The Ensemble Theatre, located in the heart of midtown [1] at 3535 Main Street in Houston, Texas, is the largest African-American professional theatre company in the United States that produces plays in-house and owns its own facility. [2]
The Ensemble Theatre, located in the heart of midtown [1] at 3535 Main Street in Houston, Texas, is the largest African-American professional theatre company in the United States that produces plays in-house and owns its own facility. [2]
The Ensemble Theatre is a non-profit organization founded by George Hawkins in 1976 as a touring company that rehearsed in a church basement. [2]
In 2003, the company was awarded $250,000 from the Houston Endowment Inc., with which it retired its original capital campaign debt and made some improvements to the facility. Since 1991, Houston Endowment Inc. has granted a total of $1,220,500 to the Ensemble, including an annual operating grant. [3]
In August 2006, the Ensemble Theatre celebrated its 30-year anniversary, as it launched its 2006/2007 production season. This celebration included the presentation of an award to American actor and director Danny Glover, as the 2006 "Lifetime Achievement" honoree. [4]
The Ensemble building, with its glass-enclosed lobby, hosts three stages located in the heart of Midtown, where a METRORail stop bears its name, Ensemble/HCC station, an honor shared with the nearby Houston Community College ("HCC"). [2] The facility includes a main stage auditorium with seating for 200, an arena stage that seats 125, and a grand performance hall that accommodates 500 people. [3]
Each year the theatre presents a repertoire of critically acclaimed dramas, comedies and musicals that demonstrates the artistic ability of more than 250 professional local, regional and national artists and support staff. A non-profit organization, the Ensemble Theatre also has an educational touring program and a summer young performers training program. [5]
The Ensemble's mission is to preserve African-American artistic expression. To do so, it collaborates with and presents works by artists such as Joseph A. Walker, Pearl Cleage, Cheryl L. West and Shay Youngblood. [6]
Though the Ensemble is an African-American run troupe, it is colorblind when it comes to welcoming directors, designers, performers, playwrights and audiences. Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson has visited the Ensemble, and influential dramatist Ntozake Shange has directed the troupe. Performers Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee have also offered their support to the company. [7]
In August 2006, the Ensemble announced its selection of Eileen J. Morris as its new artistic director. As the artistic airector, Morris will manage the Ensemble's repertoire of six main stage productions, an aggressive tour education program, a young performers program and other projects to advance the artistic mission of the theatre. [8]
Midtown is a central neighborhood of Houston, located west-southwest of Downtown. Separated from Downtown by an elevated section of Interstate 45, Midtown is characterized by a continuation of Downtown's square grid street plan, anchored by Main Street and the METRORail Red Line. Midtown is bordered by Neartown (Montrose) to the west, the Museum District to the south, and Interstate 69 to the east. Midtown's 325 blocks cover 1.24 square miles (3.2 km2) and contained an estimated population of nearly 8,600 in 2015.
Houston Public Library is the public library system serving Houston, Texas, United States.
Trinity Church, in Midtown Houston, Texas, is a parish church in the Episcopal Diocese of Texas.
Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served as the company's music director from 1981 to 1992. The DTH is renowned for being both "the first Black classical ballet company", and "the first major ballet company to prioritize Black dancers".
San Jacinto High School was a secondary school located at 1300 Holman Street in Houston, Texas; now part of the Houston Community College Central College, Central Campus. San Jacinto High School was located in the area now known as Midtown. It was a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD). It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) on December 4, 2012.
Ensemble/HCC is an island platformed METRORail light rail station in Houston, Texas, United States. The station was opened on January 1, 2004, and is operated by the Metropolitan Transit Authority of Harris County, Texas (METRO). Located Midtown, this station is close to both the Houston Community College System's Central College campus and The Ensemble Theatre, which together give the station its name.
Edgar Gregory-Abraham Lincoln Education Center (GLEC) is a K-8 school located at 1101 Taft in the Fourth Ward area of Houston, Texas, United States. Gregory-Lincoln is a part of the Houston Independent School District (HISD) and has a fine arts magnet program that takes students in both the elementary and middle school levels. Originally built in 1966 as Lincoln Junior and Senior High School, it later operated as Lincoln Junior High School until Gregory Elementary School merged into it in 1980, forming Gregory-Lincoln. The school moved into its current building in 2008; the rebuilding was delayed due to concerns that U.S. Civil War-era graveyards would be disturbed by the rebuilding process.
