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| From left to right: Evelyn Hernandez, Laurie Klatscher, Juan Riviera Lebron, and Cotter Smith |
"We’re thrilled to bring Karen Zacarías’s play to our stage,” said director, Marc Masterson. “We are celebrating spring with this delightful home-grown cast in a warm and breezy comedy”
First commissioned and premiered at Cincinnati Playhouse, Native Gardens has been delighting audiences across the country landing on the American Theatre’s Top 10 Most Produced Plays of the 2018-19 season. A 90-minute comedy, Native Gardens brings us to a historic D.C. neighborhood where a property line discrepancy turns into an all-out border dispute.
Native Gardens is directed by Marc Masterson and features performers: Evelyn Hernandez (Tania), Laurie Klatscher (Virginia), Juan Riviera Lebron (Pablo) and Cotter Smith (Frank) as well as scenic design by Tony Ferrieri, lighting design by Paul Whitaker, costume design by Madison Michalko, and sound design by Daniel Ocanto. Patti Kelly will serve as the production stage manager and Ricardo Vila-Roger R will serve as Artistic Consultant.
For the production City Theatre is excited to collaborate with Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens and the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Area Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. A special preview of Native Gardens will take place at Phipps Conservatory on Wednesday, March 1 at 6pm. Tickets include admission to Phipps Orchid and Tropical Bonsai Show: Origin Stories, a sneak peek of Native Gardens, live music by Hugo Cruz and Frank DiDiano and a Q&A session.
ABOUT NATIVE GARDENS
Written by Karen Zacarías
Directed by Marc Masterson
Expecting Latine couple, Tania and Pablo, have just purchased their first home next to long-time D.C. residents (and Potomac Horticultural Society award seekers), Frank and Virginia. Cultures clash when Tania’s plan for a “native garden” disagrees with Frank’s perfectly pristine posies and a property line disagreement turns into an all-out border dispute. Karen Zacarias’s brilliant comedy exposes well-intentioned neighbors’ notions on race, class, morality, and privilege.
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE
March 11 through April 2
Tuesdays at 7:00 p.m.
Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. and/or 7:00 p.m.
Thursdays and Fridays at 8:00 p.m.
Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. and/or 5:30 p.m.
Sundays at 2:00 p.m. or 7:00 p.m.
For a complete listing of show times, please visit CityTheatreCompany.org or call 412-431-2489 (CITY).
PRESS & OPENING NIGHT
Friday, March 17, 2023, at 8:00 p.m.
ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES:
ASL Interpretation: March 28, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.
Audio Description & Open Caption: April 2, 2023 at 2:00 p.m.
Spanish translated performance through open caption: March 25, 2023 at 1pm
BOX OFFICE INFORMATION:
412.431.CITY (2489) or CityTheatreCompany.org Tickets start at $29
Pick-Your-Price Previews: March 11 - 16
Pay What You Want Performance: March 25, 2022 at 1:00 p.m.
Mask-Required Performances:
Sunday, March 12, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.
Thursday, March 23, 2023 at 8:00 p.m
Saturday, April 1, 2023 at 1:00 p.m.
See CityTheatreCompany.org/Covid-Safety for full Covid-19 health and safety audience policy details.
WHERE:
City Theatre Main Stage
1300 Bingham Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15203 (South Side)
Port Authority bus routes: 48, 51, 54, 81, 83
PARKING:
Patron parking is available in the lot across from the City Theatre entrance (1317 Bingham Street) for $10, subject to availability.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS:
KAREN ZACARÍAS (playwright) was recently hailed by American Theater Magazine as one of the most produced playwrights in the US. Her plays include The Copper Children, Destiny of Desire, Native Gardens, The Book Club Play, Legacy of Light, Mariela in the Desert, The Sins of Sor Juana, and the adaptations of Just Like Us, The Age of Innocence, Into the Beautiful North, How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accent and a bilingual Romeo y Juliet. She has been produced at The Kennedy Center, The Goodman, The Guthrie, Arena Stage, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, GALA Hispanic Theater, Cincinnati Playhouse, Old Globe, The Alliance Theater, Repertorio Español, The Latino Theater Company, Milagro Theater, and many more. She is the author of ten renown TYA musicals and the librettist of several Ballets. She is one of the inaugural resident playwrights at Arena Stage, a core founder of the Latinx Theatre Commons- a large national organization of artists seeking to update the American narrative with the stories of Latinx-, and she is the founder of the award-winning Young Playwrights’ Theater (YPT), noted as one of the best arts educational programs by the Obama White House. Karen was voted a 2019 Washingtonian of the Year for her arts advocacy by Washingtonian Magazine. She was awarded 2019 Sine Fellowship at the American University School of Public Policy for connecting art with policy making. She is a recipient of 2019 Lee-Reynolds-Award for “social, cultural, or political change with theater” awarded by the League of Professional Theater Women and honored with the 2019 Medallion by the Children’s Theater Foundation. She was a 2019 speaker at TEDX Broadway. She is a 2021 recipient of the United Artists Fellowship. Karen lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband and three children and two dogs. She’s represented by the Gersh Agency and is published by Samuel French/Concord Theatricals, Dramatic Publishing and has a collection of plays with Oberon Books.
