City Theatre’s Momentum New Play Festival returns as in-person event
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Following a two-year absence due to the pandemic, an effective vehicle for new play development is returning to the City Theatre stages on Pittsburgh’s South Side.
The Momentum New Play Festival is back for a May 16-21 run featuring public readings of three new plays in progress as well as a playwright’s “open mic.”
The Momentum Festival has helped spawn original works such as “The Garbologists” by Lindsay Joelle, a play that was developed in 2019 and opens on the City Theatre’s main stage on April 30.
The festival overlaps the final week of “The Garbologists,” a play described as an unconventional buddy drama that follows first-time sanitation worker Marlowe and lifer Danny in the cab of a 19-ton garbage truck in New York City.
“The festival has served as a beacon of new play development in Pittsburgh for nearly 20 years. Giving voice to local and national playwrights, the festival offers a glimpse into the bold process of playmaking,” said City Theatre co-artistic director Monteze Freeland.
“We are thrilled to invite live audiences to delve into an immersive theatrical experience. And who doesn’t love an open mic featuring a few of Pittsburgh’s brightest writing talents?”
Topping the bill is a play called “Dependency” about two high school drug addicts.
“I feel it’s important to shed light on this topic because kids are getting involved with drugs at a much younger age now,” said playwright Ty Greenwood.
“This is a play that isn’t going to offer the typical journey of recovery and healing that we often see. In fact, it’s going to show the opposite, the bad, the ugly. But the payoff is the realization of needing HELP!” he said.
The “Dependency” reading takes place at 7 p.m. at the Hamburg Studio Theatre on Saturday, May 21. It follows a reading of “Yoga with Jillian” at 3 p.m. in the Rehearsal Hall.
On Friday, May 20 the festival will host the first public reading of “Keyword: Wander.” Written by Clare Drobot, it’s about searching through a family’s past to understand the present.
“It’s rooted in a personal discovery for me; of uncovering a legacy of Jewish heritage and attempting to piece together that lineage and inherited history,” Drobot said. “I’m honored to have the opportunity to share it with audiences as part of the festival.”