![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/theater-Jazmyn-Bolden-.jpg\")
Credit: Violeta Alvarez<\/p>\nLet\u2019s get the headline out of the way first \u2013 and we do mean this article\u2019s literal headline.<\/p>\n
In past theater seasons, we\u2019ve highlighted the fresh talents everyone should take notice of and we\u2019ve called our feature the Up and Comers article\u2014a nod to emerging talent bursting onto the Houston scene.<\/p>\n
And trust us, there\u2019s plenty of that on our list this year. We\u2019re fortunate in Houston to have a strong network of high schools, colleges, educational programs and mentors who champion theater arts and help forge a thrilling pipeline of young talent to our stages.<\/p>\n
However, this year, we\u2019ve included some artists that are beyond what could be considered the emerging or \u201cnew\u201d phase of their career. In some cases, it\u2019s because they are new to Houston. In other cases, they\u2019re newly back on the stage. Some are taking their talents in a new theatrical direction.<\/p>\n
Together, they comprise a diverse group of artists who have made us sit up and take notice. These are the theater artists who had us madly flipping through programs, wondering who they were and if we could get more of them. They are the ones we\u2019re most excited to see continue to grow, stretch and show Houston audiences what they\u2019re capable of.<\/p>\n
These are this year\u2019s Ones to Watch.<\/p>\n
Credit: Violeta Alvarez<\/p>\n
Jazmyn Bolden<\/strong><\/p>\n Jazmyn Bolden credits supportive parents and an extracurricular pursuit for the blossoming of her acting talents.<\/p>\n The Houston native joined the Speech and Debate team in high school, and a love of performance was instantly born. \u201cI loved the forensic side of speech and debate,\u201d says Bolden. \u201cIt gave me a real understanding of the depth of acting. Not just reading words on a paper and pretending to do something, but truly feeling and understanding what it was to embody a character and understand their story.\u201d<\/p>\n For many students, one demanding club would be enough. For Jazmyn, speech and debate operated alongside her developing in theater and a rigorous involvement in sports.<\/p>\n \u201cMy parents always wanted us to be extremely versatile,\u201d says Bolden. \u201cSo, when I said I think I\u2019m a little more interested in debate\/theater than I am in sports, they said do both, and let\u2019s be great at both. And so, every rehearsal or practice, they showed up and they showed out, and they made sure that they tapped in truthfully into everything we wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Bolden\u2019s debating prowess landed her a full ride to college and it was there that the acting bug once again caught up with her when she participated in a community play reading. Her involvement in theater continued back home in Houston in 2017 with roles in festivals and a small mainstage credit.<\/p>\n But it was 2025 in Ensemble Theatre\u2019s production of Flex that launched Bolden into our minds. Playing the lead role of Starra, the competitive captain of her high school basketball team with dreams of getting out and making her dead mother proud, Bolden vibrated with informed intensity, hard on the outside but churning with vulnerability beneath.<\/p>\n It was an affecting, emotional and physical performance, especially for a young woman with no formal training just kicking off her professional stage career. Not that either of these facts fazed her all that much once she got past the shock of landing the role.<\/p>\n \u201cI think everything in me said, you have the capability regardless of the history and the resume and you know that you can embody this woman and really show up,\u201d says Bolden. \u201cAnd I think what was so beautiful is being an athlete my whole life. I understood the drive of Starra, I understood the need and the grit behind her. She felt like home to me.\u201d<\/p>\n Now that Bolden is running headfirst into acting as a lifetime pursuit, she says she\u2019s looking forward to diving more into the comedic side of herself in her work. \u201cI\u2019ve always been the drama queen. So typically, I end up with a role of that nature, but recently, I just started tapping into comedy, and so that has been the super thing on my mind and I really want to dive into that,\u201d says Bolden. \u201cMy friends call me a comedian all day every day. I\u2019m the jokester of the group and I definitely enjoy being able to put a smile on people\u2019s faces. So, I think that\u2019s really where I\u2019m heading.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of what kind of roles Bolden takes on in the future (and we hope there are many), she knows to bring a little of herself to each performance.