The El Paso Community Foundation Jewel Box Series at the Philanthropy Theatre celebrates its 10th season of showcasing local performing arts groups with 10 performances of seven new shows in the Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Centre’s intimate Philanthropy Theatre.

The 2025-2026 season features new productions by composers Stephanie Karr and Mark Watts, KESSTO Kreatures, Star on the Mountain Theatrical Productions, Eden Performing Arts, SOMOS Performance Group, Next Stage Theatre Co., and filmmaker-playwright Diego Muñoz Holguin.

The 2025-2026 season opens at 2:30 pm Sunday, November 9 with the first of two productions by Star on the Mountain, The Continuum Tales, an oddly comic series of shorts by writer Jason Pizzarello. Star on the Mountain also will stage 7 More Deadly Shorts at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, January 11. It’s a series of comedic shorts by Karr and Watts, whose musical Lacy opened the first Jewel Box season in 2014. Their Seven Deadly Shorts was performed in the Jewel Box Series in 2020.

Filmmaker Holguin, a middle school theater, wrote Rey de la Luna about a young man who must choose between the life he was born into or his dream of becoming an astronaut. Performances are at 2:30 and 7 pm Sunday, December 14.

The 2026 portion of the series includes SOMOS Performance Group’s family friendly Kid Turboni Brings the Rain at 7 pm Saturday, February 14 and 2:30 pm Sunday, February 15; Eden Performing Arts’ The Boys Next Door at 2:30 pm Sunday, March 15; Next Stage Theatre Co.’s young adult version of The Odyssey at 2:30 pm Sunday, April 12; and the return of Anthony Stokes’ KESSTO Kreatures, whose Griot-rooted An Anansi Experience incorporates various art forms, including puppetry, at 2:30 and 7 pm Sunday, May 17.

General admission tickets are $15, on sale Friday, October 17 at the Plaza Theatre Box Office (no service fees) and Ticketmaster.com (with service fees). Note: The venue allows only clear bags and no longer accepts cash.

The Jewel Box Series was created in partnership with El Paso Live in 2014 to host local performing artists and groups in that jewel box of a venue, the Philanthropy Theatre in the Plaza Theatre Performing Arts Centre.

JEWEL BOX SERIES 2025-2026 SEASON SCHEDULE

• The Continuum Tales
Star on the Mountain Theatrical Productions
2:30 pm Sunday, November 9
Jason Pizzarello’s seven humorous and peculiar short plays are about a couple who discover a mysterious, potentially cursed book that explores uncanny, futuristic, and disquieting worlds remarkably like our own.

• Rey de la Luna
Diego Muñoz Holguin
2:30 and 7 pm Sunday, December 14
Set during the lunar landing of 1969, El Paso filmmaker Holguin’s play is about a young man who must choose between a neighborhood gang and his dream to become an astronaut.

• 7 More Deadly Shorts
Star on the Mountain Theatrical Productions
2:30 pm Sunday, January 11
Stephanie Karr and Mark Watts opened the Jewel Box in 2014 with their musical Lacy and returned in 2020 with Seven Deadly Shorts. They team up with Star on the Mountain for 7 More Deadly Shorts, a comedic exploration of how the seven deadly sins could manifest in everyday life.

• Kid Turboni Brings the Rain
SOMOS Performance Group
7 pm Saturday, February 14 and 2:30 pm Sunday, February 15
SOMOS, which made its Jewel Box debut last season, returns with this family friendly version of Mark J. Costello’s play about a young housing project resident who attempts to break the stifling heat by stealing rain from Mother Nature.

• The Boys Next Door
Eden Performing Arts
2:30 pm Sunday, March 15
Eden Performing Arts, a regular Jewel Box contributor, is back with this Borderland version of Tom Griffin’s play about four men with various intellectual disabilities who live in a group home under the supervision of an earnest young social worker.

• The Odyssey
Next Stage Theatre Co.
2:30 pm Sunday, April 12
Next Stage makes its Jewel Box debut with this retelling of Homer’s The Odyssey by Merlyn Q. Sell. It takes the classic hero’s journey — full of magic, adventure, loss, redemption — and translates it for modern audiences.

• An Anansi Experience
KESSTO Kreatures
2:30 and 7 pm Sunday, May 17
Anthony Michael Stokes’ The Scarecrow sold out the Jewel Box in 2024. He returns with an immersive new piece about a traveler and story gatherer, which combines Griot storytelling with spiritual, musical and puppetry elements.