Announcing Our 2026 Season!
Our 2026 season is curated by Monteze Freeland.
Subscriptions Coming Soon!
A Madison Arts and Entertainment Center event
DINNER AND A MOVIE (and music) this Valentine’s Night at Madison
For singles and couples alike – savor a candlelit dinner while enjoying a popular movie classic, with musical interludes to enhance your Valentine experience.
Singles aren’t solo in Madison’s Cabaret.
Your inclusive, one-stop setting for Valentine’s indulgence is here. (Not part of our season subscription.)
Paradox of Education
By Ty Greenwood
April 4th – April 20th 2026
Carter Woodson Redwood Theater
Madison Arts and Entertainment Center
World Premiere
Ty Greenwood’s 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.
First developed through ASOLO Repertory Theatre’s Ground Floor Playwright Commission, this gripping play unfolds at a prestigious PWI, 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.
As friendships are tested and dreams collide with reality, Paradox of Education asks the urgent question, “Where do I belong?”
August Wilson’s Jitney, in Italian
By August Wilson
Directed by Renzo Carbonera
May 8th – May 10th 2026
Carter Woodson Redwood Theater
Madison Arts and Entertainment Center
An Italian-language production of August Wilson’s classic drama Jitney, with projected English supertitles. (Not part of our season subscription.)
10,000 Rides
By Cynthia Dallas
June 6th – June 22nd 2026
Pittsburgh Playwrights Cabaret Theater
Madison Arts and Entertainment Center
World Premiere
Come along on the wildest trips of a rideshare driver.
BURNBABYBURN: an american dream
By a.k. payne
August 19th – September 20th 2026
Outdoors at August Wilson House
World Premiere
Set in Pittsburgh’s Hill District and Homewood neighborhoods, BURNBABYBURN: an american dream moves fluidly through time as a young woman, Sky II, embarks on a journey to heal herself and the generations who came before her.
Through photographs that flicker with memory and meaning, she reaches across decades to touch the lives of her ancestors. Four generations of women draw nearer to one another as they confront the truths of motherhood, love, loss, and a city that both holds and haunts their dreams.
In this tender, time—bending story, a.k. payne reminds us that memory is fragile, history is human, and as she writes, “cameras tells lots of lies i cannot make any promises of fact.”
Fishy Woo Woo, Part 2
By Monteze Freeland
October 16th – October 31st
Carter Woodson Redwood Theater
Madison Arts and Entertainment Center
World Premiere
In 2024, Fishy Woo Woo introduced audiences to a lovable, slightly chaotic crew of elder millennial friends who proved that no matter how messy life gets, the bond is mighty real.
Two years later, 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.
It is tricks, treats, and total mayhem as this crew faces the ghosts of their past. This is a jaw dropping night they will never forget, even if they wish they could.
A Dinah Washington Christmas
at Jimmy Hyde’s Sugartop Lounge
Featuring Delana Flowers as Dinah Washington
By Ernest McCarty
December 10-21 2026
Pittsburgh Playwrights Cabaret Theater
Madison Arts and Entertainment Center
Our hit 2025 world premiere returns! It’s December 1963, and “Queen of the Blues” Dinah Washington is appearing at a renowned Pittsburgh jazz club for a night of holiday-themed songs, backed with a chorus and blues ensemble. Delana Flowers portrays Dinah, reprising her role from our hit 2024 production Dinah: A Musical Revue, accompanied by some of Pittsburgh’s top musicians.
More Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre News
December 2025: The Trib names the three plays of our August Wilson American Century Cycle Experience as among the year’s top five, and cites Art of Wise‘s cast as “perfection”.
August 2025: Video interview with Sharon Eberson of onStage featuring directors Terrence Spivey, Ashley Southers and Mark Clayton Southers.
August 2025: Video interview with Lisa Smith, KDKA featuring directors Terrence Spivey, Ashley Southers and Mark Clayton Southers.
July 2025: Tressa Glover interviews Mark Clayton Southers for Yinz Are Good podcast.
April 2025: Preview of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle Experience at onStage Pittsburgh.
