Sterling Houston facts for kids
Sterling Houston (1945 – November 8, 2006) was a talented African-American writer, actor, and musician. He was known for his special plays that explored important ideas about identity and society. His plays included many different types, like musicals, dramas, and comedies. He also wrote books and stories.
Life and Career
Sterling Houston was born in 1945 in San Antonio, Texas. He later moved to California and studied acting. In 1964, he went to New York City to continue his acting studies. For several years, he acted in plays in New York that were not on the main Broadway stages.
In 1968, he returned to California and settled in San Francisco with his partner, Larry Neal. From 1968 to 1977, Houston and Neal performed together as a band called Fleshtones. After that, from 1978 to 1981, he worked at the Magic Theatre in San Francisco.
In 1981, he moved back to San Antonio. In 1988, he joined Jump-Start Performance Co., a small theater group in San Antonio. Sterling Houston also gave talks at many colleges and universities. He shared his knowledge about theater and the arts.
He passed away in San Antonio on November 8, 2006. In September 2009, the Jump-Start Performance Co. honored him by naming their theater the Sterling Houston Theater.
Works
Sterling Houston wrote many plays. Some of his plays include:
- A'Lelia (a musical he wrote with Lary Neal)
- Driving Wheel
- Relationships: Good and Not So Good
- La Frontera
- High Yellow' Rose
- Isis in Nubia
- Santo Negro
- On the Pulse of the Morning (he worked on this with Maya Angelou)
- Black Lily, White Lily
- The Alien Show/Kool Jams '99
- Message Sent
- Cameoland
- Miranda Rites
- Le Griffon
- Womandingo
He also wrote books. These include Moan Your Mourners (1994), which was partly about his own life. He also wrote the story Le Griffon (1999). In 1998, a book called Four Plays by Sterling Houston was published. This book was later re-released in 2005 as Myth, Magic and Farce: Four Multicultural Plays.
Awards
Sterling Houston received many awards for his work.
- In 1991, he was named Artist of the Year by the San Antonio Business Committee for the Arts.
- In 1992, he received the Artist of the Year Award from the San Antonio Light newspaper.
- In 1997, the San Antonio Public Library gave him an Arts and Letters Award.
- Also in 1997, the Texas Legislature recognized him for his important contributions to the culture of Texas.
Several of his plays also won local theater awards. In 2003, his play Cameoland was chosen as one of the ten best plays of the year by the San Antonio Express News newspaper. In 1995, Sterling Houston helped start the San Antonio Theatre Coalition (SATCO) and later became its director emeritus.
