"ACT's mission is to present the best contemporary plays, and I think our 2010 Mainstage season answers this call wonderfully," ACT artistic director Kurt Beattie said in a statement. "These plays are all brilliant, hilarious, and touching, and reach right into both the heart of our present, and our history. Their collective journey captures us from the '50s until today in flashes of bold and entertaining theatrical lightning. I can't wait to get started!"

Late Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Foote's The Trip to Bountiful will run May 7-June 6, 2010 in the Allen Theatre. "In 1947 Houston, the elderly Carrie Watts dreams endlessly of visiting her childhood home one last time before it is too late. But first, before she embarks on a sentimental journey home, she must find a way to escape the suffocating confinement of an over-bearing daughter-in-law and under-serving son. Both heartbreaking and uplifting, this haunting American classic is an unforgettable meditation on the idea of Home and its power to sustain us."

Following will be Joanna Murray-Smith's The Female of the Species, June 18-July 18, 2010 in the Falls Theatre. "Loosely based on a true story, this hilarious satire follows the plucky, obstinate, and opinionated feminist writer Margot Mason on her decent into the tortuous territory of writer's block and the misadventures of a day gone wrong. No feminist doctrine goes unscathed when this sacred monster of the movement is taken hostage by a disillusioned disciple in this viciously funny play about gender politics."

After premiering Steven Dietz's Becky's New Car last season, ACT will stage his work Yankee Tavern Aug. 13-Sept. 12, 2010 in the Allen Theatre. "In a New York dive bar five years after 9/11, a young couple find themselves face to face with a mysterious stranger who turns what seems like harmless conspiracy theories into a continuous stream of surprising and dangerous revelations in this eye-opening look at the events that forever changed our country."

David Rambo's The Lady With All the Answers will run Sept. 10-Nov. 7, 2010, in the Bullitt Cabaret. The work "invites audiences to spend an evening of home truths and delicious dish with renowned advice columnist Ann Landers, as she shares some of her favorite letters and memories while struggling to write the toughest column of her life. An irresistible portrait of the woman who used charm, chutzpah, and 'one hell of a Rolodex' to become America's Therapist and Best Friend Forever!" The final production will be Martin McDonagh bloody comedy The Lieutenant of Inishmore, which runs Oct. 15-Nov. 14 in the Falls Theatre. The acclaimed play centers on "a merciless Irish terrorist and his obsessive love for the thing that matters most to him: his precious black cat, Wee Thomas. Turn off your political correctness meter and wallow in this outrageous, blood-drenched farce. You won't believe your eyes!"

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