{"id":1023653,"date":"2026-08-25T18:53:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1023653\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T18:53:15","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T18:53:15","slug":"san-antonios-la-bete-productions-finds-permanent-home","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1023653\/","title":{"rendered":"San Antonio’s La B\u00eate Productions finds permanent home"},"content":{"rendered":"

As La B\u00eate Productions<\/a> wraps up its inaugural season, it has another reason to celebrate. The San Antonio theatrical company has found a permanent home at Woodlawn Pointe<\/a>(702 Donaldson Ave.) on the West Side.<\/p>\n

Peter Photos, La B\u00eate\u2019s president, and Blake Hamman, artistic director, are both longtime vets of San Antonio\u2019s live theater community. They cofounded the company to create immersive experiences that challenge both the audiences and the artists on stage.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we can provide an opportunity for the city to have high-quality productions, and we can really have a lot of fun doing it,\u201d Photos says.<\/p>\n

Seeking a suitable, affordable place to stage plays, the duo eventually toured Woodlawn Pointe<\/a>, a community center that once primarily served as a home for River City Church. Photos and Hamman immediately saw potential.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted a little theater here at the center,\u201d Gilbert Lopez, chair of the community center\u2019s board of directors, says. \u201c[The center] was really advantageous for La B\u00eate. They really wanted to perform their shows here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Following a suggestion from Tim Hedgepeth, another local stage director, La B\u00eate staged its first play at Woodlawn Pointe, Larry Kramer\u2019s The Normal Heart, in December 2025. Performances sold out, and the company went on to stage Ken Ludwig\u2019s farce, Lend Me a Tenor, in March.<\/p>\n

Earlier in August, while performing an adaptation of Ken Kesey\u2019s One Flew Over the Cuckoo\u2019s Nest, La B\u00eate announced it had found its permanent home in the community center\u2019s banquet hall \u2014 now known as Th\u00e9\u00e2tre de la B\u00eate (Theatre of the Beast).<\/p>\n

\"One Belinda Harolds and Kevin Engel in a performance of La Bete Productions’ One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. \\u200bPhoto courtesy of Mewborne Photography\/La Bete Productions <\/p>\n

Lopez says diverse crowds have warmly greeted La B\u00eate\u2019s shows and the intimate black box theater. But the founders aren\u2019t taking anything for granted on stage and off.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Attendees] will see that all the details have been hammered out and worked on, and they will know that they’re in good hands during this production,\u201d Photos says. \u201cWe’re just trying to tell stories in a really high-quality environment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI have had so many people, throughout my life, who\u2019ve gone to see plays and say, \u2018I will never go back and see another play,\u201d says Hamman. \u201cOur goal is to make sure that somebody comes in, who has never seen a play before will leave thinking, \u2018Wow, I had no idea that a play could be this fun or this touching.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Now settled in its official home at Woodlawn Pointe, La B\u00eate now turns its attention to its final production of 2026 and planning for a slate of shows to stage in 2027. Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors will be performed during the Halloween season. The 2027 campaign will include everything from Broadway hit Kimberly Akimbo to Tennessee Williams classic Streetcar Named Desire.<\/p>\n

Hamman and Photos have nothing but praise for Woodlawn Pointe\u2019s leadership and La B\u00eate\u2019s fellow tenants, which include Seniors in Play<\/a>, Pride of San Antonio Showband<\/a>, and Project Prom Dress San Antonio<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s really a great marriage of two organizations,\u201d Photos says. \u201cWoodlawn Pointe is a fantastic organization that provides community space for a myriad of different organizations doing good work for people across the city of San Antonio.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lopez agrees that the two ventures go together like a curtain and call.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was apparent early on that [La B\u00eate] had found their permanent home,\u201d Lopez says. \u201cThey work very well with us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As La B\u00eate Productions wraps up its inaugural season, it has another reason to celebrate. The San Antonio…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1023654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,409534,59042,7202,7203,358,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,8437,409533],"class_list":["post-1023653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-san-antonio","tag-america","tag-la-bete-productions","tag-live-theater","tag-san-antonio","tag-sanantonio","tag-texas","tag-tx","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-west-side","tag-woodlawn-pointe"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117157665375003009","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1023653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1023653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1023654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1023653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1023653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1023653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}