Bayou City Concert Musicals To Honor Theater LaB’s Gerald Blaise LaBita with 2012 Kim Hupp Award

Bayou City Concert Musicals will present the 2012 Kim Hupp Award to Gerald Blaise LaBita, founder and producing director of Theater LaB Houston, at a luncheon at the Ensemble Theatre, 3535 Main, on Friday, November 2, 2012.  The luncheon will be begin at 11:30 a.m.

The Kim Hupp Award was established by BCCM in 2004 to commemorate the life of Kim Hupp, BCCM’s first musical director, who died in 2002. The Hupp Award is presented annually to individuals who have made significant contributions to musical theatre in Houston.

This year’s honoree, Gerald Blaise LaBita, opened Theater LaB Houston in 1993 in the building that once housed his parents’ grocery store in Houston’s historic First Ward. For the next 19 years, Jerry (as he is known to his many friends and fans) has produced daring, quirky, sometimes controversial, but always interesting and entertaining plays and musicals. Under his leadership, Theater LaB Houston has produced over 120 Houston premieres, including 46 musicals.  Theater LaB’s first musical production, in 1995, was the Houston premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Assassins. Other musical Houston premieres were Passion (1996), The Rink (1997), Eating Raoul, the Musical (1998), Blood Brothers (1999), Kiki & Herb (2000), A Class Act (2005), Johnny Guitar, the Musical (2006), Musical of Musicals(2008), Reefer Madness, the Musical (2010), and [title of show] (2011).

LaBita recently announced that he is closing the 65-seat theatre on Alamo Street at the end of this year.  “While it is sad to see the iconic white building that has been a beacon to Houston theatre lovers for the past 19 years go, Jerry has promised there is more to come,” says BCCM President ShaRon Williams.  “The Kim Hupp Award is not only a tribute to the storied past of Theater LaB but a signal that Jerry LaBita will continue to play a vital role in Houston’s vibrant theatre scene.”

Tickets to the Kim Hupp Award Luncheon are $100 (patron ticket) and $50 (individual ticket).  Tickets are available by phone at 713-465-6484 or on-line at www.bayoucityconcertmusicals.org. Patron tickets include a tax-deductible contribution to Bayou City Concert Musicals, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization that is dedicated to preserving classic American musicals by producing concert stagings of under-performed musicals and cabaret performances of the music of the Great American Songbook.

For more information about BCCM or the Kim Hupp Award, contact ShaRon Williams at 713-791-9447 or by email atinfo@bayoucityconcertmusicals.org.

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