After Hurricane Harvey left Houston Ballet’s Wortham Theater flooded and unusable, the Ballet had to cancel its season opening programs including its “Poetry in Motion” production. Now, Houston Ballet is trying to get their 2017-2018 season started again. However, due to damage to the Wortham Theater and the Houston Ballet Center for Dance, the season will begin in a different location. The Hobby Center for Arts’ Sarofim Hall will host four performances of “Mayerling” as well as two performances of previously canceled “Poetry in Motion.” While these performances are being moved to Sarofim Hall, all other performances scheduled for the Wortham Theater have been canceled through October 15th.
While moving their productions over to a new location will be a time-consuming effort for Houston Ballet, they are happy to be able to bring their productions back on the schedule and get their season started. Along with moving equipment, props, and costumes, the ballet also has to adjust to a different stage and backstage setup and accommodate their box office for a different seat layout (one including over 300 more seats than their usual venue). With only two weeks to get everything ready before the first “Mayerling” performance September 22nd, Houston Ballet will be working hard.
For anyone that has already purchased tickets to these productions while they were still being housed at the Wortham, Houston Ballet plans to send out an email about exchanges, refunds, and new seating plans in the Sarofim Hall. There is no set date as to when these details will be out as they are currently a work in progress.
For more information about Houston Ballet’s upcoming season, visit their Facebook page here.