MARC MASTERSON (Director) returned to City Theatre in 2018 after serving in the same capacity at Actors Theatre of Louisville and at South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, CA. He previously served as City Theatre’s artistic director from 1981 to 2000. In over three decades as an artistic leader, he has produced the world premieres of some of the most produced plays in the American Theatre, along with innovative productions of the classics. He has championed pioneering work in community engagement, arts education, and diverse voices for the American stage.
EVELYN HERNANDEZ (Tania) As a bilingual Latinx actor from Queens, NY, Evelyn has always been passionate about being an Entertainer for over two decades. After countless all-nighters and ample caffeine, she earned her Bachelor Of Arts Degree in Theatre, magna cum laude, from Point Park University. She has performed as over 50 characters for projects in voice acting, theatre, television and movies. Credits include: The Thanksgiving Play with Arcade Comedy Theater, In The Time of the Butterflies with Prime Stage Theater, Gone with NBC Universal, modeling in Pittsburgh Fashion Week, voicing multiple roles for various productions, and now Tania in Native Gardens for her Pittsburgh City Theatre debut. She dedicates her performance to God, her mother, family and friends for their unwavering love and support.
LAURIE KLATSCHER (Virginia) This is Laurie’s 15th show with City Theatre. Her original solo piece What Do the Birds Say?, commissioned by City Theatre, was filmed during the pandemic and performed out-of-doors at City of Asylum. She most recently appeared on this stage opposite Tamara Tunie in The Roommate. Other City Theatre credits: Tribes (co-production Philadelphia Theatre Co); Precious Little, (2011 PPG Performer of the Year), Shooting Star, The Good Body, The Cryptogram,Compleat Female Stage Beauty, Moonlight Room, Red Herring and Baltimore Waltz. Pittsburgh Public Theatre: The Tempest, Indecent, Hay Fever. Quantum Theatre: Cherry Orchard, Inside Passage, Dream of Autumn, Chickens in the Yard, Electric Baby, Candide, Dogface (reprised at Festival de Otoño, Madrid). Playhouse REP: Endless Lawns, Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods. PICT: A Woman of No importance, Heartbreak House. GeVa (Regional): The Misanthrope, All My Sons. Primary Stages Theatre Co (NYC): Bertrano, or Hats Don’t Lie, Late One Afternoon in Okabena. York Theatre Co: Midsummer Night’s Dream. TV: Outsiders (2 seasons, ) Blank my Life, Ghostwriter, The Doctor, Search for Tomorrow. Recent Film: Dear Zoe (available on demand, starring Sadie Sink)
JUAN RIVERA LEBRON (Pablo) (selected credits) - Guthrie Theater: Frank Churchill in Kate Hamill’s Emma, Bob Cratchit in A Christmas Carol, Mr. Wickham in Pride and Prejudice, and Florizel in The Winter’s Tale. Great Lakes Theater: Costard in Love’s Labor’s Lost, Orsino in Twelfth Night, Don John in Much Ado About Nothing, Cleante in Imaginary Invalid. American Players Theater: Sideway/Collins in Our Country’s Good, Mr. Worthy in The Recruiting Officer, Lysander in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Homenides in A Flea in Her Ear, and Pericles in Pericles. Seven seasons as a Company Member of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Film and television credits include: Incompleteness, dir. Dave Ash; Relationship Status, dir. Peter Bean; All Night Bodega, dir. Felix Olivier; various commercials and industrials. Special visiting Faculty in Acting at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama. B.F.A. - Carnegie Mellon University. M.F.A., M.S. – University of Idaho. juanriveralebron.weebly.com
COTTER SMITH (Frank) first appeared on a Pittsburgh stage at the Byham Theatre in the 2000 National Tour of the Tony Award winning play ART. When he returned in 2016 for the Netflix series MINDHUNTER, he and his wife quickly fell in love with this city that is now their hometown. Since then he has appeared locally at the Public Theatre, Barebones and Bricolage. He has spent the majority of his professional life in New York and Los Angeles, where his credits include many plays on and off Broadway, and numerous television and film roles. He has been teaching acting for many years, including at The New School for Drama in New York, where he also served as the Department Head of the MFA Acting Program. He is honored to be continuing his acting workshops in Pittsburgh, exploring Stanislavsky’s Active Analysis technique, which is only recently finding its way into American actor training programs.
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