PPT postpones online comedy out of respect for nation’s grief
Pittsburgh Public Theater announced through social media and its website Wednesday that it was postponing its Thursday webcast of “The Cake” and its June 18 online gala out of respect during “this time of national crisis and grief” in the wake of George Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police.
The Facebook post began by stressing the power of art and the company’s “fundamental responsibility to serve our city and region as a true public theater for all people.”
“We are in a moment of reckoning when we are all being called to face the persistent racial injustice and violence perpetrated against Black communities in our city and across the country,” the post signed by artistic director Marya Sea Kaminski read. “We stand with our Black colleagues, artists, audiences and neighbors. We deepen our commitment to creating an organization and a world where you feel safe, seen and loved. You matter to us. Your stories matter. Your lives matter. Justice matters.”
The COVID-19 pandemic hit the Public Theater hard when the curtain came down on March 13, what should have been opening night of a drama that captures the moment we find ourselves in.
“American Son” follows the tensions of parents at a police station, waiting for word about their black son, detained by police in a traffic stop. It was devastating even before Floyd’s death and American streets were flooded with demands for justice.
Within days, the Downtown company was among the first to use Zoom as a platform for storytelling under the heading PlayTime.
“The Cake” would have marked a first for the PlayTime series as a piece that had been scheduled as part of the Public’s live season. Ticket holders to the originally scheduled performance were to be granted access to a talkback with playwright Bekah Brunstetter, who also is a writer-producer for the
Pittsburgh-set NBC drama “This Is Us.”
Her contemporary comedy has a ripped-from-theheadlines clash of cultures and deeply held beliefs:
Della (Charlotte Booker; PPT’s “The Humans”) is a North Carolina bakery owner who is at first thrilled to be making a wedding cake for Jen, her late best friend’s daughter. Jen is returning home with her bride, which comes as a shock to Della. Meanwhile, Jen’s fiance, hit
Macy, is a New Yorker who isn’t afraid to speak her mind about “Southern small-mindedness.”
The play and gala, originally planned for later this month, have yet to be rescheduled. The Public’s website notes that its team is “currently hard at work developing an innovative way to bring our production of ‘Barefoot in the Park’ to life” as well.