Merger Alert - Obsidian Theater and SRO Productions

Award-winning Obsidian Theater, known for producing bold, diverse plays, will merge with SRO Productions, an award-winning producer of fearless musicals.

Obsidian Theater, founded in 2010 as a venue and producer of theatre, has hosted most of SRO's shows since their inception. Both organizations have benefited from each other's generous collaboration and support.

Obsidian Theater's productions represent our diverse city, from women's voices to Black and Hispanic to LGBTQ. With the merger they will be able to coordinate musicals and plays into a cohesive season that serves Obsidian Theater's mission to produce diverse, challenging theatre that moves audiences. Combining proven teams into a single, stronger organization with its own venue will also enhance fundraising capabilities, a process vital to any successful arts organization.

SRO Productions was founded in 2010 by Rachel Landon, Vance Johnson and Wayne Landon to create and produce world-class musicals and concerts. Since its formation, the company has produced some 25 musicals and has been recognized for the quality of its productions, including receiving the 2016 Houston Press Theater Award for Best Musical - Green Day's AMERICAN IDIOT.

Moving forward, Tom Stell will remain the Executive Director of the nonprofit theatre and will act as Artistic Director, though artistic decisions will be collaborative. Rachel Landon, an actor, director, producer and currently SRO's Artistic Director, will be Obsidian's Managing Director. The SRO team - Rachel Landon, Vance Johnson, Liz Tinder and Wayne Landon - will make up the core production team.

In 2017 the combined organization will produce shows under the marque of Obsidian Theater in association with SRO Productions to leverage the loyalty and reputation of both brands. In the future they will consolidate under the Obsidian Theater moniker.

While Obsidian Theater will continue to host selective theatre groups in their venue, most notably Cone Man Running, the merger supports the theater's five year plan to produce more shows in-house.

Next year's regular season includes three musicals and two plays. In February, Obsidian will produce PASSING STRANGE, an African American rock musical of self-discovery, helmed by one of SRO's resident directors and producers, Vance Johnson. In the spring, they will bring Shakespeare's seldom-produced ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA to the stage. The Texas premiere of SAUCY JACK AND THE SPACE VIXENS, a disco-fueled celebration of camp will be produced in July. The last musical of the season is THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD. Based on the unfinished novel by Dickens, this mystery is the first musical with multiple endings for the audience to choose from in each performance. Closing out the regular season is MR. BURNS, A POST-ELECTRIC PLAY. Set after a global catastrophe, MR. BURNS follows the survivors as they tell stories to comfort themselves, and how over decades these stories grow and change. And yes, the MR. BURNS in the title is Mr. Burns from the long-running TV show THE SIMPSON.

For more information or to purchase tickets to any of these shows, please visit obsidiantheater.org.

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