Tamarie Cooper

You are never going to see a more definitive version of this show in Houston, and CATASTROPHIC is the company to bring it to you.

You see this year is all about truth and honesty, and examining what that means to Tamarie and her squad. Onstage there is a lie detector, and throughout the evening truths are revealed as are lies. And somehow highlights include dancing poop, Aristotle, an 80s PSA star, Tinkerbell, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, the world’s oldest cactus, and an army of drag queens to name but a few.

It's officially summer which means it's Tamarie Time! The Tamarie Cooper Show has, for years, been a cult hit and can't-miss Houston summer tradition.

In a former university, society's “undesirables” are subjected to a series of tortures designed to test the limits of human love on the battlefield of the human body. Explosively aching, hauntingly poetic, and disarmingly tender, CLEANSED is a fever-dream fable of unimaginable brutality and miraculous beauty. CLEANSED is about how love survives the most extreme circumstances. Violence is merely the obstacle. The story is one of righteous need and unrelenting hope. 

You won’t find a more technically stunning or well acted show in Houston right now. There is a lot to recommend EDDIE GOES TO POETRY CITY, but with one caveat. It will seem presentational and all stylistic performance rather than anything linear or narrative. If you love abstract or absurd theater you will be in heaven during your visit to Poetry City.

Eddie dreams of escape—from the office where he suffers at the hands of his co-workers, from a doctor whose treatments seem far worse than any medical complaint, perhaps from even the play itself! 

The Catastrophic Theatre is now presenting the world premiere of THEY DO NOT MOVE by Brian Jucha with the Catastrophic ensemble. There is joy to be found in this show because it brings its audience in, has them constantly take stock of new situations, causes them to reflect on the state of the world today, and strikes to inspire positive change.

The Catastrophic Theatre has announced the second production of our  2022-23 season, celebrating 30 years of making avant-garde theatre in Houston. 

The Catastrophic Theatre has announced its 2022-23 season, highlighting the work that has made it, along with its forerunner Infernal Bridegroom Productions (IBP), Houston's premier avant-garde theatre for three dang decades.

Tamarie is a whirling dervish, a force of nature, and a comedic genius of a performer. She rises to the challenge of playing herself admirably, and it's the kind of role she was born to play. I doubt any other actor or actress in Houston could portray her quite as convincingly.

Tamarie and her gang of merry misfits are returning to the stage—an actual stage—for a hilarious, irreverent, all-new musical extravaganza featuring an original score played by a live band and performances from some of Houston's funniest, wildest, quirkiest, sometimes raunchiest actors.

Innominate is an experimental, devised, dance-theater performance created, directed, and designed by acclaimed local multidisciplinary artist Afsaneh Aayani. Dually inspired by Pablo Picasso's painting Guernica and Iran's Green Revolution, Innominate combines puppetry, live original music, mixed media, and movement to create a surreal journey through Aayani's personal experience as an immigrant from war-torn Iran. 

The Catastrophic Theatre will produce The Book of Grace by trailblazing playwright Suzan-Lori Parks. The Book of Grace is directed by Luis Galindo and Jeff Miller and runs April 1 – April 24 at the Midtown Arts and Theatre Center Houston.

Catastrophic Theatre has announced the postponement of its upcoming production of Brian Jucha's They Do Not Move.

The Catastrophic Theatre has announced another season of  championing avant-garde plays and playwrights rarely produced in Houston.

The Catastrophic Theatre presents the premiere of Historic Third Ward Virtual Tour created by Houston playwright, ShaWanna Renee Rivon. The tour is a virtual historical documentary: a collection of interviews, historical information, and storytelling by artists, activists, and community elders. To experience the tour, one does not even need to leave the comfort of their own home; the entire project can be accessed online and will be available to audiences outside Greater Houston.

Last spring, Catastrophic dispatched teams to the backyards and driveways of audience members to perform entirely original work in a masked, socially distanced format for no more than 10 audience members at a time.

Due to the health and safety concerns with which we have all become too familiar, now made worse by Covid variants, overrun hospital capacities, and the rapidly growing case rates in Houston, Harris County, and the state of Texas, Catastrophic has delayed its planned season opener. 

The 24th installment of the Tamarie Cooper Show, a highly popular series of original musicals, is back this summer as a virtual extravaganza, streaming August 13 through September 5. 

The Catastrophic Theatre is continuing to bring intimate live performances to the front lawns of Houstonians this spring!