City Theatre Announces 2026-27 Season Lineup; 'OUR NEXT ACT'

City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh’s home for contemporary plays based on the South Side, has announced the details of the theatre’s 52nd season of bold, new works, beginning in September 2026.

Themed as "Our Next Act," the 2026-27 season will feature a captivating new musical, two world premieres, multiple collaborations, and the return of a holiday favorite.

"Our upcoming season is a deep exploration of the ties that bind us, featuring stories that celebrate our shared humanity, the complexities of family, and the legacies we leave behind," said Artistic Director Clare Drobot. "By collaborating with visionary artists from both the vibrant Pittsburgh community and across the country, we’ve built a season of impactful partnerships that will lead City forward to its next chapter."

In addition to a full suite of performances across its South Side cultural campus, City Theatre is further expanding its reach and impact on the local artistic community through two new initiatives. The first is the creation of a season-long Artist is Residence position who will be provided time, professional support, compensation, and access to City Theatre resources to further advance their career. Local playwright a.k. payne will serve as the inaugural resident artist.

"I’ve been so fortunate to know and be inspired by a.k.’s artistry and all-around brilliance," said Drobot. "We are so very pleased to invite them more deeply into our organization – providing, literally, keys to the theatre – and invest in the incredibly rich stories and worlds she builds and ground them in a Pittsburgh home."

Also new this season is a residency program for local arts organizations to embed into City Theatre, through the use of space, marketing and administrative support, and production access. With a goal of increasing public performances by up to 12 weeks, City Theatre will "present" independent companies as part of the 2026-27 season. The first two named companies, representing three distinct shows next season in the Lillie Theatre, are Bricolage Production Company and RealTime Arts.

"Collaboration is one of our core values, and we have spent much of the recent years exploring and defining what that means to City Theatre, the local arts ecosystem, and how it must be deployed now and into the future," said Managing Director James McNeel. "We are blessed with an extraordinarily flexible campus of venues, shops, rehearsal halls – with a talented team of professionals making everything run – and we are keen to partner on projects that increase our facility usage, help us meet our mission and, hopefully, expand the reach of our wildly creative peers. We want our South Side home to belong to everyone. Our new residency program aims to do just that."

The 2026/27 season comes on the heels of what is shaping up to be the most successful box office year for City Theatre since the 2008 economic crash, with record-setting sales and increased subscriptions in 2025-26, galvanizing an estimated 10% increase in sales from the previous year. With an estimated operating budget of $3.3 million, next season will feature over 200 days and nights of public programming and performances from at least nine City-affiliated productions, educational initiatives, festivals, workshops and readings, and special events.

The current season represents the first return of the renowned improv troupe from Chicago, Second City, to Pittsburgh for the first time since 2021. The laughs will continue in 2027 as City Theatre will again present the company with its “Best of Second City” tour arriving for an exclusive, limited two-week run — just 10 performances – on the Main Stage next April. Tickets to Second City can be purchased with subscriptions immediately, with subscribers receiving a special discount.

City Theatre’s marquis education program, the Young Playwrights Festival, will return for its 27th year, with two weeks of student matinees and public performances of six, locally selected one-act plays written by area middle and high school students. The Festival will take place between October 13 through 23, 2026, with public performances on Saturday, October 17 and Sunday, October 18. Over 300 submissions are received annually for consideration.

After a multi-year hiatus, the Momentum Festival returned in 2025 through a partnership with the CMU Center for New Work. Dates have not yet been finalized, but the Momentum Festival will return again in the 2026-27 season, featuring at least four separate new theatrical projects in progress and under development. Public readings of each will be presented along with other ancillary activities such as panels and local writer events.

Tickets to both the Young Playwrights and Momentum festivals are free to subscribers.

In addition to the performances seen on stage, 2026/2027 will feature the creation of an artist-in-residence position for playwright — and Pittsburgh native — a.k. payne. Payne is a nationally recognized writer whose plays include Furlough’s Paradise (Alliance Theater, Geffen Playhouse) and Amani (Rattlestick and National Black Theatre). They are a graduate of the Yale School of Drama and two-time winner of City Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival. Through this residency, City Theatre will develop several of Payne’s scripts over the course of the season in addition to offering physical space on its campus (including access to venues and a desk in the staff offices), season curation opportunities as member of the Programming Committee, a financial stipend, and involvement in educational initiatives.

This Residency will allow a.k. to have a Pittsburgh artistic home for their work.

With rising costs and limited available financial resources straining the sector, City Theatre has long been a leader in exploring methods of partnership and deep collaboration to offset these challenges. While the organization’s board recently voted to remain independent and not explore formal consolidation with Pittsburgh CLO and Pittsburgh Public Theater, it remains deeply committed to finding meaningful and aligned creative allegiances that elevate the wealth of talent and impact of small to mid-size local arts organizations throughout the region.

In 2026/2027, City Theatre will provide space and support for up to three arts organizations who will be presented as part of the season, including ticketing, marketing, administrative, and production support along with subsidized access to performance venues and rehearsal space. All artistic and creative control will remain with the resident companies.

The two initial participants in this initiative are Bricolage Production Company (bricolagepgh.org) — led by Jeffrey Carpetner and Tami Dixon — and RealTime Arts (realtimearts.org) — founded by Molly Rice and Rusty Thelin — two longstanding Pittsburgh-based organizations whose work will resonate with City Theatre audiences.

