Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) is a year-round, professional, non-profit

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movemen ...

production company. It is located in

Houston, Texas 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 ...

, performing mostly at the

Hobby Center for the Performing Arts The Hobby Center for the Performing Arts is a theater in Houston, Texas, United States. Opened to the public in 2002, the theater is located downtown on the edge of the Houston Theater District. Hobby Center features glass walls with views ...

. Theatre Under The Stars’ season generally includes both self-produced shows as well as national touring productions. While best known for their main stage shows at the Hobby Center in Downtown Houston, and their annual free summer shows at the Miller Outdoor Theatre, it also offers educational programming through their training branch (The Humphreys School of Musical Theatre / HSMT), education programs for children with special needs through The River, and a wide array of community outreach projects. Founded by Frank M. Young in 1968, TUTS is currently under the management of

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

-nominated artistic director

Dan Knechtges Dan Knechtges () is a director and choreographer, for musicals, opera, television, film and music videos.

and executive director, Hilary J. Hart.

History

TUTS has offered free public performances in the

Miller Outdoor Theatre Miller Outdoor Theatre is an outdoor theater for the performing arts in Houston, Texas. It is located on approximately of land in Hermann Park, at 6000 Hermann Park Drive, Houston, Texas 77030. The theater offers a wide range of professional e ...

in Hermann Park each year since 1968 (deriving its name from these outdoor performances), giving 48 free large-scale musicals there through July 2010. To date, TUTS has produced more than 300 musicals including many local, national and world premieres such as Kopit and Yeston's

Phantom Phantom may refer to: * Spirit (animating force), the vital principle or animating force within all living things ** Ghost, the soul or spirit of a dead person or animal that can appear to the living Aircraft * Boeing Phantom Ray, a stealthy un ...

, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. TUTS has also produced international tours including

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...

in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Juliet Prowse in

Mame MAME (formerly an acronym of Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator) is a free and open-source emulator designed to recreate the hardware of arcade game systems in software on modern personal computers and other platforms. Its intention is to preserve ...

, Robert Goulet in

Man of La Mancha ''Man of La Mancha'' is a 1965 musical with a book by Dale Wasserman, music by Mitch Leigh, and lyrics by Joe Darion. It is adapted from Wasserman's non-musical 1959 teleplay ''I, Don Quixote'', which was in turn inspired by Miguel de Cervantes ...

, as well as local re-inventions of classics

Cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining or d ...

and

Les Misérables ''Les Misérables'' ( , ) is a French historical novel by Victor Hugo, first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the 19th century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original ...

Humphreys School of Musical Theatre

The Humphreys School of Musical Theatre (HSMT) provides instruction and stage experience for more than 1,700 students annually, offering year-round programs through both open-enrollment and audition-based classes. In 2016, Dave Clemmons became the newly appointed Dean of School for HSMT. TUTS operates an apprentice conservatory training program for high school students who may not be exposed to musical theatre at their schools. Housed in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Students of HSMT have appeared on Broadway, National Tours, and London's West End.

Education and Community Engagement

In addition to on-site educational programming at the Hobby Center, TUTS also brings musical theatre education into the community through local hospitals, schools and community centers throughout the greater Houston area. Through a partnership with the

YMCA YMCA, sometimes regionally called the Y, is a worldwide youth organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, with more than 64 million beneficiaries in 120 countries. It was founded on 6 June 1844 by George Williams in London, originally ...

of Greater Houston TUTS brings creative drama based residencies to after school programs throughout the city. Theatre Under The Stars merged with The River Performing and Visual Arts Center in 2010, creating a barrier free arts education model for non-profit musical theatre performing arts organizations. With the merger, TUTS Education now provides extended on-site programming as well as off-site programming for children in schools, hospitals and other community-based sites.

Tommy Tune Awards

Founded in 2002 and named in honor of native Houstonian and ten time

winner

Tommy Tune Thomas James Tune (born February 28, 1939) is an American actor, dancer, singer, theatre director, producer, and choreographer. Over the course of his career, he has won ten Tony Awards, the National Medal of Arts, and a star on the Hollywood Wal ...

, the awards honor the best and brightest in Houston's high school musical theatre programs. Annually, forty-five high schools located within fifty miles of downtown Houston produce a full-length musical in order to compete in 15 categories: Leading Actor, Leading Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress, Featured Performer, Ensemble, Scenic Design, Lighting Design, Costume Design, Stage Crew & Technical Execution, Orchestra, Musical Direction, Choreography, Direction, and Overall Best Musical. The competition is a part of the

National High School Theatre Awards National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

Notes

References

Information about TUTS from the Visit Houston websiteProfile of TUTS from Hotels.com

External links

* {{official website, http://www.tuts.com
Theatre Under The Stars history from its official website
Theatres in Houston