By SHARON EBERSON
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company has revealed an enticing four-play 2026 season of contemporary Black voices, including a premiere by award-winning playwright a.k. payne, while also co-hosting a unique international take on August Wilson’s Jitney.
The four-play season of premieres — Ty Greenwood’s The Paradox of Education, 10,000 Rides by Cynthia Dallas, Fishy Woo Woo, Part 2 by Monteze Freeland, and BURNBABYBURN: an american dream by a.k. payne — plus two add-on productions was curated by the irrepressible Monteze Freeland, who continues as producing artistic associate PPTC in addition to his leadership of Alumni Theater Company.
After inaugurating the August Wilson American Century Cycle Experience during the summer of 2025, Mark Clayton Southers said he plans for his company to continue the three-play fest every other year.
Next year, the two add-ons to the season are the Italian translation of Wilson’s Jitney, first staged in Vicenza, Italy, in 2023, and the return of A Dinah Washington Christmas.
PITTSBURGH PLAYWRIGHTS THEATER COMPANY’S 2026 SEASON
The Paradox of Education | April 4 – 20, 2026 | Carter Woodson Redwood Theater, Madison Arts and Entertainment Center
Ty Greenwood, an MFA Carnegie Mellon graduate, was City Theatre’s inaugural recipient of the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights in 2020. His play was first developed through the Asolo Repertory Theatre (Sarasota, Fla.) Ground Floor Playwright Commission. The Paradox of Education “is a bold and unflinching look at the cost of ambition and the pursuit of belonging within America’ s higher education system. … This gripping play unfolds at a prestigious PWI [Predominantly White Institution] where a group of Black scholars fight to hold space in a world that was never built for them. What begins as shared laughter and solidarity soon unravels into a relentless exploration of identity, expectation, and survival within an institution that celebrates diversity but resists change. … The Paradox of Education asks the urgent question, “Where do I belong?”
10,000 Rides | June 6-22, 2026 | Madison Cabaret
Cynthia Dallas has worked in commercials, theater, television and film, and has gone on to write, direct and produce her own short films, including the unscripted short film 10,000 Rides, shot entirely on a cell phone in Los Angeles. In the film, a veteran ride share driver navigates the mean streets of L.A. while keeping her composure, despite encountering volatile passengers along the way.
BURNBABYBURN: an american dream | August 19 – September 20, 2026 | August Wilson House
PPTC will produce the inaugural production of a.k. payne’s BURNBABYBURN: an american dream, set in the Hill District and Homewood, and staged at the August Wilson House. Among other honors, payne is the 2025 winner of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize,the oldest and largest international prize honoring women+ playwrights. Payne currently is an artist/fellow with National Black Theatre’s I AM SOUL Playwrights Residency and the Pittsburgh Foundation’s Advancing Black Arts in Pittsburgh. Their play is described as moving “fluidly through time as a young woman, Sky II, embarks on a journey to heal herself and the generations who came before her.”
Fishy Woo Woo, Part 2 | October 16 – October 31, 2026 | Carter Woodson Redwood Theater, Madison Arts and Entertainment Center
Part 1 by Monteze Freeland was introduced by PPTC in 2024, as a gathering “lovable, slightly chaotic crew of elder millennial friends who proved that no matter how messy life gets, the bond is mighty real.” Part 2 is set two years later, when “the gang has fled Atlanta and settled into a quiet Delaware life, or at least they try to. But when Halloween rolls around, what starts as a night of laughs, costumes, and cocktails quickly turns into a scandalous showdown. Char is the focus of this iteration as she is pregnant but keeping a tight lip about the father … until someone unexpected shows up ready to stir the cauldron.”
ADD-ONS IN 2026 (not part of subscription season)
Italian Jitney | May 8 – 10, 2026 | Carter Woodson Redwood Theater, Madison Arts and Entertainment Center
In 2021, the Italian theater company La Piccionaia Centro Produzione, in collaboration with August Wilson Legacy LLC, the University of Padua, and the University of Pittsburgh’s European Studies Center, created The Wilson Project, with support of the U.S. Consulate General in Milan. As a result, Jitney was translated by a team of English- and Italian-language experts, with the ensuing production documented by filmmaker Carl Kurlander and Pitt students. Director Renzo Carbonera visited Pittsburgh, hosted by Pitt and the August Wilson House, in 2024, to discuss his journey of discovering and connecting to Jitney, illustrated by excerpts from Pitt’s recording.
A Dinah Washington Christmas at Jimmy Hyde’s Sugartop Lounge | December 10 – 21, 2026 (12 performances only) | Madison Cabaret
The production starring Delana Flowers and a starry jazz quartet premiered at the Madison Cabaret in 2025. Playwright and musician Ernest McCarty passed away on opening night, a triumphant debut for his second show about Dinah Washington, also featuring Flowers as the “What a Diff’rence a Day Makes” singer.
🎟️ Watch for more at pghplaywrights.org.
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