theatre under the stars (tuts)
MISSION: Theatre Under The Stars is a Houston based non-profit institution dedicated to enriching life through the experience of quality musical theatre and positively impacting lives beyond the stage through innovative education and community outreach initiatives.
HISTORY: Theatre Under The Stars (TUTS), founded in 1968 by Frank M. Young, is Houston’s acclaimed musical theatre production company. Since producing, directing and conducting TUTS’ first production, Bells Are Ringing, Young guided the non-profit company to national prominence through 300 musicals. In 2006, Young assumed the new position of Founder/Producing Artistic Director and handed the President/CEO reins to John C. Breckenridge, who has been with TUTS since 1990, previously as Producer and Chief Operating Officer. Breckenridge and Young are continuing the distinguished leadership that brought TUTS to the first rank of American musical theatre companies, noted for its World Premieres and National Tours.
With the Walt Disney Company TUTS co-produced the pre-Broadway premiere of Beauty and the Beast in 1993. In 1995, with the Alley Theatre and The 5th Avenue Theatre of Seattle, TUTS mounted Jekyll & Hyde, which enjoyed a national tour before Broadway. Other TUTS premieres include James Michener’s Sayonara, Phantom, Annie Warbucks, Hot Shoe Shuffle, Zorro: the Musical, Scrooge, Chaplin, and What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?.
TUTS’ international tours include Debbie Reynolds in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Juliet Prowse in Mame, Robert Goulet in Man of La Mancha, and the Tony Award-winning Carousel. Other guest stars include Debbie Allen, Linda Eder, Larry Gatlin, Eartha Kitt, Jane Powell, Tony Randall, John Schneider, Jean Stapleton, Leslie Uggams, Stefanie Powers, Tony Curtis, and Tommy Tune.
TUTS’ name originates from its first venue, Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park, where TUTS has performed—free to the public—for 40 consecutive summers. It holds the all-time Miller attendance record of 91,000 for Grease. In 1972, TUTS started an indoor season at the downtown Music Hall. It now produces a subscription season of six musicals, plus the free Miller show.
With a grant from the Humphreys Foundation of Liberty, Texas, TUTS established the Humphreys School of Musical Theatre (HSMT) in 1972. Today, HSMT has two divisions: The Studio for both beginning students and professionals seeking to enhance their skills, and The Academy, a career-track professional training wing. HSMT also offers outreach programs: “Beyond the Stage,” "Musicals for Me Too," and collaborations with the YMCA and KIPP Academy—all of which bring musical theatre to classrooms, hospitals, and community centers. ACT @ TUTS, a program for talented teens, produces a full-length musical each summer in Hobby Center.
Beginning in 1993, TUTS developed partnerships with the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Houston through Professional Internships for graduate students, and with the Musical Theatre Program of Sam Houston State University through undergraduate Apprenticeships. In 2002 TUTS launched the Tommy Tune Awards, a competition for high school musicals, which attracts dozens of Houston-area schools. At a ceremony each spring at Hobby Center, theatre and media celebrities confer awards on students in 15 performance categories.
In May 2000, TUTS became the world's first theatre company to offer the purchase and printing of tickets directly from home or office computers through its E-Ticket System.
In 2002 TUTS moved into its new downtown home, the $100 million Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. This state-of-the-art complex, designed by world-renowned Robert A.M. Stern, contains the 2,650-seat Sarofim Hall, the 500-seat Zilkha Hall, a restaurant, a parking garage, offices and classroom space, and TUTS’ own “Encore” theatrical boutique. The fiber-optic ceiling of Sarofim Hall now keeps TUTS "under the stars" all year long.
Administrative Office:
Theatre Under the Stars
800 Bagby, Suite 200
Houston, TX 77002-2525
Phone: 713.558.2600
Fax: 713.558.2650
Email: tuts@tuts.com
Web: www.tuts.com
Box Office:
800 Bagby (inside the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts)
Phone Hours: Mon.-Fri.9 AM-6 PM Sat. & Sun. 11 AM-4 PM
Lobby Hours: Mon.-Fri. 10 AM-6 PM Sat. & Sun. 11 AM-4 PM
Phone: 713.558.TUTS (8887)
Tickets and Subscriptions E-mail: boxoffice@tuts.com