Our newest edition spotlights theatre workers in the Houston area. If you would like to recommend a theatre artist (from anywhere) for a future Role Call, fill out our open Google Form here.
Afsaneh Aayani (she/her)
Profession: Multidisciplinary artist
Hometown: Tehran, Iran
Current home: Houston
Known for: Aayani has designed sets/costumes and created puppets for almost all the major theatre companies in Houston and created two fantastic full-length productions: an autobiographical dance theatre piece, Innominate, and an adaptation of The Turn of the Screw (co-created by Adam J. Thompson and Bradley Michalakis) for Catastrophic Theatre. Regardless of what she works on, her style is distinctly whimsical and surreal, a product of an Iranian culture filled with fairy tales, fables, and scary stories. These stories shaped her design aesthetic, steering her towards what she calls the “fun designs” of horror and other surreal worlds.
What’s next: With Aayani the question is more like, what isn’t next? This in-demand artist has a busy schedule in Houston when she isn’t also working with regional companies around the United States. Next she’s designing Dracula for Classical Theatre Company (coming up in October), working on costume designs for two other shows, and creating puppets for an upcoming Theater Under the Stars production.
What makes her special: “Afsaneh Aayani is an over-flowing fountain of creativity,” raved Catastrophic producing artistic director Tamarie Cooper. “She brings her amazing puppet skills to our city, which has not been exactly a ‘puppetry haven.’ But Afsaneh is so much more than a puppet artist. She is a great director, set designer, costume designer, props designer, collaborator, and visionary. Her Iranian heritage is a definite influence in her work, whether through music, storytelling, or in her approach to making theatre. Afsaneh sees things in more colors than the rest of us folks. Everyone now wants to work with her, as they should.”
Puppet proliferation: After years of trying to convince Houston theatres that puppets aren’t just for children, things are finally paying off for this aspect of Aayani’s talent. But she would like to see more. “You can do so much in a production with puppets,” said Aayani, who hopes companies will look at the art form as something everyone can enjoy and take the risk. Her advice for budding puppeteers: It is “a very difficult art, and it requires immense resources, patience, time, and money. You really have to love doing it.”
Crystal Rae (she/her)
Profession: Playwright, producer, puppeteer, performer
Hometown: Chicago
Current home: Houston
Known for: Rae’s talent as an actor makes her a must-see, even if the show is something she wasn’t supposed to be in, like her recent last-minute stand-in for a sick actor in Dirt Dog’s production of Clybourne Park. Only partially off-book, Rae held her own among the talented cast and gave one of her best performances to date. But with the 2022 premiere of her play Tied at On The Verge Theatre, about the 1963 bombing of 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, the true depth of her multifaceted artistry was revealed. Her writing is effortless yet packed with meaning, surprise, humor, and poetic drama—a formula she calls “the peanut butter and jelly of life.”
What’s next: While Tied travels to other cities, Rae will be in Houston in August, mounting a new version of her one-woman show Lions, about Moses’s adopted mother and what it means when your adopted child doesn’t turn out the way you thought they would. This version will include a puppet—an outgrowth of Rae’s time during Covid, when she found herself with stories in her head and no one to play them out with. Puppets, she realized, were a great place for all her creative juices, in a manner she describes as a mix of Tyler Perry and Shari Lewis.
What makes her special: Actor LaKeisha Randle highlighted Rae’s “commitment to the arts and her community,” citing the puppeteering workshops she led for incarcerated youth through Houston’s Brave Little Company, and her producing the documentary Making Elijah, about the grief and healing journey after losing a child. Said Randle, “These endeavors highlight her compassionate spirit and her drive to use her artistry for social good, making her a cherished figure in the theatre community and beyond.”
Stop waiting: “I really believe in readings and having people come in and tell me what’s not working, and not arguing with them or explaining,” said Rae. “All I need is to get brilliant people in my living room to listen to my play and tell me where they got lost, where they got bored, etc. It’s made mediocre storytelling magical, because other people get to smear their brilliance on my work.”
Marissa Castillo (she/her)
Profession: Producer/organizer
Hometown: Lubbock, Texas
Current home: Houston
Known for: As the co-founder of TEATRX, a company established to advance Latinx performance arts, Castillo has helped produce five short play/film festivals which to date have told 103 stories of the diverse diaspora of Latinidad. She is also known as the Angi’s List of Latinx theatre in Houston: With so many connections and collaborations in the community, Castillo is the go-to person for helping other companies find and hire Latinx artists for their productions.
What’s next: Castillo is presently working on the 6th La Vida Es Cortos festival in October, and is busy curating this year’s short play and film lineup with one idea in mind: to connect the Latinx community to people who look like them and stories they’ve never seen or heard before.
What makes her special: “Marissa Castillo’s generosity has a gravitational pull,” said Houston playwright Elizabeth Keel. “Her work with TEATRX and their massive La Vida Es Cortos festival, and her efforts from the director’s chair and in the community, engenders people to not only step forward as eager volunteers but to bring friends along in their wake. She is one of Houston’s most powerful theatre magicians.”
