New Horizon Theater returns to Layon Gray’s history plays with the regional debut of his new work about a shameful chapter from history.
Layon Gray’s Feed the Beast, opening February 13, 2025, at the O’Reilly Theater, spans 40 years and follows five unsuspecting African-American men who were part of the infamous Tuskegee syphilis study:
In 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service, working with the Tuskegee Institute, conducted a study by infecting 399 Black men with syphilis without their consent. There were 201 men who spared the disease, as the “control group” in the study.
at the O’Reilly Theater, starting February 13.
Researchers told the men they were being treated for “bad blood,” a local term used to describe several ailments, including syphilis, anemia and fatigue. In exchange for taking part in the study, the men received free medical exams, free meals and burial insurance.
The play premiered in summer 2024 at the International Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C.
New Horizon and writer/director/actor Gray have a long association, most recently with Black Angels Over Tuskegee, the story of pioneering African-American aviators during World War II.
Gray has described Feed the Beast, subtitled “The Tuskegee Experiment On The Negro Male,” as, “A haunting and heartbreaking play that exposes the brutal truths of the Tuskegee syphilis experiments.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Pittsburgh Public Theater presents New Horizon Theater and Layon Gray’s Feed the Beast at the Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall, the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., third floor, Downtown. The play runs February 13 – 24, 2025. Tickets: https://www.onthestage.tickets/show/new-horizon-theater/676512cdb5d9ae1654ce4f49/
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