HITS Theatre
HITS Theatre’s mission is to educate, train, and inspire students by providing professional-level performing arts programs in a collaborative culturally diverse environment allowing for personal growth and the highest level of skill development and artistry for Houston’s youth.
In 1980, Carolyn Franklin, an experienced actor, director, and teacher, founded a school on the second floor of an office building. She called it Houston Upstairs Theatre School. Four years later, when the school moved into its theater in The Heights, it became known simply as HITS. For more than three decades, HITS has been helping students achieve life skills through stage skills, addressing the need for a quality performing arts education while providing a nurturing and affirming environment for young people to learn and grow as performers and individuals.
Educating youth in the performing arts is the primary purpose of HITS Theatre. At HITS we strive to instill in students the four C’s – critical thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication. With affirmations and a strong sense of ensemble leading the way in every class, our key goals are to serve our students’ personal development and growth as both performers and individuals, while continuing to produce quality shows for everyone to enjoy.
Today, HITS is one of the leading performing arts education organizations for youth in the Houston metropolitan area. Classes teach more than learning techniques of singing, dancing, and acting. We aim to transform students into disciplined team players, creative thinkers, and confident communicators – important 21st-century skills needed to compete in our complex and diverse global economy. While many of our alumni have pursued careers in the performing arts, many more have used the stage skills and confidence they developed at HITS to become successful in various other professional careers, ranging from medicine, engineering, human services, education, legal services, business management and much more.