The Performing Artists Repertory Theatre (PART) has finally found a home.

PART was founded by Gordon Cantiello in 2010, and remained itinerant until last June, when it landed a permanent space in the Crossroads Mall. “Tuesdays with Morrie,” which opens this June, will be PART’s fourth offering in its new home.

Based on the bestselling memoir, the play relives sports journalist Mitch Albom’s relationship with a former professor, Morrie Schwartz. Schwartz, who is in the late stages of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, better known as “Lou Gehrig’s Disease”) forces the fast climbing Albom to slow down and reevaluate his life. “Mitch is stuck trying to be everything, to do everything, and Morrie tells him to stop and take a breath,” observes director Gordon Cantiello. “Mitch is alive and dying inside, while Morrie is dying but alive inside.”

While there is little mystery to Morrie’s tragic fate, the play shifts nimbly between comedy and drama over the course of eighty minutes. In the end, the story is both moving and inspiring. “Theater should make people think,” says John Hatcher, who plays Mitch. “If theater doesn’t make you think, it’s just entertainment.”

Hatcher can identify with Albom, who relinquished his dreams of becoming a professional musician before becoming a highly successful journalist. Hatcher was a talented minor league infielder before injuries forced him to rethink his career. He turned to his second love, theater, and has never looked back.

Michael Lyon, who plays Morrie Schwartz, is no less taken by his character. Lyon maintains a hectic schedule as the local morning anchor for National Public Radio on KIOS-FM radio in addition to acting and musical performances around the region. Yet over time he has gained Morrie’s insight. “We spend the first decades of our life so consumed with running around. Eventually we learn to step out of that and take fifteen minutes to just have a conversation.”

One of Morrie Schwartz’s favorite aphorisms was that “death ends a life, not a relationship.” “Tuesdays with Morrie” is living proof that his relationship with Mitch Albom shows no sign of ending.

“Tuesdays with Morrie” will run June 17, 18, 23, 24 and 25 at 7pm. There will be two shows on Sundays June 19 and 26, with a matinee at 2 pm and an evening show at 6 pm. Single tickets are $35. Senior tickets are $30. Groups of 10 or more are $25. Doors open 45-minutes before curtain. All seating is on a first come basis. For tickets call the box-office at (402) 706-0778. All performances will be held at The PART Theatre at the Crossroads Mall, 7400 Dodge Street, Omaha, Nebraska. The theater is just west of Target. Check out their website, http://performingartistsrepertorytheatre.org/ and their Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/PARTheatre . You can also e-mail them at info@performingartistsrepertorytheatre.org.