Feature: The Ensemble Theatre Announces 40th Anniversary Season, Dawn of a New Decade

Looking over The Ensemble Theatre's upcoming 40th anniversary season, entitled Dawn of a New Decade, Ensemble Artistic Director Eileen J. Morris could only think one thing.

"Wow, this entire season really has the woman's voice at the helm!"

And it does. The 2016-2017 season will open in September with NAACP Image Award-winning playwright Celeste Bedford Walker's SASSY MAMAS, a romantic comedy about three "cougars" - Jo Billie, Mary, and Wilhelmina. Together, the women decide to put their experience, status, and money to good use for some fun "adult situations" with three younger men.

Following SASSY MAMAS, the Ensemble will get into the holiday spirit with Lelund Durond Thompson and Jason Michael Webb's musical THE FIRST NOEL. Described by The New York Times' Laura Collins-Hughes as "a memory play with music: pop, gospel and holiday," THE FIRST NOEL is about a young girl's efforts to bring Christmas and closure to herself and her family, eight years after a tragedy that continues to haunt their holiday season.

Next is the first of two shows exploring the lives of two iconic ladies. Tom Stolz's MAHALIA, about the life and career of gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, will be staged through Black History and Women's History Month in February. The Miami Herald has called Stolz's work on Jackson "an impressive, intense and sometimes thrilling biographical revue."

When it came to the Audience Choice selection, Morris says they wanted everyone to be invested in what the theatre did, so they polled patrons, subscribers, board members, and staff. From a list of 40, Pearl Cleage's THE NACIREMA SOCIETY, which the Houston Press called "a singular pleasure" during its 2012 run at the Ensemble, won out.

Once described as Noel Coward with soul, Cleage's comedy explores an alternate perspective on a famous era for six women on the verge of induction into the Nacirema Society of Montgomery, Alabama. "When we talk about [the] 60s, we present that everyone was in favor of the civil rights movement and everyone loved Dr. King," Cleage explained in 2010. "[But] many African Americans hated the demonstrations, marches and boycotts because it was ripping the familiar fabric of southern life."

The season continues in May with the world premiere of FRONT PORCH SOCIETY by Melda Beaty. FRONT PORCH SOCIETY, which the Ensemble performed during ReadFest Houston last October, is set in Marks, Mississippi, on the eve of Barack Obama's historic election in 2008.

And finally, the season concludes with a timely summer production of SIMPLY SIMONE by Robert Neblett and David Grapes. The life of the second iconic female in The Ensemble Theatre's season, Nina Simone, is the subject, from her youth to her eventual exile.

Though Morris admits it was not intentional, she says the abundance of female-centric stories is not without meaning. "What it does speak to is the vibrancy of the voice, of the woman's voice," says Morris, "that is still yet to be heard and needs to have a place to be heard. [The] Ensemble Theatre is one of those places."

It is not surprising that The Ensemble Theatre would be one of those places, especially considering the upcoming season's theme, Dawn of a New Decade. "We look at [it] as embracing the future, standing courageously, and being bold in our mission of our artistic expression. [So] those are the things that speak to the season theme for this year, Dawn of a New Decade, because we know that for us we're going to continue to help make art happen here in the city of Houston."

The Ensemble Theatre's 40th anniversary season opens on September 22, 2016, with SASSY MAMAS by Celeste Bedford Walker. For more information on the 2016-2017 season, please visit http://www.ensemblehouston.com.

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