Vassar College presents its 38th Powerhouse Theater season, featuring six weeks of new musical and play workshops, free readings and training programs.

This season’s highlights include the biting new comedy “Messy White Gays;” the lesbian spy thriller musical “Absolute Zero;” “Shanghai Sonatas,” the sweeping musical based on the memoirs of Jewish refugee musicians who escaped Nazi Germany and found refuge in Shanghai; and episodes in progress of the Webby Award-honored podcast “A Simple Herstory.” Liz Dahmen returns for the second installment of “Performing Art” at the Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center.

Vassar also welcomes a new cohort of young actors, directors, and writers as members of the Powerhouse Theater Training Company. These emerging artists will present a slate of free theater throughout the season, including Shakespeare’s “Twelfth Night” and “The Taming of the Shrew” Both will be performed outside at the Preserve at Vassar.

Click here for more details and to reserve tickets.

THE 38th POWERHOUSE SEASON 

MUSICAL WORKSHOPS ($30, online tickets available May 30.) 

• Absolute Zero (Powerhouse Theater, July 12, 8 p.m.; July 13, 2 and 8 p.m.; July 14, 2 p.m.)

• Shanghai Sonatas (Martel Theater, Vogelstein Center for Drama and Film, July 26, 8 p.m.; July 27, 2 and 8 p.m.; July 28, 2 p.m.)

PLAY WORKSHOPS ($30, online tickets available May 30.) 

• A Simple Herstory (Powerhouse Theater, July 5, 8 p.m.; July 6, 8 p.m.; July 7, 2 p.m.)

• Messy White Gays (Powerhouse Theater, July 19, 8 p.m.; July 20, 8 p.m.; July 21, 2 p.m.)

READINGS (Free! Tickets available June 13.) 

• This Place Is Definitely Haunted (Powerhouse Theater, June 21, 8 p.m.)

• Extinction (Powerhouse Theater, June 23, 6 p.m.)

• Holes in the Shape of My Father (Powerhouse Theater, June 27, 8 p.m.)

• Possessed (or “the Crazy African Girl” Play) (Powerhouse Theater, June 28, 8 p.m.)

• Ping Pong Play (Powerhouse Theater, June 29, 8 p.m.)

THE TRAINING COMPANY (Free! No ticket required.) 

• Twelfth Night (The Preserve, July 12, 7 p.m.; July 13, 7 p.m.; July 14, 7 p.m.)

• The Taming of the Shrew (The Preserve, July 19, 7 p.m.; July 20, 7 p.m.; July 21, 7 p.m.)

• We Are Gathered Together (Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, July 4, 6 p.m.; July 11, 6 p.m.; July 18, 6 p.m.; July 25, 6 p.m.)

• Marathon (Susan Stein Shiva Theater, July 21, 7:30 p.m.; July 22, 7:30 p.m.)

• New Works Play Festival (Susan Stein Shiva Theater, July 27, 7:30 p.m.)

SPECIAL EVENT 

• Performing Art (Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, July 14, 2 p.m.)