In a seedy recording studio in Chicago, 1927, a group of veteran blues players backing the legendary “Mother of the Blues” Gertrude “Ma” Rainey tune up, joke and jive as they await her arrival for a session.

Among them is a wildly ambitious trumpet player who aspires to change the blues and the world with his brand of music, clashing with the band and the grand lady herself.

When a music industry insider stokes the fire, the heat rises — and the results are explosive.

Temple Theaters’ production of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright August Wilson’s tale of creativity and exploitation, opens an April 11–21 run at Temple’s Randall Theater with a preview performance next Wednesday at 8 p.m.

Part of Wilson’s epic “Decades” series, a 10-play cycle chronicling the 20th-century African-American experience, Ma Rainey opened on Broadway in 1985, where it earned the New York Drama Critics’ Circle Award for best American play.

The New York Times called it “Searing ... funny, salty, carnal and lyrical ... Wilson has lighted a dramatic fuse that snakes and hisses through several anguished eras of American life.”

Temple Theaters’ production of Ma Rainey marks the Temple main-stage directorial debut of veteran actor, director, playwright and new faculty recruit Charles Dumas, director of the School of Communications and Theater’s Acting in Media program.

Much of Ma Rainey’s power, says Dumas, comes from play’s exploration of frustrated young men, a theme that will be chillingly familiar to today’s audiences.

“August Wilson answered the question that a Langston Hughes poem asked: ‘What happens to a dream deferred?’” Dumas said. “It’s relevant now, because it deals with a source of black anger, particularly among young people. When young people’s dreams are exploited, we’ve all seen the self-destructive consequences. We’re seeing it today on the streets of Philadelphia.”

For Dumas, directing the plays of Wilson, a long-time acquaintance who died two years ago, also has intense personal meaning.

“We were born in the same year in the same kind of urban environment,” said Dumas, who has acted in five Wilson plays and directed six. “August wrote about the folks I grew up with, the old men who told the stories — our stories. And his ‘Decades’ series provided work for black actors and directors at time when black theater was marginalized.”

Dumas has had principal roles in dozens of feature films, television series and award-winning stage productions. More than 25 of his plays have been produced in New York, regional or international theaters. He came to Temple last September after 11 years on the faculty at Penn State University.

“I was attracted to Temple partly because of Philadelphia, which is one of the top theater towns in the country,” Dumas said. “But mostly what drew me to Temple was the university’s wonderful theater program, which offers the opportunity to develop young actors who come from such diverse backgrounds. I’m at a point in my life where I want to pass on what I’ve learned. My students at Temple are a lot like me — they’re hungry to learn, and in many cases they’re the first generation to go to college, as I was.

They don’t just need my participation, they want my participation. As a teacher, you can’t beat that.”

Set designer for Ma Rainey is M.F.A. candidate Ji-Hyun Choi, with costumes designed by Erin Snider, a recent Temple theater alumnus and current M.F.A. candidate. Lighting design is by M.F.A. candidate Dominic Chacon. Sound designer Leigh Adel-Arnold is an undergraduate theater major.

Show times and tickets

A preview performance of Temple Theaters’ Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom on Wednesday, April 11, is at 8 p.m. Opening night curtain on Thursday, April 12, is at 7 p.m. Performances continue Friday and Saturday, April 13 and 14; Monday and Tuesday, April 16 and 17; and Thursday through Saturday, April 19–21; at 8 p.m., with Saturday matinees April 14 and 21 at 2 p.m. and a dinner series performance on Wednesday, April 17 at 7 p.m. (pre-paid dinner available at Temple’s Diamond Club; for reservations call 215-204-4699).

Tickets for are $20. Seniors, Temple employees and non-Temple students pay $15 (discount tickets not available online or by phone); free for Temple students with OWLcard. Tickets are available at the Liacouras Center Box Office, 1776 N. Broad St. (in person cash-only sales), online at www.liacourascenter.com or by phone at 1-800-298-4200.

For more information, call the Temple Theaters Information Line at 215-204-1122 or visit www.temple.edu/theater/theater_season.htm.

Editor’s Note to Media: For review tickets, contact Douglas Wager, Temple Theaters artistic director, at 215-204-6127, or e-mail dwager1@msn.com.