Upcoming productions
Individual tickets are now on sale from ProArts.
VALU-MART
by Sean O'Leary (Guest Playwright)
Directed by Mark Clayton Southers
March 13th - March 28th, 2010
A display case key has gone missing at a mass merchandise department store. Five employees are suspected of taking the key and are detained in a break room for questioning. Humiliated and fearful that they will all be fired if the key and the person responsible are not found, the five employees struggle to find a way out. Their struggle exposes the hopes, fears, aspirations, and resentments that arise from five very different lives.
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The Ancestor Series
by P. J. Gibson
Directed by J. Deen, Kim El and Leslie 2x Smith
April 8th - April 24th, 2010
The Ancestor Series, written by Pittsburgh born playwright P.J. Gibson, is a trilogy of three works The Taking Circle, Blood on the Seats, and Weeding. In each play, women call upon their African ancestors to help them make difficult decisions.
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Jitney
by August Wilson
Directed by Mark Clayton Southers
May 8th - May 30th, 2010
Set in the 1970’s in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, and depicting gypsy-cab drivers who serve black neighborhoods, Jitney is the seventh in Wilson’s ten-play cycle (one for each decade) on the black experience in 20th century America. A thoroughly revised version of a play Wilson first wrote in 1979, Jitney was produced in New York for the first time in spring 2000, winning rave reviews and the accolade of the New York Drama Critics Circle as Best Play of the Year. In its seventh season, The Pittsburgh Playwrights proudly presents Jitney in keeping with its mission of producing each play of Wilson's ‘Pittsburgh cycle’ in the order in which they appeared on Broadway, featuring an all-star cast of some of Pittsburgh’s favorite actors.
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Earlier this season:
The Revenants
by Scott T. Barsotti
Directed by Mark Whitehead
October 16th - 31st, 2009
Two married couples become barricaded in a basement during a violent uprising of zombies, Pittsburgh's favorite villains (or heroes to some). As supplies run low and hopes dwindle, it is revealed that two of the spouses are infected and getting...hungry. Faced with the true meaning of commitment, husbands and wives must ask of each other: When does love die?
Review: City Paper
This season continues PPTCO's commitment to bringing together playwrights and artists of all backgrounds that have some sort of connection to Pittsburgh. Scott T. Barsotti is a playwright originally from Pittsburgh, now based in Chicago, whose plays have played in Chicago, New York, and New Orleans. His work has been seen at the New York International Fringe Festival, the Rhinoceros Theater Festival, and Collaboraction’s Sketchbook, and has been produced and/or developed by WildClaw Theatre, Curious Theatre Branch, Chicago Dramatists, and The Route 66 Theatre Company among others. Scott was recently named a Resident Playwright at Chicago Dramatists.
Sean O'Leary is PPTCO's guest playwright this season, and he makes his home near Harpers Ferry, WV. He is the author of five plays, two of which have previously appeared on Pittsburgh stages. His play VALU-MART is the 2007 winner of The Ruby Lloyd Apsey Award for plays confronting racial issues, the winner of the West Virginia Writers Conference 2007 Best Play award, and was a finalist in the National Arts Club's Playwrights First competition. He is also the recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts "Access to Artistic Excellence" award and the Ostrander Award for Best New Play of the 2007 Memphis theatre season.
And of course, the Pulitzer Prize-winning August Wilson was born and raised in Pittsburgh, and is recognized as one of the most influential writers in American theater. He is best known for his unprecedented cycle of 10 plays, including the acclaimed Fences, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and The Piano Lesson, all of which have been produced by PPTCO in the past. These plays chronicle the tragedies and aspirations of African Americans during each decade of the 20th century, and have appeared in theaters across the world
Click to order individual tickets from ProArts, or call ProArts Tickets at 412-394-3353. For group sales, contact Twanda Clark at 412-708-1503.