City Theatre will present two separate episodes of Bricolage’s Midnight Radio series – totaling six weeks of performances in the Lillie – from October to December 2026. Titles to be announced.

"We're thrilled to partner with City Theatre for the 14th season of Midnight Radio," said Tami Dixon, Co-Artistic Director of Bricolage Production Company. "Jeffrey and I have had the joy of performing with City Theatre for many years, so bringing this series here feels like a natural and exciting next step. It's a perfect alignment — two companies passionate about pushing the boundaries of storytelling and delivering bold, imaginative, theatre to Pittsburgh audiences."

In February 2027, RealTime’s world premiere play with music (Working Title: there is a blue that only children see) blending Ukrainian folktales, rock adaptations of folksongs, and real-life conversations between U.S. and Ukrainian veterans, will debut in the Lillie for a two-week run.

"We are thrilled to be partnering with City Theater to debut this unique piece here in Pittsburgh," said Molly Rice, Co-Artistic Director of RealTime. "City Theatre is the ideal partner for RealTime because we share a passionate commitment to community, social relevance, and artistic integrity. We look forward to working together to share this important work with the world."

Tickets to all three residency productions will go on sale this summer, with information soon to be available on City Theatre’s website and in upcoming season materials.

Subscription Season Shows

In Clay
September 19 - October 11, 2026 | Main Stage
Book and Lyrics by Rebecca Simmonds; Music and Lyrics by Jack Miles; Additional Music, Music Supervision, Arrangements, Orchestrations, and Music Preparation by Matt Herbert; Directed by Kimberly Senior; Featuring Alex Finke

Based on a true story, In Clay is a dazzling solo musical that unearths the overlooked artistry of ceramic artist Marie-Berthe Cazin. Set in the early 20 th Century to a vibrant Parisian Jazz score, the arrival of a childhood friend ignites a story of passion, resilience, and art. Coming to Pittsburgh after a sold-out run at the Signature Theatre in Washington, D.C.

Georgiana and Kitty: Christmas at Pemberley
November 14 - December 6, 2026 | Main Stage
By Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon; Director TBA

Gentle patrons, we heard your overwhelming demands and are thrilled to welcome the Bennet/Darcy clan back to the south side. The final installment of the most adored Christmas at Pemberley series follows Mr. Darcy’s younger sister, Georgiana, and the youngest Bennet sister, Kitty, two best friends ready for their own adventures in life and love. Whether you’ve been with us for the full series or you are a first-timer to Pemberley, you will want to see Georgiana and Kitty, a charming and original holiday treat.

Bobby Robotowitz & Allison Portchnik (World Premiere)
January 23 - February 14, 2027 | Main Stage
By Matt Schatz; Director TBA

A witty and imaginative take on the consequences of evolving artificial intelligence, this world premiere follows a novelist and mother who turns to a chatbot for writing help. What starts with grammar tips soon spirals into chaos. Sharp, darkly funny, and full of creativity, Matt Schatz challenges what we might think we know about our future selves and how we use machines to get through the day.

Laughs in Spanish (Co-Production with Geva Theatre (Rochester, NY))
March 13 - April 4, 2027 | Main Stage
By Alexis Scheer; Director TBA

Laughs in Spanish is an uproarious celebration of family, creativity, and finding your people. Disaster erupts when a famed artist’s paintings go missing the night before Mari’s career defining show in her Miami gallery. To make matters worse, her movie star mother appears to turn this crime scene into a fast- paced comedy.

The Punchline (World Premiere)
May 1 - May 30, 2027 | Lillie Theatre
Written & Performed by Christopher Rivas; Directed by Adil Mansoor

"If we only had a year to live, what would change in us?"

The Punchline, a new solo piece from playwright and performer Christopher Rivas (The Real James Bond...Was Dominican), urges us to build an altar to our current life and the moments that touch and change us, while we’re still alive. Through humor, story, and ceremony, The Punchline reminds us to live in the present and celebrate it as sacred- because nothing can last forever. This production was developed during the 2025 Momentum Festival.

Subscriber Add-On (Now On Sale)

The Best of Second City
April 15 - April 24, 2027 | Main Stage

Find out for yourself why The Second City has been the first name in laughter for over 60 years! From the stages that launched the careers of Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, Steve Carell and more comes the next generation of comedy superstars.

The Best of The Second City features some of the best sketch comedy and songs from our comedy vaults updated for the modern era, as well as some of our newest classics and our trademark improvisation performed by The Second City Touring Company’s best and brightest…and funniest.

Ticket Information

Subscription packages go on sale March 7, 2026 and will be available in person, over the phone, and online. Single tickets will be on sale in Summer 2026 and reservations for groups of 10+ for the season can be made beginning in June 2026.

Subscription prices start at just $194 for five season productions (a savings of at least 25% from single tickets). Published pricing is inclusive of all fees.

2026/27 Subscription Prices:
Previews and Saturday matinees: $210
Opening Night: $295
Weekdays (Wednesday - Friday) after Opening: $260
Weekends after Opening: $280
6-Show "Flex" Subscriptions: $282

Subscribers are able to purchase pre-paid parking for $50. In addition, subscribers can secure advance tickets to Second City for $57.