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Founded
in 2000 by Artistic Director Arnold Richie, UpStage Theatre kicked off
its inaugural 2000-2001 season with "The Sunshine Boys" followed
by the Agatha Christie favorite "Ten Little Indians" and the
zany Larry Shue comedy " The Nerd." All performances were held
in both the Kaplan Theater and the Frank Theater of The Jewish Community
Center of Houston, Texas. Audience reactions were more than could have
been hoped for and UpStage was off to running start!
The 2001-2002 season saw great success as once again, classics graced
the stage. Kicking off with the ever popular "Arsenic and Old Lace,"
and "Harvey", the hilarious "I Hate Hamlet" soon followed
with great audience appreciation. But Arnold's vision for UpStage was
still to be realized.
In our third
season, 2002-2003, we introduced our Children's Series with Ann Richie
as Co-Artistic Director. The first two productions were "Hansel and
Gretel," produced just in time for Halloween, and in the spring,
the timeless classic "Alice in Wonderland." Announced for the
Evening Series were Neil Simon's female version of his ever popular "Odd
Couple," Ernest Thompson's touching and funny "On Golden Pond,"
and "Dracula," written by Steven Dietz. However, what was truly
special was the underwriting for the production of Neil Simon's charming
and hilarious contemporary telling of the Biblical story of Job, "God's
Favorite" by Congregation Beth El located in Missouri City, Texas
with the production then added to our regular season at the JCC.
The vision
for UpStage to bring the best entertainment value to Houston took on a
new direction in Season 4 as UpStage, in cooperation with The
Ramada Plaza Inn produced its first dinner theater production of the
Noel Coward classic "Blithe Spirit." It was a rousing success
and UpStage looks forward to bringing more dinner theater to the public.
We also presented our first musical production, "You're a Good Man,
Charlie Brown" which has been called "UpStage's best production
to date."
As we continue
to move forward, we are pleased and excited to now call Lambert Hall and
The Heights our home and look forward to many years of bringing Houston
classic and fun family entertainment for audiences of all ages. We thank
everyone for their continued support and generosity and look forward to
seeing you.
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