take the stage

10 under-the-radar Houston arts companies take a bow with new seasons

Houston has many assets, and one of them is a thriving arts community. The city is one of only a handful in the nation to be a home to a symphony orchestra, theater companies, a ballet, and an opera company. The wealth of arts options is a testament to the city's creativity and the love and support audiences feel performing arts companies.

CultureMap has previewed the 2024-2025 seasons for the Houston Grand Opera, the Houston Ballet, and the Broadway series at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Here are some highlights for the upcoming seasons at 10 of Houston's small- and mid-size performing arts organizations.

4th Wall Theatre Company
Based out of Studio 101 at Spring Street Studios, the award-winning company begins its 14th season in September. The four-show series includes Swing State, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, Topdog/Underdog, and Hamlet. Swing State is the newest play of the bunch, premiering in 2022. The Chicago Tribune called it "perhaps the first of the great American post-COVID plays.It explores themes of a divided American heartland. The play makes its Houston debut with 4th Wall's production. It opens September 20.

A.D. Players
The Galleria-area company launches its 2024-2025 season in August with Esther: The Heart of A Queen, starring Dancing With the Stars' Sharna Burgess. This new production is making a pre-Broadway tryout, and incorporates multiple dance forms to tell the story of a heroic woman's faith and strength. Esther opens August 30.

For the holidays, the company offers A Texas Carol Part Deux, a sequel to the audience favorite A Texas Carol. The Dinkel family is back at Mee-Maw's, with more holiday hilarity. The season also includes The Foreigner, How to Die: The Life of Dietrich Bohnoeffer, and The Wizard of Oz musical.

Classical Theatre Company
Two shows make up the company's 2024-2025 season, both on stage at the DeLuxe Theater in Fifth Ward. Bram Stoker's Dracula, directed by Blake Weir, opens the season in October. The performance commemorates the 100th anniversary of the first authorized adaptation of the famous vampire novel. Classical's artistic director John Johnson helms the company's second show, Chekov's The Three Sisters, in April 2025. It's the story of the three Prozorov sisters , who live in exile a thousand miles away from Moscow, finding ways to survive on the eve of the social and political upheaval that will change Russia forever.

DaCamera
Beloved as a presenter and incubator of chamber music and jazz, the organization's 2024-2025 season is highlighted by a world premiere and the first Houston appearance by British composer and pianist Thomas Adès.

The season opens September 26 with a performance by the Takács Quartet, entering their 50th anniversary season. October arrives with audience favorite Spanish Harlem Orchestra, and concludes with the DaCamera debut of the Chiaroscuro Quartet.

2025 begins with another Houston debut: pianist Alexandre Kantorow in an evening of works by and inspired by Liszt. In February, composer Thomas Adès and an ensemble of champions of his music explore his works for solo piano and chamber ensemble, along with two of his musical touchstones, Schubert and Janáček. Then, countertenor Aryeh Nussbaum Cohen and pianist John Churchwell include works by recently rediscovered Black composer Florence Price in their concert. Later, in April, New York Philharmonic String Quartet will perform Price’s String Quartet No. 1 in G Major.

On Valentine's Day, flutist Emi Ferguson and baroque band Ruckus are joined by visionary jazz saxophonist Immanuel Wilkins Quartet for the world premiere of Roscoe Mitchell’s "Metropolis Trilogy," produced by NYC's Metropolis Ensemble and co-commissioned by DaCamera. Other performances in the jazz series feature all of the following — Terri Lyne Carrington’s “New Standards” which shines a powerful light on music from great women composers; Grammy Award-nominated, dynamic alto saxophonist Lakecia Benjamin in her first DaCamera appearance; the Vijay Iyer Trio, one of the most pivotal jazz bands of the twenty-first century; and a performance from acclaimed contemporary jazz pianist Brad Mehldau and his new trio featuring both bassist Christian McBride and vocalist and songwriter Lizz Wright.

