Looking at the stage of the Penn State Downtown Theatre this weekend might seem like a glimpse into the past. The set is constructed as two apartments in Harlem during the summer of 1930, represented by everything from the antique radio to the coffee tin.

Blues for an Alabama Sky opens this weekend at the Penn State Downtown Theatre Center, 146 S. Allen St., and runs until Oct. 28. The Thursday preview and Friday performance are already sold out.

The story focuses on five characters wrapped up in dreams, romance and the blues.

The play, produced by the University Resident Theatre Company, includes the acting talents of four Master of Fine Arts students and a Penn State senior.

The Angel Allen, played by Patrese McClain (graduate-theatre), is the lead character. An out-of-work nightclub singer, Angel likes to rub elbows -- and a little more than that -- with Italian gangsters.

In the opening scene, she stumbles back to the apartment of her friend Guy Jacobs, played by Anton Floyd (graduate-theatre), a costume designer who dreams of showing his dresses in Paris. A chance meeting with Leland Cunningham, played by Alano Miller (graduate-theatre), on a night when Angel tries to drink her blues away turns unexpectedly into something more.

Ade Laoye (senior-theatre) plays Delia Patterson, the antithesis of McClain's flirtatious, emotional Angel. Delia is a church-going, modest woman whose dream of creating a family planning clinic comes true thanks to the encouragement of Doctor Sam Thomas played by Quester Hannah (graduate-theatre).

McClain and Floyd's characters are as loud and boisterous as the period costumes that crisply and colorfully accent the story. In his Penn State directorial debut, Steven Broadnax praised the abilities of the cast.

"It's a great ensemble," he said, "Last night [at the dress rehearsal] I thought to myself, 'Who else could play these characters?' "

The storyline, written by Pearl Cleage, creates images that are quintessentially a part of American history and a reminder of the African-American struggle in the early 20th century.

"I'm tired of Negro dreams. All they ever do is break your heart." McCain says during one of the monologues in the show.

Broadnax said he thinks the show shows the strength of the human spirit.

"I believe the human spirit at its core is designed to survive," Broadnax writes in his director notes regarding the play. "And as long as there is an inkling of hope we will achieve that objective by any means necessary. And for the characters in the play Blues for an Alabama Sky, there is no exception."