THEATRE + COMEDY

Main Street Theater presents the first U. S. production of Tom Stoppard’s trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, since its American premiere at Lincoln Center in 2006. Part one, Voyage, will run at MST – Chelsea Market in January. Part II: Shipwreck and Part III: Salvage will also be presented by Main Street Theater in February and March, 2012.

“Stoppard’s magnificent trilogy chronicles a group of real-life Russian intellectuals chafing under an oppressive regime and dreaming of revolution,” says MST Executive Artistic Director Rebecca Greene Udden who is also directing the trilogy. “It’s an intense, joyful work that literally dramatizes what it means to seek a better life. Stoppard explores the power of passionate discourse, the ability of fundamental philosophical ideas to re-shape one’s world view and the hunger of young people eager to turn ideas into action, all the while reminding us that there are always human motivations for even the greatest historical events. At no time in recent history has this play been more relevant, as we see these same forces at work transforming the Arab world country by country, regime by regime.”

With previews January 7, 8 and 11, Voyage opens January 12 and runs through January 29 at MST – Chelsea Market, 4617 Montrose Blvd. Performances are on Thursdays at 7:30pm, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, and Sundays at 3pm.

Spanning 1833 to 1866, the trilogy is anchored by the presence of anarchist Michael Bakunin, literary critic Vissarion Belinsky, literary giant Ivan Turgenev, and revolutionary thinker Alexander Herzen, four men who came of age under Tsar Nicholas I and whose passion for political and intellectual change is mirrored in their personal pursuit of love and happiness. As the arcs of their lives intersect repeatedly, the seeds of the great social revolutions of the late nineteenth century are sown.

In Voyage, Stoppard creates a Chekhovian portrait of life on a Russian estate as he introduces the Bakunin family: Michael, his four sisters, his parents, their social circle, and his growing intellectual circle.

About Playwright Tom Stoppard
Sir Tom Stoppard (knighted in 1997) has an illustrious list of playwrighting credits to his name including Arcadia, The Invention of Love, Rock ‘n Roll, The Coast of Utopia, Hapgood, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, The Real Thing, Jumpers, Travesties, The Real Inspector Hound, Rough Crossing, On the Razzle, and many more. He has won 4 Tony awards: The Coast of Utopia (2007), The Real Thing (1984), Travesties (1976), and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (1968). He has won 7 Evening Standard awards, including 1 for Arcadia, which also won the Critics’ Circle Theatre award and the Laurence Olivier Award.

Main Street Theater has been known for decades as a champion of Tom Stoppard’s works, producing the greatest number of his plays (11) locally throughout its 36 year history.

About the Production
The entire company of the trilogy is comprised of over 30 actors including Joe Kirkendall as Herzen, Guy Roberts as Bakunin, Joel Sandel as Belinsky, and Seán Patrick Judge as Turgenev. Other actors featuring prominently in Voyage are Rutherford Cravens, Celeste Roberts, Ivy Castle, and Kregg Alan Dailey.

The design team includes Jodi Bobrovsky (set design), Margaret Crowley (costume design), Eric Marsh (lighting design), Shawn W. St. John (sound design), and Pamela Miltenberger (properties design and set dressing). Lauren Smith is the production stage manager.

View video about this production:  Here and Here.

The Coast of Utopia is supported in part by a grant from the Mayor’s Special Initiative Program  of the Houston Arts Alliance. Additional support comes from the Humphreys Foundation  and the Albert and Ethel Herzstein Charitable Foundation. Main Street Theater is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Pictured L-R are Alexander Herzen (Joe Kirkendall) and Vissarion Belinsky (Joel Sandel). (photo by www.RicOrnelProductions.com).