Artistic director Steven Fenley opened up the Texas Repertory Theatre with colleagues in spring 2006.[/caption]

Artistic Director Steve Fenley recalls spending the last $500 he and the other founders of Texas Repertory Theatre had back in the spring of 2005 to rent out a ballroom at a nearby Hilton hotel for a fundraiser.

The group had one goal in mind: raise funding to help build a professional theater in North Houston.

Fenley said the group walked away with about $15,000 in seed money for the theater thanks the efforts of about 75 local community leaders. By the time the theater opened at its existing location on Stuebner Airline Road in February 2006, he said the theater already had 300 season ticket holders.

"For that many people to take a chance on a theater that hadn't even produced a play, that's just a testament to our community," Fenley said.

Nine years later, and the theater has beaten the odds as it finishes its 10th season this spring. Fenley said the average start-up theater in the U.S. lasts about nine months. He credited the quality of the theater for its success as the only professional theater in the Greater Houston area outside of Loop 610 .

"When people come here, they see things that are comparable to theaters that have been around for 30 years or more in [Houston]," he said.

Unlike a community theater, which can take three months to prepare a show, Fenley said Texas Repertory Theatre can put on a show in 3 1/2 weeks.

"We can't afford to be dark very long," Fenley said. "You've got to turn a show over, and get the doors back open, and get people coming in to buy tickets. With our schedule, I have to have top-notch talent."

Fenley still remembers the hair standing up on the back of his neck as the first words were spoken in the theater's inaugural play "Our Town," announcing the theater to the world. Fast forward to the present and with the 10th season winding down, the theater will close "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare" this month, the theater's 82nd play.

The end of this season will also see Fenley reprise a role as one of his personal heroes, C.S. Lewis, in "Shadowlands" in March. The artistic director said he enjoys the roles of both actor and director, and each provides a different kind of thrill.

However, he has not always been interested in theater. Fenley said many years ago he began his foray into theater as a magician taking acting classes because he thought it would help his magic tricks. After doing theater work in Houston for several years, he went to the University of South Carolina to get his master's degree.

Fenley said it was right after graduate school that the vision for a professional theater really gained traction. Many of his colleagues have moved on, but Fenley remains to run the theater with the help of Technical Director Trey Otis, the board of trustees, more than 130 volunteers and his mother Marinell Mendoza, the theater's director of development.

"It's a fulfillment, a vision that we actually had for about 20 years," said Mendoza, a resident of the area since 1975. "This area was growing so much that we recognized the fact that if we didn't do it, somebody else would."

More than a decade later, Fenley said he is proud the theater has contributed more than $9 million in economic impact to the community—from the vendors at the theater to the materials bought to build sets.

"People think the arts are something that's a quality of life issue, and to have it, most people think you have to pay for it," he said. "The truth is when you invest in the arts that residual impact is incredible. That economic impact spreads out, and I'm really proud of that."

The theater could soon influence the community in a different way as Texas Repertory Theatre has plans with the Lone Star College–University Park for a new theater on the campus that would act as a teaching theater to students receiving their associate degrees in art.

Fenley said the theater is in the design phase, but does not know when construction would begin. However, he is excited for the opportunity to work with young theater students and grow the next generation of theater artisans.

"We've got to get people hooked on [theater]," Fenley said. "And preparing those audiences of the future is one of the things we've got to do."