<\/p>\n \u201cI spent a lot of my life not wanting to live in my own shoes,\u201d says Bolden. And so originally performing was being able to live in someone else\u2019s shoes, and then finally finding myself, it became even more beautiful to be able to be me inside of something else.\u201d<\/p>\n This season, she will be working to fill many shoes as she\u2019s cast as the understudy for all the female roles in the stage adaptation of Toni Morrison\u2019s debut novel, The Bluest Eye, at Ensemble Theatre. The Bluest Eye at Ensemble Theatre runs January 23 \u2013 February 22, 2026<\/p>\n Benjamin McLaughlin<\/strong><\/p>\n Keep the fire lit. Art doesn\u2019t retire or die. It just waits.<\/p>\n Bemjamin McLaughlin believes strongly in this notion, as well he should; it succinctly sums up the trajectory of his career as a theater artist.<\/p>\n When we saw his hysterically genius performance as the insufferable Tuzenbach in Classical Theatre\u2019s production of Three Sisters, it had been eight or so years since he\u2019d been on stage.<\/p>\n By choice.<\/p>\n McLaughlin\u2019s love of theater and performance began at 15 when his family moved from Tomball out to Tyler, Texas. Feeling like a fish out of water, he sought out a welcoming and energetic community and that\u2019s where he discovered drama club.<\/p>\n \u201cAt first, it was just kind of being in the social sphere, you know, just trying to stay busy, but I didn\u2019t do any shows,\u201d says McLaughlin. But when the school produced a classical play, he figured, why not jump in and give it a try?<\/p>\n \u201cI had no idea what I was doing, but our drama teacher at the time helped guide me through it. And I ended up really liking it. From there I was able to springboard off into a leadership position in the drama club and help foster new people coming in with similar situations as mine.\u201d<\/p>\n By the end of high school, Mclaughlin was president of the club and enjoyed it so much he started looking around to see if there was a college program he could jump into. His parents weren\u2019t so keen.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone in the family, grandparents, cousins, aunts, uncles, everyone knew that I was the odd one out. We have doctors in the family; we have engineers in the family. I was expected to become a businessman. But I pursued theater instead at University of Houston.\u201d<\/p>\n His parents ultimately did come around to support his artistic ambitions, driving up to see shows, but McLaughlin respects how they approached the whole situation. \u201cGradually, they weaned me off and said, you know, if you keep doing this, then you\u2019re gonna have to start paying your weight to keep going with it and I\u2019m actually very grateful because it did highlight my need to be self-sustaining. And so that was actually very helpful to get early on.\u201d<\/p>\n McLaughlin graduated in 2015 and worked in Houston for a bit, but gradually had to decide: keep at it, or get a more stable job.<\/p>\n \u201cUltimately, I decided to pull back from theater because I was cognizant of rising prices and I had a timeline and goals. I focused on just being able to pay the bills and building a professional resume and I got a house, I got married, I did all the stuff I wanted to do.\u201d<\/p>\n But when he saw that Three Sisters was casting, with a company and director he knew and liked, he knew it was time to jump back in. He missed the theater and the community and, despite his reservations about being away for so long, McLaughlin says returning to the stage was inevitable for him. It\u2019s something he\u2019s looking forward to doing more often, now that he\u2019s racked up more life experiences.<\/p>\n \u201cThis time has given me the ability to hone certain skill sets,\u201d says McLaughlin. \u201cYou go through all these years and things change. I\u2019ve fallen on financial hardship, I\u2019ve lost people during COVID, etc. These are things I could have researched before to portray a role. But now I have a repertoire of things I\u2019ve experienced that I can relate to the text. And I imagine as time goes on, I\u2019ll change even more.\u201d<\/p>\n This season, McLaughlin will pour his honed talent and life skills into playing Rodrigo in Classical Theater\u2019s production of Othello. \u201cI\u2019m fired up to explore a character driven by obsession and desperation! He may be viewed as a gullible fool, but his devotion to Desdemona and willingness to be manipulated by Iago reveal a man who is both foolhardy and incredibly vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n Othello at Classical Theatre runs April 16 \u2013 May 2, 2026<\/p>\n Alexandra Szeto-Joe<\/strong><\/p>\n It was competitive figure skating that ushered Alexandra Szeto-Joe into what is quickly becoming a busy professional theater career.