Show poster featuring a 1920s-style microphone with a square-shaped wire grille, positioned over burning sheets of music.
Show poster featuring a 1920s-style microphone with a square-shaped wire grille, positioned over burning sheets of music.
October 2–24, 2026

August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

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Chicago, 1927. Tensions and temperatures rise over the course of a blistering recording session as the legendary “Mother of the Blues,” Ma Rainey, and her ambitious trumpeter, Levee, are caught in a fiery battle of wills over control of her music exposing the emotional and economic exploitation faced by Black artists in America. An exploration of dreams deferred, cultural identity, and the power of the blues, August Wilson’s electrifying masterpiece, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, returns in a brand-new production more than 40 years after it first raised the roof of the American theater in its world premiere at Yale Rep.

Admission

20-65$
Location University Theatre

222 York St
New Haven CT, 06511

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Times
Friday, October 2, 2026 8:00 PM ET
Saturday, October 3, 2026 8:00 PM ET
Monday, October 5, 2026 8:00 PM ET
Tuesday, October 6, 2026 8:00 PM ET
Wednesday, October 7, 2026 8:00 PM ET
Thursday, October 8, 2026 8:00 PM ET
Friday, October 9, 2026 8:00 PM ET
Saturday, October 10, 2026 2:00 PM ET
Saturday, October 10, 2026 8:00 PM ET
Tuesday, October 13, 2026 2:00 PM ET

Tuesday, October 13, 2026 8:00 PM ET

Wednesday, October 14, 2026 2:00 PM ET

Wednesday, October 14, 2026 8:00 PM ET

Thursday, October 15, 2026 8:00 PM ET

Friday, October 16, 2026 8:00 PM ET

Saturday, October 17, 2026 2:00 PM ET

Saturday, October 17, 2026 8:00 PM ET

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 8:00 PM ET

Thursday, October 22, 2026 8:00 PM ET

Friday, October 23, 2026 8:00 PM ET

Saturday, October 24, 2026 2:00 PM ET

Saturday, October 24, 2026 8:00 PM ET
 

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