Main Street Theater Extends Run of LEOPOLDSTADT Through May 3

Main Street Theater has extended the run of its regional premiere of Leopoldstadt by Tom Stoppard. A loosely autobiographical epic yet intimate drama, there have been only two U.S. productions of Leopoldstadt since its world premiere in London in 2020. Now Main Street Theater's marks third.

The play spans more than 50 years and multiple generations of a Jewish family in Vienna, beginning at their fashionable apartment on Christmas Day in 1899 and navigating through the wreckage of both world wars, impoverishment, and the devastating ramifications of the Holocaust.

Leopoldstadt opens March 28 and runs through May 3 at MST's Rice Village location, 2540 Times Blvd., 77005. Performances are Thursday – Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 3:00pm plus one Monday performance, March 30, at 7:30pm. Tickets are $45 - $64. Tickets are available at www.mainstreettheater.com or call 713-524-6706.

Sunday, April 12: Join us following the matinee for a discussion with Marilyn Hassid, President of the Jewish Creativity International, about presenting Jewish Arts and Culture in the present days. Ms. Hassid is also the former Assistant Executive Director at Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston.

Sunday, April 19: Join us following the matinee for a discussion with Amy Frake about the history and the impact of the first 50 years of the 20th Century on the Jewish people. Ms. Drake is the Senior Associate Director of Education at the Boniuk Center for the Future of Holocaust, Human Rights and Genocide Studies at Holocaust Museum Houston.

Everyone is welcome at these post-show discussions, regardless of when you are seeing the play. Just plan to arrive at the theater about 5:30pm. Free to all.

Pride Night: April 16 at 6:15pm, join MST for its pre-show Happy Hour & then the SingOUT Cabaret starting at 6:45pm. Special thanks to media sponsor OutSmart Magazine and event sponsor Riven Productions HTX.

Free Beer Fridays: every Friday night, thanks to Saint Arnold Brewing Company.

Closing Weekend Party: April 25 in the lobby after the show (open to ticketholders of that performance).

About the Play

Vienna in 1900 was the most vibrant city in Europe, humming with artistic and intellectual excitement and a genius for enjoying life. A tenth of the population were Jews. A generation earlier they had been granted full civil rights by the Emperor, Franz Josef. Consequently, hundreds of thousands had fled from the East and many found sanctuary in the crowded tenements of the old Jewish quarter, Leopoldstadt.

Stoppard's epic yet intimate drama centers on Hermann Merz whose extended family convene at their fashionable apartment on Christmas Day in 1899. Yet by the time the play closes, Austria has passed through the convulsions of war, revolution, impoverishment, annexation by Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, which stole the lives of 65,000 Austrian Jews alone. Leopoldstadt is a human and heartbreaking drama that follows multiple generations of this family as they reckon with a past – and a heritage – they cannot escape and a future they cannot control.

About the Production

Main Street Theater Founder and Executive Artistic Director Rebecca Greene Udden directs.

The cast is Austin Atencio, Terri Branda, James Cardwell, Nadia Diamond, Shannon Emerick, Dain Geist, Kara Greenberg, Joel Grothe, Hannah Hall, Laura Kaldis, Ian Lewis, Clara Marsh, Meg Rodgers,

Karen Ross, Julia Strug, Russell Tautenhahn, Zack Varela, and Mike Yager.