BY SHARON EBERSON
Catch my interview with Marc Masterson on the CitySpeaks: A New Play Podcast, conducted in advance of Masterson’s return to City Theatre for Birthday Candles, at the South Side theater through March 30, 2025. The podcast is available on platforms including Spotify and Apple. More on Birthday Candles at onStage Pittsburgh. – Sharon Eberson
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THE KING OF CLEVELAND
City Theatre’s co-production of King James, which has opened at Cleveland Playhouse before coming to the South Side next month, is getting stellar reviews for the Pittsburghers involved in bringing the production to the stage.
The two-hander stars Michael Patrick Trimm, with Cleveland’s Robert Hunter, and is directed by City co-artistic director Monteze Freeland, with a set design by Tony Ferrieri.
“In theater, there’s only one thing less forgiving than a solo performance, and that’s a two-person show. Both leads rise to the occasion here,” wrote Joey Moronoa for cleveland.com. “Hunter brings charisma and conviction to Shawn, while Trimm is a natural comedian with an uncanny knack to pivot to drama on a dime as Matt. Director Monteze Freeland’s staging is full of energy, and Tony Ferrieri’s elaborate, rotating set design is impressive …”
King James was among the No. 3 most-produced plays in the United States in 2024. The buddy comedy tracks the unlikely friendship of two super fans of NBA great and Ohio native LeBron James.
a.k. payne TAKES BLACKBURN PRIZE
(Image: Ella Pennington)
Congratulations to Pittsburgh playwright a.k. payne on earning the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, for their play, Furlough’s Paradise.
Awarded annually since 1978, the international prize is, per American Theater Magazine, “the largest and oldest award recognizing women+ who have written works of outstanding quality for the English-speaking theatre. Selected from a cohort of eight finalists, payne has received a cash prize of $25,000 and a signed print by renowned artist Willem de Kooning, created especially for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize.”
Payne also was City Theatre’s choice in 2022 for the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights, after being a two-time winner of City’s Young Playwrights Contest and gaining a Momentum Festival reading.
“I am so grateful to receive this award and join a list of some of my favorite writers whose plays have shaken how I understand the world and who have made it possible—through their words transcending space and time and/or their caring and abundant mentorship—for me to write: Katori Hall, Julia Cho, Lynn Nottage, Sarah Ruhl, Benedict Lombe, and Paula Vogel, to name a very select few,” payne said in a statement.
MARSHALL, STEVENS TEAM UP IN CINCINNATI
Tony Award-winner Kathleen Marshall will direct and choreograp the U.S. premiere of Mythic, featuring a book by fellow Pittsburgher Marcus Stevens and pop-rock score by Oran Eldor.
Stevens, a Point Park University alum, quickly became a stalwart of local productions – he memorably was in Pittsburgh CLO’s Forever Plaid, opening the Cabaret at Theater Square. Now a New Yorker, returned in 2017 to star in Pittsburgh Public Theater’s An Act of God.
Mythic, opening September 29 at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, reimagines the gods of Greek mythology as celebrities, politicians and influencers. The story takes off with starstruck Persephone encountering Hades when she sneaks into a party at the Acropolis. The musical had its world premiere in 2018 at London’s Charing Cross Theatre, followed in 2019 at Montreal’s Segal Centre.
PITTSBURGH IN LONDON
Broadway and elsewhere in New York’s theater scene is, as always, packed with Pittsburgh theater artists onstage and behind the scenes. And so, it turns out, is London’s West End these days.
- Billy Porter will cohost the Olivier Awards – London’s Tonys – with Beverley Knight on April 6. Porter is currently starring as the Emcee in Cabaret, an historic production with the top three in the cast played by African American performers.
- In 2023, in another Cabaret production, the Emcee was played by Mason Alexander Park, the unstoppable Point Park University graduate. Park this year has leapt from one high-profile Shakespeare project to another, first as Ariel to Sigourney Weaver’s Prospera in The Tempest, and now joining a couple of Marvel superheroes – Tom Hiddleston and Haley Atwell – in Jamie Lloyd’s acclaimed production of Much Ado About Nothing.
- And speaking of the Olivier Awards, nominated in the category of Best New Dance Production is Pittsburgh native Kyle Abraham’s An Untitled Love, at Sadler’s Wells. The full-length work, officially by his company, A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, debuted in New York City in 2022.
CENTER FOR THEATER ARTS: ONE NIGHT ONLY
The annual One Night Only event in support of Billy Hartung’s Center for Theater Arts in Mount Lebanon has moved from Heinz Hall to Carnegie Music Hall in Oakland. This year’s gala event on March 14, 2025, features Jim Caruso’s Cast Party On the Road, with Billy Stritch. The Center for Theater Arts offers performing arts instruction to students of all abilities, including those with special needs, and is committed to providing opportunities for students to improve their self-image and self-confidence through artistic expression. For tickets ($40) and details: https://centerfortheaterarts.org/gala/
‘ARTful’ FAMILY FARE
The sensory- and family-friendly ARTfully UPlifting is back at the Pittsburgh Playhouse of Point Park University at 2 p.m. March 16, 2025, with a variety of live performances — singing, dancing, poetry and more. The concert-style event is offered in a relaxed environment, including house lights up and production sound down. Patrons are welcome to enter and exit the theater as needed, and a quiet room for calming is available off the grand lobby. More at https://playhouse.pointpark.edu/shows-events/community-features/artfully-uplifting
NEW ON THE SCENE
Little Lake Theatre has expanded its creative and production team with the hiring of Nathan Walter as director of production, a newly created position “aimed at enhancing the theater’s artistic vision and production quality.” Little Lake also has announced “a major milestone,” surpassing last year’s record-breaking subscription sales for the 2025 season. … The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council has added to its team, with André Solomon as membership director and Kyrie Bushaw as communications coordinator.
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