<\/p>\n As a sport, figure skating has an artistic side that requires fine-tuning to complement the skater\u2019s training.\u00a0 Szeto-Joe explored other performative art forms, eventually bumping into theater. \u201cI would do dance, and then, I would discover the beautiful world of dance and then through dance, I discovered theater and was like, \u2018Oh, I can, like, speak on stage?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Pretty soon, theater eclipsed skating, and Szeto-Joe was setting her sights on the high school musical and auditioning for college drama programs. Something she was prepared for thanks to the arts education she was fortunate to have.<\/p>\n \u201cI was lucky enough to be able to attend theatrical programs and camps throughout my childhood and adolescence, one of which was the summer Young Actors Conservatory program at Stages,\u201d says Szeto-Joe. \u201cI think my experience at Stages really helped me put my theatrical dreams into a professional context.\u201d<\/p>\n She also credits a pre-college program at Carnegie Mellon University for enriching her training and giving her the tools to make theater and acting a tangible career.<\/p>\n Attending NYU for Drama was a dream come true until she graduated into a pandemic. \u201cI\u2019d already heard all the warning stories about how hard this career is, but to graduate into an industry that didn\u2019t exist was like, whoa, I had a plan, and now that\u2019s gone.\u201d<\/p>\n She ended up moving back to Houston to wait it out, and when things opened back up, she started auditioning and getting roles locally. \u201cAnd it\u2019s crazy because that was hardly in my plans. A big reason I chose NYU was because it was in New York City and that\u2019s where I wanted to build my career. I figured, let me move to New York City now and then I won\u2019t have to move there later on postgrad. But I\u2019ve been very lucky to find a career here in Houston and also travel back and forth to work in New York. So, I figured out a way to have my cake and eat it too.\u201d<\/p>\n Last season in Houston, Szeto-Joe\u2019s talents caught our attention with her excellent performances in Three Sisters at Classical Theater, The Heart Sellers at Stages and The Mirror Crack\u2019d at the Alley\u2014an impressive list of credits for an emerging actor.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel very lucky and a little bit, like, not that it\u2019s moving too fast, but I do feel like okay, I have to soak everything up right now\u2026and learn as much as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n Szeto-Joe says one of the most rewarding things that\u2019s come out of her performances is being able to turn people on to theater. \u201cI\u2019ve had a few friends come up to me after a performance and talk about how they\u2019re not really theater people, but seeing me in multiple shows, in multiple different companies, makes them want to consume more theater in Houston, which is always really gratifying.\u201d<\/p>\n Szeto-Joe says she also pays close attention to when there are younger audience members at a show. \u201cI always go back to the idea that in every audience, there\u2019s at least one person who is at their first play or first theatrical experience\u2026.so having a direct line to that makes me think, this is what I\u2019m meant to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Szeto-Joe will return to The Alley this season to join A Christmas Carol as a swing performer, her first time taking on the challenge of multiple characters.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thought of exploring all their different perspectives, wants, objectives, etc., is equal parts daunting and thrilling,\u201d says Szeto-Joe. Though they\u2019re all individual characters, I\u2019m excited to find the things that unite them, and I hope to contribute to the joy that is already happening onstage and bring my own unique sense of heart and play to the work.\u201d<\/p>\n A Christmas Carol at Alley Theatre runs November 16 \u2013 December 28, 2025<\/p>\n Elia Adams<\/strong><\/p>\n Elia Adams is coming full circle this fall.<\/p>\n Back in 2017, when he was attending Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts, Adams auditioned for the Broadway premiere of Tarell Alvin McCraney\u2019s Choir Boy. \u201cI actually stumbled across my audition tape for it the other day,\u201d says Adams. \u201cWow. It was a very young me trying to sing, but I definitely wasn\u2019t mature enough at the time for that production.