The Resident Acting Company is the backbone of Alley Theatre. The only full-time Resident Acting Company remaining in the country, the Alley and Houston theatre community take great pride in watching them grow each year. With seven resident actors ranging from their second to 25th season, they have a wide range of experiences with the Alley, both on and off stage. Here, each of the actors reflects on their very earliest memory at the Alley.
“My first show at the Alley was a new play by Keith Reddin called Frame 312. Resident Acting Company members James Black and Jeffrey Bean were both in that show with me. Seeing the talent and artistry they brought to their work was all the proof I needed that being a member of this company would be the best thing that could ever happen for my career.” – Elizabeth Bunch
“My first experience with Alley Theatre was understudying Vanya, Sonya, Masha & Spike. I remember feeling honored to support the cast in my role and I was excited to perform, while at the same time hoping that the actress I was covering didn’t need me to step in for her because it meant that she and her family were well.” – Michelle Elaine
“My first experience at the Alley was seeing the Company do A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum. It showcased the Alley Company I grew up idolizing and lit a spark inside a young musical theatre major that perhaps the skills I was honing in college could help me in experiences outside of musicals.
“My first time onstage at the Alley was in Our Town in 2008. Looking back, it was the perfect entry point, doing arguably one of the greatest American Plays ever written. Watching James Black embody the Stage Manager every night with such ease and gravitas is an impression that still lives inside me to this day!” – Dylan Godwin
“Watching then girlfriend now wife Elizabeth Bunch in a play called Frame 312. She came down from NYC to do it. It was a great production and had some other wonderful company members in it.” – Chris Hutchison
“As an audience member, probably a Summer Chills! My mother is an avid reader and introduced me to Agatha Christie when I was young. We would watch Poirot and PBS mysteries. So in the summer when the Alley put on one, it was a fun thing for us to venture out and go experience together.” – Melissa Molano
“My first play was A Midsummer Night’s Dream in September of 2000. I had just been made a Resident Company member and everyone in town was wondering where I came from, because no one had seen me perform in any theatre in Houston.” – David Rainey
“Back in 2019, I played Richard in the Tony-award winning play, The Humans, written by Stephen Karam and directed by Brandon Weinbrenner. I returned later that season as a guest artist to perform a dream role in Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, directed by Rob Melrose.” – Christopher Salazar
