City Theatre Announces 50th Anniversary Season!

City Theatre Company has announced the details of the theatre's 50th season of bold, new works, beginning in September 2024.

“We designed next season at City Theatre as an epic celebration, looking back at the company's first 50 years and ahead to what the next half century might hold," shared Co-Artistic Directors Clare Drobot and Monteze Freeland. "The season will feature some of the most exciting voices in the American Theatre from Selina Fillinger to Lauren Gunderson & Margot Melcon, Noah Haidle, and Rajiv Joseph. Each play is new to Pittsburgh and produced with City Theatre's hallmark vision of connecting Pittsburgh- and nationally-based artists.”

The upcoming season marks the first selected by Drobot and Freeland solely as fellow Co-Artistic Director Marc Masterson will retire in June.

City Theatre will launch its 2024-2025 subscription season with an uproariously funny satire for mature audiences only, POTUS Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive by Selina Fillinger.

After the great success of Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley last season, City Theatre is producing the next play in the series, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon, which invites its own holiday scandal as the uninvited Mr. Wickham makes a surprise appearance. Jane Austen's famous characters return to the City Theatre stage in a family-friendly holiday celebration perfect for Bridgerton fans.

"I adore our Miss Bennet but The Wickhams is my secret favorite of the trilogy because it reframes a typical Austen love story as one that demands personal freedom and the recovery of self,” said co-author Lauren Gunderson. “The women really come to each other's aid in this play and their support – despite Lydia's antics – always moves me. Of course, Margot and I won't write an Austen iteration without a smart, funny love story and this one is sweet and surprising. I'm delighted that the Bennet story continues at City Theatre this holiday season with The Wickhams."

The 2025 New Year kicks off with a title-to-be-named play (announcement to follow later this spring) which will be produced in the intimate Lillie Theatre, followed by Birthday Candles by Noah Haidle on the Main Stage in March.

“Noah Haidle's warm and poetic Birthday Candles is a celebration of great acting and design,” said retiring artistic director Marc Masterson, who will direct City Theatre's production. “I am eager to gather a talented team to tell this beautiful story.”

City Theatre completes its season with Rajiv Joseph's King James, a buddy comedy that tracks the unlikely friendship of two super fans.

Freeland will direct the production. He noted that “We are thrilled to bring this exciting story of brotherhood and growing pains to City Theatre audiences. Rajiv Joseph is a playwright I've been eager to see produced in our region and I am grateful to be at the helm of a production that illustrates the power and complexities of friendship.”

The 2024-2025 season will be filled with extra events as the theatre celebrates its 50th anniversary along with the 25th anniversary of the Young Playwrights Festival (October 2024). The fun begins in September – and continues throughout the season – with City Rewinds: 50 Years of New Plays, a reading series that revisits some of City Theatre's most popular plays from the last 50 years (crowd-sourced from  audience members). October debuts Ghosted: Tales from Carson Street, a brand-new Halloween celebration straight from Carson Street. In June, the beloved Kimberly Richards returns (20 years after making her City Theatre debut in the iconic “Sister” role) with Sister Strikes Again: Late Nite Catechism 2! by Maripat Donovan.

“We're introducing two all-new initiatives,” said Drobot and Freeland, “a reading series, City Rewinds: 50 Years of New Plays which will revisit favorite scripts from the company's history, and a world premiere storytelling event Ghosted: Tales from Carson Street which we will be cowriting, working with friends from Pittsburgh's music scene to provide chills and thrills just in time for Halloween." 

Fifty Years of Excellence And Engagement:

Hailed by The New York Times at Pittsburgh's “most innovative theatre company,” City Theatre was founded in 1975 during a period of rich cultural growth in the region. Notable arts and civic organizations established during the early and mid 1970s include the Pittsburgh Public Theater, Mattress Factory, WYEP, Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Contemporary Craft, Kuntu Repertory Theatre, and others.

