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Theatre Under the Stars (TUTS) is a year-round, professional, non-profit musical theatre production company. It is located in Houston, Texas, performing mostly at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts. Theatre Under The Stars’ season generally includes both self-produced shows as well as national touring productions. While best known for their main stage shows at the Hobby Center in Downtown Houston, and their annual free summer shows at the Miller Outdoor Theatre, it also offers educational programming through their training branch (The Humphreys School of Musical Theatre / HSMT), education programs for children with special needs through The River, and a wide array of community outreach projects. Founded by Frank M. Young in 1968, TUTS is currently under the direction of Interim Managing Director, Joel Szulc; Chief Development Officer, Carol Ostlind Thornburg; Director of Marketing & Brand Strategy, Jeff Cleveland; Director of Business Development and Community Relations, Melissa Edwards; and Artistic Advisor, Sheldon Epps.
TUTS has offered free public performances in the Miller Outdoor Theatre in Hermann Park each year since 1968 (deriving its name from these outdoor performances), giving 48 free large-scale musicals there through July 2010. To date, TUTS has produced more than 300 musicals including many local, national and world premieres such as Kopit and Yeston’s Phantom, Disney’s Beauty and the Beast, and Irving Berlin’s White Christmas. TUTS has also produced international tours including Debbie Reynolds in The Unsinkable Molly Brown, Juliet Prowse in Mame, Robert Goulet in Man of La Mancha, as well as local re-inventions of classics Cabaret and Les Miserables.
The Humphreys School of Musical Theatre (HSMT) provides instruction and stage experience for more than 1,700 students annually, offering year-round programs through both open-enrollment and audition-based classes. In 2016, Dave Clemmons became the newly appointed Dean of School for HSMT. TUTS operates an apprentice conservatory training program for high school students who may not be exposed to musical theatre at their schools. Housed in the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts, TUTS also annually presents the Tommy Tune Awards, honoring the best and brightest in Houston's high school musical theatre programs.
In addition to on-site educational programming at the Hobby Center, TUTS also brings musical theatre education into the community through local hospitals, schools and community centers throughout the greater Houston area.
Theatre Under The Stars merged with The River Performing and Visual Arts Center in 2010, creating a barrier fre arts education model for non-profit musical theatre performing arts organizations. With the merger, TUTS Education now provides extended on-site programming as well as off-site programming for children in schools, hospitals and other community-based sites.