Brett Cullum

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.    

Houston’s CLASSICAL THEATRE COMPANY has decided to take it back to the original written word and return Dracula to the status of a demon rather than a lover. And yet, somehow, they have cast Spencer Plachy, who is the most swoon-worthy actor Houston has, a man who has embodied Mr. Darcy for years. Also, a man sexy enough to star in the Broadway tour of THE LION KING shirtless as Scar. It’s wild to see Darcy do Dracula and do it as a feral animal to boot.

When all is said and done, you have to applaud the bravery of this show. In an October where everyone else is offering safe fare such as British comedies, yet another take on Dracula, and an additional adaptation of Sherlock Holmes, this small company is daring you to face what might be wrong with America. It is a huge swing for the fences and remarkably well-performed and produced.

What did our critic think of NOISES OFF at The Alley Theatre?

I mean, my influences growing up? I went through a phase of everything was jazz! And it had to be old-school jazz! When I was about twelve or thirteen, I went to a yard sale. I found this CD. It was actually a tape. Billie Holiday, Lena Horn, Sarah Vaughn, Ella Fitzgerald. I'd never heard of any of them, and I just poured over it and studied the nuances of their voices.

I'm so extraordinarily proud of this with the work that Lonnie has done and the work that Larissa FastHorse has done in our new book! They've really taken out the racist stuff, and they have given an opportunity for Indigenous voices to be heard loud and clear by Indigenous actors. They also took advantage of the opportunity to elevate female voices in the show.

Are the superheroes really simply the spirits that Prospero conjured on the island? Could Fathom City have been taken over by Dr. Cannibal (an anagram for Caliban) because he fled and tossed his books into the sea? Is this a sequel, a salute, or a sardonic spoof of Shakespeare’s work?

Sometimes, a play does what no other artistic medium can do. It can feel intimate, immediate, and alive. CRY IT OUT from MILDRED’S UMBRELLA is one of those living productions that feels like you are watching three real women deal with being a mother and looking at how that is going to affect every aspect of their lives.