Pittsburgh Public Theater's 2025/2026 Season Announcement

Pittsburgh Public Theater announced its 2025/2026 season on Marfch 20, Now More Than Ever, a celebration of its 51st season including comedy, drama, nostalgia, and award-winning titles – all as public theater is needed now more than ever.

The Public’s 2025/2026 season at the O’Reilly Theater opens in October 2025 with Michael Frayn’s Noises Off, hailed as one of the funniest plays of all time and the ultimate theatrical farce. Pittsburgh will welcome Margot Bordelon, a New York-based director who specializes in comedy and new work, to direct. Noises Off runs October 1 – 19.

“I can’t wait to bring the joyful chaos of Noises Off to Pittsburgh audiences. This is a love letter to the magic – and mayhem – of live theater,” Bordelon said.

 Following the return of The Public’s new holiday tradition, A Christmas Story: The Play directed by Michael Berresse, from Dec. 4 – 21, outgoing artistic director Marya Sea Kaminski will return to The Public to direct An Enemy of The People. This Henrik Ibsen play, adapted by Amy Herzog and fresh from a headline-making Broadway run featuring Succession actor Jeremy Strong, tells a story of truth versus corruption, called “crackling and persuasive” by The New York Times. An Enemy of The People runs Feb. 4 – March 1.

“This adaptation of An Enemy of the People is razor-sharp, urgent, and deeply compelling. Ibsen’s story is more relevant than ever, and I’m honored to bring it to Pittsburgh at this moment,” Kaminski said.

The Public’s 2025/2026 season closes with the Pittsburgh premiere of the 2024 Pulitzer Prize Winner for Drama, Primary Trust, written by Eboni Booth and directed by Pittsburgh theater artist Kyle Haden. Booth’s masterpiece weaves a tale of a lovable loner who confronts his demons only to discover angels around every corner.  Haden, the senior associate head of drama at Carnegie Mellon University and associate professor of acting, returns to The Public after previously directing The Chief in 2021.

“Primary Trust is a beautiful, intimate story about the power of kindness and community. I’m delighted to bring this award-winning work to The Public, especially in a city that values both so deeply,” Haden said.

The 2025/2026 51st Season NOISES OFF By Michael Frayn Directed by Margot Bordelon Oct 1-19, 2025 THE FUNNIEST PLAY OF ALL TIME? YES. Regarded as the ultimate theatrical farce, Noises Off is a riotous rollercoaster of slamming doors, romantic entanglements, and slapstick chaos. Behind the scenes of a disastrous play-within-a play, a troupe of hapless thespians struggle to bring their production to life. As their rehearsals descend into comedic catastrophe, the actors, director, and stage manager learn the hilarious and hard way what happens when everything that can go wrong does. This uproarious journey will leave you laughing until the final curtain.

“Noises Off” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

A CHRISTMAS STORY: THE PLAY By Philip Grecian Directed by Michael Berresse Dec 4-21, 2025 WE TRIPLE-DOG-DARE YOU TO GET INTO THE HOLIDAY SPIRIT! Be a holiday hero and bring your brood downtown this season to bask in the warm glow of holiday lights and experience the joy of a tale that is anything but your average Christmas “story.”

From the cozy charm of the Parker family home to the festive frenzy of Higbee’s department store, this all-star production brings merry magic to your beloved characters live on stage. It’s not just a Christmas story, it’s a holiday experience you and your entire family will cherish for years to come.

"Produced by special arrangement with DRAMATIC PUBLISHING, Woodstock, Illinois" AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE By Henrik Ibsen A New Version by Amy Herzog Directed by Marya Sea Kaminski Feb 4-March 1, 2026

A “CRACKLING AND PERSUASIVE” POWER PLAY Fresh from its Tony Award®-winning and headline-making Broadway run, Amy Herzog’s enthralling adaptation of Ibsen’s 1883 classic delivers a searing tale of truth versus corruption. When idealist Dr. Thomas Stockman uncovers life-threatening contamination at his town’s new spa, his fight to expose this ignites bitter battles between foes, friends, and family that shake the fragile community to its core.

