The first show of the 2026 season of Summer Theater at Emporia State University will be “Cabaret,” which opens Friday, June 12.
A musical, “Cabaret” is set in a Berlin nightclub as the 1920s draw to a close. There, a garish Master of Ceremonies welcomes the audience and assures them they will forget all their troubles at the Cabaret.
With the Emcee’s bawdy songs as wry commentary, “Cabaret” explores the dark, heady and tumultuous life of Berlin’s natives and expatriates as Germany slowly yields to the emerging Third Reich. Cliff (Jarrett Davis, Rossville), a young American writer newly arrived in Berlin, is immediately taken with English singer Sally Bowles (Charlotte Proctor, Altoona, Iowa).
Meanwhile, Fräulein Schneider, proprietor of Cliff and Sally’s boarding house, tentatively begins a romance with Herr Schultz, a mild-mannered fruit seller who happens to be Jewish. The older couple is portrayed by guest artist Jean Averill of Lawrence and Jim Harris, ESU associate professor of theatre.
“Cabaret” will stage evening productions at 7:30 p.m. June 12 and 13 with afternoon matinees at 2 p.m. June 13 and 14. All performances will be in Ronald Q. Frederickson Theatre in Roosevelt Hall on the ESU campus.
Tickets cost $18 for adults, $13 for seniors, ESU staff and faculty and Theatre Guild members. ESU students are free. A select number of VIP tickets are available in the lounge next to the stage for $30. This production contains mature content and is not suitable for children under 13.
To order tickets, go online to emporia.link/theatre-tickets.