City Theatre (originally known as “City Players” and founded by Marjorie Walker) was itinerant for its first few seasons – performing at the New Hazlett, in parks, and at various community centers around Allegheny County – before settling in the Oakland neighborhood while in residence at the University of Pittsburgh in the 1980s. After becoming an independent 501(c)3 nonprofit in 1987, the organization relocated and established its current cultural campus on the South Side in 1991. City Theatre has produced and presented over 350 shows, including 85 world premieres; is a leader in playwriting-based arts education in classrooms across the region; and has developed a local and national reputation for authentic community engagement through its contemporary stories for the theatrical stage. It remains the third-largest theatre in Pittsburgh (and one of two members of the prestigious League of Resident Theaters) and the biggest performing arts organization located outside of Downtown.

"A half-century of anything is no small feat and we remain deeply indebted to the countless artists, staff, volunteers, donors, funders, and other visionaries who built City Theatre and allowed our unique mission and programming to flourish for the Pittsburgh community,” remarked Managing Director James McNeel, who will be entering his 10th season with the organization. “As A Contemporary Theatre, our job is to look at the here and now; but with this extraordinary milestone upon us, it is equally crucial that we take pause and truly celebrate our accomplishments of the past, and the indelible imprint we have made on our audiences and the theatre-field writ large. We have not only survived the ups and downs of fifty years, but our mission continues to thrive and the work on stage remains urgently necessary in helping share and understand our world. From all of us at City Theatre, we look forward to a dynamic season of reflection and commemoration while also boldly diving into a future of theatre-making.”

City Theatre will host two celebratory fundraiser events during the 2024-2025 season. The first, marking 25 years of the Young Playwrights education program, will take place during the 2024 Young Playwrights Festival with a special “class reunion” event on Friday, October 18, 2024.

Then, at the end of the season, City Theatre will host a “50th Birthday Party” weekend extravaganza, scheduled to take place May 16 and 17, 2025.

Details on both events to be announced later this year.

ABOUT THE SUBSCRIPTION SEASON SHOWS:

POTUS Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive

by Selina Fillinger

Directed by: TBA
Main Stage

Pittsburgh Premiere

September 21 – October 13, 2024

An uproariously funny, feminist satire lands in time for election season! A crude comment, a problematic paramour, and an unfortunate medical mess turn a PR nightmare into a global crisis – and it's all dumped upon the seven women responsible for keeping the president presidential. This comedy is classified for mature eyes only!

The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley

by Lauren Gunderson and Margot Melcon

Directed by Kyle Haden

Main Stage

Pittsburgh Premiere

November 20 – December 22, 2024

The Darcys and Bennets return to City Theatre in a delightful companion piece to last season's Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley. As the events of Miss Bennett unfold upstairs, the house staff below have their own holiday scandals as Mr. Wickham – the uninvited husband of Lydia and sworn enemy of Mr. Darcy – appears in the middle of the night. The Wickhams is a charming holiday tale that celebrates forgiving and forthrightness in the season of giving.

TBA – Show 3

Lillie Theatre

January 18 – February 16, 2025

Birthday Candles

By Noah Haidle

Directed by Marc Masterson

Main Stage

Pittsburgh Premiere

March 8 – 30, 2025

Another year. Another cake. Another goldfish. An inquisitive, hilarious and heartwarming play (and Broadway hit), Birthday Candles examines one woman's life – one birthday at a time – and asks where our place in the universe is, and what would you risk for the perfect gift? Join Ernestine as she takes us through a century of ordinarily extraordinary moments and dreams in this work hailed as “epic and beautifully written” (NY Daily News).

King James

By Rajiv Joseph

Directed by Monteze Freeland

Main Stage

Pittsburgh Premiere

April 19 – May 11, 2025

Basketball legend LeBron James is the undeclared king of Cleveland, Ohio. Taking place over twelve years, from LeBron's rookie season through the 2016 NBA Championship, King James is a buddy comedy that tracks the unlikely friendship of two super fans and examines the bonds that sports can create in an “intensely watchable and astutely observed” (The New York Times) new play.

