Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is a professional theatre company located in

Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. Founded in 2003 by artistic director Mark Clayton Southers, the company originally held productions at the Penn Theater in

Garfield ''Garfield'' is an American comic strip created by Jim Davis. Originally published locally as ''Jon'' in 1976, then in nationwide syndication from 1978 as ''Garfield'', it chronicles the life of the title character Garfield the cat, his human ...

and moved to a new space on

Penn Avenue Penn Avenue is a major arterial street in Pittsburgh and Wilkinsburg, in Pennsylvania. Its western terminus lies at Gateway Center in downtown Pittsburgh. For its westernmost ten blocks it serves as the core of the Cultural District with such ...

in Pittsburgh's Cultural District. Between 2011 and 2018, it held productions in a space on Liberty Avenue in the same building used by

Bricolage Production Company Bricolage Production Company is a professional theatre company based in downtown Pittsburgh. Established in 2001 by Jeffrey Carpenter, it is located aCommunity Forge an inclusive community center in Wilkinsburg, PA. The company's mission is to use ...

, as well as the

August Wilson Center for African American Culture The August Wilson African American Cultural Center is a U.S. nonprofit arts organization based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that presents performing and visual arts programs that celebrate the contributions of African Americans not only in Wester ...

, where Southers was artistic director of theatre initiatives, and at other locations. In 2022, it moved into the former Madison Elementary School in Pittsburgh's historic Hill District. The theatre's mission is to develop and showcase works by Pittsburgh playwrights, ranging from

August Wilson August Wilson ( Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of ten plays, collectively called ' (or ...

and

George Kaufman George Simon Kaufman (November 16, 1889June 2, 1961) was an American playwright, theater director and producer, humorist, and drama critic. In addition to comedies and political satire, he wrote several musicals for the Marx Brothers and others. ...

to new unknown playwrights, and to "nurture a racially and culturally diverse community of playwrights, directors, actors and technical specialists to hone their craft and to network creative opportunities." The company has had premiere productions of works by such Pittsburgh playwrights as Tammy Ryan, Kim El, Marlon Youngblood, Brendon Bates, Wali Jamal, and Ray Werner. The theatre company is also well known for its annual Theatre Festival in Black & White, in which white directors direct one-act plays by black playwrights and black directors direct one-act plays by white playwrights. The company has also sponsored series of readings by local playwrights.

References

{{Pittsburgh Theatre companies in Pittsburgh

See also

References