Current Season
September 28 – October 28Permanent Collection
Soon after African-American businessman Sterling North becomes the new Director of the Morris Foundation, he discovers that this world-famous art collection includes several significant African sculptures tucked away in storage. His proposal to add them to the public galleries is opposed by the Foundation’s long-time education director, who is loyal to the idiosyncratic wishes of the late Dr. Morris. Spurred on by a zealous local journalist, this clash quickly escalates to public accusations of racism and a bitter struggle for control of the collection. Permanent Collection is a searing examination of racial politics that ultimately asks how much space – literally and figuratively – the white world gives to African-Americans. What is the cost of failing to view the world through another’s eyes?
November 24 – December 30
God’s Trombones
This holiday celebration based on the Negro sermon poems by James Weldon Johnson has become a staple at Jubilee. This classic musical returns to the Jubilee stage for the first time in several years with the original music audiences have grown to love. God’s Trombones is a musical celebration that will lift your spirits and rock your soul.
January 25 – February 24
A Lesson Before Dying
This powerful adaptation of Ernest Gaines 1993 National Book Critics Award winning novel centers on a young African-American man wrongly sentenced to death in a deeply prejudiced 1940’s. Through a reluctant school teacher, he is taught how to live and die with grace and dignity. A Lesson Before Dying is about the ways in which people insist on declaring the value of their lives and addresses the basic predicament of what it is to be a human being. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and an Oprah’s Book Club choice.
March 21 – April 20
Crowns
A moving and celebratory musical play in which hats become a springboard for an exploration of black history and identity as seen through the eyes of a young black woman who has traveled South to stay with her grandmother after her brother is killed in Brooklyn. There is a hat for every occasion, from flirting to churchgoing to funerals to baptisms, and the characters use hats to tell tales concerning everything from the etiquette of hats to their historical and contemporary social functioning. Music and dance underscore and support the narratives in this uplifting gospel musical by Dallas native Regina Taylor.
May 16 – June 15
Blue
Using the mesmerizing music of fictional jazz singer Blue Williams as an integral part of the storytelling, Blue spans nearly twenty years in the life of the affluent African-American Clark family in rural South Carolina. The play chronicles Peggy Clark’s social ambitions and her two sons struggle to reconcile their family’s expectations. But there is a private side of Peggy that she keeps well hidden until a sudden twist of fate exposes her secret. Blue abounds with tenderness, acceptance, and the search for unconditional love while issues of class, wealth, and fame bubble to the surface in this humorous family portrait which introduces audiences to an African-American family the likes of which is seldom portrayed on stage or screen.
July 11 – August 10
Ain’t Misbehavin’: The Fats Waller Musical Show
"The joint is jumping!” The Harlem Renaissance was the Golden Age for venues like The Cotton Club and The Savoy Ballroom; a time when the dives along Lenox Avenue were ablaze from stride piano players banging out a new beat – swing. Ain’t Misbehavin’ is a vibrant musical revue and tribute to the black musicians of the early 1900s that centers on the music of one of the most prolific musicians of the time, Thomas “Fats” Waller. Bold, bright, and told with the cheeky humor for which Fats Waller was known, this Tony Award winning musical has become a classic of African-American theatre that is sure to bring the house down and keep you singing, and swinging, into the streets.
Season Information
Ticket Information
The following information is valid for Jubilee Theatre’s 2007-2008 Season. For more information regarding dates, pricing, and ticketing policies, please call the Jubilee Theatre Box Office at 817.338.4411. The Jubilee Theatre Box Office is open Tuesday through Friday from noon to 6 p.m. and 45 minutes before curtain time.
Past Productions
Following is an alphabetical list of just some of the works produced at Jubilee Theatre over its long history: