When writer and feminist icon Gloria Steinem died on September 2, tributes poured in for the journalist and feminist icon. The founder of Ms. magazine was the voice of a generation of women, and that voice would echo across decades.
Theatergoers looking to understand how Steinem became such a force for women’s equality can take in Cypress Stage’s production of Gloria: A Life. The show opens on October 1, and it’s the very first production by the new theater company.
“The play, her story, resonates with me on a profound level,” said the show’s director Deborah Hope. “I was 17 years old when I became aware of the movement and of her. It’s an understatement to say that she changed the course of my life, my thinking, my understanding of how the world worked and how it could be better.”
“It’s a great play,” echoes Cypress Stage’s executive director Jayne Anderson. “And it’s taken on even more resonance since her death.”
Written by Emily Mann, the show opened off-Broadway in 2018, and was created with Steinem’s input. While there have been several productions of the play throughout the country, this is the first time it’s being produced in Houston.
“The main thing I wanted to do once I decided to start Cypress Stage was that I wanted to have a theater that does not rehash shows that have been done over and over,” said Anderson.
Anderson has acted in and produced theater in Houston for decades, bringing shows to senior centers in the Memorial area as part of We Give Productions. Following the death of her husband in 2025, she moved the Cypress to be closer to her daughter and son-in-law.
Cypress is among the region’s fastest-growing communities, but it didn’t have a theater. So, Anderson decided to start one. The semi-professional company pays its actors and designers, but doesn’t have its own space, nor does it have a paid full time staff. Performances are held in Cypress Woods High School’s black box theater.
Anderson expects the reach to extend beyond the Cypress community, giving audiences in Waller, Tomball and Hockley an arts option that’s closer to home than the Houston Theatre District.
With Gloria as a draw, Anderson hopes audiences see what she saw in the cast of six when she attended the first reading.
“I got chills listening to these women,” she said. “They play 15 different characters and are just amazing.”
Hope agrees.
“They are dynamic and fierce and crazy talented!” she said. “[This show] is brave and relevant and inspiring, which I think encapsulates perfectly this new theater’s mission.”
Performances are scheduled for October 1 (preview) with opening night October 2 through October 18 at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays at Cypress Woods High School, 13550 Woods-Spillane Boulevard in Cypress. For more information, call 713-997-9444 or visit cypressstage.org. $16.50-53.25.