About Me
Actor
Stage, Film, Commercial, VO- New York City, Los Angeles, Houston. Fourteen year member of the Resident Acting Company at the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre.
Teacher/ Director
20 years of teaching and directing young actors. BA, BFA, and MFA programs. Intro to Acting through advanced scene study and movement. Plays of all eras and styles
Current Projects
Please consider donating to the Alley Theatre’s Lights Up! Campaign. (alleytheatre.org)
The Alley is a Houston institution and has been my happy home for 14 years. Help us come back even better than before!
Bio
Chris Hutchison is an actor and teacher originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He has been in Houston for fourteen years as a member of the Resident Acting Company at The Alley Theatre. He has appeared in over 60 Alley Theatre productions since first appearing as Hal in Proof in 2004. Other favorite roles include: Dr. Irving Baer in Quack, Roland in Constellations, Duke Orsino in Twelfth Night, Michael in Good People, Mervyn in A Behanding in Spokane, Dennis in Mauritius, Padraic in The Lieutenant of Inishmore, and Boo Radley in To Kill a Mockingbird. Other roles include: As You Like It (Orlando) The Foreigner (Owen Musser), Dracula (Jonathan Harker), You Can’t take it With You (Ed), What We’re Up Against (Weber), The Seafarer (Nicky), The Seagull (Medvedenko), World Premiere of Ether Dome (Bigelow), The Mousetrap (Giles), Amadeus (Emperor Joseph II), Pygmalion (Freddy Eynsford-Hill), August, Osage County (Little Charles), World Premiere of Intelligence-Slave (Bruno), Subject To Fits (Ippolit), Orson’s Shadow (Sean), and Much Ado About Nothing (Borachio).
Before settling in Houston, Chris lived in NYC and LA, with three years in Seattle in between to attend the MFA program at the University of Washington.
Off-Broadway credits include Ensemble Studio Theatre Marathon and revivals of The Second Man, Museum and The Hasty Heart with Obie award-winning Keen Company. Chris’s solo show TRIP was selected for production by HERE Arts Center in SoHo. Regionally he has appeared at The Guthrie Theater in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Bottom), The Pasadena Playhouse in Joined at the Head, Baltimore’s Center Stage in Dinah Was (Rollie), Capital Repertory Theatre in Fuddy Meers (Limping Man) and Rounding Third (Don), Houston Shakespeare in Antony and Cleopatra (Enobarbus) and As You LIke It (Touchstone), Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and Hartford TheaterWorks. In six summers as a member of the Ensemble at Bread Loaf in Vermont: A Streetcar Named Desire (Stanley Kowalski), Arcadia (Chater), Ashes to Ashes (Devlin), Big Love (Constantine), Romeo and Juliet (Tybalt), Measure for Measure (Duke Vincentio) and Twelfth Night (Aguecheek).
Film and television: Rose Garden, Kill the Poor, Ed, Chappelle’s Show, All My Children, Guiding Light, Confessions:Two Faces of Evil, and Precious Victims. Chris has provided voices for over thirty anime series and films with Setai/Seraphim studios and ADV.
Chris has an undergraduate degree in English from Lafayette College, and an MFA from The University of Washington. He has served as Adjunct faculty at the University of Houston for seven years, teaching in the BFA and MFA programs. He has also served as a visiting Lecturer and Director at Lafayette College and Cornell College in Iowa, as well as the Breadloaf School of English at Middlebury College in VT. Chris is a proud member of Actor’s Equity and the Screen Actors Guild/AFTRA.
Critics (with requisite grain of salt)
Recent
1984 @Alley Theatre
“Chris Hutchison, who plays O’Brien...give[s] an exceptionally memorable performance. His grotesque parody of kindliness as he tortures Winston...is striking.”
-Terry Teachout, The Wall Street Journal, 2020
QUACK @Alley Theatre
"...the spotlight belongs to Chris Hutchison as Dr. Baer. Hutchison’s range from dismissive to indignant to berated to vengeful is on full display and even better, on full display with incredible comedic timing...Hutchison never devolves into hysteria, instead relying on his trademark gravelly voice and easy flowing physicality to show emotion. Whether he’s deriding his former Princeton classmates or nursing a hangover under a yoga mat, Hutchison has our attention and our laughter."
-Jessica Goldman, Houston Press 2019
MURDER on the ORIENT EXPRESS
"Chris Hutchsion is effectively creepy..."
Brett Cullum, Broadway World 2019
"Hats off to Chris Hutchison..."
D.L.Groover, Houston Press, 2019
NEW YORK
THE HASTY HEART, Keen Company
“The actor’s commitment to the work shines through and makes this a worthy excursion into the past”
- Neil Genzlinger, NY Times
“Yank (Chris Hutchison) has a stutter, but it just seems like a symptom of his bounding eagerness to express himself. Easy with affection and ruddy with health, he seems like our central character…
In Mr. Hutchison, the play has an anchor - his transparency and humor set the tone”
- Helen Shaw, The New York Sun
“…Seamless, lived-in ensemble work of the cast, particularly Chris Hutchison’s wry Yank…”
-Robert Simonson, Time Out NY
“the winning Chris Hutchison”
-Matthew Murray, Talkin Broadway.com
“Hutchison, who at times can bring to mind Jimmy Stewart, beguiles with his character’s Southern-tinged stutter…even as he allows his own temper to flare…comically touching”
-Andy Propst, American Theater Web
"When Supporting Players Shine"
“..the actor who dominated the show was a fellow named Chris Hutchison. He played Yank, the American soldier who engaged in a battle of wills with the Scottish soldier... Hutchison was perfect, giving a performance of grit, humor, and humanity. ”
-The Siegel Column, THEATERMANIA
“…Chris Hutchison in The Hasty Heart: …poignant characterization in the Keen Company production of John Patrick's play set in a British Army hospital in Southeast Asia during World War II.”
