City Theatre Announces 2022-2023 Season

City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh's home for contemporary plays, has announced the details of the theatre's 48th season of bold, new works, beginning in September 2022. City Theatre's second season post-pandemic shutdown will feature five plays with first-time and returning artists, plus special events.

"The 2022-23 season marks the first time the three of us have officially announced a line up as Co-Artistic Directors," shared Co-Artistic Directors Clare Drobot, Marc Masterson, and Monteze Freeland. "In crafting City Theatre's journey for the next year, we investigated, in collaboration with our colleagues, the stories Pittsburgh was eager for and the voices often missing from both local and national conversations. These plays represent our collective vision for a vibrant year of theatre that welcomes back Lynn Nottage and Anna Ziegler's words to our stages and introduces Pittsburgh audiences to Karen Zacarias and Kareem Fahmy. Each of these plays delve into different aspects of intergenerational relationships and community and that spirit will inform the ways in which we produce and live out our company's values on stage and off."

City Theatre will launch its 2022-2023 subscription season by welcoming back two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage (Intimate Apparel, City Theatre 2007) with her new play Clyde's. To close out the calendar year, Anna Ziegler (The Last Match, City Theatre 2016) returns to City Theatre with The Wanderers. This mysterious new drama, exploring the complications of love and what it really means to be happy, was the recipient of the 2018 San Diego Critic's Circle Award for Outstanding New Play.

Kicking off after the 2023 new year will be Heidi Schreck's play What the Constitution Means to Me, which played an extended sold-out run on Broadway in 2019 and has just completed a critically-acclaimed national tour. City Theatre has received some of the first rights issued to self-produce the play.

The 48th season continues with the flower-filled Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías, just in time to welcome the spring of 2023. Focusing on a neighborly property line disagreement that turns into an all-out border dispute.

City Theatre completes its season with Kareem Fahmy's American Fast, a new play about college basketball superstar Khady that questions family, faith, and what it means to win at all costs.

"On the two-year anniversary of Covid's shutdown of the theater industry, we are excited to announce this new season, our 48th overall," said Managing Director James McNeel. "I am proud of our local and national cultural colleagues, staff, and artists for their tireless efforts to overcome the many pandemic hurdles thrown our way during this long recovery. And now, with geo-political tremors bringing even new layers of disruption and uncertainty to our world, we remain committed to the belief that art can be a critical balm that heals, as well as an opportunity to rediscover and rebuild community. We look forward to sharing this outstanding and very 'City Theatre-like' season-filled with joy, heart, and thoughtfulness-with Pittsburgh audiences, new and old."

Kicking off City Theatre's new season will be the return of the hottest block party of the year. On September 10, 2022, the South Side will again host its signature fundraiser The BASH, which saw 479 attendees in 2019. Not to be missed, the street will be filled with a food truck tour of Pittsburgh classics, live performances, sidewalk games, craft cocktails, and more. City Theatre owes a huge thanks to TheBASH Host Committee Co-Chairs Tacy M. Byham, PhD; Mary McKinney Flaherty, Esq. and Mark Flaherty, Esq.; and Nancy D. Washington, PhD. Tickets on sale soon.

One "City Event" performance run is ready to be announced as, midway through the season, Kimberly Richards returns as the unforgettable 'Sister' in 'Til Death Do Us Part: Late Nite Catechism 3 by Maripat Donovan. Since 2005, Ms. Richards has raised nearly $370,000 for Catholic motherhouses through the Late Nite Catechism series. This installment, taking place during the Valentine's Day season, will include a zany version of the Newlywed Game full of jokes, audience participation, and counseling that will have you laughing until your sides - and your wallet - split open.

ABOUT THE SUBSCRIPTION SEASON SHOWS:

Clyde's by Lynn Nottage

September 24 - October 16, 2022

Under the watchful eye of the titular character, Clyde's follows the kitchen staff of a truck stop in a small PA town. Comprised of formerly incarcerated individuals, the staff come together to find fulfillment both in their lives and in creating the perfect sandwich. This show is layered with loveable characters.

