Houston Theatre Research Project Assignment
Theatre Practitioners need to be creative in a multitude of ways, which often includes being
their own marketing department. Imagine you have a client coming to Houston who wants to
attend a play while they are here. Research THREE Houston area theatre venues or theatre
companies (not opera, dance, or film) and answer AT LEAST the prompt questions below
about EACH of them. Present your findings in a report of 1000 words minimum for the
entire report. Do NOT copy paste the questions and answer them, but restate and write out
your responses. Use at least three seperate sources for each of the three theatre company
(9 total minimum), and cite your sources using MLA, APA, or Chicago citation format. (Three
different pages from the same website does not constitute three seperate sources). This an
opportunity for you to create an informative, but also eye-catching report. Think of the report
as a way to market these theatres like a product you may be selling to your client. Include
visuals of productions or the theatres themselves.
You will be graded not only on content and depth of research, but on the overall presentation
of your project.
Be Creative! You want to impress your client!
What is the name of each theatre or theatre company?
Where do they perform? (Even if they don’t have their own space where do they perform?)
Is the theatre or theatre company professional or amateur?
What kind of plays do they produce? (new plays, classical, children’s theatre, musicals, all?)
Who is the Artistic Director?
What is a brief history of this theatre company? How many seasons have they been
producing plays?
What are three of their past productions? Which would you want to attend? Why?
What are three of their current or most recent productions? Which would you want to attend?
Why?
What kind of professional theatrical reviews of individual shows have they received? (Look in
newspapers, Websites dedicated to reviewing plays and musicals, etc. Yelp/Google/etc.
reviews don’t count)
What do the professional reviewers say about the productions specifically? (use a direct
quote from a review from say the Houston Press or Chronicle)
Has this theatre company received any rewards? If so what are they?
Why do you like this theatre company? Would you recommend a play by this theatre
company? Why or why not?
How much are tickets?
How do they finance their seasons?