Dirt Dogs Theatre Co.
Three plays make up the company's ninth season, all of which are performed at the MATCH in Midtown. David Mamet's Race, the story of a white businessman accused of sexually assaulting a Black woman, opens the season on October 18. Blackbird, by David Harrower, explores what happens when two people reexamine an explosive relationship they had 15 years ago. The season closes with Bug, a cult classic by Tracy Letts, that tells the story of a love affair where circumstances escalate to paranoia, conspiracy theories, and twisted psychological motives.

The Garden Theatre
One of the city's newest companies opens its third full season in October with the Stephen Sondheim musical Assassins. The multi-Tony Award-winning show looks at the culture of celebrity and the violent means some will use to obtain it. Houston actress Cheny Moore, who many audiences will recall from Main Street Theater's Miss Bennet Christmas at Pemberley, stars in the one-woman show Who's Holiday in December, appearing as an all-grown-up Cindy Lou Who. Two musicals complete the season: Doubt, an adaption of the play by John Patrick Shanley about a progressive priest whose conduct comes under question by a nun, and While Childhood Slept, an original musical based on the true story of the boys of Home Number One in the Nazi concentration camp Terezin.

Houston Chamber Choir
The Grammy Award-winning ensemble celebrates its 30th anniversary with eight concerts. The season launches September 21 with "The Son of Man," a world-premiere by English composer Patrick Hawes. Written for choir, soloists and orchestra, and based on iconic texts from the Old and New Testaments, it's reminiscent of Handel's Messiah and has the makings of being a favorite.

“I Just Want to Celebrate! Songs from the ‘70s” is a free concert at Miller Outdoor Theatre with the music of ABBA, the Jackson 5, Carly Simon and more. “This Sky," in November, is an evening of songs that consider the heavens, while “Glory in the Highest: Christmas at the Villa” brings together the choir, the Paragon Brass, and the Treble Choir of Houston for traditional holiday favorites. The season also incudes the 25th Annual “Hear the Future” Invitational Choral Festival, “Love Songs and Sonnets," and “From Darkness to Light." “Gather ‘Round," the season finale, honors Robert Simpson as he concludes his 30-year tenure as founder and artistic director.

Main Street Theater
Celebrating 49 years, the Rice Village company has a five-show 2024-2025 season, including two world premieres and a regional premiere. The season begins October 12 with the world premiere of Israeli playwright Noga Flaishon's Memoriam. Set in the future, it's about a company, Memoriam, Inc., that buys and sells memories. The season continues with the world premiere of Seven Assassins Walk Into a Bar by Houston actor and playwright Dain Geist. It's a dark comedy about six assassins who gather in a bar for the wake of another assassin.

The company offers the regional premiere of Kim's Convenience next May, the story of a Korean immigrant convenience store owner who must decide whether to sell to developers or convince his daughter to follow in his footsteps. The Year of Magical Thinking and The 39 Steps round out the season.

The Rec Room
Two shows remain in the company's 2024 season, which wraps up in December. Up first is Spring Awakening, opening September 7. The rock musical is the coming-of-age story of German teenagers rebelling against what they see as a repressive society, while trying to figure out who they are sexually and emotionally. The season closes with Winter Solstice, a comedy that shines a light on both liberalism and fascism, set on Christmas Eve and centering around family dynamics. The show runs November 23 through December 14.

ROCO
Celebrating its 20th anniversary, ROCO has titled its 2024-2025 season This is ROCO. Look for 11 world premiere commissions, co-commissions, premieres, and re-scores as the 40-piece professional chamber orchestra continues its mission to present innovative concerts, multidisciplinary collaborations, and engaging community-centric initiatives. Opening the season is composer-In-residence Viet Cuong's latest creation, “Constellations.” This innovative piece is a visual and auditory experience, with each movement featuring musicians positioned to mirror the stars of various constellations.

