• 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 may theater

    Dragons, drag queens, 'Mad Men meets Sex in the City,' and more star in Houston's top theater for May

    Tarra Gaines
    May 5, 2023 | 4:30 pm

    Thankfully, May has 31 days, as could spend nearly every one catching all the theater and performing arts shows this month.

    Fans can expect world premieres, contemporary classics, fairytales, Sci-Fi, and shows that are quite a drag — in all their high-heeled glory. With pirates, matadors, Elvis impersonators and hippies as our guides, May makes for quite the theatrical adventure.

    Tooth & Tale from Mildred’s Umbrella (through May 13)

    This new play from Houston playwright Elizabeth A.M. Keel had almost as much of a dramatic fairytale story as what will go on stage in this world premiere production staged at the historic Deluxe Theatre. The show went through several workshop with Mildred’s originally scheduled to produce it in 2020.

    Finally, this story of princesses, dragons, pirates and amazing adventures will have its happy ending, a life onstage. Here’s hoping that ending will just be the beginning.

    Catholic School Girls from On the Verge Theatre (through May 28)

    For their last show, On the Verge staged a play about competitive swimming at an indoor pool facility. Now, the company is back staging this Casey Kurtti memory comedy in a church, specifically Bering Memorial Church.

    Set in the '60s, the play showcases the versatility of this cast of four, mostly local actresses who play both the the school girls from the title and the occasional nun. The girls experience bonds of friendship, reprimands from authority figures, and pressure from home, growing up in a time of the Beatles and the election of a Catholic president.

    The Legend of Georgia McBride at Stages (through July 2)

    A down-on-his-luck Elvis impersonator with a wife and baby finds he can no longer pull audiences in. When the club where he performs makes some programming changes, this Elvis must trade in his white, Rhinestone-studded jumpsuits for something a bit more subtle—namely drag.

    He soon learns he has more talent as a performing queen than impersonating the King. With humor and fabulous numbers, playwright Matthew Lopez’s story challenges our perceptions of identity and classic gender roles with humor and depth.

    Brother Toad at Ensemble Theatre (May 11-June 4)

    In this all-too-timely play, Black high school student Marques recuperates at home after surviving being shot by a white man while he was just sitting in a car with a friend — who was killed.

    As the show begins, Marques’s uncle Randall a sport-radio host want the family to attend a community march against gun violence. The family’s reluctance to attend seems to stem from other, unclear concerns, but it’s that fear, in its many forms that is a thread throughout this powerful play from screenwriter and playwright Nathan Louis Jackson.

    1968: The Whole World Is Watching from Open Dance Project

    Houston’s driving force for world premiere, immersive dance works that are always theatrical in the extreme is back. This latest work that will transport us back to the history-making ’68 Democratic Convention in Chicago.

    Breaking down conventional barriers between audience and stage, this immersive experience situates audience members directly in the center of the action, where they walk through and engage with the interdisciplinary, multimedia performance as it mines iconic photographs, news media, music, art, actions, and events of 1968 for a deeper understanding of our conflict-ridden, intensely mediated here and now.

    Torera at Alley Theatre (May 12-June 4)

    One young woman attempts to break through the red glass cape (capa de brega) in this coming-of-age story. In the world premiere play by Monet Hurst-Mendoza, previously workshopped at the Alley All New festival, Elena Ramírez wants to enter the almost exclusively man’s world of bullfighting.

    With the help of her best friend, a matador’s son, Elena begins secretly training to compete with the greatest. When she discovers her seemingly inherent talent can beat even the most accomplished toreros, this young woman must choose between accepting society’s limits or breaking boundaries.

    The Best of Everything at Main Street Theater (May 14-June 18)

    In what MST describes as Mad Men meets Sex and the City, this comedy chronicles the lives, loves, and careers of a set of ambitious women at a New York publishing company.

    One catch to their climb up the corporate ladder: the time is the 1950s and our female heroes are trapped in the steno pool. (Yeah, we had to look up the word steno, too.) We’re guessing this Julie Kramer contemporary adaptation of the Rona Jaffe 1958 novel will have something of 21st century look-back sensibility, as these women try to figure out if they really can have the best of everything.

    Rent from Theatre Under the Stars (May 16-28)

    The season of love arrives for the final TUTS in-house production for their 22-23 lineup. Jonathan Larson’s show redefined what a musical could be in the late 20th century, all the while inspired by the 19th century operatic heights of La Bohème.

    We heard early rumors that director Ty Defoe's vision for this production might include a new focus on documentarian character of Mark and perhaps weaving a multimedia component to the show. Is this Rent for the social media/citizen journalism age? Either way, the core story about love, death, art, and friendship remains timeless.