\u201d<\/p>\n Fast forward to this season and almost a decade more under his belt, and this time, Adams has what it takes. He\u2019ll be playing AJ in The Ensemble Theatre\u2019s production of the musical in the new year. A character, he says, offers a meaningful opportunity to \u201cExplore themes of brotherhood, identity, and resilience.\u201d<\/p>\n We didn\u2019t know about the casting last season when he turned our heads with his earnestly optimistic and affecting performance in the Ensemble Theatre\u2019s production of Camp Logan. A performance that helped the show earn a Houston Theater Award for Best Ensemble.<\/p>\n But we did know was that while this might have been his first big role on a Houston mainstage, it wouldn\u2019t be his last.<\/p>\n Adams says he knew from a young age that he wanted to perform.<\/p>\n \u201cThe ability to just entertain people and make someone smile, be comfortable within your own skin and to just laugh at yourself. That\u2019s the beauty of life. And that\u2019s what performing gave me.\u201d<\/p>\n After high school, Adams attended the California Institute of the Arts to get his BFA in acting. However, two years in, COVID hit, and Adams came back to Houston and took a break from theater. \u201cThey were trying to do things online,\u201d says Adams. \u201cBut it didn\u2019t suit my spirit and my passion for the arts. So, I just took a break. I wasn\u2019t one of these people who could sit on a computer and do it.\u201d<\/p>\n When things opened back up, Adams scored a part in a musical playing at MATCH. \u201d I don\u2019t usually do musicals, so it was kind of out of my comfort zone, but I think that was what I needed to get back in the theater, right? Do something that\u2019s completely out of my comfort zone. So that now I\u2019m able to go back and do the things that I am comfortable doing, like fiction and just real storytelling.\u201d<\/p>\n One of the biggest lessons he\u2019s learned is to be as natural as he can be on stage.<\/p>\n \u201cNatural to me is interpreting the character as if I am the character,\u201d says Adams. \u201cSo, you start with yourself as the foundation and then add the character\u2019s details on top of that to who you are. They cast you in the role because of something you brought to the table, right? They didn\u2019t see the character in the audition, but maybe they caught a glimpse. It\u2019s something you brought to the table, so you have to continue bringing yourself to the table and then add the layers of character on top of you. It\u2019s not me completely disappearing into a character. It\u2019s layering.\u201d<\/p>\n Choir Boy at The Ensemble Theatre runs March 20 \u2013 April 12<\/p>\n Olivia Knight<\/strong><\/p>\n There was no worse time for a theater artist to graduate from college than the pandemic. This is the situation Olivia Knight found herself in after getting her degree in Theater in her home state of Virginia. It was 2021, and theaters across the country were shuttered. No one was casting or producing shows.<\/p>\n With nowhere to perform, Knight thought auditioning for grad school seemed like a good option. One that could expand on her talents.<\/p>\n \u201cI was really looking for a program that offered a lot of physical training as an actor and also somewhere that was really text and detail oriented, because that\u2019s something that I really enjoy digging into,\u201d says Knight.<\/p>\n It was her University of Houston audition that sold her on the school. \u201cI felt like I left that audition, having learned something unique. Most of the others felt like we were just checking each other out. Seeing if I would be a good fit. But I left the U of H one feeling like I\u2019d already picked something up that I could use.\u201d<\/p>\n Knight has put her acting\/physical training to good use. This year, she won the Houston Theater Award for Best Breakthrough for her trauma and rage-filled performance in Dirt Dog\u2019s production of Blackbird. She also lends her talents behind the scenes as an Intimacy and Fight Director, this past season working with Houston Grand Opera and Sheppard School of Music.<\/p>\n Initially, Knight wasn\u2019t sure she\u2019d stick around Houston after graduation, but her first professional role (while still in school) cemented the deal.<\/p>\n \u201cAfter that show, I really got to see what the theater community here was like,\u201d says Knight, who loved the quality of work and how tight-knit and supportive the artists were. \u201cSo, I decided to stay for at least another year. And after that, I got even more connected. I found friends, found people that I really, dearly love working with and creating art with. And it\u2019s just become, well, I don\u2019t see where else I would go now.