Expansion and elevation: “We are more than 44 percent of the Houston population, and it’s not reflected on Houston stages,” noted Castillo, who added that the community cannot be defined by struggle alone. “I want to see joy; I want to see families enjoying life,” she said. “The Latinx community is not defined by a border. Our stories shouldn’t be defined by that.”
Sophia Watt (she/her)
Profession: Director
Hometown: Seattle
Current home: Houston
Known for: Watt, who serves as associate artistic director at Rec Room Arts, has become the go-to director for cool, alternatively staged new plays, including Dance Nation, The Wolves, The Oldest Boy, What the Constitution Means to Me, and Heroes of the Fourth Turning. Thinking through how to shape the space to serve a play with a selected audience, Watt is precisely tuned into the style each show needs.
What’s next: Watt’s production Betrayal recently ran at Rec Room Arts; she’ll next work on the company’s New Play Workshop. Another exciting upcoming production: her first baby, due in July.
What makes her special: “I am consistently amazed by Sophia’s ability to turn strict theatrical limitations into an advantage, making them the core of a production’s most effective moments,” said Matt Hune, Rec Room Arts artistic director. “She has a real knack for nurturing a secure environment that allows others to venture into creatively risky work. Her production of Rec Room’s Heroes of the Fourth Turning managed to be both gentle and gut-wrenching at the same time. That is typical of her work, and exactly the kind of theatre I seek.”
Just do it: Watt’s advice to young directors just starting out is to self-generate. “The more you can create opportunities for yourself, the better it works out, even if it feels insane at the time,” said Watt, who started off producing her own shows in Central Park when she lived in New York City. “I got permits for shows in the park and was like, ‘This is crazy, four people are going to come to this, why am I putting in so much work?’” It was worth it, though, because, as she put it, “I have a résumé that people are going to look at and is now real. I put a show on.”
Timothy Eric (he/him)
Profession: Actor, writer, director
Hometown and current home: Houston
Known for: Associated most with the Ensemble Theatre, Eric is an expert at bringing vigor to the strong roles he takes on. Whether the lead, as he recently was in the premiere of Thomas Meloncon’s Stagolee and the Funeral of a Dangerous Word at Main Street Theater, or part of the ensemble, as when he played Levee in August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at Ensemble, Eric explodes off the stage with intensity. Lately, he’s shown a more playful side with terrific turns in Clyde’s and The Piano Lesson, both at Ensemble. But even when he’s funny, there’s a tautness to his humor that never lets go of the tension he so skillfully articulates. Eric is a true “can’t take your eyes off him” performer.
What’s next: Audiences will get to see another side of Eric’s talents when he joins Rec Room Art’s intimate production of Spring Awakening in September. He’d written off musicals after college, acknowledging that his voice isn’t a big one, but he stepped back into a musical role a few years ago in The Lawsons at Ensemble Theatre and is inspired to give it another go.
What makes him special: “Timothy Eric brings a kinetic presence to every character,” said Rachel Dickson, director of operations at Ensemble Theatre. “His performances are grounded in passion that rises from his feet and pulls everyone in.” Dickson has been onstage with him and can testify that he “requires a presence from his fellow actors that is immediate, and he is wonderful at requiring those around him to act and react constantly. His focus on and details pulled from the text makes his performances rich and textured.”
Inevitability: Eric believes that the work of an actor is all about being open to the experience. “Know that the role is trying to find you, and it will as long as you are seeking,” he said. But then the work becomes finding out, “Why did this role need me? What specific part of me (or my life situation) attracted it? Preparing for the role becomes more about finding that connection, accepting it, and living within it. You’re invested now—your heart is open.”
Trevor Boffone (he/him)
Profession: Social media manager at Fun Love Media
Hometown: New Orleans
Current home: Houston
Known for: An educator and viral content creator himself (and an occasional contributor to American Theatre), Boffone brings all the influencer tools to bear on social media strategies for theatres. His highly entertaining short-form videos capture the the energy of the theatre, the vibe of the show, and the fun of coming to see a production.
What’s next: What’s exciting about his job, Boffone says, is that every new show is a fresh playground. Most recently he created and posted content on Stages’ production of The Case for the Existence of God.
What makes him special: “Because Trevor genuinely understands the ins and outs of both theatre and social media, he’s able to seamlessly do what might be quite challenging for someone else,” said Britney Crosson, owner of Fun Love Media. “His enthusiasm and creativity are exactly what theatres need. And his ideas are so creative! I don’t know how his beautiful brain works, but I appreciate it.”
Expansion: “What I would love to do is work with more Houston theatres,” Boffone said. “I want to create strategies for theatres, give them a plan for the month and a blueprint on how to execute it.” Short-form video via social media is still a relatively new form of marketing, and many theatres feel overwhelmed by it. But it’s the wave of the future, he said: Older people may still Google to find info about things to do, but “the under-25 crowd, they go to TikTok to figure that out. Theatres need to get on board for future growth.”
Jessica Goldman (she/her) is a theatre critic for Houston Press. Prior to moving to Houston nine years ago, she was the theatre critic for The Eyeopener on CBC Radio in Calgary.
