Curtain up

Houston's Alley Theatre presents new season of world premieres and old favorites

A photo of the members of the Alley Theatre's resident company

The Alley Theatre's 2023-24 season offers something for everyone.

Photo by Lynn Lane

From a summer murder mystery to a world premiere musical, the Alley Theatre's 2023 - 2024 season brings an eclectic and diverse set of works to the stage.

“Our 2023-2024 is designed to welcome people to the theatre,” Alley Theatre artistic director Rob Melrose said in a statement. “There is something for everyone but if you see them all then you won’t risk missing the play that changes your life!"

Five world premieres sit alongside beloved classics like A Christmas Carol and works by Chekov and Christie.

The season begins with the Alley's popular Summer Chills production of Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, adapted from her novel of the same name — voted the best crime novel ever by the British Crime Writers' Association. This new adaptation finds a group of extraordinary characters hiding myriad secrets that only detective mastermind Hercule Poirot can untangle. Alley resident company members Shawn Hamilton portrays the title character; David Sinaiko joins the resident company for this production playing Poirot. The Murder of Roger Ackroyd runs from July 21 through August 27.

Fall opens with American Mariachi, a story of family and following your dreams. The play takes place in the 1970s and finds Lucha and her cousin searching for bandmates to form a new mariachi ensemble, despite the fact that girls can't be mariachis. Or can they? The show runs September 22 to October 22.

Anton Chekov's Little Comedies is an Alley commission and world premiere. The show takes the writer's one-act comedies Swan Song, The Bear, The Proposal, The Wedding, and The Harmfulness of Tobacco and brings them to the stage in a new production directed by Tony Award-winning playwright and director Richard Nelson. Alley resident company members Tom Waite, Elizabeth Bunch, David Rainey, and Melissa Pritchett are among the cast. Little Comedies runs October 6 through 29.

The much-loved A Christmas Carol returns for the holidays, from November 16 through December 30, in a production adapted and directed by Melrose. David Rainey plays Ebenezer Scrooge.

Pictures from Home kicks off 2024. The play, based on the photo memoir of the same name by Larry Sultan, was part of the 2020 Alley All New Festival. It chronicles what happened when photographer Sultan turned his lens on his parents to explore the truth behind their home movies. Pictures from Home runs January 19 through February 11, 2024.

Larry Shue's comedy The Nerd runs February 23 through March 17, 2024. The action follows an up-and-coming architect who invites the hero who saved his life into his home. Turns out that hero is a total nerd who not only winds up outstaying his welcome but also entangles everyone around him in chaos. Resident company members Melissa Molano, Chris Hutchison, Shawn Hamilton, Melissa Pritchett, David Raniey, and Christopher Salazar bring the side-splitting comedy to life.

Up next in the season is the world premiere of The World is Not Silent, part of the 2022 Alley All New Festival. It's the story of a son and his estranged father attempting to reconnect in the face of the father's hearing loss. The show runs March 22 through April 14, 2024.

Elizabeth Williamson's adaption of Jane Eyre follows the titular heroine as she searches for fulfillment and freedom, rising above her orphan roots and struggling to stay true to herself. Melissa Molano plays Jane. The show runs April 12 to May 5.

Melrose directs The Emporium, a world premiere adapted from Thornton Wilder's unfinished script and completed by Kirk Lynn. It follows a young man, adopted by a farmer, who runs away to the city only to discover that life may be an elaborate job interview to determine if we qualify for our own existence. The show runs May 10 to June 2, 2024.

Closing the year is the world premiere of Ella, chronicling the life of the iconic Ella Fitzgerald. Written by Anna Deavere Smith and featuring music from the Great American Songbook, it charts the rise of the legendary singer who left an indelible mark upon genres from jazz to blues and beyond. Ella runs May 31 to June 23, 2024.

Alley Theatre theater

doubling down

Shepherd School builds on 50 years with a 2026-27 season of discovery

Rice University Shepherd School of Music

Photo by Michael Stravato

The Shepherd School's 2026-27 season includes six world premieres.

The next generation of classical music doesn’t wait in the wings at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music.

It walks onto the stage, often with a world premiere in hand, and slaps listeners with music so energetically performed that they might need a glass of wine or a Xanax to come down from the thrill.

Fresh off its milestone 50th anniversary, the Shepherd School’s 2026–27 season doubles down on discovery. The lineup includes six world premieres, the Texas premiere of Matthew Aucoin and Sarah Ruhl’s opera Eurydice, celebrated guest artists, and a steady reminder that Houston audiences can hear rising talent before the rest of the world catches on.

For students, Shepherd continues to function as a foundation where rigorous conservatory training meets the resources of a major research university. For audiences, it’s an invitation to witness artists in the midst of becoming, tackling ambitious repertoire in halls whose acoustics reward every nuance.

The orchestral season, led primarily by Distinguished Resident Director of Orchestras Miguel Harth-Bedoya, embraces both pillars of the canon and brand-new voices. Opening night sets the tone with Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso, Richard Strauss’ Death and Transfiguration, the world premiere of Jake Berran’s Probabolophony, winner of the 2026 Cooper Prize, and Hindemith’s Symphonic Metamorphosis.

The season also launches what is planned as a multi-year exploration of Gustav Mahler with Symphony No. 1, “Titan,” while spotlighting Shepherd faculty members as soloists, including pianist Jon Kimura Parker and oboist Erin Hannigan. Along the way come additional premieres by alumni composers, concerto appearances from competition winners, and opportunities for conducting students to take the podium.

Shepherd will present a fully staged production of Richard Strauss’ Ariadne auf Naxos before mounting the Texas premiere — and first university performance — of Eurydice, with composer Aucoin visiting campus to work directly with students and audiences.

Guest artists add another layer, from Aleko Endowed Artist Julia Bullock collaborating with Shepherd opera students to alumna Kate Soper returning with the acclaimed Wet Ink Ensemble. Chamber concerts, faculty recitals, festivals, and family programming round out a calendar of more than 400 events, many offered for free or at low cost.

The season also includes the Adventurous Electric Guitar Festival at Wortham Theatre, where concerts, workshops, and presentations explore contemporary electric guitar and electroacoustic performance in collaboration with Rice Electroacoustic Music Labs (REMLABS).

Notably, the school will also inaugurate its undergraduate orchestral conducting degree, the only program of its kind in the nation.

This author recently caught Miguel Harth-Bedoya deep in score study before a concert, next to his visiting family, meticulously parsing Ravel’s Alborada del gracioso.

It was a fitting snapshot of the institution itself: Craftsmanship behind moments that can feel effortless once the lights dim and the music begins. That dedication has defined Shepherd for more than 50 years, and the 2026–27 season suggests the next movement is well underway.

performing-arts rice university