\u201d<\/p>\n When it comes to her work onstage, Knight says what connects her to a character is figuring out what they are fighting for, digging into the text and tackling difficult, more dramatic situations. But at the heart of it, it all comes down to telling stories.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve always found comfort, healing and lessons in stories,\u201d says Knight, a self-described bookworm. \u201cI fell in love stories and with the ability to share them with other people. To go through and exist in these moments together, learning together and experiencing things that you might not have a chance to experience in your daily life.\u201d<\/p>\n This season at Classical Theater, she\u2019ll be sharing the story of Othello when she takes on the role of Emilia. She says she\u2019s excited to explore the character\u2019s complexity because, \u201cShe\u2019s trying so hard to be wise, warning Desdemona, being a good wife, but she\u2019s simultaneously naive about Iago\u2019s manipulation. So, her best intentions become his weapon against the girl she cares for, which makes her final act so powerful.\u201d<\/p>\n Knight will also continue fight and intimacy direction with Houston Grand Opera\u2019s productions of Porgy and Bess, Silent Night, and Hansel and Gretel, the Sheppard School of Music\u2019s productions of The Magic Flute and Falstaff and University of Houston\u2019s production of The Magic Flute.<\/p>\n Othello at Classical Theatre runs April 16 \u2013 May 2, 2026<\/p>\n Cruz hadn\u2019t shown an interest in theater until freshman year, when a friend of his suggested he audition for a show. In high school, he had been part of the band program and he was missing involvement in performing arts, so he went for it. Cruz got the role and found that theater was both fulfilling and a whole lot of fun.<\/p>\n \u201cThen, in my sophomore year, I was trying to double major in theater and engineering. And then at some point, I was like, What am I doing? What is it that I really want to do?\u201d Cruz knew he wanted to be in the arts, but even with his high school band experience, the music program at Rice was out of his reach. Rice\u2019s small theater department, however, was inviting and they welcomed him to take classes and be in more shows.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was very difficult at first,\u201d says Cruz. \u201cI think a lot of my family members, my mother, included, who has always been the rock of my life, she was concerned. She was like, Are you sure? Is this really what you want to do? Is this the best use of your time at the school?\u201d<\/p>\n Once she realized that not only was I happier in the theater department, but also putting in the work to really make something of it, her worry turned to support.<\/p>\n After graduating in 2016, Cruz decided to stay in Houston rather than go to grad school or move away.<\/p>\n \u201cI decided that I needed to try to see if working in theater and in the arts was a path of sustainability. And since I was already in Houston, I wanted to use the connections and the foundation that I had here first\u2026and give myself a few years,\u201d says Cruz.<\/p>\n Every year, he would check in with himself to see if things were going well, if it was still what he wanted to do. \u201cAnd every year, even if it wasn\u2019t going all that great, it was like, I still want to give this more time and it took a little bit of time, but the more I discovered, the more I realized that I didn\u2019t want to move, that I could live here and make a career for myself.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s been a fruitful and diverse career, with Cruz performing on almost all of Houston\u2019s mainstages. We first noticed his talent in Stage\u2019s production of My Manana Comes and he just recently turned in a monumental performance in Moody Center for the Arts\u2019 production of Spill with a pin-drop 10-minute monologue that haunts us to this day.<\/p>\n So why then is this seasoned actor on our ones to watch list? Much like his U-turn in sophomore year, Cruz is now taking on a new challenge, one we\u2019re excited to follow.<\/p>\n \u201cI recently had a son,\u201d says Cruz. \u201cI\u2019m realizing that as much as I love theater, time is becoming an even more precious resource when you have a family. And so, I\u2019m very, very happy for all the roles and all the accolades and success that I\u2019ve been able to have with theater, but I\u2019m purposefully not going to act this year. Instead, I\u2019m exploring all these other artistic facets that I have and new things that I want to explore.