A Play by August Wilson, Directed by Dewey Scott-Wiley
 
Set in 1904, August Wilson's "Gem of the Ocean" begins on the eve of Aunt Esther's 287th birthday. When Citizen Barlow comes to her Pittsburg's Hill District home seeking asylum, she sets him off on a spiritual journey to find a city in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Gem of the Ocean is the ninth work in Wilson's ten-play cycle that has recorded the American Black experience and helped to define generations. A beautiful play by one of America’s classic playwrights, "Gem of the Ocean" will leave you moved and inspired.

 

Book and Lyrics by STEW, Music by STEW & Heidi Rodewald, Created on collaboration with Annie Dorsen, Directed by Chad Henderson, Music Direction by Tom Beard, Choreography by Terrance Henderson
 
From singer-songwriter and performance artist Stew comes "Passing Strange", a daring musical that takes you on a journey across boundaries of place, identity and theatrical convention. Stew brings us the story of a young bohemian who charts a course for "the real" through sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll. Loaded with soulful lyrics and overflowing with passion, the show takes us from black middle-class America to Amsterdam, Berlin and beyond on a journey towards personal and artistic authenticity. One of the most unique rock-musical experiences in the nation, Passing Strange comes to the Capital City this Spring. All tickets for this show will be $25. Shows Times: Thursdays 7:30 PM, Friday and Saturdays 8:00 PM, and Sundays 3:00 PM (Please not there will not be a show on Sunday March 25th and Sunday April 8th)

 

A play by Sarah Ruhl, Directed by Ellen Douglas Schlaefer
 
"In the Next Room or the Vibrator Play" is a comedy about marriage, intimacy, and electricity. Set in the 1880s at the dawn of the age of electricity in a seemingly perfect, well-to-do Victorian home, proper gentleman and scientist Dr. Givings has innocently invented an extraordinary new device for treating “hysteria” in women (and occasionally men): the vibrator. Adjacent to the doctor’s laboratory, his young and energetic wife tries to tend to their newborn daughter—and wonders exactly what is going on in the next room. When a new “hysterical” patient and her husband bring a wet nurse and their own complicated relationship into the doctor’s home, Dr. and Mrs. Givings must examine the nature of their own marriage, and what it truly means to love someone. This laugh out loud, provocative and touching play will take Trustus patrons on an “arousing” journey through the depths of the heart this May.

 

Music and Lyrics by Robert Lopez & Jeff Marx, Book by Jeff Whitty, Directed by Dewey Scott-Wiley, Music Direction by Randy Moore
 
Winner of the TONY® “TRIPLE CROWN” for BEST MUSICAL, BEST SCORE and BEST BOOK, "Avenue Q" is part flesh, part felt and packed with heart. "Avenue Q" is a laugh-out-loud musical that tells the timeless story of a recent college grad named Princeton who moves into a shabby New York apartment all the way out on Avenue Q. There, he meets Kate (the girl next door), Rod (the Republican), Trekkie (the internet sexpert), Lucy the Slut (need we say more?), and other colorful types who help PRINCETON finally discover his purpose in life! Featuring puppets by Columbia Marionette Theatre’s Lyon Hill, "Avenue Q" will leave you rolling in the aisles with the most original experience in the Midlands this summer. All tickets for this show will be $30. Shows Times: Thursdays 7:30 PM, Friday and Saturdays 8:00 PM, and Sundays 2:00 PM (Please not there will not be a show on Sunday June 17th)

 

Based on the short story by Evan S. Connell, A New play by Jon Tuttle, Directed by Dewey Scott-Wiley
 
Thanksgiving Day, 1970: the Cowboys and Packers are on ABC, John Gary's on the hi-fi, and friends are gathering for their traditional feast at the Zobrowski home. Members of the greatest generation now living in comfortable suburban split-levels, now settled into conventional marriages and predictable careers, now living the ordinary lives of ordinary middle-class Americans, they are vaguely aware of the world moving on and away from them, and the apprehension that something is coming for them. An unexpected call from a world-travelling old friend suddenly makes them confront all the choices they have made, all the choices they never knew they had, and that part of themselves that has died along the way. Based on the short story by Evan S. Connell, "The Palace of the Moorish Kings" asks us which terms of surrender we must accept as a means of belonging, and what we must abandon to stay free.