Stages (Houston) is a

theatre company Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

in the city of

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

formerly known as Stages Repertory Theatre. It produces performances at The Gordy, the company's three-stage venue that opened in 2020 in Houston's Montrose neighborhood. The ''

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'' calls it "the equivalent of

off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...

in Houston".

History

Stages was founded in 1978 by Founding Artistic Director Ted Swindley in the basement of a

downtown Houston Downtown is the largest central business district in the city of Houston and the largest in the state of Texas, located near the geographic center of the metropolitan area at the confluence of Interstate 10 in Texas, Interstate 10, Interstate 45, ...

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with a mission to "produce new work, interpret established work in new ways, and nurture talent to invigorate culture for the good of the community." Ted Swindley's vision brought success to the new theater company with a combination of long running Off Broadway hits such as "Bent" and "Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You" as well as cutting edge productions of classic works such as Sartre's "No Exit" and Shakespeare's "Taming of The Shrew" presented on roller skates as an homage to underground Houston's Urban Animals. Oscar Wilde's "The Importance of Being Earnest" was SRO with two gender-bending productions performed on alternate nights. Ted's creative leadership also brought theater notables such as playwrights Jules Feiffer, Marsha Norman and Jack Heifner to Houston for World Premieres of their plays. Both the Texas Playwrights Festival and The Susan Smith Blackburn Women's Playwright Festival were conceived and launched by Ted Swindley. Stages quickly became an integral part of the Houston theater community. In 1985, Stages moved to the former

Star Engraving building The Star Engraving Company Building is a building at 3201 Allen Parkway in Houston, Texas, built in 1930 in the Spanish Colonial Revival style by the Star Engraving company to house its engraving factory. The building is currently () owned by the ...

at 3201

Allen Parkway Allen Parkway is an arterial road west of Downtown Houston, Texas. It has a distance of approximately 2.3 miles (3.7 km), running from Interstate 45 west to Shepherd Drive, where it becomes Kirby Drive. Originally known as Buffalo Parkway, ...

, which was designated a local historic landmark in 1986 through the efforts of board member Mimi Kilgore.

Stages today

Stages is a professional

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theater and has won national recognition for its work as Houston's "maverick" theatre, including coverage in ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'', ''

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'' and ''American Theatre magazine''. Productions at Stages are created and produced by a team of artists, performers and craftspeople largely from the Houston area, sometimes in collaboration with guest artists from around the world. In addition, Stages introduces young audiences to live theater through its EarlyStages series. Each year, thousands of local children experience dramatic interpretations of classic folktales, stories from diverse world cultures, along with plays and musicals commissioned especially for EarlyStages. Its current Artistic Director is Kenn McLaughlin.

References

{{reflist

External links

Stages Repertory Theatre
1978 establishments in Texas Theatres in Houston Theatre companies in Houston