\u201d<\/p>\n The first fruit of this exploration is an all-ages short musical, The Legend of Julio Star, that Cruz wrote and will be directing at La Vida es Cortos, TEATRX\u2019s short film\/play festival.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a coming-of-age story about a small-town Colombian man who loves Cumbia music \u2026. he loves his town, and he loves playing music, but he also dreams of bigger things,\u201d says Cruz. \u201cBecause this is a musical suitable for young audiences, there is also a fantastical element where the man gets transported to Mars and gets to share his music throughout the galaxy.\u201d<\/p>\n As a first-time playwright, Cruz says he now has a deep respect for the process of developing new work. \u201cWhen I first started as an actor, new work readings and festivals weren\u2019t important to me. I was like okay; I\u2019ll do a reading. It\u2019s a one-day thing. That\u2019s fine. But now it interests me so much. And I absolutely think it\u2019s so important \u2026. I think new works are going to be priorities as much as possible going forward.\u201d<\/p>\n The Legend of Julio Star at La Vida Es Cortos is playing November 29, 2025<\/p>\n Andreas Hunt<\/strong><\/p>\n Andreas Hunt says it was his mother who set in motion his love of storytelling.<\/p>\n \u201cI have vivid memories of her acting out characters and telling me stories,\u201d says Hunt. \u201cShe would always do voices or her face would change; she was my first storyteller.\u201d Hunt also enjoyed doing voices, imitating characters from his favorite movies starring Jim Carey and Jamie Fox.<\/p>\n But it wasn\u2019t until late high school that Hunt channeled that energy into theater.<\/p>\n After watching a UIL production in junior year, a light went on for Hunt as he regretted not being a part of theater making from the start of his schooling. So, in his senior year he got involved with the production of West Side Story and while he loved the experience, it didn\u2019t propel him into full-time performance.<\/p>\n After taking some time to work and make money however, Hunt did enroll in HCC Stafford and it was there that his theatrical path was set.<\/p>\n \u201cPost high school theater was always an interest, but it wasn\u2019t on the front row. I was focusing on working and making a living. I thought I could do this on the side for fun. And I eventually did a show per semester while I was taking classes at HCC and it became like, okay, I\u2019m looking forward to the next show.\u201d \u201cI felt like I belonged, but I knew that I didn\u2019t have the technique, I hadn\u2019t honed my craft\u2026Then I got to visit Texas State, and I knew that that was my next step on the path. And so, I enrolled in the Spring of 2011, and there, I got the rigorous training that set me up to pursue this professionally.\u201d<\/p>\n For the next several years, Hunt worked in Houston, but in 2018 after a busy performing season, he decided to step aside and take a job that better paid the bills.<\/p>\n \u201cMy theater cup was so full but I needed to go make some money. Then 2019 went by, and I didn\u2019t have a desire to do a show. Then I thought, hey, you know what, 2020, I\u2019m going to get back out there. And then lockdown.\u201d<\/p>\n Which was why when we saw Hunt give a searing performance as a cutthroat lawyer in Dirt Dog\u2019s production of Race, it felt like a new discovery of sorts. A reawakening, if you will. One that almost didn\u2019t happen.<\/p>\n \u201cI wasn\u2019t certain I was going to audition, and then, the day of, I got out of work, and I was like, you know what? I\u2019m going to this audition. I just called and said hey, I know you guys have been auditioning people for the past couple of hours, but I\u2019m free. Can I show up?\u201d<\/p>\n Hunt says he\u2019s drawn to complex roles. \u201cI like smart characters. I like characters who are misunderstood because it feels like a challenge for me to make you understand. If I\u2019m playing the villain, then you\u2019re going to see my justification.\u201d<\/p>\n Coming off of Race, Hunt is eager to once again flex and stretch his actorly muscles. This fall, he\u2019ll be playing Aegisthus in Classical Theater\u2019s production of Electra. \u201cI don\u2019t think tragedies are most people\u2019s first choice for entertainment\u201d, says Hunt. \u201cBut my goal is to find the universal themes that are relevant today and share them. Mostly, I\u2019m excited to get in the rehearsal room and start playing.\u201d<\/p>\n Electra at Classical Theatre runs October 9-18, 2025<\/p>\n Cameron O\u2019Neil<\/strong><\/p>\n Singing was the first performance high that hooked Cameron O\u2019Neil.<\/p>\n From singing karaoke at the age of four to performing in community theater musicals in third grade to being one of just a few sixth graders invited to perform in a production of Into the Woods in middle school, O\u2019Neil knew that singing on the stage was magical for him.<\/p>\n \u201cI did start high school at HPVA as the Broadway baby,\u2019 says O\u2019Neil. I was like, I\u2019m going to go to Broadway, and I\u2019m gonna be in New York and going to I\u2019m gonna do everything I can. And then I realized how cutthroat it was and how expensive it is to hone not only acting talents, but having a voice teacher and having dance training and not just one curriculum, but also do ballet and jazz and modern. And I learned that it was it was such a cutthroat intense path to go down.\u201d<\/p>\n Rather than sour him, this realization opened his eyes to the beauty of plays.<\/p>\n \u201cI still love singing, but HPVA taught me what straight plays are and like that they\u2019re so rich and just because there\u2019s not singing and dancing doesn\u2019t mean that you\u2019re not going to walk away completely moved\u2026I learned that theater is an art and you could say so much with your art.\u201d<\/p>\n From high school, O\u2019Neil attended Webster Conservatory in St. Louis. \u201cIt\u2019s so crazy to think back that at 18, I was ready to pack up my bags and move to the other side of the country. And there it was very intensive. It was live, eat, breathe, theater, we did it from sunup to sundown.\u201d<\/p>\n Graduating into the pandemic meant that no work was forthcoming, so O\u2019Neil moved with a friend to Austin, hoping the vibrancy of the city would bear fruit. But despite going on auditions and doing some readings and fringe festival work, he found that Austin\u2019s theater scene just wasn\u2019t as vibrant as it was in Houston.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neil says he tried to give up acting. To get an office job, a golden retriever, a conforming life. But that itch to be onstage just wouldn\u2019t let up. And that\u2019s when he heard that Rec Room Arts was producing Spring Awakening, a musical he\u2019d been obsessed with since his early teen years. He wanted in and he would do whatever it took.<\/p>\n Lucky for him and us, his efforts and talents aligned and this is where we first spotted him. As the painfully neurotic yet utterly sincere Moritz, O\u2019Neil tore up the stage with his double threat heart-ensnaring acting and singing.<\/p>\n It was one hell of an outing for his first professional stage role. Followed quickly by a very different but equally compelling turn as Bernard, in Rec Room\u2019s Death of a Salesman.<\/p>\n The experience and accolades have helped draw O\u2019Neil back home to Houston.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that initially I had to get away from Houston because I was born here and it seemed like the hometown blues,\u2019 says O\u2019Neil. \u201cBut I\u2019m now starting to see the beauty of the Houston theater scene and the community. There is some Broadway-level acting here, some really passionate people who love what they do, and they pour their hearts and souls and that\u2019s what I love to. I don\u2019t want to do it as a business. I don\u2019t want to be in a play, just to be in a play. I want to pour my heart and soul into it and be with like-minded people who also want to do the same.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Neil says that at this point, he\u2019s open to both musicals and plays. But mostly he loves language and the ability to bring words to life. This fall, he\u2019ll help bring new words to life as Kieran in Marisela Trevi\u00f1o Orta\u2019s Womb 2.0 for the 2025 Alley All New Festival.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m excited to be working with a new script and creating a character based on my own instincts instead of what\u2019s been done before,\u201d says O\u2019Neil. \u201cA huge theme in Womb 2.0 is privilege, so I want to work on manifesting Kieran\u2019s privilege in the work and see how that tells the story in a more dynamic way.\u201d<\/p>\n Womb 2.0 at Alley All New Festival is playing October 24 and 26, 2025<\/p>\n Brandon Carter<\/strong><\/p>\n When Brandon Carter stepped onstage last season as Biff in Rec Room\u2019s production of Death of a Salesman, we marveled at his prowess in the role. Surely, he was an out-of-towner brought in for the production \u2013 a seasoned actor like that doesn\u2019t just appear in Houston out of thin air.<\/p>\n Lucky for us, it does and he did.<\/p>\n Now calling Houston home, Carter has already made an impact, winning the 2025 Houston Theater Award for Best Supporting Actor for his first role on Houston stages.