Next spring’s Waa-Mu Show will be titled “State of the Art,” the co-chairs of the 89th annual Waa-Mu Show announced in a Nov. 25 release.

The show, a tale about street artists and city elites clashing over free expression and community history, will run May 1 to May 10 at Cahn Auditorium. Tickets will go on sale on the Wirtz Center website on Dec. 1 at midnight. Beginning Jan. 7, tickets will be available by phone or in-person at the Barber Theater Lobby.

Co-chair Leo Jared Scheck said he is passionate about the show because it focuses on “extremely important” issues that have “risen to a fever pitch” as the election approaches — gentrification, class inequity and climate change.

“These are matters for which the timer to resolution is quickly running out,” the Communication senior said in the release. “These are matters for which the timer to resolution is quickly running out, and I think it’s important that we present questions on these issues to our audience not only in an engaging, digestible and entertaining way, but ultimately respectful and thought-provoking manner as well.”

Written, composed, choreographed and produced by more than 100 Northwestern students, the show is set in a not-so-distant future metropolis where a covert group of artists vandalize world-renowned pieces of street art. After the mayor’s misfit child crosses paths with the vandals, the city’s elite are caught between their dream to increase the city’s national reputation and the truth of the artists’ acts of resistance.

Co-chair Jon Toussaint, a communication senior, said the story is one that “comes from the students in this community, for this community,”

Matthew Threadgill, one of the writing coordinators, said the story offers a voice to a group of people who are often silenced.

“We have some exciting ideas for the music and the aesthetics of the show and I cannot wait for Northwestern and local audiences to see it, be surprised by it and hopefully, feel enlightened,” Threadgill said in the release.

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Twitter: @pamesjollard