By SHARON EBERSON a.k. payne sets the stage for their new play with a voiceover about the 2019 study that revealed Black women in Pittsburgh experience poverty at rates higher than in 85% of similar U.S. cities. Then they list… Read More ›
Hill District
Preview: Award-Winning Playwright a.k. payne Journeys Through Time With ‘BURNBABYBURN!’
The world premiere of the award-winning playwright a.k. payne’s “BURNBABYBURN! the american dream” is a co-production of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company and the August Wilson House. In the play, generations of women confront truths about motherhood, love, loss, and Pittsburgh — “a city that both holds and haunts their dreams” — as they ask questions across time.
August Wilson’s ‘Jitney’ Comes Home to the Hill — In Italian
Carl Kurlander led a University of Pittsburgh crew to Vincenza, Italy, in 2024, to document the first production of August Wilson’s “Jitney” in Italian. With that production arriving in Pittsburgh this coming Friday, May 8, presented by Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre and the August Wilson House, Kurlander shares his experiences chronicling the production with onStage Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh Playwright Theatre Premiere Unites Local Artists in ‘Paradox of Education’
Writer Ty Greenwood and Director Maurice Redwood Connect on Work Inspired by James Baldwin By SHARON EBERSON Few works on Pittsburgh stages have deeper roots within the city limits than Ty Greenwood’s Paradox of Education, directed by Maurice Redwood, and… Read More ›
August Wilson in April: Annual New Voices Competition and Birthday Block Party
The annual Pittsburgh Regional August Wilson New Voices Monologue Competition, presented by the Bill Nunn Theatre Outreach Project, takes place Monday, March 31, 2025, at the Manchester Craftsmen’s Guild. Co-sponsored by August Wilson House, the event celebrates the legacy of… Read More ›
Review: Church Choir Comes Together With Heavenly Help in Joyful ‘Sanctified’
By SHARON EBERSON Change is in the air at Easy Piney Grove Baptist Church, and for longtime parishioners, nothing good can come of it. Uncompromising, disapproving elders and rebellious youth in a dwindling congregation are among the woes weighing on… Read More ›
Review: August Wilson’s Presence Presides Over Stirring ‘Radio Golf’ on the Hill
I have come here today… to talk about the ground on which I stand and all the many grounds on which I and my ancestors have toiled, and the ground of theater on which my fellow artists and I have… Read More ›
National August Wilson New Voices Competition Crowns Winners in Pittsburgh
By SHARON EBERSON The spirit of August Wilson permeated the O’Reilly Theater Monday night, as the monologue and design competition that bears his name came home to Pittsburgh for the first time. The August Wilson New Voices Competition – formerly… Read More ›
‘Joe Turner’s Come and Gone’ Is on the Way to the August Wilson House
Pittsburgh Playwright Theatre Company’s Annual Dive Into Wilson’s Work Was Playwright’s Favorite By SHARON EBERSON “When I first met August Willson, I said I liked Joe Turner the best of his plays. He nodded and said he did, too.” Playwright… Read More ›
Pittsburgh Playwrights Continues Premiere Roll With ‘Pyramid Builders’
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company continues its 20th anniversary season with its second premiere in a row. Next up at the newly anointed Madison Arts Center in the Hill District is Pyramid Builders, a work by Karuna Das – sanskrit for… Read More ›