City Theatre is partnering with Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for New Work Development to bring back the Momentum Festival, a public reading series and laboratory for playwrights to workshop new scripts with directors, dramaturgs and actors.
Presentations of four works in different stages of development and a“new works slam!” celebrating local playwrights will take place December 13 and 14, 2025 at venues on City Theatre’s South Side campus and Downtown. Admission is free, but reservations are recommended.
Momentum will feature a Mainstage presentation of East Carson Street, a musical by Joe Grushecky – including two songs co-written with Bruce Springsteen – with a book by Jonathan Rosenberg and additional text by James McManus, directed by Patrick Jordan and music-directed by Camille Rolla.
(with guitar), was performed at barebones productions’ Braddock theater in 2023.
The musical will be on City Theatre’s Mainstage
during the 2025 Momentum Festival. (Image: Sharon Eberson)
Presented in collaboration with barebones productions and Pittsburgh CLO, East Carson Street had a full-cast local reading at barebones’ black box theater in Braddock in June 2023, and a production at Bell Theatre in Holmdel, New Jersey, starring Constantine Maroulis and Teal Wicks, in May of last year.
The festival will also mark the return of Christopher Rivas (The Real James Bond…Was Dominican) with a new solo show, directed by Pittsburgh-based director Adil Mansoor (also the director of Eureka Day for City this season); as well as two new plays from Carnegie Mellon’s MFA in Dramatic Writing program: Jo Van Gogh by Kate Isabel Foley and The Gettysburg Test by maguire wilder.
Launched in 2003, The Momentum Festival, had been on hiatus since 2023. It is “at the heart of City Theatre’s mission to lead the new play development conversation on both a national and local level.”
“We are overjoyed to announce the return of The Momentum Festival,” said City Theatre’s Artistic Director Clare Drobot. “Many of the plays that have premiered on our stages had their start in the festival, and we’re excited to work collaboratively with our long-time partners at CMU Drama to offer support for four distinct projects, as well as a new works slam celebrating Pittsburgh based writers.”
Past plays developed during previous Momentum Festivals that have gone on to productions at City Theatre include The Garbologists by Lindsay Joelle; F**k 7th Grade, with music, lyrics,and concept by Jill Sobule, book by Liza Birkenmeier; South Side Stories Revisited byTami Dixon; The Burdens by Matt Schatz; Citizens Market by Cori Thomas; and Feeding the Dragon by Sharon Washington.
2025 MOMENTUM FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
New Work Slam | December 10, 2025 | Peirce Theater at Three Stories, Downtown.
The inaugural writer-focused “new work slam,” in collaboration with Pittsburgh-based playwrights Mora V. Harris and TJ Young, includes scenes, songs and monologues from some of Pittsburgh’s up-and-coming playwrights, plus a preview of the following weekend’s Momentum Festival.
The Punchline | written and performed by Christopher Rivas | Directed by Adil Mansoor | Saturday, December 13, 2025 | City Theatre’s Lillie Theatre, South Side.
Most people build altars after someone dies. With The Punchline, Christopher Rivas urges us to build those altars now, to our own lives and the moments that touch and change us, while we’re still alive.
Jo Van Gogh | By Kate Isabel Foley | Directed by Aurelia Clunie | Saturday, December 13, 2025 | City Theatre’s Lillie Theatre, South Side.
In the wake of her husband Theo’s unexpected passing, 28-year-old Johanna van Gogh is left behind with nothing but her infant son, 200 of her brother-in-law’s paintings, and her husband’s dying wish: to make Vincent van Gogh a world-renowned artist.
The Gettysburg Test | By maguire wilder | Directed by Cody Spellman | Sunday, December 14, 2025 | City Theatre’s Lillie Theatre, South Side.
It’s the night before the 3-hour test required to become a licensed Gettysburg Battlefield Guide; 90% of takers will fail. When five hopefuls gather in the basement of a local community center to cram, tensions build as they grapple with the minutia of the Civil War, the complexity of history, and how to love and hate something at the same time.
East Carson Street | Music & Lyrics by Joe Grushecky | Book by Jonathan Rosenberg with additional text by James McManus | Directed by Patrick Jordan | Music Director Camille Rolla | In collaboration with barebones productions and the Pittsburgh CLO | Sunday, December 14, 2025 | City Theatre’s Mainstage.
The new musical illuminates America’s resilience with a sweeping story, spanning four decades and three generations of the Popovich family. It opens in 1980s Pittsburgh, where we see a town decimated by the collapse of the steel mill industry through the eyes of Jimmy, a recently laid-off mill worker searching for love and community. With music by Iron City Rocker Grushecky, East Carson Street is a musical celebrating hope and fortitude in the midst of uncertain times.
RESERVATIONS
Admission is free but reservations are recommended at 412-431-2489 or https://www.citytheatrecompany.org/multiview/momentum-festival-2025. City Theatre is located at 1300 Bingham Street, South Side. Three Stories’ Peirce Theater is located at 937 Liberty Avenue, Downtown.
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