Additional commissioned world premieres include “St. John the Revelator” by Houston composer Mark Buller, an homage to ROCO's original concert home, the Church of St. John the Divine; a world premiere by Juan Pablo Contreras created specifically for the Day of the Dead; and a compelling composition titled “No Grit, No Pearl” by Jonathan Leshnoff. The season concludes with the epic “Rite of Spring” by Igor Stravinsky, rescored by Marlijn Helder.

A.D. Players The George Theater exterior at night

Courtesy of A.D. Players

A.D. Players' 2024-2025 season includes a pre-Broadway tryout and the sequel to a fan-favorite holiday show.

performing-arts

honoring the past

Houston museum's new project preserves historic Freedmen's Town bricks

Freedmen's Town Rebirth in Action pavilion rendering

Rendering courtesy of Studio Zewde

Rebirth in Action is set to open in 2027.

As Houstonians come together to celebrate Juneteenth, it’s jarring to think that this day of celebration has only been a federally-recognized holiday since 2021. After all, it was in 1865 that U.S Major General Gordon Granger arrived in Galveston on June 19 to enforce the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. After this event many formerly enslaved Black Americans made their way to Houston, establishing what is now Houston’s very first Heritage District, known as Freedmen’s Town.

Now, the robust Houston Freedmen’s Town Conservancy, in partnership with the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston, and Mount Horeb Church, are working with the City of Houston on a long overdue project, Rebirth in Action, to honor this historic site. Designed by artist Theaster Gates in partnership with landscape architect Sara Zewde, the monumental pavilion will temporarily house more than 20,000 historic bricks previously removed and preserved from Houston’s Freedmen’s Town. Houston Mayor John Whitmire attended the groundbreaking, which took place last month.

While many people recognize Galveston as the site of the first Juneteenth celebrations, both of those took place on January 1, to honor the Emancipation Proclamation. However, recent research by Mary Gibbs Jones Professor of Humanities at Rice University W. Caleb McDaniel, has uncovered that the first official Juneteenth celebration was led by two ministers, Sandy Parker and Elias Dibble, right in Freedmen’s Town in 1866. McDaniel’s fascinating article will appear in the next issue of the Journal of Texas History.

Freedmen’s Town, established in 1865 by over 1,000 newly-free Black Houstonians following Juneteenth, has significantly dwindled in recent years due to systematic reductions in resources, despite its initial 500+ historic structures, including churches, schools, and cultural institutions. Rebirth in Action aims to preserve and promote the neighborhood as a monument of Black community, agency, and heritage.

“The work of the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston is to utilize our museum as a platform for resources sharing; a platform for unearthing new conversations around gems in our city that are also right down the street,” explains Ryan Dennis, co-director and chief curator for the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. “Artists have different practices and artists like Theaster [Gates] can really help understand preservation conditions and needs of community, revitalization, and bringing resources together to better serve a neighborhood and realize optimal benefits, particularly antiquities like the bricks in Freedman’s Town that have been taken out of the neighborhood, displaced in other areas of Houston, and not in the home where they were originally created, paid for, and laid down in (by formerly enslaved individuals), which is Freedmen’s Town.”

The first phase of Rebirth in Action involved artistic activations (including Gates’ exhibition The Gift and The Renege in 2024), artist residencies, community and stakeholder meetings, and the identification, cataloging, and preservation of over 20,000 historic bricks. The pavilion will encourage public viewing of these historic bricks and serve as a hub for engagement with the history, cultural significance, and future of Freedmen’s Town. Additionally, Hines Architecture + Design will rehabilitate three row houses into an adjoining community center.

“I think the whole project is one that’s quite interesting, useful, and productive. I think it’s important for us to think about how we can use our resources to accomplish the things that build collective wellness — right? Wellness in the space of really preserving our communities that have been disinvested in, elevating the real gems of our city,” says Dennis. “We can do that through collaborations and partnerships; we are much stronger when we can do that with others, versus by ourselves, and I think this project really speaks to that ethos.”

