In celebration of 40 years of exciting theater Mad Horse presents a series of Maine Premiers that reflect our challenging times. With insight, wit, and humor, these plays explore both the personal and the political; our interactions with the world and each other.

REALLY by Jackie Sibblies Drury, directed by Allison McCall*, September 4 - 28.
When a grieving mother visits her late son’s girlfriend, the two women look back at the man they both loved, each jockeying for a claim to his legacy as a son, lover, and artist. REALLY is a play about mourning, intimacy, and the conflict between goodness and greatness as seen through the lens of photography.

THE SQUIRRELS by Robert Askins, Directed by Jake Cote*, October 30 - November 23
Scurius, the patriarch of a family of gray squirrels, has collected enough nuts to last ten winters. When a group of starving fox squirrels begs him to share his hoard of food, animosity erupts into a ferocious war. THE SQUIRRELS is a boundary-pushing, darkly satirical look at wealth inequality in which no creature comes out unscathed.

THE MINUTES by Tracy Letts, directed by Christopher Price*; February 26 - March 29
This scathing new comedy about small-town politics and real-world power, from the author of AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, exposes the ugliness behind some of our most closely-held American narratives while asking each of us what we would do to keep from becoming history’s losers.

AN EMPTY PLATE AT THE CAFE DU GRAND BOEUF by Michael Hollinger, directed by Stacey Mancine Koloski*, April 23 - May 17
No menu necessary at the world’s greatest restaurant, the Café du Grand Boeuf in Paris. Why? “Because we have everything,” headwaiter Claude admonishes waiter-in-training Antoine. On this hot July night in 1961, the two join waitress Mimi and chef Gaston in awaiting the imminent arrival of Victor, the Café's owner and sole patron. But when “Monsieur” returns from the bullfights in Madrid, disheveled and morose, his wish is simple: to die of starvation at his own table. The frantic staff, whose very lives depend on Victor’s appetite, try all means to change his mind, but to no avail. Finally, they make a last-ditch plea: Out of respect for their life’s work, will he let them prepare one final meal—provided they leave it in the kitchen? Instead they will describe it, course by course, over a series of empty platters. Victor reluctantly consents, and the “feast of adjectives and adverbs” begins…

Poster art by Joe Bearor*

* Mad Horse Theatre Company Member

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