Goldstein Auditorium, Schine Student Center
Syracuse University, Syracuse

Grammy-nominee and jazz vocalist extraordinaire Jane Monheit will perform in concert to benefit Syracuse Stage. This event will be Syracuse Stage's primary fundraiser for the year and replaces the annual Beaux Arts Ball.

Since her debut album, Never Never Land, garnered top debut recording by the Jazz Journalist's Association, Monheit has recorded nine more CDs, earned two Grammy nominations, performed with leading symphony orchestras and appeared in major performance venues here and abroad including The White House, The Kennedy Center and New York's famed Birdland Jazz Club, The Blue Note and The Rainbow Room. Her latest CD is titled Home and features a three-piece band of Michael Kanaan, Neal Miner and Rick Montalbano, who will appear with her in Syracuse.

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Written by Ping Chong and Kyle Bass with Sara Zatz. Cyprien Mihigo, dramaturg/cultural consultant, in collaboration with the performers and the Congolese community of Syracuse

Based on in-depth interviews, Cry From Peace: Voices from the Congo brings to the stage five real people, including survivors and refugees from the recent Congolese civil war, members of once opposing tribes--the abductor and the violated--struggling to leave the past behind and form a peaceful community in Central New York. A composition of interwoven personal narratives, powerful images and beautiful songs, Cry for Peace is a rich theatrical experience--a searing, moving and hopeful hymn to the power of the human spirit. From the creators of the acclaimed Tales from the Salt City.

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Alive with a soundscape of 16 authentic sea shanties and performed by an ensemble of nine, this highly physical adaption cuts to the core of Melville's searing narrative and plays with the fury of a Nantucket sleigh ride. A young man seeks adventure on a whaling vessel and finds himself a pawn in an obsessive pursuit of vengeance that threatens death and destruction for all. Director Peter Amster returns to guide the ensemble in this thrilling and critically acclaimed telling of a classic American tale. Adapted for the stage by Julian Rad from the book by Herman Melville

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Irving Berlin's beloved and heartwarming musical with a score of American standards, based on the Paramount Pictures film.

The title song alone is a holiday celebration and a reminder of a time when the simplest pleasures mattered most and having a big heart was genuinely considered a virtue. Two successful showmen join forces to help out their old army commander. Along the way they find, lose, and find romance, have plenty of laughs, and demonstrate what it means to be loyal. The score is filled with favorites -- "Happy Holiday," "Sisters," "Blue Skies," "I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm" -- and the choreography calls for plenty of tap. Winter may not deliver a White Christmas, but director Paul Barnes (The Miracle Worker) and a talented cast sure will.

Music and Lyrics by Irving Berlin, book by David Ives and Paul Blake.
Musical Direction by Christopher Drobny, choreography by David Wanstreet.

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

"Glorious storytelling...a penetrating revelation of a world hidden from view to those outside it." -- The New York Times

Timothy Bond's previous Syracuse productions from August Wilson's 20th-Century Cycle (Radio Golf, Fences, and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom) prove that this two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright is indeed the voice of a century. His dialogue soars with the music and power of operatic arias and his characters inspire great performances. In Two Trains Running, an optimistic ex-con enters the insular confines of Memphis Lee's diner and awakens a cast of older and skeptical characters to the possibilities of a new era. Set in the turbulence of 1969, a time much like today, Two Trains Running is one of the most humorous and politically potent of Wilson's plays.

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

In Shakespeare's hands, magic and romance and the very midsummer madness make for intoxication, enchantment, and rollicking, frolicking comedy. Get on your mud boots and your donkey ears (is there any character more wonderfully over-the-top than Bottom?) 'cause it's off to the woods with four eager young lovers, a band of hapless rustics, and rival camps of puckish sprites. "All will be well!" Oberon bellows, but it will be a myriad of magical moments and a few hours of laughter before that happens.

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

Pulitzer Prize-winner David Lindsay-Abaire (Rabbit Hole) returns to his hometown of South Boston and captures the tangy rhythms and sharp humor of the old neighborhood for an edgy take on the state of current affairs in this 2011 Tony-nominated play. Margie (with hard g) is a single mom who just lost her job, is behind in her rent, and like many today, has zero prospects. With nowhere to turn, she seeks out an old friend Mike, the one who got away--from Southie and from her. What can she expect from Mike after 30 years? The journey from the old neighborhood to Chestnut Hill is fraught with twists and surprises and measured in much more than miles.

Archbold Theater, Syracuse Stage
820 E. Genesee St., Syracuse

An edgy adaptation of Homer's epic story told by a single poet, adapted from Homer by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare, translation by Robert Fagles.

This remarkable interpretation of Homer's account of The Trojan War vivifies the tale's epic power while capturing the immediacy of a story told around an open fire. A lone poet, an ancient story-teller, weaves contemporary speech with evocative poetry to create an electrifying encounter with this profoundly resonant chronicle of a distant conflict. Director Penny Metropulos (Up, Picasso at the Lapine Agile, and Red) and actor Joseph Graves (Red) return for this taut and critically-heralded adaptation.