Before the newly minted Town of Houston had a church or a jail, it had theaters, proving that from its founding, the performing arts have been a cornerstone of city life. In its earliest decades, musical entertainment delighted audiences in traditions imported by European immigrants. Opera halls and small, conventional stage theaters lined Houston’s dirt roads, but the city’s modest offerings would be eclipsed in the twentieth century, with the establishment of the Houston Symphony, Houston Grand Opera, Houston Ballet, and the Alley Theatre. Today, Houston is home to a thriving theater and community arts scene, but the beginnings were humble.

Ima Hogg, the daughter of former Texas Governor James Hogg, is arguably the most significant cultural figure and driving force behind Houston’s arts history. As a child of privilege, Ima began her music education in New York City and later moved to Berlin, Germany, to continue her studies following her father’s death. After concluding that a career in performing music was not for her, Ima returned to Houston to join her brothers and began teaching music. There, a larger destiny awaited.

In 1913, Ima founded what would become the Houston Symphony Orchestra, debuting with a concert at the Majestic Theatre. Newspaper advertisements coaxed Houstonians with an enticing tagline: “Your first opportunity of expressing your wish for this new acquisition to Houston's greatness. Express yourself by your presence.” The well-attended show inspired Ima. She hosted a demonstration concert later that year and resolved that Houston should have a resident symphony. From then on, Ima devoted her life to ensuring the Houston Symphony's success.

In the early years of Houston’s performing arts scene, assembled musicians performed in movie theaters until an arrangement was made with the City Auditorium, now the site of the current Jones Hall. The auditorium attracted audience members from all walks of life who came in search of culture, art, and entertainment. Even though burgeoning performing arts collectives, such as symphonies and fine arts museums, benefited from both old money (cotton and lumber industrialists) and new money (oil millionaires yearning for sophistication), high-brow culture struggled to find its audience. The City Auditorium, which hosted posh classical music performances and Friday night wrestling matches, highlighted this dilemma. Elvis Presley performed there twice in the early stages of his career. The Houston Symphony also played in the auditorium from 1932 until 1953, when it relocated to the air-conditioned Music Hall. 

Built in 1937, the Music Hall, an architecturally reserved–looking performing arts venue, was situated in front of the larger and more casual Sam Houston Coliseum. Touring Broadway musicals played up front in the Music Hall, while wrestling matches, the Rodeo, and even the Beatles were hosted in the back. The boisterous Coliseum was so close to the banks of Buffalo Bayou that a pedestrian bridge with a moving sidewalk was built to transport ticketholders across. Remnants of that bridge are the venue’s only existing markers.

In 1946, Houston actress and high school drama teacher Nina Vance, who directed plays at the Jewish Community Center, realized Houston needed a permanent repertory theater acting company. The following year, Vance mailed hundreds of postcards looking for donors and volunteers to open a new theater. More than 100 people joined Vance in her first meeting at a small dance studio located at 3614 Main, which was accessible through an alley. That unique entry served as the basis of the new theater company’s name: the Alley Theatre.

The Alley Theatre held its grand opening in 1968, with then-Houston Mayor Louie Welch and 37 astronauts in attendance at the inaugural production of Bertolt Brecht’s Life of Galileo. Architect Ulrich Franzen’s brutalist design was a daring addition to Downtown—the theater, which featured a proscenium arch stage above and a theater-in-the-round below, paved the way for more ambitious architectural styles in the decades that followed. This two-stage model was later implemented for the Wortham Center and Hobby Center. In the 1970s, the Alley expanded, utilizing its larger theater during the off-season to showcase art films.

In 1966, the Jesse H. Jones Hall for the Performing Arts opened thanks to the Jesse and Mary Gibbs Jones’ Houston Endowment. Inspired by the multifaceted Astrodome, which opened a year earlier as a dynamic space for professional sports games, the 3,000-seat venue became a home for Houston’s arts, starting with the Houston Symphony Orchestra, and later, the Houston Grand Opera Association and the Houston Ballet Foundation. The ceiling was versatile in its configuration, allowing it to host and reverberate the differing sounds of chorale, ballet, opera, a somber political debate, or even a show by then-stand-up comedian Steve Martin. The stage’s finished floor, however, had to be swapped out constantly to accommodate ballet dancers, and with ballet, opera, and symphony seasons overlapping, scheduling was challenging.

The 1980s in Houston were occasionally grim. A transformative oil boom occurred, followed by a notorious oil bust that lasted until the mid-1980s. As oil prices fell, Houston’s economy, which was closely tied to banking and real estate markets, suffered significant losses due to years of easy money. Bank foreclosures became increasingly common before finally slowing in 1987. Despite the lean financial times, organizers behind the Wortham Theater Center were able to raise enough funds to open in 1987, primarily due to the community’s commitment to the arts. Boasting two theaters on one city block and a dramatic entry foyer on another, the new center felt larger than life. Both theaters were stitched together over Prairie Street and connected to the three-level, expansive parking garage and mini-city that still links all local performing arts venues and the live music venue Bayou Music Center. With the addition of Wortham, Houston now had a bona fide theater district. 

In 2002, the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts opened on the former site of the Music Hall and Coliseum. Houston’s distinct two-stage theater model is still apparent here—Sarofim Hall, the larger space designed to attract musicals, boasts a ceiling that stuns with twinkling LED “stars.” At the same time, the balcony over the Bagby Street entrance provides breathtaking views of the Downtown skyline over Tranquility Park. Taking a selfie here is practically essential.

And if you’re counting at home, that’s nine professional performing arts organizations and over 10,000 seats in all of the Theater District.