Pittsburgh playwright’s world premiere receives $35,000 in support from the National Endowment for the Arts
Pittsburgh Public Theater’s World Premiere of THE COFFIN MAKER illuminates the Black experience in 19th-century America
Jan. 25, 2024 | The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) announced today the approval of a $35,000 award to support the world premiere of Pittsburgh theater history-maker and August Wilson mentee Mark Clayton Southers’ THE COFFIN MAKER at Pittsburgh Public Theater, on stage May 29 – June 16 at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Avenue, in downtown Pittsburgh. The award, which represents a 40% yearly support increase for The Public by the NEA, is one of 958 Grants for Arts Projects distributed across the U.S. totaling more than $27 million.
Mark Clayton Southers. (Photo courtesy of the artist)
Southers is an actor, playwright, educator, director, and the founding producer of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. He became a theater owner in 2022 with his landmark purchase of the Madison Elementary School building, which he attended through seventh grade and which closed in 2008, in order to found a new producing and educating theater in the Hill District. His work as a playwright and his career in theater were inspired and made possible by the support of a close friend and mentor who read his poetry and encouraged him to write for the stage, he told The Public.
“August Wilson was my mentor, he was a good friend, and I’ve been inspired greatly by him,” Southers said. “August wrote the 20th Century Cycle of American plays, and THE COFFIN MAKER is part of my 19th Century Cycle.”
Southers is joined by another cornerstone of Pittsburgh theater, Monteze Freeland, who will direct THE COFFIN MAKER. Freeland is the co-artistic director of City Theatre Company, former education director of Quantum Theatre, and a producer in residence for the National New Play Network. He is described as “the most in-demand actor/director in the region,” (Pittsburgh Magazine), and shared that support like this grant from the NEA is vital in ensuring work like THE COFFIN MAKER earns its rightful place in the national conversation.
Monteze Freeland. (Photo courtesy of the artist)
“As an actor I wasn’t aware of the tasks that it takes to produce work on a level of getting national attention, and as a producer I didn’t realize how important that work is,” Freeland said, describing having the best generative artists and creative minds in the nation on projects like this. “Grants like the NEA are so important because they ensure the work doesn’t just live and die in Pittsburgh, and that’s not always a luxury that Pittsburgh artists have.”
During The Public’s 2022/2023 season the NEA supported former Resident Director Justin Emeka’s adaptation A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM IN HARLEM, which critics described as a “gorgeous combination of joyful Black excellence with Shakespearean plot and prose.” Like Emeka’s decisive adaptation and Wilson’s Pittsburgh Cycle, Southers’ THE COFFIN MAKER, which the playwright describes as “the story of a rebel fighting for his family’s honor,” continues The Public’s legacy of bringing outstanding stories from distinct voices to the American regional theater stage – stories that inform and transform opportunities for cultural exchange both within Pittsburgh and on the stages these productions visit after their local premieres.
“The NEA is delighted to announce this grant to Pittsburgh Public Theater, which is helping contribute to the strength and well-being of the arts sector and local community,” National Endowment for the Arts Chair Maria Rosario Jackson said. “We are pleased to be able to support this community and help create an environment where all people have the opportunity to live artful lives.”