By SHARON EBERSON
Theater actor, director and writer Marcus Stevens may be based in New York, but a little piece of him will always belong to Pittsburgh.
His career was launched from Point Park University to CLO Cabaret, where his appearance in Forbidden Broadway led him to be cast in that enduring parody/lovefest for all things musical theater in New York.
Stevens has returned to Point Park, but at a different Playhouse than the one he left when he graduated in 2003, and this time, as a director.
He is at the helm of Forbidden Broadway’s Greatest Hits at the state-of-the-art Downtown theater building that opened in 2018. The Point Park Conservatory of Performing Arts production runs March 4-8, 2026,
Stevens’ post-Pittsburgh career includes writing the book and lyrics for several musicals, including Red, a Richard Rodgers Award winner, and Mythic, which a rock musical produced in London, Canada and the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, with Tony-winning Pittsburgh native Kathleen Marshall at the helm.
With collaborator Sam Willmott, Stevens was commissioned to write Wake Up, Daisy! for Central Park’s historic Swedish Cottage Marionette Theater, where it ran for an unprecedented 22 months, from February 2022 to December 2023. As a director, Stevens developed and staged Theaterworks USA’s Dragons Love Tacos and Other Stories, a musical for young audiences that toured to venues across the United States. In 2012, the former Playhouse Jr. in Oakland presented Yo! Vikings, with a book and lyrics by Stevens and music by Willmott.
As an actor, Stevens was seen in two renditions of New York’s Forbidden Broadway, and can be heard on two of its original cast recordings. He also helped Pittsburgh Public Theater close its 42nd season, in 2017, starring in the comedy An Act of God.
Here’s what Stevens had to say about returning to Pittsburgh and his ties to his college town.
ONSTAGE PITTSBURGH: This is a trifecta: What’s it like to be in this new Pittsburgh Playhouse, but back at your university, with this show that has been so important to your career?
MARCUS STEVENS: It’s kind of an amazing thing to come back to my old university with all this new perspective I’ve gained from doing Forbidden Broadway and get to share that with the students. Being in the new Pittsburgh Playhouse is surreal. When I was here, we had the Playhouse in Oakland, and two buildings and a bridge, Downtown. Now it’s this beautiful campus with incredible rehearsal spaces. It feels like home and completely foreign at the same time. What was especially cool was looking at the students’ resumes at auditions and seeing professors that I had. In some ways, everything has changed. In other ways, nothing has. And that’s really comforting. Watching these students work, I find myself reliving my own time here, which was so formative and special for me.
oSP: How has your Pittsburgh experience shaped your career?
STEVENS: Honestly, my Pittsburgh experience is the whole reason I’ve been able to have a career in the theater. The training I got at Point Park was extraordinary. I wouldn’t have been able to start working in this industry without that foundation. Pittsburgh is also where I got my first professional acting jobs – I did Forbidden Broadway at the CLO Cabaret, which ultimately led to me being cast in it in New York. Pittsburgh is where my writing career began, too. I had three shows produced at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, allowing me to develop a portfolio that served as my entree into the BMI Musical Theater Writers Workshop. I owe Pittsburgh and the people here so much!
oSP: Parody is a tough thing to pull off, and there’s an assumption that the audience will be familiar with what you are parodying. Why do you think Forbidden Broadway has been so wildly successful in doing that for so many years, over so many iterations?
STEVENS: The great thing about Forbidden Broadway is that you actually don’t have to be totally familiar with what’s being parodied to have a great time. Of course, if you know every reference, it’s hysterical on a whole other level. But the show is so clever with its physical comedy and visual language that it works even if you’re not catching every inside joke. It’s big, it’s specific, and it’s character-driven, which makes it enjoyable no matter what level of familiarity you have with Broadway musicals.
oSP: Is it fair to say a lot of what you write is for young people? How did that happen, and has becoming a father shaped how you see things?
STEVENS: Yeah, I think it’s fair to say a lot of what I write either centers on young people or has that sort of fairytale, heightened quality. It’s not exactly on purpose — I’m just really drawn to pure, emotional storytelling. I always say I want to write musicals that feel like Pixar movies. The thing I love about those kinds of stories is that although they’re great for young people, they’re not just for young people. They’re simple, direct, and deeply emotional, and they hit adults just as hard. Almost everything I’ve ever written ends up being about parents and children in some way. I used to be writing mostly from the kid’s point of view, but now that I’m dad, I’m thinking a lot about the parents.
oSP: Mythic sounds like a blast. I hope we get it here! What was it like working with Kathleen Marshall on your show in Cincinnati? Did you two know each other as Pittsburghers?
STEVENS: Kathleen and I did not know each other as Pittsburghers, but we did bond over our shared love of this town! Working with her was a dream. She’s so smart, specific and very even keeled in rehearsals. You never have any reason to get stressed when Kathleen is at the helm. She’s got it all under control. Mythic in Cincinnati was a really wonderful experience. And I hope that the show does come to Pittsburgh someday! It would be great!
TICKETS AND DETAILS
The Point Park University Conservatory of Performing Arts’ production of Forbidden Broadway’s Greatest Hits is March 4-8, 2026, at the Pittsburgh Playhouse Highmark Theatre, 350 Forbes Ave., Downtown. Tickets: https://playhouse.culturaldistrict.org/production/101109.
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