Tonight at 7:30 in Eisenhower Auditorium, the Center for the Performing Arts will be putting on a production of God's Trombones to commemorate Black History Month.

This show includes a number of sermons and spirituals from the Bible that progress from Creation to the Revelations. James Weldon Johnson, literary giant of the Harlem Renaissance, first wrote the show as a book in 1927.

The show includes the following seven sermons: "The Creation," "The Prodigal Son," "Go Down Death — A Funeral Sermon," "Noah Built the Ark," "The Crucifixion," "Let My People Go" and "The Judgment Day."

The show will include performers from the Centre County region. Students, alumni and residents will all be a part of the show. Not only will residents of the area be included, but also Penn State's own Essence of Joy choir.

The choir specializes in traditional African and African-American music. The group was formed in 1991 when Tony Leach, then a graduate student and now an assistant professor of music at Penn State, was asked to put together a program for the February 1992 Martin Luther King Jr. Banquet.

The Essence of Joy choir has performed God's Trombones on other occasions. Its most recent performance was on Feb. 18, 2000, at the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People's National Conference in Washington D.C.

The group started out with roughly two dozen students and has grown to include more than 50.

The Loaves and Fish Traveling Repertory Company will also be a part of the show. The company actors will portray the roles of seven preachers who deliver the various sermons.

Charles Dumas and Doug Farren founded the company in 1985 at St. Peter's College in Jersey City, N.J. The group toured around New York, putting on various shows and workshops. Three years ago the group was established in Pennsylvania.

Jo Dumas, a member of the company, has been a part of the group for several years and explains the intentions of the company: "It's a theatre company that does work to uplift the soul."

Loaves and Fish usually works with groups around campus and tries to build programs that would help discuss solutions for cross-cultural and communications situations. The company is independent of the university. Many of the members, however, are associated with the university in some form, either as professors or students. Over the years there have been as many as about 50 people in the group, although there is usually only a core group of about 15.

Charles Dumas has been the artistic director of the company since its founding. Dumas is currently an associate professor of theatre. Dumas has directed several shows in the past, including The Piano Lesson, Once On This Island and Fences.

Ticket prices for tonight's show are as follows: $20 for general admission, $10 for students and $5 for Penn State students with a coupon. Coupons are available in the HUB-Robeson Center and the box office of Eisenhower Auditorium.