Three diverse groups will be joining to seek common ground through entertainment and expression on stage this weekend.

The Center for the Performing Arts presents Promise of a Love Song, a trio of cultural perspectives tied into a musical. The play begins at 8 p.m. tomorrow in Eisenhower Auditorium.

The goal for this production is to bring three distinctly different theater companies together in a collaboration aimed at helping to transcend hatred, violence, prejudice and discrimination at Penn State as well as the community as a whole.

"I am hoping this play can serve as a model of how people with different backgrounds can live and work together," said Amy Vashaw, director of Artistic Viewpoints and educational activities for the CPA.

The three part play features Pregones Theater, a Puerto Rican cultural group based in the Bronx; Junebug Productions, an African American company from New Orleans; and Roadside Theater, which mines the heritage of the central Appalachians from its home along the Kentucky-Virginia border.

Vashaw explained what brought these groups together.

The groups noticed that when they performed independently in their hometowns, audience members were all of the same race, Vashaw said. The groups wanted to do a play together to bring not only people of different races together, but also non-theater goers as well.

Promise of a Love Song is built around three love stories.

The Pregones Theater story alternates between a woman's recollections of being an immigrant in New York City and memories of her father.

The Junebug Productions work sets the romance of a woman and a man enduring the challenges of the civil rights movements and its aftermath.

Roadside Theater's piece tells of an aging mother and her mentally challenged adult son. Together, they endure the hardships and revel in the joys of life in the mountains.

"The weaving of these stories together makes this a moving powerful experience to see," said Michael Holden, collaborator of the play. Each story is related to family but each one is different by the diversity of their relationships.

"The play is a powerful statement about experiences of different groups in the United States," Holden added.

Steve Kent, the production's co-director, feels the musical element helps to weave the stories together.

"The stories develop through gesture, choreography and sound. Sometimes the action in one story underscores the action in another. Sometimes it contradicts it," Kent said in a CPA press release.

A preview of the performance will take place from 8 to 9 p.m. today at Webster's Bookstore Café, 128 S. Allen St.

Ticket prices for the Eisenhower Auditorium performances are $20 for general audience members, $15 for students, $5 for Penn State University Park students, and $10 for children 12 and younger. For tickets or information, contact the Arts Ticket Center at 814-863-0255.