The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT) is a modern dance company based in New York City. It was founded in 1958 by choreographer and dancer Alvin Ailey. It is made up of 32 dancers, led by artistic director Robert Battle and associate artistic director Matthew Rushing.
The Rebecca and John J. Moores School of Music is the music school of the University of Houston. The Moores School offers the Bachelor of Music, Bachelor of Arts in Music, Master of Music, and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in music performance, conducting, theory and composition, music history and literature, pedagogy, and music education and also offers a Certificate of Music Performance. It is a component of the University of Houston's Kathrine G. McGovern College of the Arts. The Moores School is a fully accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Music (NASM). Its namesakes are UH alumni John Moores and his former wife Rebecca. As of 2023–2024, the Director of the Moores School is Brian Kai Chin.
The Houston Academy for International Studies (HAIS) is a Houston Independent School District charter school in Midtown Houston, Texas, United States. It is located on the Houston Community College System's Central College campus. It opened in August 2006.
DanceAfrica is a heritage and community celebration equable on the manifold dance forms of the African Diaspora held annually in New York City, Washington, DC, and Chicago. Included are indoor and outdoor performance including live music, a film series, master classes, education programs, and an outdoor bazaar. Its current artistic director is Abdel R. Salaam.
Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) is a year-round, professional, non-profit musical theatre production company. It is located in Houston, Texas, performing mostly at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. 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, 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-nominated artistic director Dan Knechtges and executive director, Hilary J. Hart.
East Early College High School (EECHS) is a secondary charter school at 220 N. Milby Street in Houston, Texas, United States with a ZIP code of 77003.
Rabbit Hole Ensemble is a Brooklyn, New York, United States based, not-for-profit, Off-off Broadway theatre company. Under the artistic direction of Edward Elefterion, the ensemble has produced seven original works throughout Brooklyn and Manhattan.
The China National Peking Opera Company (CNPOC), originally named the National Peking Opera Theater of China, is one of the national ensembles of performance arts directly under the supervision of the Ministry of Culture of the People's Republic of China. Situated in Beijing, it was founded in January 1955, with opera performer Mei Lanfang as the first president in its history. The current president is Song Guanlin.
4th Wall Theatre, Inc. is a non-equity theatre company in residence at the Westminster Arts Center on the campus of Bloomfield College, in Bloomfield, New Jersey, approximately 10 miles from Manhattan. The group derived its name from the theatre term the fourth wall coined by Denis Diderot which describes it as “the imaginary wall at the front of the stage in a proscenium, through which the audience sees the action in the world of the play”.
Isabella Court is a Spanish Colonial Revival style mixed-use residential and commercial complex at 3909-3917 South Main Street in the Midtown district of Houston, Texas, United States. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Isabella Court's residents mainly consist of artists and other professionals. As of 2009 Trudy Hutchings owns the complex.
Memorial City is a commercial district in the Memorial area of Houston, Texas, United States. Located along Interstate 10 between Beltway 8 and Bunker Hill Road, the district is anchored by Memorial City Mall, the nation's 38th-largest shopping mall; Memorial Hermann Memorial City Medical Center; CityCentre, a high-density mixed-use development; and Town & Country Village, a shopping center. Large portions of Memorial City are owned by development firm MetroNational, which has developed 265 acres in the area, including the entirety of the mall.
Houston Community College (HCC), also known as Houston Community College System (HCCS), is a community college system that operates community colleges in Houston, Missouri City, Greater Katy, and Stafford in Texas. It is notable for actively recruiting internationally and for the large number of international students enrolled, over 5,700 in 2015. Its open enrollment policies, which do not require proficiency in English, are backed by a full-time 18-month English proficiency program and remedial courses.
The International Management District (IMD) or simply the International District (ID) is a management district in Harris County and Fort Bend County, Texas. Most of the district is within the city of Houston, while a portion lies within an unincorporated area.
