By SHARON EBERSON
In rehearsal these days, an abundance of riches faces back at Patrick Jordan as he directs some of the leading ladies of the Pittsburgh stage — Tami Dixon, Sheila McKenna, Karla Payne, Helena Ruoti, and Cary Anne Spear — in Infinite Life.
The Annie Baker play, opening Friday, March 6, 2026, at barebones productions’ Braddock black box, focuses on a group of mature women in physical pain. They share their stories, and their longings, while lounging on the patio of a Northern California fasting clinic.
In a glowing review in The New York Times, the critic Jesse Green called the work by Baker, the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of The Flick, “both weird and great.”
The lure of the Baker work has allowed Jordan to assemble a group of actors who have “of “delivered some of the most iconic performances for barebones in the past.”
“To say it is a joy is an understatement,” Jordan said of directing his cast, which includes the actor Michael Tisdale. “I have worked with the majority of them before … and that history means we don’t need to have the ‘getting to know you’ period of a normal rehearsal process. This ensemble has to be among the most intelligent, insightful, and talented groups I have gotten to be in.”
Together, they are digging into a work, that does not fit neatly into a singular category. The playwright is known for naturalistic dialogue, laser sharp insight into the mundane, and “the Annie Baker pause,” favoring extended silences to convey emotional depth.
“One of the most difficult things about this particular play for me is describing it to people. It is truly one of those perfect pieces of theater, distinctly meant for live performance,” Jordan said.
“Annie Baker writes with a rare kind of fearless intimacy. Her work is raw, unvarnished, and quietly devastating,” said Dixon, the actress and Bricolage Productions co-artistic director. “She doesn’t soften the edges of her characters or their circumstances; instead, she trusts the truth of the moment. As an actor, her plays offer a rich landscape where longing, humor, and heartbreak coexist in the smallest gestures. It’s subtle, deeply human work, and I feel incredibly grateful to Patrick for giving me the opportunity to inhabit her world.”
New York-based Tisdale, the outlier in the company, has worked in Pittsburgh previously, and noted that growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, had “a similar vibe to Pittsburgh; my dad worked in a U.S. Steel mill in his 20s.” Tisdale also is playwright of Goldstar, Ohio, which was staged at The Kiski School in 2014, working with the actor David Conrad.
A draw to play the character of Nelson in Infinite Life was, “I love the plays of Annie Baker. She’s, for my money, the top playwright of my generation. Her voice is challenging, magical, tactical.”
Green, in his review, noted that, “We get to know these women deeply over the course of 105 minutes.” One way is through how they express their desires, and their reactions to Tisdale’s character.
As the lone male in the play, “l’ve only thought about it in the context of the story we’re telling, because behind the scenes, the gender breakdown isn’t an issue,” Tisdale said. “We’re just a company of veteran actors, all a little … older … in age, doing our acting thing. But playing my character, and maybe this sounds terrible, it’s fun to be objectified by the ladies in service of the larger narrative.”
Tisdale added that it was “a privilege for an actor to work on quality material with quality collaborators.”
“This is definitely a hell of an ensemble of amazing actors and, frankly, some of my favorite people whom I’ve been fortunate enough to work with individually over the years,” Jordan said. “This feels like an Avengers assemble moment for barebones and Pittsburgh theater. I kind of have to pinch myself daily that we were able to thread the needle with everyone’s schedules to make this work.”
TICKETS AND DETAILS
Infinite Life is at barebones productions’ Braddock Black Box Theater, 1211 Braddock Ave., March 6-22, 2026, 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. on Sundays and Saturday, March 21. Tickets: Visit https://www.barebonesproductions.com/infinite-life.
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