ABOUT THE 2024-2025 CITY EVENTS:

City Rewinds: 50 Years of New Plays

Monday evenings throughout the season: September 30, November 18, January 27,
February 24, and April 7.

City Theatre digs into its production archives and solicits feedback from audience members to curate a decade-by-decade retrospective of its most-remembered plays. Patrons will have the opportunity to revisit and experience a staged reading of a script (and artists) from each organizational era. A special “City Rewinds” subscription takes attendees on a magical “playback” tour of seminal works from the organization's first 50 years.

Ghosted: Tales from Carson Street

Conceived and Created by Clare Drobot & Monteze Freeland

Lillie Theatre

October 24 – November 2, 2024

Nothing prepares you for fall more than a good ghost story as City Theatre crafts a unique evening of original tales, live music, libations, and Halloween treats. Price includes a cocktail/mocktail and just the right amount of shock-inducing guest stars and surprises for the season. Find your scary on the South Side this autumn.

Sister Strikes Again: Late Nite Catechism 2

by Maripat Donovan

Lillie Theatre

June 5 – 29, 2025

Kimberly Richards returns as “Sister” 20 years after her City Theatre debut! It's up to Sister to save the souls of those assembled – aka the audience! Beginning with an overview of heaven and hell as a Catholic version of Chutes and Ladders and moving onto her proclamation of new sins for the new millennium, Sister is never hesitant to tell us where we've gone wrong. No one is excused from Sister's firm belief that ‘sometimes we feel guilty because we are guilty'.

Young Playwrights Festival

written by local middle and high school students

Lillie Theatre

October 8 – 20, 2024 (public performances, October 19 & 20)

City Theatre's signature arts education program returns for its 25th anniversary festival, featuring professional actors, directors, and designers as they bring to full production the words of six area middle and high school students whose works have been selected by a national committee reviewing submissions to the Young Playwrights Contest.

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS:

Young Playwrights at 25

Honoring 25 years of City Theatre's long-running in-school education program, the Young Playwrights Contest and Festival, a “class reunion” will take place during the 2024 run of the Festival on Friday, October 18, 2024, inviting alums, students, parents, and other partners together again. Details to follow.

The 50th Anniversary Benefit Weekend

City Theatre will culminate its 2024-25 season and mark 50 years of history with a weekend-long celebration featuring a unique gala and concert experience embedded across the organization's South Side campus. Save the date for May 16-17, 2025.

TICKET INFORMATION

Subscription packages go on sale March 2, 2024 and will be available in person, over the phone, and online. Single tickets will be on sale in August 2024 and reservations for groups of 10+ for the season, City Rewinds, Ghosted, and Sister's Strikes Again! LNC2 can be made beginning in June 2024.

ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHTS

Lauren Gunderson (The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley) is one of the most produced playwrights in America since 2015 topping the list thrice including 2022/23. She is a two-time winner of the Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for I and You and The Book of Will, the winner of the Lanford Wilson Award and the Otis Guernsey New Voices Award, a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and John Gassner Award for Playwriting, and a recipient of the Mellon Foundation's Residency with Marin Theatre Company. She studied Southern Literature and Drama at Emory University, and Dramatic Writing at NYU's Tisch School where she was a Reynolds Fellow in Social Entrepreneurship. Her play The Catastrophist, about her husband virologist Nathan Wolfe, premiered digitally in January 2021. She co-authored the Miss Bennet plays with Margot Melcon, and The Half-Life of Marie Curie premiered off-Broadway and at Audible.com. Her work is published at Playscripts (I and You; Exit Pursued By A Bear; The Taming and Toil And Trouble), Dramatists Play Service (The Revolutionists; The Book of Will; Silent Sky; Bauer, Natural Shocks, The Wickhams and Miss Bennet) and Samuel French (Emilie). Her picture book Dr Wonderful: Blast Off to the Moon is available from Two Lions/Amazon. She is the book writer for musicals with Ari Afsar (Jeannette), Dave Stewart and Joss Stone (The Time Traveller's Wife), Joriah Kwamé (Sinister), Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk (Justice and Earthrise), and Kira Stone (Built for This). She is a board member of The Playwrights Foundation.

