Jerri Shafer

Just after midnight, a snowdrift stops the Orient Express in its tracks. The luxurious train is surprisingly full for the time of the year, but by the morning it is one passenger fewer. An American tycoon lies dead in his compartment, stabbed eight times, his door locked from the inside. Isolated and with a killer in their midst, the passengers rely on detective Hercule Poirot to identify the murderer – in case he or she decides to strike again.

This is the heroic and true story of children coming of age in Terezin, the “Jewish city” established by the Nazis near Prague as a way station before the death camps. In the face of unspeakable horror, these children use their determination and creativity to build lives filled with hope and beauty — playing, studying, making art, and writing an underground newspaper — all at the peril of being executed.

This dynamic musical adaptation of Rick Riordan's bestselling book opened on Broadway in 2019. When teenager Percy Jackson discovers he's a demigod, he and his friends embark on an epic journey to find Zeus' missing lightning bolt and prevent a war among the gods.

This original play, a world premiere, by Columbus playwright, Cory Skurdal, tells the story of an elderly woman who is looking back on her life as she prepares to leave the home she has lived in, not always happily, for most of her life. She recalls her often challenging relationships with her parents, her sister, her former husband, her son, and her daughter.

A deviously delicious Broadway and Hollywood sci-fi smash musical, Little Shop Of Horrors has devoured the hearts of theatre-goers for over 30 years. The meek floral assistant Seymour Krelborn stumbles across a new breed of plant he names 'Audrey II' - after his coworker crush. This foul-mouthed, R&B-singing carnivore promises unending fame and fortune to the down and out Krelborn as long as he keeps feeding it, BLOOD. Over time, though, Seymour discovers Audrey II's out of this world origins and intent towards global domination!

For seven years, a certain boy wizard went to a particular Wizard School and conquered evil. This play, however, is not his story. It is the story of the Puffs, another group of well-meaning, loyal wizards at that famed wizarding school, who just happened to be around for all of that evil conquering, too.

This sensational drama tells the tale of Troy Maxson, a former star of the Negro baseball leagues who now works as a garbage man in 1957 Pittsburgh. Excluded as a black man from the major leagues during his prime, Troy’s bitterness takes its toll on his relationships with his wife and his son, who now wants his own chance to play ball. Revived in 2010 starring Denzel Washington in the lead role. Innovative playwright August Wilson gives an unflinching look at the African American experience in the 1950s. Touching, funny, and occasionally brutal.

Students at Dominion Middle School traveled back more than 100 years (and trek west a few states) for their spring musical this year. Audience members sat in the expansive auditorium at the DMS building, 100 Arcadia Ave., to watch The Music Man Jr. Set in Iowa in 1912, the Broadway classic has been adapted for younger performers. The original first hit the stage in 1957 and went on to win five Tony Awards.

Crimes of the Heart is a Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winning play by American playwright Beth Henley.  The scene is Hazlehurst, Mississippi, where the three Magrath sisters have gathered to await news of the family patriarch, their grandfather, who is living out his last hours in the local hospital.

This joyful and exuberant, yet ultimately touching, comedy focuses on three women at crossroads in their lives—the Wild sisters of Winedale, Virginia. Fanny and Willa and their frustratingly quirky sister-in-law Johnnie Faye.

Sister Act, a feel-good musical comedy smash based on the hit 1992 film. Set in 1977, disco diva, Deloris Van Cartier, witnesses a murder, and is put in protective custody in the one place the cops are sure she won't be found: a convent!

Cooney’s script is much like a van Gogh painting. Some characters, like Erin, are created with intricate paintbrush strokes; others are fingerpainted in concentric circles.

Join WCT in Germany, 1891 in a world where the grown-ups hold all the cards, and a group of students navigate teenage self-discovery and coming of age anxiety in a powerful celebration of youth and rebellion. Spring Awakening explores the journey from adolescence to adulthood with a poignancy and passion that is illuminating and unforgettable. This musical is an electrifying fusion of morality, sexuality and rock and roll that is sure to exhilarate audiences!

Anne Frank emerges from history a living, lyrical, intensely gifted young girl, who confronts her rapidly changing life and the increasing horror of her time with astonishing honesty, wit, and determination. An impassioned drama about the lives of eight people hiding from the Nazis in a concealed storage attic, THE DIARY OF ANNE FRANK captures the claustrophobic realities of their daily existence—their fear, their hope, their laughter, their grief.

A world premiere, break-neck comedy by Irish playwright and Abbey Theater favorite Sean Cooney set on the south coast of Ireland in the 1980s. Feral MacAdoo, suffering from a dissociative fugue after a bombing attack in Dublin, now believes he is the painter Vincent Van Gogh.

The Trail to Oregon is Based off the 90’s video game “The Oregon Trail” following a family as they make their way from Missouri to Oregon in 1848. From starvation to bandits to dysentery, the family endures all of these challenges in hopes of a better life in Oregon.

Recent widower George Schneider, is encouraged by his younger brother Leo to start dating again. This sends George into even more depression after a series of bad matches. Then Leo comes up with Jennie Malone, and she's a keeper.

This Bond-esque story pits Naomi and Gretta in a battle for time itself.  Featuring a live band, vocals, and always more laughs than you can handle. 

The Psychic follows the chaotic life of Adam Webster, a down-on-his-luck writer, who has put a sign in his apartment window, in desperation, to make the rent: 'Psychic Readings $25.' The sign soon draws the interest of the lovely and conflicted Laura, her shady husband, Roy, Roy's mistress, Rita, a gangster named Johnny Bubbles, and ace Detective Norris Coslow.

'UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL vol. 7”, is a contemporary program of intimate choreography both created and performed by the company. This is the 7th annual presentation of an evening of solo works and small dance pieces.