    Drag Wonderettes at Stages (May 19-July 2)

    It’s a drag, drag world — at least at Stages — as the company offer this drag version of one of their most popular shows and Off-Broadway smash, The Marvelous Wonderettes.

    Stages will actually world-premiere the jukebox musical about the friendship and bond of a '50s girl group conceived as a drag show. Drag Wonderettes will run in repertory with Legend of Georgia McBride, giving audiences the opportunity to see both show a day apart or even on the same night.

    The theatre hopes audiences will think of the two shows in conversation with each other about drag as a performance art form. No matter which show we see first, we’re betting the Stages costume designers and assistants will be the hardest working show people in the city this month.

    Sin Muros Festival at Stages (May 25-28)

    Stages isn’t done in May, as they’ll also bring back their new play festival for its sixth year. See tomorrow’s theatrical works today with stages readings of four new works, including: Hotel Puerto Vallarta: A Legitimate Work of Dramatic Theatre by David Davila; 619 Hendricks by Josie Nericcio; parts per million & prophets by Ricardo Dávila; and a river, its mouths by Jesús I. Valles.

    Along with this glimpse of new work from up and coming playwrights, the fest includes the annual presentation of the Premio Puente (Bridge Award) to an individual or organization who has demonstrated great skill/talent/drive/care in serving the Latinx art community in the Houston area.

    Other fun includes theater and education workshops and an arts market featuring local vendors, artisans, food trucks, and non-profit organizations.

    Divergence from Houston Ballet (May 25-June 4)

    The last of HB’s mixed rep productions of their 22-23 season features some very Houston-centric works, including a world premiere from a rock star of the dance world, Justin Beck.

    First up, HB brings back Aszure Barton’s Angular Momentum for the first time since its premiere in 2012. This homage to Houston as Space City features otherworldly costume design by Fritz Masten, a Houston-inspired set by lighting and scenic designer Burke Brown and Mason Bates’ hybrid score of orchestral-electronic melodies and archival NASA recordings. The performance will also include the long anticipated return of HB artistic director, Staton Welch’s, Divergence, which hasn’t been seen on stage as a complete work since 2012.

    Finally, HB world premieres Tony Award-winning choreographer Justin Peck’s Under the Folding Sky, a dance inspired by the monumental, only-in-Houston artwork, James Turrell’s Twilight Epiphany Skyspace at Rice University.

    Peck uses the music from Philip Glass's opera "The Photographer" for his dance, with costumes designed by duo Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung of Reid and Harriet, lighting by Brandon Sterling Baker and scenic design by Rice University alum Karl Jensen.

    Divergence will feature the full HB company.

    August: Osage County from Dirt Dogs Theatre Co. (May 26-June 10)

    When the patriarch of the Oklahoman Weston family disappears, the younger generation — including the three Weston sisters — return to the homestead. Accusations, recriminations, secrets, lies, and bitter truths are revealed.

    The large cast of regular Dirt Dog players, as well as veteran Houston actors, will dig their teeth into this Tracy Letts’ darkly comic contemporary classic with shades of King Lear. The show contains so many strong and complex women roles, we’re looking forward to some of our local acting favorites to reveal these dogs as some bad bitches.

    A Maroon’s Guide to Time and Space from Catastrophic Theatre (May 26-June 17)

    TUTS Rent Cast
      

    Photo by Melissa Taylor

    The cast of Theatre Under the Stars' new production of Rent.

    Houston theater artist and filmmaker, Candice D’Meza, is back partnering with Catastrophic for this new, multidisciplinary, immersive theatre piece that merges live performance, music and video.

    D’Meza most recent film work has explored Afrofuturism, and it looks like Maroon’s Guide will take further theatrical leaps into strange new worlds, while time traveling into multiple pasts and futures.

    When the audiences enter this play — that’s not a play, and much more than a play — they’ll climb aboard a Harriet Tubman time traveling spaceship to transcend science as we understand it, escape their own linear timelines to experience true, abiding, and eternal access to freedom.

    Fairview from 4th Wall Theatre (May 26-June 17)

    Jackie Sibblies Drury’s 2019 Pulitzer Prize-winning play finally gets its first Houston premiere in 4th Wall’s intimate Studio 101. All the better to see (and be seen at) this twisty, layered comedy that has garnered so many awards.

    What begins as a situational comedy about the party pressure experienced by a middle-class Black American family preparing for Grandma’s birthday celebration turns into something quite different: a commentary on race, identity, and the power of perception and storytelling.

    news/arts
    popular
    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
    popular
    Loading...