Lynn Nottage is the first woman in history to win two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama. Her plays have been produced widely in the United States and throughout the world. Recent work includes the libretto for the opera Intimate Apparel (LCT), the libretto for the musical MJ (Broadway), Clyde's (Broadway, 2ST), and co-curating the performance installation The Watering Hole (Signature Theater). Other work includes the musical adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees (Atlantic); Mlima's Tale; Sweat (Pulitzer Prize, Obie, Evening Standard Award, Susan Smith Blackburn Prize); By the Way, Meet Vera Stark (Lilly Award); Ruined (Pulitzer Prize, Obie, Lortel, NY Drama Critics' Circle, AUDELCO, Drama Desk and OCC awards); Intimate Apparel (American Theatre Critics and NY Drama Critics' Circle). TV: Writer/Producer of She's Gotta Have It (Netflix), Consulting Producer on Dickinson (Apple TV+). Awards: PEN/Laura Pels Master Dramatist Award, Doris Duke Artist Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, MacArthur "Genius Grant" Fellowship. She is an Associate Professor at Columbia University School of the Arts, and is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

The Wanderers by Anna Ziegler

November 26 - December 18, 2022

Newly acquainted Orthodox Jews, Esther and Schmuli, have entered into an arranged marriage. Author Abe and movie star Julia have entered into a secret, flirtatious correspondence without their spouses' knowledge. Swiveling between 1970s and present day, The Wanderers is a funny and mysterious new drama that puts a magnifying glass on the complications of love across generations and what it means to be happy.

Anna Ziegler's plays include the widely produced Photograph 51 (West End, directed by Michael Grandage and starring Nicole Kidman; named the number one play of 2019 by the Chicago Tribune; winner of London's WhatsOnStage Award for Best New Play; available on Audible; published in Bloomsbury's Modern Classics series), The Last Match (Roundabout; Old Globe; Writers Theatre), The Wanderers (Old Globe and upcoming at The Roundabout, winter 2023), Actually (Geffen Playhouse; Williamstown; Manhattan Theatre Club; Trafalgar Studios and many more; L.A. Ovation Award winner for Playwriting for an Original Play). She holds commissions from Roundabout Theatre Company, Second Stage Theatre and The Geffen Playhouse. Bloomsbury/Oberon Books has published a collection of her work entitled Anna Ziegler: Plays One. She is developing TV and film projects at HBO Max, Apple and Scott Free Productions.

What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck

January 21 - February 12, 2023

Playwright Heidi Schreck earned her college tuition and developed a deep love of the Constitution by winning debate competitions around the country as a teenager. All grown-up, her hilarious and optimistic new play reimagines how this living document served four different generations of women and what it will mean for the future of America.

Heidi Schreck is a writer and performer living in Brooklyn. Her critically acclaimed, award-winning play What the Constitution Means to Me played an extended, sold-out run on Broadway in 2019, and was nominated for two Tony Awards. It had subsequent sold-out runs at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., as well as at the Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, and will continue its national tour when safe to do so.A filmed version of What the Constitution Means to Me, starring Schreck, premiered this past October exclusively on Amazon Prime Video, and was nominated for a Critics Choice Award, a PGA Award, and a DGA Award. What the Constitution Means to Me was named Best of the Year by The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Time Magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, The New Yorker and more; NPR named it one of the "50 Great Pop Culture Moments" of 2019. As both an actor and writer she is the recipient of three Obie Awards, a Drama Desk Award, and a Theatre World Award, as well as the Horton Foote Playwriting Award and the Hull-Warriner Award from the Dramatists Guild. She was named one of Fast Company's Most Creative People in Business in 2019 and was featured on Variety's 2019 Broadway Impact List. Schreck was awarded Smithsonian magazine's 2019 American Ingenuity Award for her work in the Performing Arts.

Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías

March 11 - April 2, 2023

Expecting Latinx couple, Tania and Pablo, have just purchased their first home next to long-time D.C. residents (and Potomac Horticultural Society award seekers), Frank and Virginia. Cultures clash when Tania's plan for a "native garden" disagrees with Frank's perfectly pristine posies and a property line disagreement turns into an all-out border dispute. Karen Zacarias's brilliant comedy exposes well-intentioned neighbors' notions on race, class, morality, and privilege.

Karen Zacarías was recently hailed by American Theater Magazine as one of the most produced playwrights in the US. Her plays include The Copper Children, Destiny of Desire, Native Gardens, The Book Club Play, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, and the adaptations of Just Like Us, The Age of Innocence, Into the Beautiful North, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent and a bilingual Romeo y Juliet. She has been produced at The Kennedy Center, The Goodman, The Guthrie, Arena Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, GALA Hispanic Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse, Old Globe, The Alliance Theater, Repertorio Español, The Latino Theater Company, Milagro Theater, and many more. She is the author of ten renowned TYA musicals and the librettist of several Ballets. She is one of the inaugural resident playwrights at Arena Stage, a core founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons- a large national organization of artists seeking to update the American narrative with the stories of Latinx-, and she is the founder of the award-winning Young Playwrights' Theater (YPT), noted as one of the best arts educational programs by the Obama White House. Karen was voted a 2019 Washingtonian of the Year for her arts advocacy by Washingtonian Magazine. She was awarded 2019 Sine Fellowship at the American University School of Public Policy for connecting art with policy making. She is a recipient of 2019 Lee-Reynolds-Award for "social, cultural, or political change with theater" awarded by the League of Professional Theater Women and honored with the 2019 Medallion by the Children's Theater Foundation. She was a 2019 speaker at TEDX Broadway. She is a 2021 recipient of the United Artists Fellowship. Karen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and three children and two dogs. She's represented by the Gersh Agency and is published by Samuel French/Concord Theatricals, Dramatic Publishing and has a collection of plays with Oberon Books.

American Fast by Kareem Fahmy

April 29 - May 21, 2023

College basketball superstar Khady is about to carry her team through the NCAA Women's Championships, but when March Madness coincides with Ramadan, Khady lies to her devout mother about holding her fast. When her mother goes public with the story of Khady's devotion to both Ramadan and basketball, Khady finds herself the heroine of young Muslim women. Kareem Fahmy's production questions family, faith, and what it means to win at all costs.

Kareem Fahmy is a Canadian-born playwright and director of Egyptian descent. His plays include American Fast (commissioned by Artists Repertory Theatre), A Distinct Society (upcoming world premiere, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley), Dodi & Diana (commissioned by Colt Coeur, workshop at The Magic Theatre), Pareidolia, The In-Between, and an adaptation of the acclaimed novel The Yacoubian Building. Kareem's plays have been developed at Atlantic Theatre Company, Northlight Theatre, Citadel Theatre, Capital Repertory Theatre, New York Stage & Film, Noor Theatre, and more. Kareem is the recipient of an Alfred P. Sloan Commission at Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Janet Sloan Residency at Yaddo, is a former Sundance Theatre Lab Fellow, Phil Killian Directing Fellow (Oregon Shakespeare Festival), and was named a "Rising Leader of Color" by TCG. Co-founder/Chair of the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab. MFA (Theatre Directing), Columbia. www.kareemfahmy.com

TICKET INFORMATION

Subscription packages go on sale March 12, 2022 and will be available in person, over the phone, and online. Single tickets are on sale August 8, 2022, and reservations for groups of 10+ for the season and 'Til Death Do Us Part: Late Nite Catechism 3 will start June 6, 2022.

Subscribers with money on account will be able to apply their remaining balance towards their subscription in all purchase paths. Five-play subscriptions start at only $135.

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