Black Theatre Troupe will open its 2025–26 season with “Grace & Glorie,” a two-character play set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia.

The story follows the unlikely pairing of Grace, a fiercely independent 90-year-old cancer patient determined to spend her final days at home, and Glorie, a hospice volunteer from New York with a sharply different worldview, the theater notes in a press release. What begins as a clash of personalities unfolds into a series of candid, often funny exchanges, revealing how humor can open the door to empathy, healing, and shared humanity.

The production runs Sept. 5-21 at the Helen K. Mason Performing Arts Center at 1333 E. Washington St., in Phoenix.

Tickets are $50 and are available at blacktheatretroupe.org or by calling 602-258-8128.

Grace will be portrayed by Shari Watts, who has performed with Black Theatre Troupe in “Black Pearl Sings” and “The Taste Test.” Watts’ memorable roles include Jeri Neal in “Dixie Swim Club,” Kate in “All My Sons,” and her ariZoni Award-winning turn as Martha in “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” at Theater Works.

Glorie will be played by Ryan Jenkins, who has appeared on BTT’s stage in “Sunset Baby” and “Barbecue.” Jenkins has also performed with Southwest Shakespeare Company and Stray Cat Theatre.

The show’s director, Chanel Bragg, returns to Black Theatre Troupe following last season’s productions of “The African Company Presents Richard III” and “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill.” Bragg’s regional directing credits include “Waitress,” “Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill,” and “Looking Over the President’s Shoulder “at The Phoenix Theatre Company; “The Glass Menagerie” at Arizona Theatre Company and “The Hula-Hooping Queen” at Childsplay.

“I truly believe that Grace and Glorie beautifully captures the transformative power of inter-generational connection,” Bragg stated. “In a world often divided by age, culture, race, and experience, this story reminds us that healing, understanding, and profound growth can occur when we simply take the time to listen.”

First staged in 1991 after development at the Shenandoah Valley Playwrights Retreat, the play received national attention with an off-Broadway run starring Estelle Parsons and Lucie Arnaz. A Hallmark Hall of Fame television adaptation featuring Gena Rowlands and Diane Lane went on to win the Christopher Award, which honors works that “affirm the highest values of the human spirit.”