The Catastrophic Theatre Announces 2025-26 Season
The Catastrophic Theatre announces its 2025-26 season, bookended by milestones from our artistic directors and containing four thrilling new works.
Since 1995, Catastrophic has been the only local producer of Samuel Beckett’s full-length works and Jason Nodler their only director. We return to the play nearest to the playwright’s heart 30 years after we first produced it. We will premiere new plays from Catastrophic newcomer Kathy Ng, a fiercely original form-buster who exemplifies the avant-garde; Catastrophic core artist Joe Folladori—prolific in various mediums in their first new work for the theatre; and experimental designer, puppeteer, and interdisciplinary artist Afsaneh Aayani, in her third commission as a Catastrophic core artist. We close out our season with the greatest milestone of all. This year marks 30 years of all-original Tamarie Cooper Shows. Hands up, Houston. Raise a glass..
Endgame by Samuel Beckett
Directed by Jason Nodler
“You’re on earth. There’s no cure for that.”
The earth is barren. The sea stands still. There is less and less of anything here. In the shelter, blind despot Hamm (who can’t stand up) lords over his weary attendant Clov (who can’t sit down), each dependent on the other. Hamm’s legless parents Nagg and Nell slowly expire in adjacent trash bins, confined there by their son. Day after punishing day, Hamm steers Clov through a series of senseless, circular routines in impotent defiance of a predetermined outcome. With each reminder of the death that awaits him outside, Clov inches nearer to the exit.
Nobody does tragicomedy like Samuel Beckett. A central line from the play, “Nothing is funnier than unhappiness,” practically defines the genre. Director Jason Nodler and Greg Dean (Hamm) revisit their roles from Catastrophic’s 1995 and 2012 productions. Luis Galindo (Clov), Jeff Miller (Nagg), and Julia Oppenheim (Nell) round out the cast.
“Catastrophic Theatre’s stark, unflinching production of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame demonstrates exactly why this company and its artistic director Jason Nodler are so important to the city’s cultural life.” – Houston Chronicle
September 19 – October 11, 2025
Beautiful Princess Disorder by Kathy Ng
Directed by Jason Nodler
(World Premiere)
“Welcome to the sky. Thank you for agreeing to stay forever.”
Triangle Person is a “Human Body” with a “Triangle Head”. The “Human Body” part wears a navy blue, no-nonsense swimsuit. The “Triangle Head” part wants YOU to know that they ARE a Beautiful Princess. Would you believe that some people don’t think that’s true?
Triangle Person lives in the Parking Lot of Heaven. God lives right next door. He has never come by with a casserole though. But SERIOUSLY, Triangle Person doesn’t mind AT ALL. Triangle Person already has all the BFFs they will ever, ever need. Namely, Saint Mother Teresa (you know the one) and Killer Whale Tilikum (a.k.a. Chief Cumlord of the Seaworld Conglomerate). There is lots to do in the nice cloudy sky, many lives to slice, and luckily all the time in the world. A fuzzy-edged sibling drama for the only child, directed by Jason Nodler. (Regional Premiere.)
“The rules that govern Ng’s theatrical plane are expansive and unencumbered, allowing for freer association of impulses and ideas. A queer sensibility in both form and content is evident throughout.” – New York Times
November 21 – December 13, 2025
Katy Perry Candy Darling Mary Magdalene by Joe Folladori
Songs by Joe Folladori
Directed by Tamarie Cooper
(World Premiere)
“What about all the in-betweens?”
Rock-and-roll was invented by corporations to sell cars and sex to teenagers. Indie rock was invented by teenagers who weren’t into cars or sex. Pop music is a CIA plot, like MK Ultra or Abstract Expressionism. Gender is a pyramid scheme; religion is a performance. Texas is both a gender and a religion.
How about you? What’s your whole deal? You sure about that?
A punk elitist attempts to sell his band on a rock opera he wrote about meeting his favorite pop star. But first he has to explain why he has a favorite pop star, why it’s Katy Perry, why he wrote a rock opera about it, and how it all ties into his new look, most succinctly described as “she.” Directed by Tamarie Cooper. (World premiere.)
“Joe Folladori’s performance turns the singer, and us, inside out. Folladori sings and plays the piano with a posture that suggests he’s on the verge of collapse or outburst.” – Houston Chronicle
February 13 – March 7, 2026
Romeos and Juliets by Afsaneh Aayani
Directed by Afsaneh Aayani
(World Premiere)
“We don’t happen to love; it happens to us.”
Afsaneh Aayani’s latest experimental dance-theatre piece was loosely inspired by two of friends: one from Tel Aviv, the other from her native Tehran. Featuring an original soundscape by longtime collaborator Hessam Dianpour, Romeos and Juliets also contains echoes of the Persian love story Layla and Majnun sharing striking similarities with and surely influencing Shakespeare’s tragedy. Across human history, we have been told who and how to love, so there can’t be a single Romeo or Juliet, Layla or Majnun. They are legion.
Audiences will recognize Aayani’s work from her striking scenic designs at Catastrophic, across Houston, and beyond. Catastrophic fans might know her best for the extraordinary original works she has premiered on our stage: The Turn of the Screw and Innominate. (World premiere.)
April 3 – 25, 2026
Tamarie’s Greatest Hits, Volume 3 by Tamarie Cooper and Patrick Reynolds
Conceived, directed, and choreographed by Tamarie Cooper
Book by Tamarie Cooper and Patrick Reynolds
(World Premiere)
As every good Houstonian knows, Tamarie Cooper creates another in a series of wholly original, full-scale musicals every summer—a Houston institution with a cult following—featuring wildly irreverent scripts, riotously funny songs, wackadoodle dances, spectacular sets, large casts of quadruple-threat performers, a small but mighty band, and of course Houston’s own Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, and Bugs Bunny rolled into one, the undefeated champion of ass-clownery, Tamarie Cooper, co-star Kyle Sturdivant forever at her side, chewing up all her expensive scenery.
What you might not know is that every ten years, Tamarie creates a Greatest Hits show, featuring the best moments from a decade of really great moments with a ridiculous new script and a couple brand-spanking new songs to tie the whole thing together.
The very first Tamalalia, premiered in a two-night stand on the tiny Orange Show stage in the summer of 1996. This summer marks a major milestone: 30 dang years of all-new Tamarie Cooper Shows. (World premiere.)
“Seriously, how does Tamarie Cooper not have her own HBO series?” – Broadway World
June 19 – August 1, 2026
Midtown Arts and Theater Center Houston
All tickets are Pay-What-You-Can
