A spokesperson for the theatre confirmed that the regional theatre will present a Tony-winning Stephen Sondheim musical, a world premiere of a new play by performance artist Danny Hoch as well as classics by George Bernard Shaw and Molière.

The upcoming season at the Maryland Theatre, now celebrating its 40th anniversary, will begin with George Bernard Shaw’s Misalliance. Center Stage artistic director Irene Lewis will direct.

The season will end with a.m. Sunday, a play by Jerome Hairston, which Lewis described to the Baltimore Sun as an “assessment of race relations seen through an interracial marriage.” Marion McClinton, who helmed this season’s revival of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, will direct.

In between Misalliance and a.m. Sunday, the theatre will also offer the world premiere of Danny Hoch’s Till the Break of Dawn, which concerns a group of “hip-hop, activist youth who travel to Cuba.” The season’s musical entry will be Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s acclaimed Sweeney Todd, about barber Sweeney, who with the help of Mrs. Lovett, turns men into meat pies. Lewis will direct the Tony-winning musical.

Molière’s The Miser will also be mounted featuring a new translation/adaptation by Triumph of Love’s James Magruder, who is the theatre’s associate dramaturg. The theatre will also present one more production; Lewis is currently deciding whether to stage David Mamet’s Speed the Plow or Arthur Miller’s one-acts, Danger: Memory!. Center Stage is located on the internet at www.toad.net/~centerstage/index.html. Subscriptions for the upcoming season range from $60 to $280; call (410) 332-0033 for more information.