Black Theatre Troupe announced its 2023-24 season, which includes a comedy, two musicals, an August Wilson masterwork, and the company's annual holiday show.

Black Theatre Troupe marks its return to Tempe Center for the Arts, 700 W. Rio Salado Parkway, with the groundbreaking musical “The Gospel at Colonus.”

From its home at the Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center in downtown Phoenix, at 1333 E. Washington St., the company will present “Steal Away, Black Nativity,” “The Piano Lesson” and “The All Night Strut.”

2023-24 SEASON

“Steal Away” – Sept. 15-Oct. 1, Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center

A folktale, set in Chicago during the Depression, this farce is the story of five upstanding church ladies who raise funds to send young Black women to college by holding bake sales and the like. Their latest beneficiary, Tracyada, has more ambitious ideas. She wants them all to rob a bank.

“The Gospel at Colonus” – Oct. 27-Nov. 12, Tempe Center for the Arts

This landmark work of the American musical theatre blends the agony of Greek tragedy and the ecstasy of Black gospel music. This retelling of Sophocles’ classic “Oedipus at Colonus” is performed as a song play set in a Pentecostal church.

“Black Nativity” – Dec. 8-17, Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center

Since 1975, Troupe audiences have enjoyed this legendary holiday event by Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes. It returns to the Black Theatre Troupe stage for a special limited engagement. A joyous company of singers, actors, dancers and musicians delivers its powerful message of joy, hope, victory and liberation.

“The Piano Lesson” – Feb. 2-18, Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center

A brother and his sister are in a battle. At the center lies the family’s prized possession, an heirloom piano covered with incredible carvings detailing the family’s rise from slavery. Boy Willie wants to sell it and build the family fortune. Berniece on the other hand will go to any length to keep it and preserve the family history. Their uncle stands in between.

“The All Night Strut” – March 22-April 7, Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center

From the funky jive of Harlem to the sophisticated elegance of El Morocco, this musical celebrates a golden age in music and the great American songbook filled with jazz, blues, be-bop and swing.

*

Season flex packages for four, three and two plays are on sale now starting at $89 at blacktheatretroupe.org or by calling 602-258-8128. Flex packages exclude “Black Nativity.”

Founded by Helen K. Mason in 1970 as a space for underserved artists to share the Black experience, Black Theatre Troupe began performing small plays, poetry readings, and musical performances in a community center in Phoenix’s historic multi-cultural Eastlake Park.

The 150-seat Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center is now the company’s permanent home, exactly two blocks from where it all began.