THEATRE + COMEDY

The Ensemble Theatre Artistic Director Eileen J. Morris announces the theatre’s 34th Season entitled: Spotlighting the Spectacular: Energizing Art with Imagination. This season offers a variety of five regional premiers, musicals, comedies, and classics. A new addition to the season lineup includes two Black Box mini performances that will be staged in the Audrey Lawson Arena.

“I believe the imagination fuels our journey through life and how we experience the world around us. We humbly offer our interpretation of these spectacular stories that bring us together in laughter and reflection,” says Artistic Director Eileen J. Morris.

A collaborative relationship with the Houston Museum of Fine Arts (MFA) and the Museum of Cultural Arts Houston (MOCAH), as well as, artists John Biggers, Ted Ellis, and Charles Washington has allowed The Ensemble Theatre to expose audiences to some of Houston’s visual arts within the season brochure.

“An extension of visual artistic expression will be spotlighted in our season brochure with images we feel embody the essence of each production,” says Morris. “I appreciate having the opportunity to work with other artists and arts organizations to provide unique experiences for our patrons and subscribers.”

The Ensemble Theatre’s 2010-2011 season opens with The Waiting Room, by Samm-Art Williams. Directed by Eileen J. Morris. PG / Comedy on the George Hawkins Mainstage. Running September 18 – October 17, 2010; Opening Night Media Reception September 23, 2010.

Laughs fly fast and furious in a most unlikely setting, a hospital waiting room where friends and family gather to learn the fate of patriarch Pullen Innes who has just fallen ill. Facing one’s own mortality has compelled many to get right with God, yet the temptation to backslide is only a breath away. The Innes family struggles to keep their decorum and their sanctity when a shocking family secret is revealed.

This funny test of faith almost makes them forget what they came to the hospital for in the first place. Their lives will never be the same!

The Ensemble Theatre was founded in 1976 by the late George Hawkins to preserve African American artistic expression and to enlighten, entertain, and enrich a diverse community. The theatre is known as the only professional theatre in its region dedicated to the production of works portraying the African-American experience. In addition to being the oldest and largest professional African-American theatre in the Southwest, it also holds the distinction of being one of the nation's largest African-American theatres that owns and operates its facility with an in-house production team. Board President Emeritus Audrey Lawson led the capital campaign for The Ensemble’s $4.5 million building renovations that concluded in 1997.

The Ensemble Theatre produces a main stage season of contemporary and classic works devoted to the portrayal of the African American experience by local and national playwrights and artists. The theatre’s Performing Arts Education program provides educational workshops, Artist-in-Residence experiences and live performances for students both off-site and at the theatre. Through its varied programs, The Ensemble Theatre benefits an audience and artistic constituency of approximately 65,000 people annually.

Pictured:  John Biggers, detail Shotgun, Third Ward #1, 1966, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Estate of John Biggers.