Classical Theatre Company Moving to Chelsea Market

The Classical Theatre Company's (CTC) is announcing that it will be moving all of its operations into the Chelsea Market theatre property (4617 Montrose Blvd. Houston, TX 77006), which until recently was home to one of Main Street Theater's two performance spaces. Formerly the home of Main Street Theater's Theater for Youth and educational programming, the theater property at Chelsea Market will allow CTC to consolidate all of its operations to one physical location. Because of daytime traffic issues, Main Street Theater was forced to move its Theater for Youth programming to Talento Bilingüe de Houston, located at 333 S. Jensen Drive Houston, TX 77003, where its school buses can be better accommodated.

"Main Street Theater Artistic Director Rebecca Udden contacted us to tell us of the facility's availability, and this was an opportunity that was too big for us to pass up," says CTC Executive Artistic Director John Johnston, "We're a company that had produced in seven different locations around central Houston over the years. Moving to this new property will permit us to have a consistent and permanent home for our artists and our audiences. It will also afford us a chance to consolidate our offices, storage, rehearsal and performance spaces to a single location."

In order to accommodate the move to the new space, CTC was required to postpone its first scheduled production of the 2014-2015 Season, The Speckled Band: An Adventure of Sherlock Holmes, until February 2015. The new performance dates will be February 4 - 22, 2015. "It would have been too much for us to try to produce a play and make the move to the new space, so we felt that it was most prudent to postpone the show," says Johnston, "We hated to have to cancel our reservations for the season at The Barn [2201 Preston St.], but they were very understanding of the situation with which we had been presented. The good news is that now one of the premiere performance spaces in town has some availability. I'm sure the newly free dates will be snapped up quickly."

CTC's move to Chelsea Market will also provide a boon to the local arts community by making available another viable performance space for rent. Johnston says, "We only anticipate using the performance space for roughly twenty weeks out of the year, plus we've got a rehearsal studio available as well. There seems to be a new theatre company every week in Houston, and I know that there's a shortage of affordable rehearsal and performance spaces. We're very excited to be able to offer this to the Houston community."

"The theatre seats about 175 patrons, which is a really good size for us. It will permit us some room to grow, while still being a nice intimate space," says Johnston, "I love how close to the audience we can get. It's my favorite type of theatre, both as an artist and an audience member."

Classical Theatre Company's first production in its new home will be a brand new adaptation of Charles Dickens' famed A Christmas Carol. It is slated to run from December 9 - 23 and will star Alley Theatre veteran James Belcher as Scrooge and longtime Classical Theatre Company veteran Thomas Prior.

The Classical Theatre Company is dedicated to boldly re-envisioning classical drama on the stage, in the community, and in the classroom through engaging and enlightening plays - bringing them new life and relevance while maintaining the integrity that the works deserve.