April 2025: Reviews of Art of Wise from Burgh Vivant, OnStage Pittsburgh, Trib Live, Pittsburgh Owlscribe (spoilers).
March 2025: Reviews of Sanctified from onStage Pittsburgh, Burgh Vivant, Pittsburgh Owlscribe.
December 2024: Radio Golf is named one of the five best productions of 2024 by the Tribune-Review.
September 2024: Check out our time lapse video of the new sign going up for Madison Arts Center’s Carter Woodson Redwood Theatre.
August 2024: Reviews of Radio Golf from onStage Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Tatler, TribLive, Burgh Vivant, Entertainment Central
July 2024: Preview of Radio Golf and more PPTCO news from onStage Pittsburgh.
June 2024: Reviews of Fishy Woo Woo from Entertainment Central, Burgh Vivant, and onStage Pittsburgh.
April 2024: Reviews of Dinah from Burgh Vivant and Pittsburgh Owlscribe, and previews from New Pittsburgh Courier and On Stage Pittsburgh.
March 2024: WQED’s Voice of the Arts podcast interviews Mark Clayton Southers on PPTCO’s 2024 season.
February 2024: We’ve added new photo galleries for our productions of Seven Guitars (2009) and Jitney (2010) as part of our website’s design refresh, plus a new production history page, improved navigation throughout, and more.
December 2023: Two of our plays in our 20th Anniversary 2023 season, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone and The Bluegrass Mile, appeared in Sharon Eberson’s Best of Pittsburgh Theater 2023 at OnStage Pittsburgh, as did Karla Payne and Charles Timbers for their work on our stages! Thanks!
January 2023: Pittsburgh Playwrights names theater for actor Carter Redwood!
September 2022: Check out this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article about our future plans at Madison Arts Center! Read Tony Norman’s November 2022 article on Next Pittsburgh. And see Pittsburgh Magazine’s March 2023 writeup with photos and video.
In 2021, Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre was recognized as one of Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures! Read more in this in-depth article (PDF)!
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company thanks the following for supporting our season of plays and special projects:
And our Donor’s Circle and other individual donors.
Thank you!
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre was selected a Pittsburgh Cultural Treasure by Heinz Endowments in collaboration with the Poise Foundation, a national initiative by the Ford Foundation.
Questions? Email us at contactpptco@pghplaywrights.
Mailing address: PO Box 10371, Pittsburgh, PA 15234
Follow Us on Social Media @pghplaywrights
Slideshow photos by J.L. Martello/18ricco, Christopher Chapman Sr., Candace Michelle Perdue, Duane Rieder, Gail Manker, Joy Southers, and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre. Ma Rainey photo by Mark Clayton Southers. August Wilson portrait by Marlon Gist.
“August Wilson’s Two Trains Running” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
Originally Produced on Broadway by Yale Repertory Theatre (Stan Wojewodski, Jr., Artistic Director), Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre (Gordon Davidson, Artistic/Producing Director) Herb Alpert/Margot Lion, Scott Rudin/Paramount Pictures, and Jujamcyn Theaters (James H. Binger, Chairman; Rocco Landesman, President; Paul Libin, Producing Director; Jack Viertel, Creative Director); produced in association with Huntington Theatre Company (Peter Altman, Producing Director; Michael Maso, Managing Director), Seattle Repertory Theatre and Old Globe Theatre (Jack O‘Brien, Artistic Director; Thomas Hall, Managing Director)
Originally mounted by Yale Repertory Theatre (Lloyd Richards, Artistic Director; Benjamin Mordecai, Managing Director).
“August Wilson’s Fences” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
Originally Produced on Broadway by Carole Shorenstein Hays, in association with Yale Repertory Theatre.
World Premiere at Yale Repertory Theatre (Lloyd Richards, Artistic Director; Benjamin Mordecai, Managing Director); Second Production at The Goodman Theatre (Robert Falls, Artistic Director; Roche Schulfer, Managing Director). Initially given a staged reading at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Playwrights Conference.
“August Wilson’s Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com
Originally produced by Yale Repertory Theatre (Lloyd Richards, Artistic Director; Benjamin Mordecai, Managing Director).
Initially presented at the 1982 National Playwrights’ Conference by The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center.