CLEVELAND: Karamu House has announced its 2017-18 season, featuring six productions.

The season will open with Simply Simone: The Music of Nina Simone (September), by Robert Neblett and David Grapes with musical arrangements by Vine Dimura. The musical chronicles the life and career of the songstress.

Following will be Rajiv Joseph’s The Lake Effect (October-November), produced in collaboration with Ensemble Theatre, about estranged siblings who reunite at their father’s restaurant in an evening of memories and family secrets.

Just in time for the holidays will be the world premiere of an original jazz revue (December), featuring holiday classics from Cole Porter to Gershwin.

Next up will be Sassy Mamas (February 2018), by Celeste Bedford Walker, about three longtime girlfriends pursuing much younger men.

Following will be The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God (April 2018), adapted by Lisa Codrington from George Bernard Shaw, about a young African girl abandoned by a white missionary for asking too many questions about God.

The season will conclude with a new hip-hop musical (June 2018), which will be announced at a later date.

Karamu House, founded in 1915, stages socially relevant productions, and offers education programming and community events.