The Tony-nominated musical involves the story of a chess game being played by two competitors, one is American, the other is Russian. The game is being played not only to see who’s the better player, but for the love of a woman that both men are madly in love with.

The play’s performers will include students from MSU’s theatre department, local high school students, and even actors from Broadway.

The relationship between the Wharton Center and the MSU Department of Theatre, called Imagen, will be intact for the next three years. The relationship’s purpose is to build community and educational outreach within the MSU community.

Imagen provides a remarkable opportunity for MSU students from the Department of Theatre and elite high school performers to be able to work alongside top-notch actors and leaders in the Broadway industry. Participation in the program is free of charge and by audition only.

Kris Ouellette, the Associate Director for the MSU Federal Credit Union Institute for Arts & Creativity at Wharton Center, said she is excited for this weekend’s performance and is thrilled about the opportunities that the Wharton Center and the MSU Department of Theatre partnership can provide for students.

“Our partnership is able to bring top broadway acts to MSU, which exposes the students to best in business” Ouellette said. “We’re even going to have leaders from broadway brought into our Theatre classrooms to help guide and teach the talented students we have at Michigan State."

This weekend’s performance will be dedicated to the memory of Professor Greg Reuter, who passed away suddenly after only four months of teaching here at MSU.

“It’s great to be able to see the students grow,” Ouellette said. “I’m so unbelievably proud of all of them. They’ve given such a unique team spirit to making this performance as good as it can be."

The play, scheduled for this Friday and Saturday at 7:30 pm, will have a runtime of approximately 90 minutes with no intermission. All tickets for the show are $15, and can be purchased on the Wharton Center website.