2022-2023 Season

BLKS by Aziza Barnes, directed by Whitney White (Aug. 24 - Sept. 18, 2022)**

• When shit goes down, your girls show up. As sharply funny as it is poignant, BLKS introduces us to Octavia, Imani, and June—three twenty somethings hunting for intimacy and purpose in a city that doesn’t seem to care. They drink a lot. They smoke a lot. They try to have sex. A lot. When they need each other the most, the women rally to “resurrect their fly” in a day full of humorous and painful attempts to be heard through the noise that surrounds them.

• Casting: 5W/1M

• Target Community Partner: African American Leadership Organization (AALA)

Scotland, PA by Adam Gwon & Michael Mitnick, directed by Andrew Wolverton (Oct. 5-30, 2022)*

• • This deliciously dark new musical comedy, based on the cult film (and the bard's Macbeth), springs to life in a sleepy Pennsylvania town (population 1,203—and dropping), where a burger-joint manager and his wife cook up a plan to super-size their lives. As their ambitions grow and the bodies fall, the couple finds out just how far they’ll go for a taste of the oh-so-tempting American dream.

  • Casting: 5W/6M

  • Target Community Partner: Greater Pittsburgh Coalition Against Violence (CAV)

The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa Fasthorse, directed by Justin Emeka (Nov. 16 - Dec. 4, 2022)***

• • Ah, Thanksgiving, that most American of holidays: when families gather to celebrate the warmth of home, the bounty of the harvest — and a legacy of genocide and violent colonial expansion. Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in Larissa FastHorse’s wickedly funny satire, as a troupe of terminally “woke” teaching artists scrambles to create a pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month.

  • Casting: 2W/2M

  • Community Partners: Arcade Comedy Theatre, Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Performances at Arcade Comedy Theatre in Downtown, Steel City Arts Foundation in Stanton Heights, and Nineteen North in Washington, PA.

    • Performances will coincide with a food drive for canned goods, donated to GPCFB.

Heroes of the Fourth Turning by Will Arbery, directed by Marya Sea Kaminski (Dec. 14, 2022 - Jan. 8, 2023)*

• • It’s nearing midnight in Wyoming, where four young conservatives have gathered at a backyard after-party. They’ve returned home to toast their mentor Gina, newly inducted as president of a tiny Catholic college. But as their reunion spirals into spiritual chaos and clashing generational politics, it becomes less a celebration than a vicious fight to be understood. On a chilly night in the middle of America, Will Arbery’s haunting play offers grace and disarming clarity, speaking to the heart of a country at war with itself. Winner of the 2020 Pulitzer Prize.

  • Casting: 3W/2M

  • Target Community Partners: RAND Corporation Pittsburgh, Allegheny Institute for Public Policy

Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury, directed by Taylor Reynolds (Jan. 18 - Feb. 12, 2023)*

• • At the Frasier household, preparations for Grandma’s birthday party are underway. Beverly is holding on to her sanity by a thread to make sure this party is perfect, but her sister can’t be bothered to help, her husband doesn’t seem to listen, her brother is MIA, her daughter is a teenager, and maybe nothing is what it seems in the first place…! FAIRVIEW is a searing examination of families, drama, family dramas, and the insidiousness of white supremacy. Winner of the 2019 Pulitzer Prize.

  • Casting: 5W/3M

  • Target Community Partner: Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh

Exception to the Rule by Dave Harris, directed by Justin Emeka (April 12 - May 7, 2023)**

• • How do you make it through detention? In the worst high school in the city, six Black students are stuck in Room 111. They flirt. They fight. They tease. Should they follow the rules and stay put, or find an escape? Are the walls keeping them in, or are stronger forces at play?

  • Casting: 3W/3M

  • Target Community Partner: The Advocates for African-American Students in the Pittsburgh Public Schools

Twelfth Night by Shaina Taub with Kwame Kweh-Armah, adapted from William Shakespeare, directed by Tomé Cousin (June 21 - July 16, 2023)***

• • Twelfth Night is a rousing contemporary musical adaptation of Shakespeare’s classic romantic comedy about mistaken identity and self-discovery, featuring an original jazz-funk score by Shaina Taub. Twelfth Night tells the story of Viola, a young heroine who washes up on the shores of Illyria, disguises herself as a man, is sent to court a countess and falls hard for a Duke. As she navigates this strange and wonderful new land, she finds her true self and true love in the process.

  • PPT Public Works production

  • Casting: 4W/7M, plus ensemble as decided/needed

AUXILIARY PROGRAMMING

NEW PLAY DEVELOPMENT: PPT MAKES

• PPT will host three developmental readings of new plays over the season.

• PPT commits that at least one play from each year's reading series will be programmed into the next season as a World Premiere.

• Additionally, one play at each year's reading series will be a PPT commission.

• Each season, PPT will commission one of the playwrights making their PPT debut on our Main Stage. This commission will automatically be guaranteed a spot in a future PPT Makes reading series.

• Tickets to final presentations of all PPT Makes readings will be free and open to the public.

2022-2023 PPT Makes Readings

• July 25, 2022

• February 27, 2023

• May 15, 2023

PPT PUBLIC WORKS

• In the spirit of making Pittsburgh Public Theater Pittsburgh's Theater for the Public, PPT is excited to announce the launch of our Public Works program.

• Modeled after similar programs at NYC's Public Theater, Dallas Theater Center, and Seattle Rep.

• PPT's Public Works program invites community members from all across the greater Pittsburgh region and SW PA to join Pittsburgh Public Theater in the creation of ambitious productions of participatory theater. These productions will feature community members performing alongside professional actors in works that champion diversity, equity, inclusion, and imagination.

