HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH And More Set for City Theatre 2025/2026 Season
The season includes two laugh-out-loud selections with a Broadway comedy and the return of America’s longest-running improv troupe to Pittsburgh.
By: A.A. Cristi Apr. 10, 2025
City Theatre Company has announced the details of the theatre’s 51st season of bold, new works, beginning in September 2025. The 2025/2026 season will feature three world premieres, both national and local producing partnerships, the return of playwright Lauren Gunderson with a new take on an American classic, and City Theatre’s first-ever revival of a favorite show from its history.
Plus, the season includes two laugh-out-loud selections with a Broadway comedy and the return of America’s longest-running improv troupe to Pittsburgh.
“Next season’s productions explore the pivotal moments that shape our lives. From falling in (and out of) love to finding your voice or fighting for what you believe in, each of these stories is about the messy (and hilarious and heartbreaking) business of being human,” said Co-Artistic Director Clare Drobot. “The season was curated in close partnership with Monteze, James, and the City Theatre team. It doubles-down on our commitments to bold new plays, uplifting the phenomenal Pittsburgh artistic community, and forging new models for both local and national producing partnerships. I can’t wait to share it with audiences and artists alike.”
City Theatre will begin its 2025-2026 subscription season with perhaps the company’s most ambitious show to date, Another Kind of Silence by L M Feldman. A bilingual and bicultural National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere in English and American Sign Language, Feldman was awarded a Venturous Playwright Fellowship through the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis and has been developing the script in collaboration with Director of Artistic Sign Language MoMo Holt and Director Kim Weild, alongside partners at Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO) and the VORTEX (Austin, TX). This epic love story will transform the Main Stage, transport audiences, and serve as a luscious launch to a season full of daring and delight.
A new adaptation of the classic Little Women takes over the holiday spot in November and December. City Theatre teamed up with Northlight Theatre in Chicago, People’s Light in Malvern, and TheatreWorks Silicon Valley in California to co-commission Lauren Gunderson (Playwright of The Revolutionists and the Christmas at Pemberley series) to write a modern adaptation of the beloved classic. The resulting Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women explores the parallel lives of the author’s family and the iconic March sisters.
The third world premiere of the season, Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem, written by Jonathan Norton (interim artistic director at Dallas Theater Center) takes the City Theatre stage in January 2026. The story follows Malcolm X and Redd Foxx when they met in 1943 while both washing dishes at the iconic establishment, Jimmy’s Chicken Shack.
Next March brings Eureka Day by Jonathan Spector, an all too timely, bitingly funny comedy that takes place during several board meetings at an ultra-progressive California school when a mumps outbreak reveals varying views on vaccination. A New York Times “Critics Pick” for its hit run on Broadway this season, Spector will make his Pittsburgh debut with a play hailed as one of the funniest of the year.
The 2025/2026 season closes with a show from City Theatre’s archives with the Company’s first ever revival. The City Theatre production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch by John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask will be performed in partnership with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust at the Greer Cabaret downtown. Hedwig will be directed by Robert Ramirez, Head of Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama.
In addition to the subscription series, City Theatre is welcoming Second City to the Main Stage in April with its production Laugh Harder, Not Smarter: The Best of Second City. This limited, two-week run marks the first return of Second City to Pittsburgh since 2021. Subscribers receive early access to secure tickets for what will surely be a high-demand, laugh-out-loud City Event in April 2026.
“I am immensely proud of the scope, scale, and ambition of our announced season,” said Managing Director James McNeel. “With so many theatres reducing programming, we are committing to our full suite of shows, while cementing our values and creative partnerships. We continue to innovate and adapt to an ever-changing cultural landscape—while taking big swings when the moment calls for them. Pittsburgh needs contemporary plays and City Theatre, and we remain immensely grateful to our loyal patrons, funders, and supporters who invest in our mission. It’s a critical time in our country and the arts have a significant role to play in uniting and inspiring our community.”
In addition to its first-ever production in the Cultural District with Hedwig, the Company has announced several other changes to the upcoming season, adapting to the cadence of theater-goers and theater-making in 2025. Tuesday evening performances have been dropped from the schedule and evening performance curtain times have been streamlined to all begin at 7:30pm (except for Saturday at 5:30pm). All pricing is now inclusive of fees.
A new “Subscriber Day” will take place on Saturday, April 12 from 10:30am – 3:30pm on City Theatre’s campus where all patrons are invited to renew or purchase subscriptions, meet staff and artists, sit in on rehearsal, and tour the organization’s South Side cultural campus.
Subscriber benefits include discounted pricing, free ticket exchanges if plans change, preferred seating, early access to City Events and other special events, and the opportunity to pre-purchase parking (including for Hedwig and the Angry Inch when performed downtown in the Cultural District). Five-show subscriptions start at just $194.
Co-Artistic Director Monteze Freeland, who is leaving City Theatre in June to become artistic director at Pittsburgh’s Alumni Theater Company, curated the season with fellow co-artistic director Clare Drobot. Ms. Drobot will serve as the singular creative lead for the 2025/2026 season, in partnership with managing director James McNeel, while the organization assesses the leadership model adopted in 2021 with Drobot, Freeland, and Marc Masterson sharing the title of Artistic Director.
