I like quirk in the theater. You know, something odd yet fascinating. Certainly unpredictable. A little weird and strange. But for quirk to work it’s got to be good.
The 2026-2027 Houston theater season started with Garden Theatre’s gay-quirky roller-skating Xanadu, then we had Mildred’s Umbrella’s lesbian “pussy” quirkiness with Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, and now Main Street Theater has hit the jackpot with a spectacularly entertaining Cold War Choir Practice. This is the show of shows. The ultimate quirk!
Incredibly acted and sung by nine phenomenally talented performers, set in a neon-rimmed roller skating rink designed by Afsaneh Aayani, playwright Ro Reddick has placed her fascinating theater piece in 1987 during the final days of the Cold War with Russia. This is the Glasnost era of Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev, of spy vs. spy, of imminent atomic mutual destruction.
Certainly nothing to laugh at, but Reddick has firmly planted tongue in cheek and plopped us in Syracuse, NY, at the home of ten-year-old Meek (the fantastically talented Bria Washington) amid her dysfunctional family dynamic. Meek sings in her school’s Seedlings of Peace choir, hopeful that its message will stop the war drums booming on the horizon.
What she wants for Christmas is a stuffed animal, a Speak and Spell toy, and a nuclear radiation detector. She’s stocking up her dad’s basement office for a bomb shelter, but her new pen pal from Russia has other plans for her. Nefarious plans. The plot spins wildly, joyously, into the stratosphere.
I knew nothing of Reddick or her 2025 play, so what a stupendous surprise to be so entertained, amazed, bedazzled at this opening production of Main Street’s new season. What a way to start. Right at the get-go, Main Street has set the theater barre impossibly high.
The plot veers and curlicues through the family’s prickly sibling rivalry, a wife’s cult indoctrination, the insidious toy’s infiltration of Meek’s innocence, mom’s gimlet eye, and the choir’s ironic songs, like “No One Has to Die.” It’s just this side of brilliant as it ricochets and morphs into something so unique and satisfying.
Under Jessica Jaye’s superlative and innovative direction and choreographer Hindolo Bongay’s sprightly movement (look at those swivel chairs), Cold War spins directly into our hearts. The nine actors (four sing as the Choir) could not be better. First, of course, is Washington as Meek. Holy Glasnost, what a powerhouse performer. Small in stature, I don’t know how old she actually is, but she embodies the tween Meek with unbridled fierceness and lovely innocence. Her “aria” about the aftereffects of the bombing on the neighborhood candy store is stunning. In a word she is amazing, one of a kind, and, please, come grace our Houston stages again, soon.
But everyone shines. Cedric Duplechain, as Meek’s dad Smooch, former Black Panther but now owner of the failing Roller-Rama skating rink, roars as the aggrieved brother, while smooth Steven J. Scott as brother Clay, the black assistant deputy security adviser to the White House, plays it cool until he, too, finally boils over. Andrea Boronell-Hunter, as matriarch Puddin, eagle-eyed and suspicious of Clay’s cult-obsessed white wife Virgie (Leslie Lenert in psychotic zombie mode) is wondrously funny as the unwarranted family peace-maker.
The angelic choir, commentating throughout, are Angela Pinina (Houston Theater Award nominee for Best Supporting Actress in Garden Theatre’s Company), Jade Kelly (the perfect approximation of a robotic Russian bot), Hannah Hall, and Kara Greenberg, as choir director. The amazing quartet sings throughout, commenting on the action and setting the sardonic tone in perfect harmony.
Cold wars don’t just happen between nations. Families can be nuclear sites too. Rush to Main Street and be, like me, equally blown away.
Cold War Choir Practice continues through October 11 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; 3 p.m. Sundays. 2540 Times Boulevard. For more information, call 713-524-6706 or visit mainstreettheater.com. $45 – $64.
