The University of Wisconsin−Milwaukee Peck School of the Arts Department of Theatre launches its Lab/Works series with “The Road North,” an original musical variety show that traces the growth of the blues in America. Rebecca Holderness directs. The production opens Wednesday, Nov. 11, and continues through Sunday, Nov. 15.

Performances begin at 7:30 p.m. (except the Sunday matinee, which is at 2 p.m.) in Studio 508 on the fifth floor of Kenilworth Square East, 1925 E. Kenilworth Pl., one mile south of the UWM campus. All tickets are $5 and are available from the Peck School of the Arts box office, 414-229-4308. A box office will open at Studio 508 a half-hour prior to each performance. This production is supported in part by the UWM Cultures & Communities program.

“The Road North” also will be presented at the Black Swan, 1218 13th Ave., Grafton, Wis., on Sunday, Nov. 29. The performance is free with donations for the Grafton Blues Association accepted. The association presents the annual Paramount Blues Festival and is dedicated to preserving and promoting blues music and the heritage of Paramount Records in Grafton, Wis. Because of limited space, tickets are required and available through Grafton area businesses or at www.graftonblues.org. This performance partly sponsored by Columbia/St. Mary’s.

In 2009-10, the Lab/Works series shines a spotlight on theater-in-the-making, allowing audiences to share the thrill of creating a new work or witnessing the early stages of bringing a play from page to stage.

“The Road North” is an original musical entertainment built around six classic blues recordings, the artists who perform the songs and some of the events that make up their history. Song, dance and spoken text alternate in the manner of a variety show. The simplicity of the performance settings evoke Milwaukee’s Avant Garde coffeehouse, a popular blues hangout in the 1960s, and the famed Paramount recording studio over the Wisconsin Chair Company factory in Grafton, Wis., which produced many celebrated “race records” in the late 1920s and early 1930s.

The songs performed in the production include “West Coast Blues,” by Blind Blake; “Big Road Blues,” by Sam Chatmon; “Devil Got My Woman,” by Skip James; “If I Had My Way,” by the Reverend Gary Davis, “Hey Hey Baby,” by Big Bill Broonzy; and Blind Willie Johnson’s “Let Your Light Shine on Me.” The stories of this musical road north include biographical information on the artists and commentary and anecdotes from Moses Asch, Aletha Dickerson, Harry Smith and Mayo Williams.

A collaboration between the UWM Guitar and Theatre programs, “The Road North” was created by an ensemble of 21 performing artists of diverse ages, backgrounds, interests and expertise. The set includes drops created by UWM Department of Visual Art students under the guidance of Milwaukee artist and faculty member Raoul Deal, and images made by students at Hartford University School detailing their own journeys to the gateway city of Milwaukee.

The Lab/Works series continues with “Under Construction” Nov. 19 and 22. Laura Jacqmin, winner of the 2008 Wendy Wasserstein award and the 2009 UWM Center on Age & Community/Peck School of the Arts Artist-in-Residence, offers the first public reading of her new play, “Milvotchkee, Visconsin,” on Thursday, Nov. 19, at 7:30 p.m. The play explores the experience of losing one’s memory from the inside. Jacqmin returns on Sunday, Nov. 22, at 2 p.m. to share a revised version.

Both readings take place in Studio 508 and are free.