About.
Mom & Pop Grocery Store
Mom & Pop Grocery Store is a planned 60+-minute documentary.
It will tell the story of one of Houston’s most celebrated
theatrical venues Theater LaB Houston, which operated
April 1993 to April 2018. www.thelabhou.org
As Founder and Producing Artistic Director, Houston native
Gerald Blaise LaBita delivered over 150 theatrical productions.
The Houston Chronicle called Theater LaB Houston
“A Prominent Force in Houston Theater.”
Gerald converted his parent’s grocery store - Mickey’s Food Market
(1600 sq ft) located at 1706 Alamo in Houston’s Historic First Ward
and renovated and created it into a new theater venue like no other -
Theater LaB Houston (TLH). Gerald produced contemporary plays
bringing national and internationally renowned artists to
TLH’s intimate 75 seat venue that had never played Houston.
Gerald scouted theatrical productions from venues in New York City, London,
Toronto, Los Angeles and the Fringe Festivals of Edinburgh, Scotland;
from Canada the Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg,
and Toronto Fests. The US Fringe Festivals of Orlando, FL;
Washington DC; NYC and Hollywood, CA.
Gerald Blaise LaBita states - “Our mission from that first performance
in April 1993 has been to produce and stage the very BEST in contemporary theater.
Our purpose has been to mount comedies, dramas, musicals and guest performance artists
that took us and our audiences on an adventure. We have explored the
major issues of our lives, subjects and ideas that while they may amuse or confuse
were to be experienced in a flexible performance space that created an
atmosphere of immediacy and participation for actors and audiences alike.”
The film will be autobiographical from Gerald Blaise LaBita’s
story of growing up in Houston’s First Ward in the 1950s and
then in early 1990 creating an amazing theatrical experience.
Gerald will explain how he found some of the most experimental,
controversial, and thought-provoking plays to ever be presented on a
Houston stage. Plays that gave new opportunities for Houston actors,
directors and production designers, stage managers, and others a chance to develop their craft.
This story will be told with interviews supported with archival video footage,
production stills and production records.
This will be a well-documented unprecedented Houston story
highlighting the First Ward, the 1950s and Houston’s growth
as a major metropolis and a tiny grocery store building
that changed the face of Houston’s theater scene.
Mom & Pop Grocery Store will be produced by Rick Schmidlin.
Rick received an award from The New York Film Critics Circle
for the reedit of Orson Welles “Touch of Evil” and was the
only filmmaker ever to receive awards two years in row
from The National Society of Film Critics and
the Los Angeles Film Critics Association for “Touch of Evil”
and reconstructing Eric Von Stroheim’s “Greed” the following year.
Rick's films have been presented theatrically worldwide including:
The Berlin Film Festival, The Venice Film Festival, The Toronto Film Festival,
The Telluride Film Festival and over 20 more worldwide.
Interviews on the First Ward history, the Houston Cultural Landscape,
and from Houston Theater Artists and much more.
Commentary tapings began in February 2024 with
the final documentary planned for release in the Fall...
Director of Production and Editing
Sharon Ferranti
For additional information and to be added to our email blats
please email
[email protected]