<\/p>\n It\u2019s a long way from his early dreams of being a fisherman, like his father and grandfather. Heeding their advice, Carter paused his study to see if the fisherman dream still spoke to him. And that\u2019s when the theater really came calling.<\/p>\n \u201cI still remember it, I was on the fish boat and one of my professors called and said, hey, I\u2019m doing Othello, and I want you for Cassius. I know you\u2019re out of school, but I want you to come back and give it a try, says Carter. \u201cI had the fishboat, I had Othello in my hands, and I had an opportunity to go back to college. So, I read it while I was fishing on the boat and it won my heart. I was reading verse on the open sea in the Gulf of Mexico and Shakespeare\u2019s words actually won me back into college.\u201d<\/p>\n From college came grad school at Penn State, where Carter participated in commissioning the Dominique Morisseau play, Blood at the Root. \u201cWe raised a bunch of money, which gave me my first taste of administration\/fund raising and we toured that show around the world for three years from South Africa to Adelaide.\u201d<\/p>\n Shakespeare\u2019s works continued to pull on Carter. His first gig after Penn State was with the Classical Theatre of Harlem\u2019s production of The Tempest. Carter then was a company member with American Shakespeare Center for seven years, and the company\u2019s Artistic Director for four years up until March 2024.<\/p>\n Carter says it\u2019s the music of Shakespeare\u2019s work that draws him to it.<\/p>\n \u201cMy grandfather used shanties to help pull in the fish by hand. They would sing a verse, and then they would pull the nets \u2026 he sang these shanties to me and it is the undercurrent to the musicality I hear in Shakespeare\u2019s work that helps me to be able to find the jazz in it. I\u2019m able to connect to it and think about home and my bloodline. There\u2019s a familiarity, even though you\u2019re talking about two different time periods, to different cultures, two different ways of communicating.\u201d<\/p>\n Regardless of which play or writer, Carter says he strives never to think he knows everything about the character. \u201cI think I think we sometimes don\u2019t hear the playwright because we put on the assumptions of what we think is going to happen and that doesn\u2019t allow us to listen to the person that\u2019s opposite us and what story they\u2019re telling and what this moment might be. But if you avail yourself to the moment, you\u2019ll deepen the experience for yourself and for others.\u201d<\/p>\n Carter will get to deepen his experience with Shakespeare this season, coming back to Othello, the play that started it all for him. This time, he\u2019s in the lead role with time and experience under his belt.<\/p>\n He hopes that his portrayal of the \u2018psychological damage of a black leader who has reached the top of his craft\u2019 resonates with audiences and inspires young actors to fall in love with Shakespeare the way he did.<\/p>\n Othello at Classical Theatre runs April 16 \u2013 May 2, 2026<\/p>\n
Bolden says she\u2019s excited for the responsibility and grateful to be trusted with such a big task.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/theater-Benjamin-McLaughlin.jpg\")
Credit: Violeta Alvarez<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Adobe-Express-file-33.jpg\")
Credit: Pin Lim<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/theater-Elia-Adams.jpg\")
Credit: Violeta Alvarez<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/theater-olivia-knight.jpg\")
Olivia Knight Credit: Violetta Alvarez<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/theater-Juan-Sebastian-Cruz.jpg\")
Credit: Violetta Alvarez<\/p>\n
Juan Sebastian Cruz
<\/strong>
Late into his second year at Rice University, Juan Sebastian Cruz told his mother that he was going to switch gears from mathematics and engineering to a major in theater. It didn\u2019t go over well.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/theater-Andreas-Hunt.jpg\")
Houston Actors Credit: Violeta Alvarez<\/p>\n
Through participation in regional competitions and exposure to artists who were living the theater life, Hunt realized this was possibly something he could do for real.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/theater-CameronONeil-2.jpg\")
Credit: Violeta Alvarez<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Brandon-Carter.jpg\")
Credit: Tim Tiebout, Folger Shakespeare Library<\/p>\n
When he found himself floundering at Longwood University, taking a minor in theater, his family suggested he stop wasting money and time and go work on a boat.<\/p>\n