The Maine Center for the Arts is taking it to the streets as a major renovation of the Orono performance venue gets under way.

“The Loop,” as MCA staffers call this season, kicks off at 7 tonight at the Reach Center in Deer Isle with a presentation of David Katz’s “Muse of Fire.” The acclaimed one-man play premiered in Maine in 2005 and has since played to standing ovations in Connecticut and Massachusetts. A second performance is scheduled at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, at Minsky Recital Hall on the University of Maine campus.

“Muse of Fire” follows the years Katz spent with Charles Bruck, the legendary – if incendiary – master teacher at Hancock’s Pierre Monteux School of Music. Equally known for his fits of rage as his flashes of brilliance, Bruck tried to ignite his students’ passion for their art for more than a generation.

In a 2005 review of the play, Bangor Daily News reporter Judy Harrison wrote, “[Conductors] who seek to become one with the music and bring it to life for an audience venture to the small Maine coastal town. The ones who attended the Hancock school between 1969 and 1995 had to survive more than black flies to earn their batons. They endured the lashing tongue and exacting standards of Charles Bruck, who ran the school for 25 years.”

The one-man show features Katz in the roles of teacher and student. It charts the evolution of their relationship – from initial hatred to eventual love and appreciation Katz felt for his mentor.

Tickets cost $23 and are available by calling 581-1755 or 1-800-MCA-TIXX.

For information on the full season, visit www.mainecenterforthearts.org.