MainStage Festival Shows & Discussion Dates for 2015

Each theatre will offer talkbacks immediately following a number of performances to discuss the faith issues presented in the play.  Talkbacks include the play director, cast members, and faith leaders in the community.  Play directors or cast members will also participate in discussions at any faith community to add an inside perspective on the play.  In addition to the talk-backs, all participating theatres will highlight a few discussion question in their playbills for folks who may miss the talk-backs or who want to take the conversation back to their faith communities.
January 15 - February 7, 2015
Discussions:  January 23 & 25
804-346-8113 www.5thwalltheatre.org
Richmond Triangle Players
1300 Altamont Avenue, Richmond
The Lyons
by Nick Silver
5th Wall Theatre in collaboration with Richmond Triangle Players
Ben Lyons is in a hospital where he is dying from cancer. His family gathers around him.  No longer constrained by manners, Ben says whatever he wishes, while his family finds his impending demise somewhat of a relief.  A look at endings and beginnings, and the choices we make in between. 

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February 19 – March 14, 2015
Discussions:  March 1 & 8
804-282-2620 
www.virginiarep.org
114 West Broad Street, Richmond
Caroline or Change
by Tony Kushner & Jeanine Tesori
Cadence Theatre in partnership with Virginia Rep
It’s 1963. Caroline is an African American laundress, a single mother serving a family in the Deep South. As the socio-political world violently spins into a new order, Caroline’s faith and relationships are tested, but through her sacrifices, the depth of human bonds endures.  Kushner and Tesori’s Tony Award-nominated musical is an inspired amalgam of blues, gospel and traditional Jewish melodies.

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January 23 – February 7, 2015
Discussions: January 24 & 
February 1 
804-262-9760 
www.cattheatre.com
319 North Wilkinson Road, Richmond
Ages 13+
Book of Days
by Lanford Wilson
CAT Theatre
Book of Days, by Pulitzer Prize winner Lanford Wilson, is an exploration of faith, justice, and corruption, amidst the backdrop of murder – and community theatre – in small town America.  The New York Times said, “Mr. Wilson’s cosmic consciousness, intense moral concern, sense of human redemption and romantic effusion have climbed to a new peak.”

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February 5 - March 7, 2015
Discussions:  February 13 & 27
804-355-2001 
www.firehousetheatre.org
1609 West Broad Street, Richmond
This World We Know
by Kelly Younger
Firehouse Theatre
Winner of the 2013 Festival of New American Plays, This World We Know tells the story of an estranged brother and sister entangled in the lives of their younger selves.  As this delicat play unfolds, the characters struggle to uproot their hostile family tree while planting the fragile seeds of forgiveness.

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April 3-12, 2015
Discussion:  April 3 & 12
804-320-5584
unitybonair.org
Unity Christ Church, Bon Air
923 Buford Road, North Chesterfield
and 
centumc.org
Centenary UMC
411 E. Grace Street
Richmond, VA  23219
Source- Scenes & Songs from Where You Are & Where You Want to Be
Created by Cheryl Fare & Matt Treacy
Free Jambalaya’s newest world premiere piece, was written specifically for the 2015 Acts of Faith Festival, and is being produced in collaboration with Henley Street Theatre & Richmond Shakespeare.  SOURCEis a collection of scenes and songs that represent the spiritual journey of the individual amidst the uncertainty of modern American life, and explores the eternal human need to “find oneself” in a world that is moving faster every day.  SOURCE will feature an ensemble cast led by award-winning Richmond theatre veteran Julie Fulcher-Davis, along with the exciting talents of Patricia Alli, Emily Turner, and James Tormey. 
February 27 - March 8, 2015
Discussions:  March 1
804-343-6364 www.hattheatre.org
1124 Westbriar Drive, Richmond
Ages 13+
The Whale
by Samuel D. Hunter
HATTheatre
Big hearted and fiercely funny, this awarding winning play tells the story of Charlie, who, driven by grief to a state of morbid obesity, and with his health failing, makes one last desperate attempt to reconnect with his long estranged daughter. As he embarks on his quest for closure, he looks to his caregiver Liz,ex-wife Mary, and a young Mormon missionary, Elder Thomas, who is determined to rescue his soul, to help him find peace and redemption.



