Stages planning to cover all the bases
Season set to mix broad appeal and ‘visceral intellectual stew’
Calling Stages Repertory Theatre’s new season both a broad appeal to varied audiences and a “visceral intellectual stew,” artistic director Kenn McLaughlin says the eclecticism of the theater’s 2018-19 lineup is intentional.
“It’s a recognition that we live in a remarkably diverse community,” he says.
Ranging from “The Ultimate Christmas Show,” one of the theater’s three holiday shows for the new season, to “Swimming While Drowning,” a drama taking place at a homeless shelter for LGBTQ teens, the new Stages lineup straddles irreverent entertainment and more serious fare.
The 14-show season will be the last full one at Stages’ current theater. The company plans to move to a new, expanded building across the street in 2019.
The company will continue its tradition as Houston’s only mid-sized professional theater that dedicates a major part of its programming to musicals. These include “The Great American Trailer Park Musical,” (extended from the 2017-18 season), “Ring of Fire: The Music of Johnny Cash,” the bestselling “Always… Patsy Cline” and “Little Shop of Horrors.”
“Musicals do very, very well,” McLaughlin says. “We’ve produced edgy musicals and frivolous musicals. The musical has to stand up as a piece of literature. ‘Little Shop of Horrors’ changed my entire life. It’s a really political story.”