When Burton Wolfe was 10, he made a request to the principal of his elementary school. He wanted to rent out the school’s auditorium for a performance.

“Ever since then I’ve been in love with theater and putting on shows,” Wolfe said.

He now translates that love into his work as executive and artistic director of World Theater. The facility, located at 1012 S. Mason Road, has been open for 14 months. Services offered include a performing arts academy with dance classes, as well as summer camp and rental space for events.

Wolfe runs the business with Lawrence Wong, director of operations. The pair have been working together for more than 15 years. Before working in theater, Wong held leadership positions at several hotel chains, including Sheraton Hotels and J.W. Marriott.

Several years prior to his work at World Theater, Wolfe served as the national director of productions and events for the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund.

Wolfe and Wong originally became friends while living in New York City.

In addition to in-house performances, Wolfe said he and Wong have worked to bring culturally diverse performances —the theater’s speciality— to the Katy community. Last year, the company organized a performance by the Shenzhen Lily Choir at Alief High School. Shenzhen, China, is a sister city to Houston.

“After that performance the superintendent said to me, ‘This is remarkable because these high school kids will know that they can relate to people their age from another country,’” Wolfe said.

World Theater has put on 11 shows since opening. The first show at the theater was a “Katy’s Got Talent” talent show to gauge the talent in the community, Wong said. The company partnered with the Katy Area Chamber of Commerce for the event and offered a roundtrip flight on Singapore Airlines as the top prize.

The main auditorium seats around 300 people, and the space is also rented out by a local church. Other shows put on by the theater include “Sister Act,” “Miss Saigon,” “My Fair Lady” and “West Side Story.”

Wolfe, who is a speech and theater professor at Houston Community College, has written original productions from a variety of cultural themes. He also writes bilingual musicals in Mandarin, Vietnamese and Japanese. Focusing on different cultures is important because it shows human beings’ similarities, Wolfe said.

“We’re all brothers and sisters,” Wolfe said. “If we can understand each other’s culture, we can understand each other as people.”