On Q Productions’ “Season 3: The Sound of Music” gets better with every show. “The Amen Corner” is a poignant and unforgettable story about human nature, suffering and our relationship with God — or one could say religion.

Watching the performance, you realize it is set in another time, but incredibly James Baldwin’s three-act play was written 58 years ago. Set in the early 1950s in Harlem, it opens with a rousing Sunday morning service of a passionate black “corner” church. The choir sings “Let the trouble come” and the lead character, Sis’ Margaret, preaches on setting one’s house in order.

If you have never been to a get-down gospel black church, you are in for a treat. This may be a theatrical performance — and there are the occasional reminders — but, because you are seated in an intimate black box theater, it feels like you are sitting in church.

This show opens and closes with passionate, soulful Christian music. The main characters, the church choir and congregation are outstanding. It is a relatively small stage for so many performers, but “The Amen Corner” is well done and the time flies by. The cast does a great job moving from singing to acting, from focused prayerful passion to mean human in-fighting.

Sis’ Margaret is a most incredible performance by Terry Denise Henry. We watch her transition from stoic church leader to a woman with struggles like all of us. In the end, Margaret’s epiphany is that ‘‘To love the lord is to love all his children — all of them, everyone — and suffer with them and rejoice with them and never count the cost.’’

The cast worked very well together, but the standouts were Sheila Sherrod-Robinson as Margaret’s sister Odessa and LaShea Stukes as a “pure” yet deviant Sis’ Moore. The music throughout is moving and well-done, but listening to the solo by Lori McLaurin as Sis’ Rice at the end, I knew I was listening to a professional gospel singer.

It is hard to miss Baldwin’s foreshadowing of some major social issues we are still facing today. “The Amen Corner” is built around our struggles with sadness, poverty and how to cope. We watch women and men fight to be on top and witness very personal battles with imperfect humans and their questioning of God’s will.

On Q Productions is in its third-year residency as Blumenthal’s only African-American theater company. The founder, Quentin “Q” Talley, picks plays that are from the African-American perspective but deal with universal themes. They are entertaining, yet they leave you thinking. His company is the recipient of a two-year matching grant through the Knight Foundation and the Arts & Science Council (also a Knight arts grantee).

Please note “The Amen Corner” has been a very popular performance, so you might want to get your ticket early.  (I did not see an open seat at Sunday’s show.)

On Q Productions presents: “The Amen Corner” by: James Baldwin directed by: Ruth Sloane choreography by: LaTanya Johnson Wednesday, Jan. 25 is “Pay what you can” night. Thursday, Jan. 26, Friday, Jan. 27 and Saturday Jan. 28 are your last chance to see the show. Duke Energy Theater (at Spirit Square) at 345 N. College St., Charlotte