With news about: August Wilson, Most-Produced Playwrights and Works in America, Leon Ford and “The Weight of Forgiveness,” Pittsburgh New Works Festival, CSA and Off the Page at the New Hazlett
🎭 ICYMI:
- Preview: Premiere ‘Refugee Rhapsody’ Rolls In for PICT’s 30th Season
- Preview: Vigilance Theater’s ‘Campfire Stories’: ‘At the Intersection of Fun and Spooky’
- Review: Innovation, Movement, Culture, and Love: ‘The Lion King’ Still Celebrates the Beauty of the Circle of Life
- News: New Hazlett Takes to the Co-Producing Field With DEMASKUS Theater’s Gender-Swapped “Othello of the End Zone, or The Steel City Tragedy”
UNDISPUTED KING OF THE AMERICAN STAGE: AUGUST WILSON
presented at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre’s Madison Arts Center in May 2026.
August Wilson, who chronicled the universal 20th-century Black American experience through the lens of Pittsburgh, continues as the most influential playwright of the 21st century. In the American Theatre Magazine list of most-produced theater writers and works of the year, Wilson, a stalwart of the annual list, is No. 1 among playwrights with 23 productions, although no single play is in the top 10. The lists (excluding Shakespeare and A Christmas Carol) were from a pool of 1,634 productions — 1,283 at 298 Theatre Communications Group members, plus 351 at non-member and commercial venues — nearly 200 more than last season. Worth noting: “Bucking a trend toward smaller cast sizes that predates the pandemic … nearly all of this year’s top plays have ensemble casts.”
John Proctor Is the Villain, the No. 1 most-produced work of 2026, was seen at the University of Pittsburgh in 2023. Also among the top 10, Come From Away and Dear Evan Hansen have been on local stages, and Primary Trust was the Pittsburgh Public Theater finale in April. Among those still to come: Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors is at Little Lake Theatre October 8-25, and Confluence Theater of Pittsburgh has announced “Purpose” for next year.
🎭 For the full lists, visit https://www.americantheatre.org/2026/09/16/john-proctor-is-the-villain-and-august-wilson-top-this-years-most-produced-lists/
LEON FORD’S ‘THE WEIGHT OF FORGIVENESS‘
There were admonitions before the one-night-only play The Weight of Forgiveness at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center, among them: Be present, be brave, and try not to take sides. The powerful play is by Leon Ford, who was 19 when he was left paralyzed from the waist down after being shot five times by a Pittsburgh police officer during a mistaken-identity traffic stop in 2012. Directed by Mark Clayton Southers, the two hander — Dionysius Westbrook as Ford and Michael Patrick Trimm as the unnamed Officer who shot him — constructs a first one-on-one meeting between the two, five years after the shooting. Ford has become a celebrity speaker, and author who formed the Hear Foundation with Scott E. Schubert, former Chief of Pittsburgh Bureau of Police. Hear is “the first and only nonprofit in Pittsburgh dedicated to collaborating with community leaders, Public Safety Professionals, and residents to create a safe, thriving community for all.” The play finds Ford trying to find the humanity in the man who changed the course of his life, just weeks before Ford became a father. The Officer is stuck in a downward spiral of justifying his actions — “I did what I was trained to do” — and the haunting memories and legacy of the shooting, after which the City of Pittsburgh settled a civil rights lawsuit with Ford for $5.5 million. Westbrook (aka Dionysius Akeem; his next role is in Refugee Rhapsody for PICT), and Trimm, who is having a stellar year on Pittsburgh pages, were riveting in the roles. To learn more, visit the Hear Foundation. — Sharon Eberson
PITTSBURGH NEW WORKS FESTIVAL 2026 FINALE
The final week of Pittsburgh New Works Festival’s 36th season features three one-act plays about 1) an interview with a football coach, 2) a CPR class, and 3) a funeral parlor. Performances are in the Genesius Theater at Duquesne University on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m., and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
The works in Program D are:
- Delayed Blitz by Grant Mitchell of Greenwich, Connecticut. Ryan Graves directs for The Summer Company.
- Are You Okay? by Geo Lawton of Coraopolis, PA. Aubrey Posluszny directs for the Red Masquers.
- Death Becomes a Writer by J.B. Heaps of New York City. Larry Spinnenweber directs for R-ACT Theatre Productions.
🎟️ TiCKETS AND DETAILS: www.pittsburghnewworks.org.
MORE FROM THE NEW HAZLETT, WITH MORE TO COME
Here’s the lineup for the New Hazlett Theater’s Community Supported Artists (CSA) Season 14 and the Off the Page reading series:
CSA 14:
- November 19–20, 2026 | GIRLS by Maya Anabella | Experience the fierce confessions of modern girlhood.
- March 4–5, 2027| Cosmic Microwave Background by Julia Fraser | Confront a mysterious frequency.
- April 15–16, 2027: The Women Who Lit the Way by Omari Abdul-Alim’s | The electric legacy of trailblazing Pittsburgh arts mentors.
OFF THE PAGE:
- November 30, 2026 | And A Buoy by Eli Plummer | A staged reading about a father, a son, and a bond buoyed through the changing tides of time.
- January 11, 2027 | Divas You Don’t Know by Milia Ayache | In a one-woman cabaret, Ayache channels three transnational stars: Maya Kristalinskaya, Asmahan, and Dalida.
- April 12, 2027 | The Perfect American Man by Ben Kramer | A sung-through staged reading spanning five decades of queer history.
AND MORE OUT & ABOUT THIS WEEKEND
- Trapped | Iron Horse Theatre Company | Kelly Strayhorn Theater | September 17 – 26, 2026 | https://kellystrayhorntheater.my.salesforce-sites.com/ticket/#/events/a0SVO000005W4jx2A
- Trying | South Park Theatre | September 17 – 27, 2026 | https://sites.google.com/a/southparktheatre.com/south-park-theatre
- Blithe Spirit | Red Barn Theater Players of Ellwood City | September 17-19, 23-26, 2026 | https://www.redbarnplayers.com/season
- Slow Food | Bobcat Players | September 17- 20, 2026 | https://www.bobcatplayers.com
- Come From Away | Greensburg Civic Theatre | September 18 – 20, 2026 | https://www.gctheatre.org
- In Clay | City Theatre | September 19 – October 11, 2026 | https://citytheatrecompany.org/production/106844/in-clay
🎟️ Reminder: The discount ticket initiative Go See a Show! is ongoing, with 18 performing arts companies and Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama participating. Find tickets at https://www.goseeashowpgh.com.
👉 Don’t forget — you can always explore the next two months of performances, organized by date or company, at onStage Pittsburgh.
👉 Did we miss your show? Send us your updates at info@onstagepittsburgh.com so we can share them in Listings and a future Call Board.
Categories: Arts and Ideas, CALL BOARD, Our Posts
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