City Theatre Welcomes Playwright Mat Smart for Residency, Beginning Today

City Theatre is excited to welcome playwright Mat Smart for a writing residency November 17-19, 2015. The residency will be tailored to Smart's individual creative needs and offer him full use of City Theatre's resources, a developmental reading with local actors, and artistic support from Director of New Play Development Clare Drobot and Artistic Director Tracy Brigden. Fulfilling its mission that emphasizes new play development, City Theatre also commissions works by diverse writers and produces world premiere productions, including this season's Some Brighter Distance by Keith Reddin, which will run January 23-February 14, 2016. City Theatre hosts an annual festival of new plays at different stages of development called Momentum, which will take place June 2-5, 2016.

Smart's play The 13th of Paris had its world premiere at City Theatre in 2008. "We are thrilled to welcome Mat back to Pittsburgh through this residency. As a theater dedicated to developing new plays, we are excited to offer playwrights the opportunity to create new work free from the stress of everyday commitments," said Artistic Director Tracy Brigden.

"In talking with Mat, he was looking for a concentrated, distraction-free window to start something new," explained Director of New Play Development Clare Drobot. "We were able to design a playwright-driven process where he can explore the very beginnings of a script with no pressure or expectations and then hear the work out loud in a supportive environment."

"Back in 2008, during previews for the world premiere of The 13th of Paris at City Theatre," Mat Smart said, "I was so inspired and jacked up on coffee, I wrote the first draft of another new play called A Bed the Size of Portugal. Since then, I've thought of Pittsburgh and City Theatre as a place where, for me, new plays start. I'm stoked to be coming back and trying to crank out a brand new play during in my residency. I believe plays should be visceral, immediate, impulsive -- so this is the perfect petri dish for me."

Mat Smart is currently a member of the Dorothy Strelsin New American Writers Group at Primary Stages. His plays include The Royal Society of Antarctica (Gift Theatre, 2015 Jeff Award for Best New Work in Chicago), Naperville (Slant Theatre Project), Tinker to Evers to Chance (Geva, upcoming at Merrimack Rep), The Steadfast (Slant, published by DPS), Samuel J. and K. (Williamstown Theatre Festival, Steppenwolf), The Hopper Collection (Magic Theatre, Huntington) and The 13th of Paris (City Theatre, Seattle Public Theatre). In-progress: Midwinter (a commission from Denver Center Theatre Company). An avid baseball fan and traveler, Mat has been to all 30 of the current MLB stadiums, all 50 states and six continents - including a stint working as a janitor at McMurdo Station in Antarctica.

City Theatre is now in its 41st season. Located on Pittsburgh's historic South Side, City Theatre specializes in new plays, commissioning and producing work by playwrights including Daniel Beaty, Jessica Dickey, Christopher Durang, Michael Hollinger, Willy Holtzman, Tarell McCraney, and Madeleine George. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Tracy Brigden, Managing Director James McNeel, and a 37-member Board of Directors, City Theatre's mission is to provide an artistic home for the development and production of contemporary plays of substance and ideas that engage and challenge a diverse audience. CityTheatreCompany.org.

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