You are here

Events on Friday, July 17, 2026

Friday, July 17, 2026

Friday, July 17 @ 6:00 PM

6:00 PM
Matchbox 2

Ideas that remind us who we are.

TEDxBessies Creek 2026 is more than a conference. It's a reckoning.

At a time when we outsource our thinking, automate our empathy, and scroll past our neighbors, "Be Human" calls us back to what matters - our stories, our connections, our capacity to change.

This year, we're bringing together 100 people in Houston for a curated, intimate experience featuring original talks, real conversations, and ideas that don't just inform - they transform. Meet the thinkers, practitioners, and storytellers taking the stage on July 17 to share ideas rooted in human experience, human dignity, and human possibility.Read more

Friday, July 17 at 7:30 PM - PWYC Preview

7:30 PM
Matchbox 1

Vanguard Series, Installment III


Challenging Brown , written by Cris Eli Blak, winner of the 2025 Fade To Black Arts Festival and The Ensemble Theatre’s Premier Theatre Readings, is a powerful story of perseverance, education, and the cost of breaking barriers in a divided America.

Set in 1967 Texas, the play follows Gordon Brown as he becomes the first Black teacher at an all-white high school, stepping into a world shaped by open hostility, quiet resistance, and the daily pressure of proving he belongs. As Gordon confronts racism from both students and faculty, he must lean on his convictions, his dignity, and the support of those closest to him to navigate a system built to reject his presence.

This presentation is the 3rd installment of the Shabach Enterprise Vanguard Series, which spotlights compelling new work and bold contemporary voices.

Read more

Friday, July 17 at 8:00 PM - FREE BEER FRIDAY

8:00 PM
Matchbox 3

By Tamarie Cooper & Patrick Reynolds; Directed and Choreographed by Tamarie Cooper

WORLD PREMIERE

“TAMALALIA FOREVER!”

As every good Houstonian knows, Tamarie Cooper creates another in a series of wholly original, full-scale musicals every summer—a Houston institution with a cult following—featuring wildly irreverent scripts, riotously funny songs, wackadoodle dances, spectacular sets, large casts of quadruple-threat performers, a small but mighty band, and of course Houston’s own Carol Burnett, Lucille Ball, and Bugs Bunny rolled into one, the undefeated champion of ass-clownery, Tamarie Cooper, co-star Kyle Sturdivant forever at her side, chewing up all her expensive scenery.Read more