• Home
  • popular
  • EVENTS
  • submit-new-event
  • CHARITY GUIDE
  • Children
  • Education
  • Health
  • Veterans
  • Social Services
  • Arts + Culture
  • Animals
  • LGBTQ
  • New Charity
  • TRENDING NEWS
  • News
  • City Life
  • Entertainment
  • Sports
  • Home + Design
  • Travel
  • Real Estate
  • Restaurants + Bars
  • Arts
  • Society
  • Innovation
  • Fashion + Beauty
  • subscribe
  • about
  • series
  • Embracing Your Inner Cowboy
  • Green Living
  • Summer Fun
  • Real Estate Confidential
  • RX In the City
  • State of the Arts
  • Fall For Fashion
  • Cai's Odyssey
  • Comforts of Home
  • Good Eats
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2010
  • Holiday Gift Guide 2
  • Good Eats 2
  • HMNS Pirates
  • The Future of Houston
  • We Heart Hou 2
  • Music Inspires
  • True Grit
  • Hoops City
  • Green Living 2011
  • Cruizin for a Cure
  • Summer Fun 2011
  • Just Beat It
  • Real Estate 2011
  • Shelby on the Seine
  • Rx in the City 2011
  • Entrepreneur Video Series
  • Going Wild Zoo
  • State of the Arts 2011
  • Fall for Fashion 2011
  • Elaine Turner 2011
  • Comforts of Home 2011
  • King Tut
  • Chevy Girls
  • Good Eats 2011
  • Ready to Jingle
  • Houston at 175
  • The Love Month
  • Clifford on The Catwalk Htx
  • Let's Go Rodeo 2012
  • King's Harbor
  • FotoFest 2012
  • City Centre
  • Hidden Houston
  • Green Living 2012
  • Summer Fun 2012
  • Bookmark
  • 1987: The year that changed Houston
  • Best of Everything 2012
  • Real Estate 2012
  • Rx in the City 2012
  • Lost Pines Road Trip Houston
  • London Dreams
  • State of the Arts 2012
  • HTX Fall For Fashion 2012
  • HTX Good Eats 2012
  • HTX Contemporary Arts 2012
  • HCC 2012
  • Dine to Donate
  • Tasting Room
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2012
  • Charming Charlie
  • Asia Society
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2012
  • HTX Mistletoe on the go
  • HTX Sun and Ski
  • HTX Cars in Lifestyle
  • HTX New Beginnings
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013
  • Zadok Sparkle into Spring
  • HTX Let's Go Rodeo 2013
  • HCC Passion for Fashion
  • BCAF 2013
  • HTX Best of 2013
  • HTX City Centre 2013
  • HTX Real Estate 2013
  • HTX France 2013
  • Driving in Style
  • HTX Island Time
  • HTX Super Season 2013
  • HTX Music Scene 2013
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2013 2
  • HTX Baker Institute
  • HTX Comforts of Home 2013
  • Mothers Day Gift Guide 2021 Houston
  • Staying Ahead of the Game
  • Wrangler Houston
  • First-time Homebuyers Guide Houston 2021
  • Visit Frisco Houston
  • promoted
  • eventdetail
  • Greystar Novel River Oaks
  • Thirdhome Go Houston
  • Dogfish Head Houston
  • LovBe Houston
  • Claire St Amant podcast Houston
  • The Listing Firm Houston
  • South Padre Houston
  • NextGen Real Estate Houston
  • Pioneer Houston
  • Collaborative for Children
  • Decorum
  • Bold Rock Cider
  • Nasher Houston
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2021
  • CityNorth
  • Urban Office
  • Villa Cotton
