Brett Cullum

Ben Chavez is a singer, actor, and dancer who currently lives here in Houston. He recently was in the THEATRE UNDER THE STARS production of NEWSIE. He's done a national Broadway tour with Disney’s ALADDIN. He's done New York performances on Broadway.

FROZEN is a fun family production that is perfect for the holiday season in many ways. The show brings the beloved Disney film to life for the stage and offers unique twists to make it all more theatrical and accessible for the Hobby Center. It’s a technically gorgeous production with a strong cast of singers and something that should dazzle kids and their parents easily.

There are so many people in the world who have to work on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, or other holidays. I really wanted to tell a story that could speak to that experience. You know those who are working hard to keep the world running during our holiday season.

I feel like this company, at this point in time, is simply happy to be here doing this show, and I can say the feeling is infectious. It’s not your typical holiday offering, but you can never be wrong with the wit of Christopher Durang and the magic of invoking the spirit of Maggie Smith. I’m thankful this season for companies like 4th WALL, which produce plays that offer the joy of what theater is all about.

The author wrote this dark piece about a liberal couple whose mother invites a conservative stranger into their house on Christmas Eve to show how easily fascism marches in politely and with charm. It’s a tense and moody winter tale and warns of the ineffectiveness of the left when faced with the right’s ability to make folks nostalgic for times long gone. It’s perfect for this time of year and certainly pointed in our current political climate of 2024.

It is all about just telling stories through this little world that we create together, and many of us just bring in many of our personal experiences as actors or even just through our lives. And the show really invited that openness, for sure, because LOVE BOMB or just love in general is a topic that can go so many different ways.

I don't want to give too much away, but we are about corn, as you can see from all the marketing materials. But it's about a town called Cobb County that is somewhere sort of in the middle of the U.S.A. This town sort of runs on corn, but the corn starts dying, so a brave young woman has to leave the town, and accidentally enlists a con man to come back to the town with her, and hilarity ensues.

LOVE BOMB is a masterpiece of the absurd, but at the same time, it’s a viable Melanie jukebox musical that could command any stage in town. Yet I doubt that any company other than the Catastrophic Theatre will ever dare to do so because it asks much of its audience.

During an interview I did with Michelle Britton a few weeks ago, she mentioned she “didn’t want to become the Alley” and that her Lionwoman Productions is “about helping people understand each other better.” Certainly, PLAYHOUSE CREATURES is right up there in rivaling the quality of the Alley!

Read our interview with Brian Jucha of LOVE BOMB at Catastrophic Theatre.

Houston has a new production company LION WOMAN PRODUCTIONS. On November 7th, they debut PLAYHOUSE CREATURES by April DeAngelis - a show about the point when women were first allowed on the stage, and it is an all-female The piece includes a dramatic swordfight women execute under the hand of experienced fight coordinator Ann Candler Harlan.

The film first existed as a play, and Vincent Victoria wisely kept his lead actress from that production, Wykesha King, playing Hattie McDaniel. Wykesha creates a three-dimensional character who can act and sing; we believe she is a glamorous actress in the golden age of Hollywood. And we feel the struggle of her playing parts that make her downplay her own beauty and grace.

Derek Charles Livingston has taken over this year as artistic director for STAGES HOUSTON. He was preceded by Kenn Mclaughlin, who stepped down after 25 seasons. Most recently, Derek was the director of new play development at the Utah Shakespeare Festival. Derek also previously served as the managing artistic director of the Celebration Theatre!

Happy Halloween, Uglies! Grey Matter is a Houston drag performer who is appearing in the current season of THE BOULET BROTHER’S DRAGULA season 6, which can be seen on AMC+ and Shudder streaming platforms. Now, Grey took an unusual route to make it to this competition and is the franchise's first bona fide scare actor. He has worked with Houston's PHOBIA Haunted Houses since he was a teenager.

The cast here is immaculate, and LITTLE SHOP is a character actor’s dream come true. Everyone gets to play bigger and broader, and we get to see them have a ball, bringing these kooky archetypes to life. They are all pitch-perfect and create a wonderfully realized revival of this show for Houston just in time for Halloween.

THE YEAR OF MAGICAL THINKING is a unique experience theatrically, and it’s certainly something to let seep into you and discuss later. I find myself just walking around the house, and a line or two will pop up in my head, and I have only seen this play once. It is that powerful, that invasive, and that universally true.

It takes on the clash of white men, black men, and black women and fearlessly looks at all sides when confronted with a crime. Who will do the right thing? It’s a question that seems to hang over the country right now, so RACE could not come at a better time.

Mark Ivy is one of the stars at this year's October production from THEATRE UNDER THE STARS, which runs from October 22nd through November 3rd at the HOBBY CENTER. 

I've tried to draw as much from the novel as I possibly could. I have seen a handful of film depictions. There's one thing in the novel that Van Helsing mentions about how Dracula has what Van Helsing calls a child's brain. That being undead, you are reborn at that moment, and much of your experience of the world around you starts over.

Rose has been in Houston for a while and went to Sam Houston to study theater. She has been a beloved house manager at STAGES HOUSTON and the MATCH. This will be her first starring role at STAGES, and it’s even more exciting when you consider she is part of the transgender community.