Pittsburgh Playwrights production slated for two summer festivals

The Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company production of Mark Clayton Southers’ “Miss Julie, Clarissa and John” is hitting the road this summer, when the original cast will perform the play at the National Black Theatre Festival in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland.

The play, inspired by August Strindberg’s 1888 drama “Miss Julie,” but moved to a Reconstruction-era Virginia plantation, debuted at PPTCO in March 2016 under the direction of Monteze Freeland.

The original cast of Tami Dixon, Chrystal Bates and Kevin Brown is slated to join Mr. Southers and Mr. Freeland, along with the company’s resident sound designer Mark Whitehead and Pittsburgh actor Kenny Champion, who now lives in Los Angeles.

In September, the play was produced with a different cast by St. Louis Black Rep to open its 40th anniversary season.

The National Black Theatre Festival, produced by the North Carolina Black Rep Company, is July 31-Aug. 5. The Edinburgh Festival Fringe, the world’s largest arts festival, is Aug. 4-28. Last year, the Scotland festival featured 50,266 performances of 3,269 shows in 294 venues.

Two PPTCO board members have donated $15,000 toward the $40,000 needed to fund both trips. The Pittsburgh company hopes to make up the rest in festival stipends, ticket sales and a GoFundMe campaign. The world premiere of “Lights Out” by Steve Hallock and directed by Cheryl El-Walker opens at Pittsburgh Playwrights on Saturday.