Noah Haidle (Birthday Candles) is an award-winning playwright whose work has been seen on six continents. For the 2017-2018 season, he was the writer-in-residence at the National Theater of Mannheim, Germany, a position first held by Friedrich Schiller in 1785. A graduate of Princeton and Juilliard, Noah lives with his perfect wife Kelsey, their heaven-sent son Butch, a dog, a bunny, and a blue lobster named Suzanne

Rajiv Joseph's (King James) play Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo was a 2010 Pulitzer Prize finalist for Drama and was awarded a grant for Outstanding New American Play by the National Endowment for the Arts. He has twice won the Obie Award for Best New American Play, first in 2016 with Guards at the Taj (also a 2016 Lortel Winner for Best Play) and then, this year, for Describe the Night.  Other plays include Archduke, Gruesome Playground Injuries, Animals Out of Paper, The Lake Effect, The North Pool and Mr. Wolf. Joseph has been awarded artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.  He is a board member of the Lark Play Development Center in New York City.  He served for three years in the Peace Corps in Senegal and now lives in Brooklyn, NY.

MARGOT MELCON (The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley) is a theater artist, administrator and writer. She was the Director of New Play Development at Marin Theatre Company for seven years, where she dramaturged over 30 productions—including six world premieres—and administered the company's two annual new play prizes and commissioning program. She has developed plays with TheatreWorks, Bay Area Playwrights Festival, Crowded Fire Theater, Shotgun Players, Berkeley Rep's Ground Floor, the Kennedy Center, the New Harmony Project, and the Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis. She is currently the Program Executive for Promoting Culture at the Zellerbach Family Foundation. Margot is a graduate of California State University, Chico.

Selina Fillinger (POTUS) is an LA-based writer and performer. Original plays include The Collapse; Something Clean; Faceless; and The Armor Plays: Clinched/Strapped. Selina recently made her Broadway debut with her seven-woman farce, POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. Her plays have been developed at Roundabout Theatre, Manhattan Theatre Club, McCarter Theatre, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Old Globe Theatre, Alley Theatre, St. Louis Repertory Theatre and Northlight Theatre. She's currently commissioned at South Coast Repertory and Roundabout. She was a Hawthornden Fellow and a resident of McCarter's Sallie B. Goodman Artist's Retreat; Something Clean is the recipient of the 2019 Laurents/Hatcher Award and Clinched/Strapped received the 2019 Williamstown Theatre Festival's L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award. POTUS was on the 2019 Kilroys List. Selina writes for the third season of Apple TV's The Morning Show and is developing a feature for Chernin/Netflix.

ABOUT CITY THEATRE:

Founded in 1975, City Theatre is in its 49th season as Pittsburgh's home for bold new plays.  City Theatre's mission is to provide an artistic home for the development and production of contemporary plays that engage and challenge a diverse audience. Its vision is to be the best mid-sized theater in America. Organizational core values are: Community; Collaboration; Equity, Diversity, Inclusion & Accessibility; and Creativity. With a full-time staff numbering 25 and an annual average operating budget of $3.4 million, City Theatre is the largest performing arts organization not located in Pittsburgh's downtown Cultural District and is a constituent and core member of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT), Theatre Communications Group (TCG), and the National New Play Network (NNPN). In August 2021, City Theatre announced a re-structuring of the artistic director position, elevating current staff members Clare Drobot and Monteze Freeland to Co-Artistic Directors with Marc Masterson, who had held the title of singular artistic director since 2018. The trio join Managing Director James McNeel as co-leaders of the organization. It is governed by a board of 16 community volunteers (David Betts, board president).

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