MALCOLM X AND REDD FOXX WASHING DISHES... is Coming to City Theatre
The cast introduces Pittsburgh audiences to Trey Smith-Mills and Edwin Green.
By: Chloe Rabinowitz Jan. 07, 2026
City Theatre will kick off 2026 with a highly anticipated two hander – the co-world premiere of Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy's Chicken Shack in Harlem by Jonathan Norton, directed by Dexter J. Singleton.
“Jonathan has written a remarkably prescient and hilarious script that imagines the formative years of two enormously influential figures,” shared Artistic Director Clare Drobot. “We're thrilled to build this production with TheatreSquared, Virginia Stage Company, and Dallas Theater Center and to introduce audiences to the exceptional team behind it.”
The cast introduces Pittsburgh audiences to Trey Smith-Mills and Edwin Green. The creative team includes: scenic design by Kimberly Powers, costume design by Claudia Brownlee, lighting design by Levi J. Wilkins, and sound design by frequent City Theatre collaborator Howard Patterson. The production is stage managed by Patti Kelly.
City Theatre is partnering with several community organizations in conjunction with the production including Alumni Theatre Company, Steel Smiling, August Wilson African American Cultural Center, and Vibrant Pittsburgh.
“Following the record-setting and triumphant runs of our first two world premieres of the season – Another Kind of Silence and Louisa May Alcott's Little Women – we are poised for an incredibly exciting back-half of our 2025-2026 season,” said Managing Director James McNeel. “Audiences have been flocking to the South Side since September, as we have sold over 100 more subscriptions than last year, the most since the pandemic, while seeing our most recent production reach 94% capacity and set single ticket box office records with Little Women. We look forward to keeping this momentum with our third world premiere of our 51st season as we welcome the ‘Malcolm and Redd' team to Pittsburgh.”
ABOUT MALCOM X AND REDD FOXX WASHING DISHES AT JIMMY'S CHICKEN SHACK IN HARLEM is written by Jonathan Norton, directed by Dexter J. Singleton, and will run from January 17 – February 8, 2026.
A Co-World Premiere produced by TheatreSquared, City Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, and Dallas Theater Center.
Before they were icons, they were two young men washing dishes in Harlem. It's 1943 and Foxy (soon to be Redd Foxx) befriends fellow dishwater Little, better known, many years later, as Malcolm X. Through a summer of heartbreak, uprisings, and leftovers, the two shape each other into the legends they are known to be through a revolutionary mix of humor and heart.
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