Troy Schulze

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 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.

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.

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 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.

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(TCT) opened their new season at their new Catastrophic Theatre space with an astounding production of Samuel Beckett's stark tragicomedy WAITING FOR GODOT. The company has used the performance space in the past in collaboration with DiverseWorks, but the 1119 East Freeway location is now solely theirs, giving them a fantastic home to present their fascinating work.

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

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

The Catastrophic Theatre's fifth anniversary season is also the twentieth anniversary of artistic director Jason Nodler and associate director Tamarie Cooper's first collaboration for the stage. And if that weren't cause enough for celebration already it is also Catastrophic's inaugural season in its new facility at 1119 E. Freeway.

It is the mission of The Catastrophic Theatre to destroy audiences with impressive and unique theatre. Unfortunately, the World Premiere of FLEAVEN only destroys audiences by sending them out into the world wondering what was missing. At 27 years old, I thought maybe it was not living through the Disco era that left me benumbed by the performance. However, it's disco era vibe pastiche is fleshed out with 90s inspired rap beats and cultural references from the 70s, 80s, and 90s. Furthermore, my parents' eclectic tastes in everything pop-cultural ensured that I had a strong understanding of many things I did not live through. So, simply put, that wasn't it. The problem was that despite laughing out loud at a few outlandish and genuinely humorous moments, I simply was not moved in any emotionally tangible way. From beginning to end, I felt no emotional connection to this Grinchian tale? (Think of Grinchian as being similar to Faustian, but with Dr. Suess' Grinch.)