Phase Two has been made possible by Mount Horeb Church’s continued stewardship of both land and existing historic structures in Freedmen’s Town. The project will include an arts pavilion and community green space designed by Sara Zewde, with an installation by renowned artist Theaster Gates, plus three historic structures redesigned and restored by Daimian Hines Architecture + Design for adaptive reuse as a food pantry and community garden, after-school programming, and senior services for Mount Horeb Church, who will guide programming and operations.

The art installation will display the original Freedmen’s Town bricks that once lined the streets, giving visitors a chance to experience their significance firsthand. Working with the City of Houston and the North Houston Highway Improvement Program that will reconnect Freedmen’s Town to downtown, Phase Three will see these bricks returned to the streets in a pedestrian promenade capacity. Subsequently, the pavilion will showcase rotating artist activations.

“The Brick Pavilion for Freedmen’s Town is a project that is deeply resonant for me,” shares Gates. “In part, because there are several opportunities to cultivate community and institutional trust, to create an additional neighborhood heart, and to invest in more beauty for this hugely important district of Houston.”

Landscape architect Sara Zewde's pavilion, gardens, and landscape design will help centralize all facets of Rebirth in Action, creating a community hub: “Studio Zewde's collaboration with Theaster Gates began with a shared belief that the future of Freedmen's Town must be rooted in the wisdom of the community that built it,” she writes in an email. “The pavilion and landscape draw inspiration from the neighborhood's tradition of shared backyards that connected the community across property lines. The project builds on this inheritance by forming a shared landscape at the center of the sacred bricks and their pavilion, the restored row houses, the Freedmen's Town Conservancy Visitor Center, and Mount Horeb Baptist Church.”

Architect Daimian Hines credits Reverend Dr. Smith of Mount Horeb Church for the continued stewardship of the land and notes that Dr. Smith oftentimes remarks that the holding of the land has been a form of resistance, the act of holding the land keeping outsiders from contributing to the erasure of Freedmen’s Town and its history.

“The fact that these three houses, and more in the community, that these post-emancipation structures still exist, it wasn’t for a lack of community pressure. It was a combination of efforts by folks like Dr. Smith, who were resisting [gentrification] through ownership,” explains Hines.

“Some of the ownership of some of these properties are so complex, it was difficult for potential buyers [developers] to actually get ownership of some of these structures—I consider that sheer luck.”

Hines worked closely with the Houston Archeological and Historic Commission to propose rehabilitating, modifying, and even relocating the row houses a mere 15 feet. The gabled, cottage-style row houses date back to the late 19th century. These post-emancipation row houses were built by formerly-enslaved, new residents of Houston.

“We wanted to think through: ‘what was the original story, how did the front of the houses and the back of these structures — what role did they play in day-to-day life?’ We were able to make some strategic moves to bring that to the forefront again,” Hines says. “The Rebirth in Action project and the houses are part of a broader preservation goal within the community to not just preserve, but to reuse either for housing, or — in this case — adaptive reuse as a community space.”

Hines notes that one of the row houses is of double-door configuration. This typology signifies that it was most likely a boarding house in its prime, a time when Black Americans weren’t welcome in downtown hotels. The two front doors let travelers know that they were welcome to rent a safe place to stay. Together, the three row houses will offer approximately 3,200-3,600 square feet of space, plus a large back porch that will face the pavilion.

As resources were often few and far between in post-emancipation Freedmen’s Town, the cladding on row houses was patchwork in appearance, as purchasing gaps meant that continuing on with the same materials was unlikely. Regardless, these homes were remarkably well constructed, with solid wood, wooden dowels, and shiplap interior walls. These construction methods, along with allowances for airflow, contributed significantly to their preservation.

“The one thing about these structures is, that as robust as they are, they have taken a beating,” says Hines. “The actual wood, the detailing, a lot of that has been lost, but these structures tell a story. This is a project I knew I wanted to be personally involved in, and my firm. [The structures] will be able to continue telling a story and play an active role in that community, and that’s why I’m excited.”

Rendering courtesy of Studio Zewde

Rebirth in Action is set to open in 2027.

museums contemporary art museum houston freedmen's town visual-art