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April 2-25, 2015
Discussions: April 10, 12 & 19 
804-340-0115
www.henleystreettheatre.org
Gottwald Playhouse-Richmond CenterStage
600 East Grace Street, Richmond
Sam & Carol:  a play where everything is true 
by David L. Robbins
Henley Street Theatre & Richmond Shakespeare
In this world premiere of a new work by renowned Richmond novelist, David L. Robbins, the story is at once personal and universal. Based on his own parents’ lives, the story starts during WWII, ends in modern day Richmond, and is a tour-de-force for two actors playing twenty-nine different roles.  The play courses across a half-century of American history and celebrates an extraordinary generation, the challenging times that formed them, the Jewish heritage that sustained them, and the legacies they left behind.

April 1-25, 2015
Discussions: April 10 & 19
804-346-8113 www.rtriangle.org 
1300 Altamont Avenue, Richmond
Angels in America:
The Millennium Approaches
by Tony Kushner
Richmond Triangle Players
Harrowing, uproarious, and magical, Angels in America is a fiercely theatrical modern morality play and a landmark of the American stage. Against a landscape of greed, sexual politics, and the cries of a sweeping AIDS epidemic, a lost America teeters on the tipping point of an unknown future. This story of love, power, and identity follows characters as diverse as a Mormon housewife, an ex-drag queen, and the fiery attorney Roy Cohn. It’s 1985, and an Angel with steel wings is hurtling toward Earth.

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January 29 - March 7, 2015
Discussions: February 6 & 20, 
March 6
804-748-5203 www.swiftcreekmill.com 
17401 Jefferson Davis Highway, 
South Chesterfield
Those Harvey Girls
by Tom Width
Swift Creek Mill Theatre
The Harvey Sisters bring their rare gift to the stage with sounds that transcend gender, race, and religion.  This show highlights three young girls growing up in rural, 1960’s Virginia, sharing their spirit through song.  The sisters have a unique perspective on the challenges and triumphs that have made them who they are today, and throughout it all, they kept their faith and kept on singing.  

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February 20-March 7, 2015
Discussions:  
February 27 & Mar 1
804-505-0558 www.theatrelabrva.org
The Basement at 
300 East Broad Street, Richmond
Oblivion
by Carly Mensch
TheatreLAB in collaboration 
with Henley Street Theatre &
Richmond Shakespeare
Uber-hip Brooklynites Pam and Dixon take great pride in their secular humanist approach to parenting. But when their 17-year-old daughter, Julie, decides to become a Christian, their laid-back, open-minded facade comes crashing down. Carly Mensch's Oblivion takes a wry look at Nietzsche, famed film critic Pauline Kael, and the nature of belief in the 21st century.

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February 13 – March 8, 2015
Pre-show Discussions:  
February 15 & 22, March 1 & 8
Post-show:  February 22
804-282-2620
www.virginiarep.org
114 West Broad Street, Richmond
Ages 14+
The Whipping Man
by Matthew Lopez
Virginia Rep at the November Theatre
It is Passover, 1865 in the ruins of a once grand Jewish home in Richmond, Virginia. The Civil War has just ended, and a Confederate officer comes home to find his family missing and only two former slaves remaining. Waiting for the family’s return, the three men find themselves digging up family secrets and discovering that war and slavery can damage even the best of men. Untended wounds threaten the calm as three aching souls establish their separate peace.Powerful, bold, and compelling, this play will take you on a fascinating journey through history. Community Partners include the American Civil War Museum and the Weinstein JCC.

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January 30 – February 15, 2015
Discussion:  Feburary 8
804-282-2620
www.virginiarep.org
1601 Willow Lawn Drive, Richmond
The Maggie Walker Story
by Bruce Craig Miller
Virginia Rep Children's Theatre 
This compelling drama is a tribute to the great American woman from Richmond, Virginia who helped establish and organize the first civil rights strike by black students and became the nation’s first woman bank president. Starting her work at the order of St. Luke, a national savings group formed to pay the burial expensive of poor blacks, Maggie Walker became a powerful force in civil rights. Through this production, students will form a deeper understanding of Maggie Walker and the times in which she lived.


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February 27 - April 17, 2015
Discussion:  March 15 & 29
804-282-2620 www.virginiarep.org
13181 Hanover Courthouse Road, Hanover
You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown
by John Gordon
Virginia Rep at Hanover Tavern
Lucy, Linus, Charlie Brown and the whole gang come to life on stage in this up-beat and heartwarming musical for kids and adults alike.  Based on the popular comic strip, Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz, the play reflects the genius humor and subtle religious perspective of Mr. Schulz and reminds us of what it means to be human and good. Familiar scenes and popular melodies will entertain and endear us all to these favorite characters.

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