  • Luck Springs Houston
  • EightyTwo
  • Rectanglo.com
  • Silver Eagle Karbach
  • Mirador Group
  • Nirmanz
  • Bandera Houston
  • Milan Laser
  • Lafayette Travel
  • Highland Park Village Houston
  • Proximo Spirits
  • Douglas Elliman Harris Benson
  • Original ChopShop
  • Bordeaux Houston
  • Strike Marketing
  • Rice Village Gift Guide 2021
  • Downtown District
  • Broadstone Memorial Park
  • Gift Guide
  • Music Lane
  • Blue Circle Foods
  • Houston Tastemaker Awards 2022
  • True Rest
  • Lone Star Sports
  • Silver Eagle Hard Soda
  • Modelo recipes
  • Modelo Fighting Spirit
  • Athletic Brewing
  • Rodeo Houston
  • Silver Eagle Bud Light Next
  • Waco CVB
  • EnerGenie
  • HLSR Wine Committee
  • All Hands
  • El Paso
  • Avenida Houston
  • Visit Lubbock Houston
  • JW Marriott San Antonio
  • Silver Eagle Tupps
  • Space Center Houston
  • Central Market Houston
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Travel Texas Houston
  • Alliantgroup
  • Golf Live
  • DC Partners
  • Under the Influencer
  • Blossom Hotel
  • San Marcos Houston
  • Photo Essay: Holiday Gift Guide 2009
  • We Heart Hou
  • Walker House
  • HTX Good Eats 2013
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2013
  • HTX Culture Motive
  • HTX Auto Awards
  • HTX Ski Magic
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2014
  • HTX Texas Traveler
  • HTX Cifford on the Catwalk 2014
  • HTX United Way 2014
  • HTX Up to Speed
  • HTX Rodeo 2014
  • HTX City Centre 2014
  • HTX Dos Equis
  • HTX Tastemakers 2014
  • HTX Reliant
  • HTX Houston Symphony
  • HTX Trailblazers
  • HTX_RealEstateConfidential_2014
  • HTX_IW_Marks_FashionSeries
  • HTX_Green_Street
  • Dating 101
  • HTX_Clifford_on_the_Catwalk_2014
  • FIVE CultureMap 5th Birthday Bash
  • HTX Clifford on the Catwalk 2014 TEST
  • HTX Texans
  • Bergner and Johnson
  • HTX Good Eats 2014
  • United Way 2014-15_Single Promoted Articles
  • Holiday Pop Up Shop Houston
  • Where to Eat Houston
  • Copious Row Single Promoted Articles
  • HTX Ready to Jingle 2014
  • htx woodford reserve manhattans
  • Zadok Swiss Watches
  • HTX Wonderful Weddings 2015
  • HTX Charity Challenge 2015
  • United Way Helpline Promoted Article
  • Boulevard Realty
  • Fusion Academy Promoted Article
  • Clifford on the Catwalk Fall 2015
  • United Way Book Power Promoted Article
  • Jameson HTX
  • Primavera 2015
  • Promenade Place
  • Hotel Galvez
  • Tremont House
  • HTX Tastemakers 2015
  • HTX Digital Graffiti/Alys Beach
  • MD Anderson Breast Cancer Promoted Article
  • HTX RealEstateConfidential 2015
  • HTX Vargos on the Lake
  • Omni Hotel HTX
  • Undies for Everyone
  • Reliant Bright Ideas Houston
  • 2015 Houston Stylemaker
  • HTX Renewable You
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • Urban Flats Builder
  • HTX New York Fashion Week spring 2016
  • Kyrie Massage
  • Red Bull Flying Bach
  • Hotze Health and Wellness
  • ReadFest 2015
  • Alzheimer's Promoted Article
  • Formula 1 Giveaway
  • Professional Skin Treatments by NuMe Express