  • These productions will be held each July at the O'Reilly Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh. In the spirit of Public Works, tickets to these performances will be free for all, thanks to the generosity of our corporate and foundation partners.

• PPT's Education department will host monthly workshops, free for all SW PA residents, that explore the art of theater-making and how theater can bring communities together.

• PPT will distribute a limited number of free tickets to all productions at the O'Reilly to SW PA residents through appearances at local community centers, libraries, and grocery stores.

ARTIST'S WELCOME

• At every production this season, PPT audiences will get the chance to sit down with that production's author/creative team to discuss their process. For new plays, this may be the writing and development process, how a show gets produced, or what its like having a show produced at PPT after its been produced in New York.

• If possible, PPT will host the writers in person for a special event after the first Sunday matinee. Otherwise, conversations will be held over Zoom.

• Each production will include a weekend happy hour before the second and final Friday evening performances in the O'Reilly Theatre lobby. These happy hours, open to ticket holders for any performance, will feature the cast and crew of the production and allow chances for our audiences to mingle with the artists in a casual, relaxed setting. PPT is Pittsburgh's Theater for the Public, and we want to ensure that our artists and audiences can come together as a community.

AUGUST WILSON MONOLOGUE COMPETITION & WILSON AUGUST

• As a long-time artistic home of Pittsburgh's native son and favorite playwright, August Wilson, PPT commits to becoming the official home of the Pittsburgh region's August Wilson Monologue Competition. Often a traveling event, PPT commits to hosting this yearly event at the O'Reilly Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh.

• Additionally, in August 2022 and 2023 in conjunction with the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, PPT will host Wilson August, a celebration of the life and work of August Wilson.

  • Programming with include monologue workshops for young performers as preparation for the Monologue Competition, writing workshops for inspiring playwrights, and history lessons about the great August Wilson and his impact on the American Theatre.

Wilson August Celebration Dates

• Aug. 11-14, 2022

• Aug. 10-13, 2023

OPEN DOORS PPT

• Every Saturday and Sunday during PPT productions, the doors of the O'Reilly Theater will open at 10am for any and all visitors, regardless of their ticket-holder status, to come in from the heat and/or cold and be welcomed into Pittsburgh's Theater for the Public. Our lobby bar will be serving drinks, our gift shop will be open, and staff members will be available to chat about PPT, our work, or life in general. We will also have a table outside of our space on Penn Avenue to discuss our work and sell tickets to passers-by.

• Additionally, we will invite local bands to be in residence at each Open Doors day, to play live music and add to the scene of merriment.

• We believe the PPT should be public. What better way to do that than to open our doors to our community--figuratively and literally.

SERIES & SUBSCRIPTION OPTIONS

Series 1*: AWARD WINNING EXCELLENCE

• Scotland, PA

• Heroes of the Fourth Turning

• Fairview

Series 2**: NEW AND INNOVATIVE

• BLKS

• Tent Revival

• Exception to the Rule

Series 3***: SPECIAL EVENTS

• The Thanksgiving Play - Partnership with Arcade Comedy Theater, Touring Show

  • Potential traveling food drive

• Twelfth Night - Public Works Musical

MAIN STAGE SUBSCRIPTION

• Series 1

• Series 2

FULL SEASON SUBSCRIPTION

• Series 1

• Series 2

• Series 3

SPECIAL ADD-ON'S

• VIP Ticket to Public Works

• VIP Ticket to August Wilson Monologue Competition

• VIP Ticket to PPT Makes Readings

• Note: VIP Tickets include front-row seating, complimentary drinks and snacks, a collectible, and subsidizes two free tickets for other community members.

Where Are We Going?:

How Our Season Addresses

Challenges Facing the American Theatre

Our 2022-2023 season at Pittsburgh Public Theater is designed to directly address not only the challenges we have laid out for ourselves as an institution, but to address greater inequity, systemic oppression, and overt prejudice in the American Theater. We have specifically designed the theme of the season, and each show individually, to respond to specific issues.

• SEASON THEME: Who Are We? How Did We Get Here? Where Are We Going?

  • In order to move forward and create a more equitable space, you must analyze your current circumstances and perform a cultural autopsy on how you arrived to where you are. As such, and as a company interested in building a better future for our institution, our discipline, and our city, we have designed a season that reflects on history, surveys the present, and presents visions for a more equitable future.

• SEASON PRODUCTIONS:

  • Our season features diverse voices that are prominent in the story of Pittsburgh, but often not on our stages, especially in productions like BLKS, Fairview, Exception to the Rule, and Twelfth Night.

  • Additionally, this season raises difficult conversations surrounding equity, diversity, and inclusion: how current systems have failed, how new systems can solve our current issues, how non-BIPOC or non-traditionally marginalized folks can be better allies, especially in shows like The Thanksgiving Play, Fairview, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, and Exception to the Rule.

  • Further, this season serves to reflect the lives of Pittsburghers: those who live on the margins, those who have lived here for decades, those who've lived here for a few weeks, and stories that examine the way Pittsburgh culture has been created. Shows like Scotland, PA, Heroes of the Fourth Turning, and Tent Revival help us answer the question of How Did We Get Here?, thus sparking conversations about a brighter future.

• AUXILIARY PROGRAMMING:

  • Our auxiliary programming is also explicitly designed to break down barriers that often make theater feel inaccessible and unwelcoming: to those not "in the know," to poor folks, to BIPOC folks, and to people who've simply never come to see a show. The goal for our auxiliary programming is throw the doors of the O'Reilly wide open and welcome in all Pittsburghers. The theater should not only be a gathering space and place of community during a show. We hope this programming aids in that effort.

  • Programming like PPT Makes, PPT Public Works, and the celebrations of August Wilson additionally serve to directly involve our community in the creation of work that appears on our stages.