavins (lighting design), Macy Perrone (costume design), Shawn W. St. John (sound design), and Richard Solis (properties design). Erica Wylie is the choreographer. Caroline Scott is the Production Stage Manager.

No children under 3 are admitted in the theater (including sleeping babies).

Since 1975, Main Street Theater has produced high quality professional theater for audiences of all ages through its MainStage productions and its Theater for Youth. The Main Street Theater Kids On Stage program offers performing arts classes and camps for children 5 years to 14 years of age. The organization produces plays at two locations, 2540 Times Boulevard in Rice Village and 4617 Montrose Boulevard at Chelsea Market.

Main Street Theater is a member of the Fresh Arts Coalition, a collaboration of 25 arts organizations that work collectively to raise awareness of the size and diversity of the arts in Houston, and a constituent of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for not-for-profit theaters. Main Street Theater offers a lively year-round repertory of classic and contemporary plays for audiences of all ages and provides a much-needed showcase for Houston theater professionals.

Main Street Theater is also a member of Actors’ Equity Association and of ASSITEJ, the world theatre network of theatre for children and young people. Main Street Theater is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston and the Houston Arts Alliance, as well as the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Pictured: L-R are Chester the Cat (Jessica Knapp) and Harold the Dog (Philip Hays). (photo by www.RicOrnelProductions.com).