SAN JOSE, CALIF.: City Lights Theater Company has announced its 2017-18 season, featuring comedies, dramas, and classics along the theme of family and community.

“We have all felt the push and pull between the families we choose versus the ones we’re born into,” executive artistic director Lisa Mallette said in a statement. “It’s an intriguing contrast that always makes great theatre.”

The season will open with the South Bay premiere of Stupid Fucking Bird (Sept. 14-Oct. 15). Playwright Aaron Posner reimagines Chekhov’s The Seagull in a contemporary country house where actresses, playwrights, novelists, and doctors all bare their souls.

The holiday season will bring another South Bay premiere, Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley (Nov. 16-Dec. 17). This new work from Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon is a continuation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice with a focus on Mary Bennet.

After that will be the West Coast premiere of Alabama Story (Jan. 18-Feb. 18, 2018), by Kenneth Jones. Inspired by true events, this drama set during the Civil Rights movement revolves around the fight over a controversial children’s book in which a black rabbit marries a white rabbit.

The spring will offer Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice (March 22-April 22, 2018), an enduring classic poised somewhere between comedy and drama.

Finishing the season will be In the Heights (July 12-Aug. 19, 2018). The musical, with music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda and book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, follows a young store owner in his tight-knit Washington Heights neighborhood.

A show for May and June will be announced at a later date.

Founded in 1982, City Lights presents thought-provoking plays and new works to connect with artists, educators, students, and audiences.