-The Best of 2004/TheaterMania’s editors identify the theatrical highlights of the year
MUSEUM with Keen Company
“...I'd probably be going against my principles if I singled out any individual performances. So I will, just to show that there aren't any principles where contemporary art's concerned: ...Chris Hutchison as the most persistent photographer...“
Michael Feingold, The Village Voice, June 11, 2002
http://www.villagevoice.com/2002-06-11/theater/rampant-exhibitionism/
Regional
@ALLEY THEATRE
TWELFTH NIGHT
"Chris Hutchison’s commanding and irreverent Orsino."
-Natalie de la Garza, Houston Press 2018
A BEHANDING IN SPOKANE
Hutchison, so memorable a few seasons ago as McDonagh's Lieutenant, lets go completely in this role and delivers a bellwether performance that'll be hard to match this subsequent season.”
-D.L.Groover, Houston Press, September 8, 2010
http://www.houstonpress.com/2010-09-09/culture/handy-dandy/
Hutchison makes the role sing in this complex, richly nuanced, artfully understated performance.”
-Evans, Houston Chronicle, September 2, 2010
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/7184088.html
INTELLIGENCE-SLAVE (by Kenneth Lin, World Premiere)
“Chris Hutchison gives a compelling performance as Bruno, a desperate prisoner who talks himself into a place on Herzstark's team to stay alive. When his starving character breaks down weeping at being allowed to eat a bit of sausage, it's almost too painful to watch.”
-Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle, June 1, 2010
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/7027291.html
LIEUTENANT OF INISHMORE
(YEAR-END BEST / Memorable plays that stole the stage)-
“Chris Hutchison led a scary-brilliant cast of crazy-as-a-coot Irish terrorists, each stupider than the last.”
-Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle
“Chris Hutchison's taut, wiry, husky-voiced Padraic seems capable of anything, with no conscience (except for that cat). convincingly distraught and unhinged once fears about his cat set in, and increasingly ominous as the action advances.”
Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/theater/5503537.html
AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY
“Chris Hutchison scores as the comically pathetic, perpetually unemployed Little Charles.”
-Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle, February 24, 2011
http://www.29-95.com/art/story/theater-review-august-osage-county
MAURITIUS
“In the corner of the shop, Dennis (Chris Hutchison) sits, sly as a spider. Assistant? friend? Hanger-on?...the exceptional cast adds detailed subtext to the pencil-thin caricatures... Hutchison's Dennis is both clueless and oozing familiarity — Jackie doesn't know whether to hit him or kiss him”
-DL Groover, Houston Press, April 22, 2009
http://www.houstonpress.com/2009-04-23/culture/mauritius-at-the-alley/
“The Alley Theatre's deftly staged, persuasively acted Houston premiere takes full advantage of the marvelous opportunities in Theresa Rebeck’s cunningly crafted suspense comedy.…Chris Hutchison makes Dennis the engine of the male trio's scheming. He's untrustworthy yet ingratiating - the wily, nervy con man so eager to score that he gets in over his head. ”
Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle, April 15, 2009
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/theater/6377620.html
A CHRISTMAS CAROL
“Chris Hutchison brings quiet grace to Bob Cratchit.”
Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle, December 2009
Sherlock Holmes and the Crucifer of Blood
“Chris Hutchison's forthright, stalwart Watson - his ordinariness lending a nice balance to the teamwork.”
Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ent/arts/theater/6536841.html
Subject to Fits, A response to Dostoyevsky’s The Idiot
“Chris Hutchison makes something memorable of the tragicomic Ippolit, a consumptive ineffectually toying with the idea of suicide in his last days.”
-Everett Evans, Houston Chronicle, January 26, 2007
PROOF
"The way Hutchison makes geek jokes about playing in a grad-student rock band is only one stroke in a brilliant portrait, and Mr. Hutchison embodies him completely.
The relationship that springs up between him and Catherine is full of interesting shades and ambiguities."
- LAWSON TAITTE, The Dallas Morning News
Other Regional
@ Capital Rep, Albany, NY
FUDDY MEERS
"Hutchison…in particular has a field day with his utterly wild character…his delivery and physical shtick are superb"
-Paul Lamar, The Daily Gazette
"In the high octane role…Hutchison strikes all the right keys as the inscrutable and nasty man with many problems."
-Robert Couture, WAMC Radio
"Hutchisons mysterious Limping Man is menacing, yes, but not altogether unsympathetic."
-Kathryn Ceceri
ROUNDING THIRD
"Hutchison plays Don like he lives the role. He perfectly balances Don's bitter and sweet sides, and his eccentric moments…seem absolutely natural."
-Micheal Eck, Times Union
"…a very convincing performance"
-Bob Couture , The Daily Gazette
"Hutchison finds dimension in a character who, through much of the play, is outrageous and unsympathetic, and lays down valid groundwork for a shift in personality…"
-Jeffrey Borak, The Berkshire Eagle
.
..AND ON TACKLING THE TWO IN REP…
"wonderful work…just short of astounding…In Fuddy Meers Chris Hutchison plays an aggressive psychotic whose supressed violence is a source of great and surprising humor. In Rounding Third, he plays a socially inept man who is also aggressive, but in a touching way. He is marvelous in each play and is clearly an actor with a future."
-Bob Goepfert, The Record