It was a time of profound change. At the end of World War II, postwar lives were being sorted out. “Things are growing; things are being built,” says Patti Bean, who will direct the production of 1946, by Thomas Hagemann, making its world premiere at Main Street Theater.
The play is, in part, taken from the late attorney’s own life. It was given a reading two years ago, and although Hagemann had every intention of working closely with director Bean on the play’s production, he died suddenly last October at the age of 59 while on a bike trip.
Adding real poignance to the production is that Hagemann’s widow, actress Christianne Mays, will play the mother’s role, Bean says.
Returning military men meet the daughter and the family’s sort of adopted daughter, and they start dating. “It’s a love story and it’s a family story and it includes how the United States was changing after the war. Race perceptions and other perceptions were changing,” Bean says. Women who had gone into the workforce were trying to figure out what they would do next.
Nine actors make up the cast for the two-act play, which includes music of the era. Bean calls the play timeless and says it speaks to modern audiences
Performances of 1946 are scheduled for March 26-April 17 at Main Street Theater’s Rice Village location, 2540 Times Boulevard, at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays and 3 p.m. Sundays (no performance on Easter Sunday, March 27.) For information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $36-$39.
This article appears in Mar 3-9, 2016.