    best november theater

    10 best Houston plays showcase high-flying fun, charming holiday treats, and singalong sensations

    Tarra Gaines
    Nov 9, 2021 | 9:45 am

    With the holidays approaching and the majority of Houston theater companies back to in-person performances, stage elves across the city are busy preparing for our favorite performance traditions.

    But, for those saying humbug to early carols and decked halls, there’s still plenty of musical fun as well as serious drama. From singing nuns to an Society of Performing Arts showcase of Houston artists, a Tony-winning Tootsie, to those soaring Cirque du Soleil performers, get ready to fall into a most vibrant and eclectic theater season.

    Sister Act from Theatre Under the Stars (now through November 14)
    If you’re looking for theatrical fun, always bet on singing nuns.

    Based on the Whoopi Goldberg early ’90s hit about a nightclub singer who has to disguise herself as a nun after witnessing a murder, the London to Broadway musical set the story back into the ’70s to allow the original music by Alan Menken and lyrics by Glenn Slater. Expect a funky time with a sometimes disco, sometimes soulful beat.

    Directed by TUTS artistic director Dan Knechtges, who also choreographs, the show stars The Voice alum Simone Gundy along with a cast of fellow Houston faves. From design to performances, everyone goes all in on the sequin and disco ball goodness that dress up a surprisingly moving girl (and sister) power message.

    El Huracán from Mildred’s Umbrella (November 11-21)
    The female-focused company begins their new season at the DeLuxe Theatre with this contemporary play by Cuban-American playwright, Charise Castro Smith and directed by local actor/director favorite, Patricia Duran.

    Set on the eve of a hurricane tells the story of four generations of Cuban American women with a production brought to the stage with an all LatinX cast and crew. Duran says that though the play is not necessarily a political play, its message of “ hope and forgiveness are timely.”

    Houston Artist Commissioning Project Live: Part 2 from Society for the Performing Arts (November 12 and 13)
    The culmination of SPA’s initiative to nurture local artists, giving them commission support and the Jones Hall stage, this performance features world premiere works of music, dance, and theater by Houston artists.

    Harrison Guy, director of Urban Souls Dance Company debuts history told in dance of Houston’s first Black library. Riyaaz Qawwali presents a new message of harmony for all faiths, expressed in the lyrics and rhythm of music with South Asian roots.

    And for theater lovers, the pandemic has inspired a new one act play, The World’s Intermission, from acclaimed writer, and former Houston poet laureate, Deborah D.E.E.P. Mouton.

    Alegría from Cirque du Soleil (November 13-December 12)
    A Cirque classic returns with a new look and high soaring spirit.

    The show originally set up the big circus-of-the-sun top in its usual spot in the Sam Houston Race Park grounds in March of 2020, but had to go dark after only about a week of performances.

    Now, it’s back and ready to bring gasps and delights to audiences of all ages once more. Cirque production’s overarching story usually takes a side ring to the physics-defying individual acts and performances.

    But Alegría’s fairytale story certainly holds some contemporary resonance as the show depicts a world where the aristocratic traditions of the old guard are challenged by the revolutionary ideals of a youth in revolt.

    A Motown Christmas from Ensemble Theatre (November 13-December 26)
    Your favorite holiday standards hit the town, Motown that is, in this musical revue by Nate Jacobs.

    In this very family-friendly production traditional carols get a soulful rendering and then paired with classic Motown songs originally from The Supremes, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Night and the Pips, and the Jackson 5.

    Staying true to their name for their 45th season, Ensemble has assembled a large and stellar singing and dancing ensemble to bring the songs to life and ring in a joyful season.

    Tootsie from Broadway at the Hobby Center (November 16-21)
    This hysterical, almost-too–edgy for the ’80s, comedy about struggling actor, Michael Dorsey, centers on him creating a female persona to win a lead role on a soap opera.

    With original music and lyrics by David Yazbek and a Tony-winning book by Robert Horn, the show exchanges the daytime television world for some commentary satire on the world of stage musicals, as Michael tries to make it as a Broadway diva.

    The show, which won a Tony for best book, was lauded by critics for its comedy for making the era move from the ’80s80s to the 21st century with high-heeled stride.

    A Christmas Carol at Alley Theatre (November 19-December 29)
    The Alley first produced this adaption last season as a streaming performance and now brings it to the stage for in-person audiences.

    Playwright Doris Baizley’s imagining of the Dickens classic frames the ghostly tale with a timely spotlight on the magic of theater-making. In this Carol, a traveling theater company, going through hardships, resolves that the Christmas show will go on even with a barebones production.

    Alley company actors get meta as they all play actors or backstage crew putting together a Carol from scratch. David Rainey reprises his Ebenezer Scrooge, while also playing the company within a company’s stage manager.

    4.48 Psychosis from Catastrophic Theatre (November 19-December 12)
    After several outdoor shows and filmed projects, the avant-garde company returns to its on-stage and in-person MATCH home to follow their long tradition of offering holiday counter programming at its finest and sometimes strangest.

    This work by Sarah Kane will certainly become a gift for those eschewing any and all tinsel and sugarplums. Company co-founder Jason Nodler directs performing artist T. Lavois Thiebaud in this Theatre of Extremes production the company describes as “an abstract, experiential, highly poetic exploration of identity, dysphoria, depression, the body/soul dilemma, and the suicidal mind.”

    Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley at Main Street Theater (November 20 – December 19)
    The new, and beloved, holiday tradition at Main Street Theater has become a production of one of the Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon penned sequels to Jane Austin’s Pride and Prejudice.

    This first one gives the bookish sister Mary the spotlight and her own love story, while gifting flighty sister Lydia, who cause all the commotion in Austen’s original, a nice bit of empathy and redemption.

    A sweet, funny holiday treat with some nutritional value of sisterly love, we can see why Main Street continues to spend the holidays with any and all of the Bennet sisters.

    The Christmas Shoes at A.D. Players at the George (November 24-December 26)
    Based on the novel by Donna VanLiere, this world premiere play tells the story of two families forever changed by a chance encounter.

    In this story, young Nathan Andrews' mother is terminally ill, yet he and his cash-strapped family are trying to live life to its fullest. Meanwhile, wealthy Robert Layton is a workaholic attorney on the brink of losing the sweet family he unwittingly neglects.

    Robert is long overdue for a wake-up call, which arrives when he crosses paths with Nathan on Christmas Eve.

    Cirque du Soleil brings the fire and high flying to the season with a new version of their classic Alegría.

    Cirque du Soleil Alegria Alegr\u00eda
      
    Photo courtesy of Cirque du Soleil
    Cirque du Soleil brings the fire and high flying to the season with a new version of their classic Alegría.
    dancetheateropenings
    news/arts
    CULTUREMAP EMAILS ARE AWESOME
    Get Houston intel delivered daily.

    international acclaim

    Houston's iconic Rothko Chapel receives new grant to restore Beryl damage

    Jef Rouner
    May 12, 2025 | 10:30 am
    Rothko Chapel exterior
    Courtesy of the Rothko Chapel
    undefined

    Houston's beloved Rothko Chapel is one step closer to recovery after Hurricane Beryl in 2024. A substantial new grant from Bank of America will fund the restoration of Mark Rothko pieces damaged by the storm.

    “This grant comes at a pivotal moment – not only for the Rothko Chapel, but in the broader context of our changing climate and growing vulnerability to extreme weather events,” said David Leslie, executive director of the Chapel. “The conservation process will require extensive time, specialized materials, and expert technical support to stabilize and restore these works, ensuring they can once again inspire visitors within this sacred space. Bank of America’s support underscores the urgent need to preserve culturally significant artworks like these, especially as we face new environmental challenges that threaten our artistic legacy.”

    The Bank of America Art Conservation Project has been used to fund the preservation and restoration of culturally significant artworks since 2010. In 2021, the project also funded the restoration of an 13th Century Incan textile housed at Houston's Menil Collection. This year's other recipients include the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Museo Nacional de San Carlos in Mexico City, Sir John Soane's Museum in London, and the Sydney Opera House.

    Since 1971, Rothko Chapel has been one of the best meditative spaces in Houston. Commissioned by John and Dominique de Menil in 1964, Rothko designed the space and painted its famous black panels. Rothko himself did not live to see the completion, dying by suicide in New York in 1970. Now, the chapel stands as a non-denominational spiritual center, hosting concerts, mindfulness clinics, and other events designed to promote mental healing in visitors.

    When Hurricane Beryl hit Houston on July 8, high winds and torrential hammered the chapel's roof. Water leakage damaged the walls and one of Rothko's black triptychs on the east side of the building. It took seven months of work before the chapel was reopened to the public in December, but the damaged art was still housed off site for restoration. Bank of America's grant should hopefully speed up the process of returning the iconic pieces back to public view.

    “It is devastating to see the domino effects of an event like Hurricane Beryl, jeopardizing the storied institutions and culturally significant works that provide so much context into the Houston identity,” said Hong Ogle, President, Bank of America Houston. “I am very proud that Bank of America’s Art Conservation Project allows us to support the arts in a unique and impactful way and preserve the works that mean the most to our community.”

    In addition to the restoration, Rothko Chapel recently broke ground on a $42 million campus expansion. Two new buildings to the north with house administrative services and an archive, and a meditation garden dedicated to Kathleen and Chuck Mullenweg. A new program center will follow after.

    news/arts
    Loading...