Pittsburgh's City Theatre Announces 2018-19 Season
By: Stephi Wild Mar. 05, 2018
City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh's home for new plays, has announced the details of the theatre's 44th season of new works. Under the leadership of Managing Director James McNeel, and with the artistic team of Artistic Producer Reginald L. Douglas and Director of New Play Development Clare Drobot, the plays represent a diversity of voices and styles, including laugh-out-loud comedies, ripped-from-the-headlines dramas, and fresh explorations of the world around us.
Beginning with the highly-theatrical and historically-inspired comedy The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson, the season will continue with a timely new drama by Dominique Morisseau (Sunset Baby, City Theatre, November 2015), a Drama Desk Award-nominated hip-hop autobiography by Brian Quijada, and a lawless romp through retirement by Jen Silverman. Back-to-back world premieres end the line-up, featuring two more playwrights new to City Theatre audiences: CMU alumnus Matt Schatz and Broadway's Stephen Belber (Tape, Match, Tectonic Theatre Project's The Laramie Project).
"Next season, we will present work that is urgent and relatable, artistically diverse, and intellectually and emotionally fulfilling," said Managing Director James McNeel. "In navigating the selection of these plays, my artistic colleagues were indispensable in providing thoughtful guidance and including the City Theatre staff and stakeholders in every conversation. In a period of great transition-at City Theatre, as well as nationally-our team has collaborated to curate a season of which I am incredibly proud. These writers draw from the world around them, and we are putting them on our stage to inspire, entertain, and excite our very own Pittsburgh audience, while living our organizational values and purpose to produce and develop new plays that matter. These powerful stories most certainly do."
"What a dream it is to share these powerful new narratives that engage and reflect our changing world with our audiences. Bringing together the best of our nation with the best of our city is what makes City Theatre so special, so vital to Pittsburgh and our national field. This season reflects that sentiment beautifully," said Artistic Producer Reginald L. Douglas. "I am especially excited to share that all of our creative teams will include diversity of race and gender, and include members of our local community, putting our commitment to equity and our city front and center."
"What I love about next season is that each play will engage City's audience in a conversation," said Director of New Play Development, Clare Drobot. "From Lauren Gunderson's feminist investigation of history to Stephen Belber's examination of war's far reaching ramifications and Matt Schatz's wry look at the distancing effect of our digitally-connected lives, each playwright is exploring an urgent question. All six productions will feature partnerships designed to foster dialogue and support a more diverse and inclusive community in Pittsburgh and nationally."
The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson
Directed by Jade King Carroll
September 8 - September 30, 2018
Main Stage
Liberté, égalité... sororité! It's the French Revolution and heads will roll - including playwright Olympe de Gouges' and her muses: assassin Charlotte Corday, Caribbean freedom fighter Marianne Angelle, and the one-and-only Marie "Let Them Eat Cake" Antoinette. Lauren Gunderson makes her Pittsburgh debut with this radical and metatheatrical comedy about four badass women out to change the world.
This production will feature an all-female creative team led by Jade King Carroll, director of 2015's critically acclaimed Sunset Baby.
America's most produced playwright in 2017, Lauren Gunderson is the author of I and You, The Book of Will, and other plays, as well as co-author of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley with Margot Melcon. She is the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award, among others.
Pipeline by Dominique Morisseau
Directed by Reginald L. Douglas
October 27 - November 18, 2018
Main Stage
When Omari is suspended from a prestigious - and mostly white - private school for an explosive incident with a teacher, his mother sees her dreams for him vanish before her eyes. Dominique Morisseau (Sunset Baby) returns to City Theatre with this powerful and poetic chronicle of injustice that exposes the cracks in our education system and the power of a mother's love.
Directed by City Theatre's Artistic Producer Reginald L. Douglas, Pipeline will include partnerships with Carnegie Mellon University and Point Park University; 1Hood Media will write an original score for the production.
Dominique Morrisseau was named one of Variety's Women of Impact in 2017-18. Her work includes Skeleton Crew, Paradise Blue, and Detroit '67, a three play cycle collectively called The Detroit Project; as well as Sunset Baby. She is the recipient of the Steinberg Award, Edward M. Kennedy Prize for Drama, an OBIE award, among others.
Where Did We Sit on the Bus? by Brian Quijada
Directed by Chay Yew
January 19 - February 24, 2019
Lester Hamburg Studio
With pulsing rhythms and original rhymes set to a live, looped soundtrack, Brian Quijada stages a hip-hop autobiography about falling in love with performance, the power of family, and growing up Latino in a world that categorizes everyone in black and white. "An explosion of energy, raw emotion, and irresistible storytelling." -The Chicago Sun Times.
Chay Yew, Artistic Director of Chicago's Victory Gardens Theater, is an award winning director and playwright. He is an alumnus of New Dramatists and specializes in new work, having directed world premieres by Jose Rivera, Naomi Iizuke, Julia Cho, and more. He was born in Singapore.
Brian Quijada is an actor, playwright, educator, and musician whose work explores the Latinx experience in America. Where Did We Sit on the Bus? was originally produced at Teatro Vista/Victory Gardens in Chicago, directed by Chay Yew; the Off-Broadway run at Ensemble Studio Theatre was nominated for two Drama Desk Awards in 2017.
The Roommate by Jen Silverman
Directed by Reginald L. Douglas
March 2 - 24, 2019
Main Stage
Retired and recently divorced, Sharon needs a roommate for a little extra cash and some much-needed company in her Iowa home. When new-age New Yorker Robyn moves into the spare room, the pair of unlikely pals bond in this laugh-out-loud play about leaning into friendship, new beginnings, and maybe just a touch of breaking the law.
Jen Silverman is a resident playwright at New Dramatists. Her work has been produced Off-Broadway, internationally, and regionally, and includes the plays Collective Rage: A Play in 5 Betties, The Moors, and Dangerous House, which premieres this summer at Williamstown Theatre Festival.
The Burdens by Matt Schatz
Directed by Tyne Rafaeli
April 6 - May 12, 2019
Lester Hamburg Studio
Siblings Mordy and Jane communicate like proper millennials: primarily through text message and loaded with sarcasm. Their lives flailing on opposite coasts, they hatch an outrageous plan to relieve their mother of the burden of Zad-Zad, their centenarian - and particularly prickly - grandfather. A world premiere dark comedy for the digital age, The Burdens explores pop culture, connection, and the value of actual face time.
Tyne Rafaeli has directed Off-Broadway and regionally, including the world premieres of Michael Yates Crowley's The Rape of the Sabine Woman by Grace B. Matthias and Anna Ziegler's Actually, as well as the west coast premiere of Ironbound by Martyna Majok at The Geffen Playhouse.
CMU Alum Matt Schatz writes for the stage and screen, including projects developed for Fox Television Studios, USA, and TBS. His original musical, An Untitled New Play by Justin Timberlake, will be developed at the CLO's SPARK Festival of New Musicals later this spring.
We Are Among Us by Stephen Belber
Director TBA
May 11 - June 2, 2019
Main Stage
With her military contractor career firmly behind her, single mother Laura finally has her son front-and-center in her life. But when a reporter appears demanding answers to a covered-up, decade-old story from her time in Afghanistan, the murky events of a single night resurface, revealing untold truths and painful consequences. From the writer of the Tony Award-nominated play Match comes a world premiere that investigates the personal cost of war and what it means to survive.
Stephen Belber's plays have been produced on Broadway and in over 25 countries. They include Match, Tape, and The Death of Frank, among many others. He was a member of the Tectonic Theatre Project under Moises Kaufman, and was an associate writer on The Laramie Project.
Also announcing this two-night-only City Event, on sale now for 2018-19 subscribers only:
Kooman & Dimond Holiday Cabaret
November 30 & December 1, 2018
Main Stage
Pittsburgh's own Michael Kooman & Christopher Dimond, the award-winning musical duo behind Dani Girl and Disney's Vampirina, bring some Broadway friends home for the holidays. Line-up TBA.
Titles, directors, and dates subject to change. Subscription packages are on sale now and may be purchased by calling or visiting the City Theatre Box Office.
Three ways to subscribe:
On-site: City Theatre Box Office, 1300 Bingham Street, Pittsburgh PA 15203
By phone: 412-431-CITY (2489)
Online: Beginning June 1. Visit www.citytheatrecompany.org
Season Subscription Packages:
$150 Saturday 1:00 p.m., Greenroom 8:00 p.m. (Friday Art & Afterparty series)
$171 Tuesday 7:00 p.m., Wednesday 1:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m., Thursday 8:00 p.m., Saturday 9:00 p.m., Sunday 7:00 p.m.
$198 Friday 8:00 p.m., Sunday 2:00 p.m.
$276 Saturday 5:30 p.m., Opening Night 8:00 p.m. (First Friday of each production)
Flex Packages: Choose your own schedule.
$216 Basic Flex: Six vouchers, good for Tuesday-Thursday, Saturday at 1:00 p.m., Saturday at 9:00 p.m., and Sunday at 7:00 p.m.
$276 Premium Flex: Six vouchers, good for any performance.
Single tickets for the 2018-19 season will go on sale Monday, July 30. An exclusive pre-sale for The Revolutionists will begin Friday, July 27, open only to CityM@il subscribers. Sign up to receive CityM@il at www.citytheatrecompany.org.
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