As La Bête Productions wraps up its inaugural season, it has another reason to celebrate. The San Antonio theatrical company has found a permanent home at Woodlawn Pointe(702 Donaldson Ave.) on the West Side.
Peter Photos, La Bête’s president, and Blake Hamman, artistic director, are both longtime vets of San Antonio’s live theater community. They cofounded the company to create immersive experiences that challenge both the audiences and the artists on stage.
“I think we can provide an opportunity for the city to have high-quality productions, and we can really have a lot of fun doing it,” Photos says.
Seeking a suitable, affordable place to stage plays, the duo eventually toured Woodlawn Pointe, a community center that once primarily served as a home for River City Church. Photos and Hamman immediately saw potential.
“I’ve always wanted a little theater here at the center,” Gilbert Lopez, chair of the community center’s board of directors, says. “[The center] was really advantageous for La Bête. They really wanted to perform their shows here.”
Following a suggestion from Tim Hedgepeth, another local stage director, La Bête staged its first play at Woodlawn Pointe, Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, in December 2025. Performances sold out, and the company went on to stage Ken Ludwig’s farce, Lend Me a Tenor, in March.
Earlier in August, while performing an adaptation of Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, La Bête announced it had found its permanent home in the community center’s banquet hall — now known as Théâtre de la Bête (Theatre of the Beast).
Belinda Harolds and Kevin Engel in a performance of La Bete Productions' One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. \u200bPhoto courtesy of Mewborne Photography/La Bete Productions
Lopez says diverse crowds have warmly greeted La Bête’s shows and the intimate black box theater. But the founders aren’t taking anything for granted on stage and off.
“[Attendees] will see that all the details have been hammered out and worked on, and they will know that they're in good hands during this production,” Photos says. “We're just trying to tell stories in a really high-quality environment.”
“I have had so many people, throughout my life, who’ve gone to see plays and say, ‘I will never go back and see another play,” says Hamman. “Our goal is to make sure that somebody comes in, who has never seen a play before will leave thinking, ‘Wow, I had no idea that a play could be this fun or this touching.’”
Now settled in its official home at Woodlawn Pointe, La Bête now turns its attention to its final production of 2026 and planning for a slate of shows to stage in 2027. Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors will be performed during the Halloween season. The 2027 campaign will include everything from Broadway hit Kimberly Akimbo to Tennessee Williams classic Streetcar Named Desire.
Hamman and Photos have nothing but praise for Woodlawn Pointe’s leadership and La Bête’s fellow tenants, which include Seniors in Play, Pride of San Antonio Showband, and Project Prom Dress San Antonio.
“It's really a great marriage of two organizations,” Photos says. “Woodlawn Pointe is a fantastic organization that provides community space for a myriad of different organizations doing good work for people across the city of San Antonio.”
Lopez agrees that the two ventures go together like a curtain and call.
“It was apparent early on that [La Bête] had found their permanent home,” Lopez says. “They work very well with us.”
