Texas Repertory Theatre Company was founded during the Holiday Season, 2002. Originally conceived by Steven Fenley, a native of the northwest Houston area, Texas Repertory Theatre Company ( then unnamed ) took its first breath one night around Fenley's kitchen table when he approached Craig Miller to serve as the Artistic Director. Mr. Miller and Mr. Fenley were classmates at the University of South Carolina, pursuing their Master of Fine Arts degrees in directing and acting, respectively. Both had previously run their own, smaller theatre companies, Miller in Chicago, IL and Fenley in Houston, and while both companies achieved great critical success in their respective communities, Miller and Fenley noticed an inherent similarity in the weakness of their previous individual endeavors: the audience didn't always come first! They approached Michelle Elliott ( then Production Manager of a professional theatre in Columbia, SC ) about being the Production Manager of this new venture, which she accepted. One month later, the founders of a new theatre company were hard at work and the first seeds of the Texas Rep were being planted.