South Bend Civic Theatre celebrating black history with new show

SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- The South Bend Civic Theatre is celebrating Black History Month and one of America’s most renowned playwrights with its newest show. 

The first performance of August Wilson’s “Gem of the Ocean” opens this Friday. 

Set in Pittsburgh, it explores the first adult generation of free-born African Americans and their once enslaved elders in the first decade of the 20th century. It centers on a 285-year-old woman who is believed to have the power to cleanse souls and helps a young man on a spiritual journey of redemption. 

The play is the first in the South Bend Civic Theatre’s 10-year plan to bring the full American Century Cycle to South Bend. 

The show, directed by Aaron Mays, will run Feb. 21 through March 1 in the theatre’s Wilson Auditorium. Tickets and more info are available at sbct.org.