The 2025/26 season, by the numbers:
- One (1) produced commission of a new play
- One (1) City Contemporary Classic revival
- Two (2) neighborhoods (South Side and Downtown)
- Three (3) world premieres and a fourth Pittsburgh debut
- Five (5) full productions
- 10 creative partnerships with local and national producers and presenters (representing eight different states)
- Over 120 artists employed
- 130 public performances
ABOUT THE SUBSCRIPTION SEASON SHOWS:
Another Kind of Silence
by L M Feldman
Directed by Kim Weild
ASL Translation & Direction of Artistic Sign Language by MoMo Holt.
A National New Play Network Rolling World Premiere
September 20 – October 12, 2025
Main Stage
A chance meeting in sunny Athens, Greece has Chap and Evan falling in love. The catch? Both women are already attached—just not to each other. An epic journey of language, desire, and dreaming, Another Kind of Silence is a bilingual and bicultural world premiere in English and American Sign Language that will inspire the heart with its wanderlust and wonder. Experience one of the most ambitious productions in City Theatre history as it begins its journey from Pittsburgh to stops theatres around the country.
Support for Another Kind of Silence has been received from the Venturous Theater Fund of the Tides Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the Arthur J and Betty F. Diskin Cultural Endowment Fund.
Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women
Directed by Kaja Dunn
A Rolling World Premiere
November 15 – December 7, 2025
Main Stage
From the playwright of The Revolutionists and the Christmas at Pemberley series comes the world premiere of a new adaptation of a beloved classic. Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women explores the parallel lives of the author’s family and the iconic March sisters – Jo, Beth, Meg, and Amy -- in a heartwarming coming of age tale of empowerment, family, resilience – and the creation of an American literary masterpiece, with Alcott herself center stage.
Co-commissioned and originally produced by City Theatre; Northlight Theatre, Chicago, IL; People’s Light, Malvern, PA; and TheatreWorks, Palo Alto, CA.
Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem
By Jonathan Norton
Directed by Dexter J. Singleton
A Co-World Premiere
January 17 – February 8, 2026
Main Stage
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. In 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.
A Co-World Premiere produced by TheatreSquared (Fayetteville, AR), City Theatre, Virginia Stage Company (Norfolk, VA), and Dallas Theater Center.
Eureka Day
Directed by Adil Mansoor
Pittsburgh Premiere
March 7 – 29, 2026
Main Stage
Fresh from Broadway (though detoured from DC – Google it), this all too timely, bitingly funny comedy takes place during several board meetings at an ultra-progressive California school proud of its inclusivity and commitment to consensus – at least until a mumps outbreak reveals varying views (like, everyone’s) on vaccination. In “one of the funniest plays to open [all] year” (The New York Times) parents dance the line of advocating for their children while trying not to offend...anyone.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Text by John Cameron Mitchell, Music & Lyrics by Stephen Trask
Directed by Robert Ramirez
May 2 – June 7, 2026
Downtown at the Greer Cabaret (655 Penn Avenue)
A “Contemporary Classic” first staged at City Theatre in 2003, Hedwig and the Angry Inch will electrify the Greer Cabaret downtown in our first-ever revival of a legendary show adored by audiences and hailed by critics. The Tony Award-winning, fierce and energetic musical follows the life, loves, and heartbreaks of the legendary Hedwig, an East German rock and roll goddess. Funny, inspiring, and brimming with energy, Hedwig is a love story to those who have too much fight in them to quit.
Presented in partnership with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
SUBSCRIBER ADD-ON: A CITY EVENT:
The Second City Presents Laugh, Harder, Not Smarter: The Best of Second City
April 9 – 18, 2026 (Limited run – just nine performances)
Main Stage
Second City returns to Pittsburgh for the first time since 2021 with Laugh Harder, Not Smarter, a celebration of legendary American comedy 65 years in the making. Featuring a hilarious array of classic sketch comedy and songs from the company's rich history, fresh new favorites, as well as the signature brand of irreverent improv that The Second City is famous for. This innovative and interactive performance, brought to life by the dynamic Second City Touring Company, is a celebration of the comedic genius that has graced our stages for six and a half decades. With alumni such as Tina Fey, Stephen Colbert, and Keegan-Michael Key, The Second City has an unmatched track record of launching the careers of comedy superstars.
Ticket Information
Subscription packages go on sale April 10, 2025 and will be available in person, over the phone, and online. Single tickets will be on sale in August 2025 and reservations for groups of 10+ for the season can be made beginning in June 2025.
Subscription prices start at just $194 for five season productions (a savings of up to 45% from single tickets). Published pricing is inclusive of all fees.
2025/2026 Subscription Pricing:
- Previews, Saturday matinees, and Greenroom | $194.00
- Opening Night | $274.00
- Weekdays (Wednesday – Friday) after Opening | $239.00
- Weekends after Opening | $259.00
- 6-Show Flex Subscriptions | $258.00
Subscribers are able to purchase pre-paid parking, including one show in the Cultural District, for $55. In addition, subscribers can secure advance tickets to Second City’s Laugh Harder, Not Smarter for $57.
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