Troy Schulze

The World Premiere of Afsaneh Aayani's INNOMINATE Runs May 27 through June 19 at MATCH

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. 

BWW Review: TOAST Goes Against the Grain at the Catastrophic Theatre

The world premiere of Brian Jucha's TOAST at the Catastrophic Theatre is a theatrical experience unlike any other. This deeply layered, highly surrealist adventure draws audiences through realms of reality, and varied states of consciousness, with a mashup of vignettes featuring current events, scenes from the movie Alien, stories about love, and a parade of flamingos. It reveals and revels in themes of loss, betrayal, love, and the meaning of life. TOAST is hilarious, absurd, mesmerizing, and not-to-be-missed.

BWW Review: Catastrophic's CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS Is the Most Beautiful Dysfunction You'll Ever See

Pulitzer Prize-Winnng Sam Shepard's CURSE OF THE STARVING CLASS displays the lives of the working-class Tate family as they navigate everything from suffocating debt, to teenage crime, to marital distress and back again. Checking the fridge for food (that is never there) is a regular routine-turned-ritual in this household that is deteriorating from the inside out. Shepard's play explores what it means to be trapped in the cycle of the starving class. He writes about a family cursed by an outside force, a force that leaves the individuals involved no option to dissociate themselves from the identifying feature of the cursed: the familial bloodline.

BWW Review: STRANGERER Things on Stage at The Catastrophic Theatre

STRANGERER things take place at the 2004 presidential debate, when President George W. Bush and Senator John Kerry decide to murder PBS newsman and debate moderator Jim Lehrer. Absurdist playwright Mickle Maher's funny and farcical reimagining of the debate is as ambitious conceptually as it is comedically.

Following Smash Hit SMALL BALL Catastrophic Presents Two More Plays By Mickle Maher

Following directly on the heels of The Catastrophic Theatre's smash hit musical SMALL BALL, with book and lyrics by Mickle Maher, the theatre is commemorating its long and prolific relationship with Maher by remounting its lauded 2008 production of his play THE STRANGERER to play in repertory with its spiritual sequel, in an extremely limited run. THE STRANGERER is a darkly hilarious satire of the first debate in the 2004 presidential election between George W. Bush and Jim Kerry, moderated by Jim Lehrer. It will be presented in repertory with JIM LEHRER AND THE THEATRE AND ITS DOUBLE AND JIM LEHRER'S DOUBLE, a sequel to THE STRANGERER about Jim Lehrer, the now retired news anchor and presidential debate moderator, who is visited one evening by his double: Jim Lehrer, the amateur playwright.

Three World Premieres Set for The Catastrophic Theatre's 2017-18 Season

The Catastrophic Theatre has announced its 2017-2018 season, which is slated to be the theatre's most ambitious season yet. The new season includes three world premieres, an avant-garde classic, and more.

When attending a production at The Catastrophic Theatre, I always know I am in for a journey. My favorite aspect of this group is that each and every one of their productions is a risk-taking endeavor, guaranteeing Houston audiences access to fresh, cutting-edge presentations of theatrical craftsmanship. Their current production, the World Premiere of Mickle Maher's THE PINE was commissioned by The Catastrophic Theatre and funded in part by a grant awarded by The MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Unfortunately, THE PINE wasn't to my liking, but the opportunity to see something crafted with this company in mind is reason enough for anyone to attend a performance.

The Catastrophic Theatre is pleased to announce the world premiere of The Pine, a new play by the author of past Catastrophic favorites There is a Happiness That Morning Is, Spirits to Enforce, and The Strangerer, Mickle Maher. The Pine opens Friday, September 27 and runs Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays at 8 pm through October 19 at The Catastrophic Theatre, 1119 East Fwy, 77002.

The Catastrophic Theatre is currently reviving Mickle Maher's THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS by popular demand. The show originally had its Houston premiere in 2009, and apparently was quite a sensation. At Friday night's opening night performance of this run, I instantly saw why.

The Catastrophic Theatre has announced the first play of its 5th Anniversary Season: Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot.