Pittsburgh Public Theater Receives $35,000 Grant From the National Endowment for the Arts

The National Endowment for the Arts has approved a $35,000 award to support the world premiere of Pittsburgh theater history-maker and August Wilson mentee Mark Clayton Southers’ THE COFFIN MAKER at Pittsburgh Public Theater, on stage May 29 – June 16 at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Avenue, in downtown Pittsburgh. The award, which represents a 40% yearly support increase for The Public by the NEA, is one of 958 Grants for Arts Projects distributed across the U.S. totaling more than $27 million. 

Southers is an actor, playwright, educator, director, and the founding producer of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. He became a theater owner in 2022 with his landmark purchase of the Madison Elementary School building, which he attended through seventh grade and which closed in 2008, in order to found a new producing and educating theater in the Hill District. His work as a playwright and his career in theater were inspired and made possible by the support of a close friend and mentor who read his poetry and encouraged him to write for the stage, he told The Public. 

“August Wilson was my mentor, he was a good friend, and I’ve been inspired greatly by him,” Southers said. “August wrote the 20th Century Cycle of American plays, and THE COFFIN MAKER is part of my 19th Century Cycle.”

Southers is joined by another cornerstone of Pittsburgh theater, Monteze Freeland, who will direct THE COFFIN MAKER. Freeland is the co-artistic director of City Theatre Company, former education director of Quantum Theatre, and a producer in residence for the National New Play Network. He is described as “the most in-demand actor/director in the region,” (Pittsburgh Magazine), and shared that support like this grant from the NEA is vital in ensuring work like THE COFFIN MAKER earns its rightful place in the national conversation. 

“As an actor I wasn’t aware of the tasks that it takes to produce work on a level of getting national attention, and as a producer I didn’t realize how important that work is,” Freeland said, describing having the best generative artists and creative minds in the nation on projects like this. “Grants like the NEA are so important because they ensure the work doesn’t just live and die in Pittsburgh, and that’s not always a luxury that Pittsburgh artists have.” 

During The Public’s 2022/2023 season the NEA supported former Resident Director Justin Emeka’s adaptation A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM IN HARLEM, which critics described as a “gorgeous combination of joyful Black excellence with Shakespearean plot and prose.” Like Emeka’s decisive adaptation and Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, Southers’ THE COFFIN MAKER, which the playwright describes as “the story of a rebel fighting for his family’s honor,” continues The Public’s legacy of bringing outstanding stories from distinct voices to the American regional theater stage – stories that inform and transform opportunities for cultural exchange both within Pittsburgh and on the stages these productions visit after their local premieres. 

“The NEA is delighted to announce this grant to Pittsburgh Public Theater, which is helping contribute to the strength and well-being of the arts sector and local community,” National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson said.  “We are pleased to be able to support this community and help create an environment where all people have the opportunity to live artful lives.”  

ABOUT THE PLAY

World Premiere
The Coffin Maker
By Mark Clayton Southers
Directed by Monteze Freeland
At the O’Reilly Theater, a project of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust
621 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh
May 29 – June 16, 2024 

THIS INSTANT CLASSIC IS TO DIE FOR

In this new installment of his century-spanning chronicle of the Black experience inspired by his mentor August Wilson, Pittsburgh theater legend Mark Clayton Southers turns back the clock to 1849 Oklahoma. There, free man Lawrence Ebitts and his wife Eula live peacefully preparing bodies for burial with care and respect, until their world is turned upside down by a bounty hunter who gets more than he bargained for and a fugitive determined to forge his own future. This Western-Comedy-Revenge play is a genre-defying world premiere spiked with heart-stopping revelations. 
 
Rating: PG-13 for explicit language, adult themes, depiction of death, and violence. Suitable for most audiences 13+ with caution advised for pre-teen and younger audiences.

TICKET INFORMATION

THE COFFIN MAKER opens in previews May 29 and runs through June 16. Tickets are available now at PPT.org/Coffin, or by calling the Box Office at 412.316.1600. Discounts are available for groups of 10 or more by emailing GroupSales@ppt.org. 

Pittsburgh Public Theater is dedicated to making its performances accessible to all audiences and offers an American Sign Language Series, assistive listening, I-Caption®, and D-Scriptive® services at select performances. Tickets for these performances can be purchased online or by calling the Box Office at 412.316.1600. 

THE COFFIN MAKER is rated PG-13 for explicit language, adult themes, depiction of death, and violence. Suitable for most audiences 13+ with caution advised for pre-teen and younger audiences.

THEATER FOR ALL 

Pittsburgh Public Theater is dedicated to being a true public theater and provides free tickets for select productions to limit barriers for current and prospective audiences. Theater For All tickets to THE COFFIN MAKER will be released on April 29 from 4 to 7 p.m. while supplies last. More information about The Public’s Theater For All program is available at PPT.org/TFA.
 

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