COOL JACK JAM
Written and Directed By Randolph Smith 
 

September 2019

13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, 27,28,29

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With violence plaguing the chaotic streets of Baltimore, the Mayor reaches out to rival neighborhoods for a solution.  In doing so, five enemies – unlikely to otherwise coexist – come together for a cease violence in the community all while showcasing their new way of singing. COOL, JACK JAM documents their journey to find peace in the church, in the streets and in the places where they live.

THE COLORED MUSEUM

By George C. Wolfe

Directed by  Rosiland Cauthen

(Satire)

November 2019

1, 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, 17

Serving as an elaborate satire of the prominent themes and identities of African-American culture, the play is set in a fictional museum where iconic African-American figures are kept for public consumption. Told in a series of eleven sketches, each segment centers on a different “exhibit” in the museum, and serves as a small one-person play or monologue.

CHRISTMAS IS COMIN’ UPTOWN

By Phillip Rose, Peter Udell, Charles Dickens, Gary Sherman

Directed by Tamba Giles
(Musical)

November 2019  29, 30,

December 2919 1, 6, 7, 8, 13, 14, 15

Scrooge is a Harlem slumlord about to foreclose an apartment house, a recreation center and a church when his late partner and the ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Future take him on their rounds.  He comes upon his own grave after watching tiny Tim’s burial procession, and he’s reformed.

PURLIE

By Ossie Davis, Phillip Rose, Peter Udell
Composer Gary Geld

Directed by Troy Burton
(Musical)

“Purlie” is set in an era when Jim Crow laws still were in effect in the American South. It focuses is on the dynamic, traveling preacher.

AUGUST WILSON’S
THE PIANO LESSON

Directed by D. Russell Owens
(Drama)

March 2020 13, 14, 15,  20, 21, 22,  27, 28, 29

The story is set in 1930’s Pittsburgh, where Doaker Charles lives with his niece, Berniece, and her young daughter, Mareetha.  The arrival of Berniece’s brother, Boy Willie, from Mississippi, sets the plot in motion, as he declares his intention of selling the piano that holds a unique place in the family’s history.

GOD’S TROMBONES
By James Weldon Johnson

Directed by Carolyn White
(Gospel Musical)

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April 2020 10, 11, 12,  17, 18, 19,  24, 25, 26 

One Prayer and Seven Sermons that trace the styles of preaching from pastoral to hell and damnation, to that great gettin’ up morning.  Soul-stirring gospel music will also bring you to your feet. 

JUKEBOX

Directed by Randolph Smith
Musical)

May 2020 15, 16, 17,  22, 23, 24,  29, 30, 31

June 2020  5, 6, 7

The first jukebox, in the United States, dates back to the 1940’s.  It is a flash from the past, a time when you could go to the club or bar and put a coin in the slot to hear your favorite songs.  Songs that made you laugh, cry, get up on your feet to dance or just sway to the music.  You might even pick up your date for the night or forever!  Come hear songs from the past to present, reminisce and enjoy JUKEBOX.

THE WIZ

By William F. Brown and Charles Small

Directed by Tracie Jiggetts
(Musical)

June 2020 19, 20, 21,  26, 27, 28,  

July 2020 3, 4, 5,  10, 11, 12

THE WIZ is the retelling L. Frank Baum’s 1900 classic, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.  In this musical version, Dorothy, a restless Kansas farm girl eager to see more of the world, is transported by a tornado to a magical world of Munchkins, Witches and a Yellow Brick Road on the way to the Emerald City to meet the Wizard of Oz. Eventually, she learns that there really is “no place like home.”