Margaret Downing

When audience members come to see the world premiere of The Janeiad at Alley Theatre this week, they'll be seeing a commissioned work sparked by a woman whose husband died in 9/11. Playwright Anna Ziegler who was awarded that commission has intertwined the tale of a widow 20 years after...

It's a play about grief that's unsentimental and easy to absorb and so personal. That's how Pamela Vogel describes The Year of Magical Thinking about to open at Main Street Theater. Based on the National Book Award winning book of the same title by renowned author Joan Didion (Slouching Towards...

Continuing a week of changes in Houston's performing arts world, Patrick Summers has announced that he will be stepping down as Houston Grand Opera's Artistic and Music Director at the end of the 2025-26 season. His announcement follows Tuesday's announcement by Dean Gladden, the longtime Managing Director of Alley Theatre,...

Seven years ago on opening night of The 39 Steps at the Alley Theatre, the two lead characters played by Elizabeth Bunch and Todd Waite are handcuffed together by one of the bad guys. Waite played the reluctant hero; Bunch played three mystery women he's encountered. What is supposed to...

What if you had a cold call from a superhero? And what if that superhero was trying to raise funds for an upcoming production of The Tempest by Shakespeare? Would you immediately hang up the phone, being careful NOT to "press 1," or utter the word "yes"? Or would you...

Known for its famous mad scene, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor about to go on stage in an Opera in the Heights production, should be especially powerful given the intimate confines of Lambert Hall and the fact that the roles of the star-crossed lovers are portrayed by brand new newlyweds in...

In the 19th century they called it "prairie fever." Precipitated by loneliness and isolation, it led some of the pioneer women to depression and even suicide. Holding down a homestead while their menfolk were off making money in town, turned out to be an often debilitating task. Much of the...

If half of the 2,600 teachers who left Houston ISD in June and July were rated in the bottom two proficiency categories by the district is this a sign that they were bad teachers or that they just couldn’t get with Superintendent Mike Miles’ programs? Should parents breathe a sigh...

In Esther, making its debut at A.D. Players now after being delayed by COVID for several years, the theater is making full use of the talents of Sharna Burgess, winner of Season 27 of Dancing With the Stars. Burgess says it's a dream role for her in that she gets...

With an appreciative nod to Charles Dickens, the 2023-24 Houston theater season was neither the best of times nor the worst of times. It was, in a manner, an intermediate time. Perusing the 70-plus playbills from the diverse season, one finds obvious standouts, numerous near-hits, but few clunkers. The ravages...