JITNEY Will Close Out Pasadena Playhouse's 2011-12 Season

By: Kelsey Denette Apr. 11, 2012

The Pasadena Playhouse (Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director and Charles Dillingham, interim Executive Director), announced today that South Coast Repertory's (SCR) production of August Wilson's JITNEY, directed by Ron OJ Parson, will transfer to The Pasadena Playhouse immediately following its SCR engagement. Performances will begin June 21 through July 15, with an official press opening on Sunday, June 24, 2012, at 5:00 p.m.

"I am extremely happy to enter into this collaboration with my well respected colleagues at South Coast Repertory to bring their production of this play to the stage of The Playhouse," said Sheldon Epps, Artistic Director of The Pasadena Playhouse. "JITNEY is one of the best of the canon of plays created by a man who is surely one of the greatest American Playwrights of the 20th Century. I am honored to have August's work at our theatre once again, and I look forward to the theatrical electricity that I know this fine group of actors will bring to these great words."

"We are pleased to bring SCR's production of JITNEY to The Pasadena Playhouse and look forward to sharing this important drama with the Pasadena audience and our colleagues," said Marc Masterson, South Coast Repertory's Artistic Director.

JITNEY is the first play August Wilson wrote in his renowned "Pittsburgh Cycle" which chronicles life in his childhood neighborhood, decade by decade, over the course of the 20th century. Of the ten plays in the "Cycle," JITNEY is the seventh in the series and is the winner of the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Outer Critics Circle Award and the Olivier Award for Best New Play. It is 1977 in Pittsburgh's Hill District – a neighborhood that legitimate cabs will not travel to. Out of these circumstances, unlicensed, gypsy cabs – jitneys – emerge to drive the locals around town. The story unfolds in Becker's storefront jitney station where a motley crew share stories and meddle in each other's lives. But urban renewal now threatens to tear down the station and Becker's son returns home after a 20-year stint in prison. Old cronies drop in, fights break out and lovers make up – and just as we get to know them, Wilson asks us to look again. The New York Times calls JITNEY "vibrant…velvety smooth," and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette says JITNEY is a "vivid mix of comedy and passion backed by a solid sociology of men struggling to survive…Wilson excels in the casual, expressive revelation of emotion under the drone of day-to-day."

The Pasadena Playhouse had previously presented August Wilson's Fences starring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett, and directed by Sheldon Epps, which opened in September 2006.

August Wilson's JITNEY is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French.

JITNEY will play from June 21 – July 15, 2012 with the official press opening on June 24, 2012, at 5:00 p.m. The Pasadena Playhouse is located at 39 South El Molino Avenue in Pasadena. The performance schedule is Tuesday through Friday at 8:00 p.m.; Saturday at 4:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.; and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. Single show regular ticket prices for JITNEY range from $54.00 - $79.00, with Premium Seating available for $100.00. Tickets are available by calling the Pasadena Playhouse at 626-356-7529or by visiting The Pasadena Playhouse Box Office, Monday from 12:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. and Tuesday – Sunday from 12:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m. during non-performance dates. On performance dates the box office is open Tuesday- Saturday from 12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. and 12:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m. on Sunday. Tickets are available 24 hours online at www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org. Group Sales (8 or more) are available by calling 626-921-1161. For additional information visit www.PasadenaPlayhouse.org.

Information on casting and creative team, as well as single ticket on-sale information will be released at a later date.

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