Former high school drama standouts create own theater troupe

A hush falls over the crowd as they observe the scene: A murder has just been committed. One witness scurries toward the limp body with a horrified exclamation. The alleged perpetrator hurriedly explains that the true culprit was, in fact, a cow who committed the crime in a barbershop using a potato.

Her attempt to explain this is garbled in a stream of gibberish and an erratic pantomime. Laughter erupts from the audience as the animated members of Thirteen O’ Clock Theatre continue playing “Serial Murder,” a Clue-like game in their recent improvisational show, Comedy Warz.

For this group of earnest young actors, Thirteen O’ Clock is the beginning of what they hope will be an ongoing tradition. For their leader, 19-year-old Alex Tey, it is the beginning of what he hopes will be a revolutionary and lasting change for performing arts in the Valley. With Thirteen O’ Clock Theatre on the fast track to becoming a non-profit organization, Tey just may see his hopes become reality.

The Rio Grande Valley Community Foundation, which is dedicated to starting small nonprofits in the Valley, is helping the theatertroupe begin the lengthy process of becoming certified by next summer. Until then, the company is operating as a sister foundation.

More than a year ago, it would have been hard for Tey, currently a theater student at Northwestern University, to imagine that Thirteen O’ Clock Theatre would take on a life of its own. The venture began last summer when Tey and two friends, Jose Rodriguez from Sharyland High School and Daniella Benavides from McAllen High School, decided to start the troupe.

“We had all just graduated, and it was really just the three of us saying ‘Man, we really want to do a show this summer,’” said Tey, a McAllen Memorial High School graduate. “We held auditions, put together a few shows, and it was great. It was a lot of fun for everyone involved, and I knew already from that point on that I was going to come back and do this in the summer.”

Miami-born and Valley-bred, Tey has always fostered the idea of a theater company that is like a family, coming together time after time to bring messages to the community, and Tey fully intends to make a career out of doing that here in the Valley.

“I think the Valley is poised at a moment of possibility,” said Tey. “It excites me to see so much about art cropping up all over, and I feel like we’re providing another piece to that puzzle of where the Valley can go in terms of art and culture.”

Thirteen O’ Clock is currently working on two upcoming shows, Picasso At The Lapin Agile, written by Steve Martin and directed by Tey, and Fuddy Meers, written by David Lindsay-Abaire and directed by Brisa Muñoz. Both shows will be performed from July 30 to Aug. 2 at the University of Texas Pan American’s Albert L. Jeffers Theatre.

Joel Garza, a University of Texas at Austin graduate, is one of almost 30 people who are now actively involved in the Thirteen O’ Clock family. Garza was impressed when he first saw one of Thirteen’s early productions, Leading Ladies, last summer and now uses his experience as the director of public relations at the Museum of South Texas History to help Thirteen O’ Clock with much of their publicity.

Thirteen O’ Clock has used things like posters, press releases and radio interviews to get the word out. Websites like Facebook to have been extremely instrumental in growing a strong network of followers, and recently Thirteen O’ Clock has begun to use text message alerts to help spread news about upcoming shows as well.

Word of mouth is also something that Tey considers to be very important in developing Thirteen O’ Clock’s audiences.

“Between the casts of the shows and the production team, we have so many different people who all have their own circle of friends,” Tey said. “It was proven to us when we did Comedy Warz that we can reap huge benefits by just asking our friends to bring their friends. We packed the house.”

Deeana Claeys, a senior at Sharyland High School, is just one of many who have recently joined the company, and she too was recruited through a friend. Claeys is extremely grateful that she has had the opportunity to work with an organization like Thirteen O’ Clock.

“I love Thirteen O’ Clock Theatre because it’s kids working with kids,” said Claeys. “Alex just gets me motivated. Now I feel like maybe I could potentially do this in college and come give back to the Valley like he wants to do.”

Carlos Garza, Tey’s former theater director at Memorial High School, says that as a student, Tey always pushed for the betterment of whatever he was involved in, so Garza is not at all surprised that Tey has been successful so far in establishing Thirteen O’ Clock in the community.

Back at the small, empty office suite used for rehearsals, Tey, with his signature bright green bandana tied rakishly around his forehead, listens intently as his cast begins a scene. Watching Tey direct, you can see why he says he is a firm believer in making things happen on your own, no matter what your circumstances may be.

“If there’s any message I could send to any sort of aspiring artist or anyone out there, it’s that you can do it,” Tey said. “You can create your own opportunities.”

Leslie Ann Ramey is an intern writer who covers performing arts for The Monitor and Festiva.