The Maui Academy of Performing Arts is turning to live-streaming to bring locally produced theater to audience members at home through its new Uncommon Stages: New Theatre for a New World initiative. The first show in the series is the musical “Songs for a New World,” which will be live-streamed as a full-scale stage production from historic Iao Theater in Wailuku at 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday.

The show, written and composed by Jason Robert Brown, was first produced off-Broadway in 1995. Its exploration of issues such as isolation, the yearning for connection and “the difficulty of making life decisions in the midst of profound uncertainty” is fitting for the COVID-19 era, according to a MAPA news release.

The academy’s Executive and Artistic Director David C. Johnston will direct, with music direction by Vania Jerome. The cast “Songs for a New World” features Dylan Bode, Danielle Delaunay, Leighanna Locke and Calvin Orlando Smith.

Fuzzbox Productions, a Maui recording and creative studio, will conduct the four-camera shoot, including the use of a jib to get angles on the performers that audience members wouldn’t see from a seat in the house.

Johnston called the production “a huge financial risk,” adding “we feel compelled to produce a piece of theater now that can help our community heal. Theater has always been about telling the stories that bring communities together and offer a pathway and vision for the future. This particular show speaks to the challenges of today and helps us find the courage to push forward into the unknown.”

Tickets — $20 for individuals, $35 for couples or $50 for families of three or more — may be purchased at mauiacademy.org.