By Sharon Eberson
Lynn Nottage’s Clyde’s, which completed a Broadway run in January of this year, will lead off City Theatre’s just-announced 2022-23 season branded as “Tastes Like Home”.
City announced the five plays of its 48th season Friday, as it opened Dominique Morisseau’s Paradise Blue on the South Side.
Along with the work by two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Nottage, which opens September 24, 2022, City will present The Wanderers by Anna Ziegler, What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck, Native Gardens by Karen Zacarias, and American Fast by Kareem Fahmy.
Special events include the annual gala The BASH on September 10, 2022. Kimberly Richards returns as Sister in Maripat Donovan’s ‘Til Death Do Us Part: Late Nite Catechism 3, beginning June 6, 2022. Richards has raised nearly $370,000 for Catholic motherhouses through the Late Nite Catechism series.
“The 2022-23 season marks the first time the three of us have officially announced a lineup as co-artistic directors,” Clare Drobot, Marc Masterson, and Monteze Freeland said in a joint statement. “In crafting City Theatre’s journey for the next year, we investigated, in collaboration with our colleagues, the stories Pittsburgh was eager for and the voices often missing from both local and national conversations. These plays represent our collective vision for a vibrant year of theater that welcomes back Lynn Nottage and Anna Ziegler’s words to our stages and introduces Pittsburgh audiences to Karen Zacarias and Kareem Fahmy. Each of these plays delves into different aspects of intergenerational relationships and community. That spirit will inform the ways in which we produce and live out our company’s values on stage and off.”
Nottage’s previous work at City was Intimate Apparel in 2017, and Ziegler’s The Last Match in 2016.
The New York Times’ Jesse Green, writing about Clyde’s, called it “delightful.” Although it reflected Nottage’s past darker themes, “including prison, drugs, homelessness, and poverty, it somehow turns them into bright comedy.”
The 2018 San Diego Critic’s Circle Award went to The Wanderers for outstanding new play and was called a “perfect piece of theater…it’s magnificent” (D.C. Theatre Scene).
Schreck’s What the Constitution Means to Me was nominated for best play in the 73rd Tony Awards and waa s a finalist for the 2019 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
The 2022-23 City Theatre Season
Sept. 24-Oct. 16-2022: Clyde’s by Lynn Nottage – A kitchen staff of formerly incarcerated individuals at a truck stop in a small P.A. town come together to find fulfillment in their lives and in creating the perfect sandwich.
Nov. 26-Dec. 18, 2022: The Wanderers by Anna Ziegler – A seriocomic play that swivels from the 1970s to the present day, in which Orthodox Jews Esther and Schmuli enter into an arranged marriage, and author Abe and movie star Julia have entered into a secret, flirtatious correspondence without their spouses’ knowledge.
Jan. 21-Feb. 12, 2023: What the Constitution Means to Me by Heidi Schreck – The playwright earned used her deep love of the Constitution to win debate competitions as a teenager and later created the optimistic play that reimagines how the living document served four generations of women and what it will mean for the future.
March 11-April 2, 2023: Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías – Cultures clash when expecting Latinx couple Tania and Pablo move into their first home next to long-time D.C. residents and Potomac Horticultural Society award seekers Frank and Virginia.
April 29-May 21, 2023: American Fast by Kareem Fahmy – College basketball superstar Khady is about to carry her team through the NCAA Women’s Championships, but when March Madness coincides with Ramadan, Khady lies to her devout mother about holding her fast.
Subscription packages (starting at $135) go on sale March 12, 2022; single tickets on August 8, 2022. Call 412-431-CITY (2489); email boxooffice@CityTheatreCompany.org or visit CityTheatreCompany.org/play/2022-2023-season/
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Feature
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