Cheray Dawn Josiah has had many a role in Houston theaters during the past 20 years, but her current part, in Phillip Hayes Dean’s Sty of the Blind Pig at the Ensemble Theatre, is a favorite. “Alberta is an actor’s dream. She makes you go to depths that few characters offer. She’s beautiful — she’s just juicy. There are few roles like this,” Josiah says. Part of the juiciness comes from what Alberta keeps inside. “The playwright describes Alberta as a woman who has never known pleasure. How deep is that? She equates all pleasure to sin. That’s like this volcano that has been inside of her, the conflict between pleasure and sin.”

In Sty of the Blind Pig, Alberta lives with her mother, and the two women are leading a routine life when a stranger knocks on their door. The man is Blind Jordan, and he’s looking for a woman who used to live at that address. Alberta sets out to help him find the woman, and the two form a special — and potentially explosive — relationship. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 2 p.m. Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays. Through April 13. 3535 Main. For tickets and information, call 713-520-0055 or visit www.ensemblehouston.com. $15 to $35.

Saturdays, 2 & 8 p.m.; Sundays, 3 p.m.; Thursdays, 7:30 p.m.; Fridays, 8 p.m. Starts: March 15. Continues through April 13, 2008

This article appears in Mar 20-26, 2008.