With echoes of our modern political and cultural landscape, this gripping environmentalist parable lays bare the price of integrity in a society where profit often outweighs justice. Hailed as “Crackling and persuasive” by The New York Times. “An Enemy of the People (Herzog)” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc.www.concordtheatricals.com

PRIMARY TRUST By Eboni Booth Directed by Kyle Haden March 25-April 19, 2026 A PERFECT PULITZER PRIZE-WINNING PITTSBURGH PREMIERE To make the perfect mai tai, you only need a few simple ingredients: rum, fruit juice, and simple syrup. But crafting a Pulitzer Prize-winning play? That takes something far more special.

In her acclaimed Primary Trust, Eboni Booth masterfully blends sweet and sour characters, a splash of comedy and drama, and yes, bottomless mai tais to serve up an intoxicating tale of the immeasurable impact of radical kindness. After a career setback, lovable loner Kenneth must confront his demons, both real and imagined, only to discover angels around every corner in a community he never thought he belonged to. His journey is a poignant, uplifting, and deeply human one sure to linger long after the final sip.

“Primary Trust” is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals on behalf of Samuel French, Inc. www.concordtheatricals.com

About the directors Margot Bordelon Margot Bordelon is a New York based director who specializes in new work. Off-Broadway credits include: …what the end will be, Something Clean and Too Heavy For Your Pocket (Roundabout), Let’s Call Her Patty and Plot Points in Our Sexual Development (LCT3), peerless (Primary Stages) and (Cherry Lane), Wives (Playwrights Horizons), Do You Feel Anger? (Vineyard), Eddie and Dave (Atlantic), Blood of the Lamb (Occasional Drawl), The Pen (Premieres NYC), A Delicate Ship (Playwrights Realm), Wilder Gone (Clubbed Thumb), The Last Class: A Jazzercize Play (DODO). Margothas directed productions regionally at ACT Seattle, Actors Theatre Louisville, Alliance, American Theater Company, Arena Stage, Denver Center, Geffen, Marin Theater Company, Miami New Drama, TheaterWorks Hartford, Steppenwolf, the Wilma, and Yale Rep. She has developed work at Ars Nova, Berkeley Rep, Ma-Yi, MTC, New Dramatists, NYTW, P73, PCS, The Public, PWC, Rattlestick, Seattle Rep, and Woolly Mammoth.

MFA, Yale School of Drama. www.margotbordelon.com Kyle Haden Originally from Pittsburgh, Kyle Haden is an artistic leader, director, educator, and Equity actor, as well as the artistic producer of ColLABo, a production development incubator. He is the former artistic director of the Ashland New Plays Festival in Oregon. Kyle is also a Senior Coordinating Producer with Black Lives, Black Words International Project, as well as a member of the 2021 cohort of artEquity’s BIPOC Leadership Circle. As a director, Kyle has helmed various world premieres of productions across the country, including Parental Advisory: a breakbeat play (Milwaukee Repertory Theater), The Devil is a Lie (Quantum Theater), and the award-winning Hazardous Materials (Creede Repertory Theatre). Kyle was named a 2018 Drama League Directing Fellow, and is a member of the Drama League Directors Council.

He was recently named the winner of the 2024 Berkshire Theatre Critics Awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Play for playing Bert in Barrington Stage Company’s production of Primary Trust. Kyle is currently an Associate Professor of Acting at Carnegie Mellon University, where he also serves as Senior Associate Head of the School of Drama. BA: Wake Forest University, MFA: Columbia University.

Marya Sea Kaminski Marya Sea Kaminski is honored to co-lead Pittsburgh Public Theater. She came to Pittsburgh after four years as the Associate Artistic Director at Seattle Repertory Theatre. One of the highlights of her tenure there was spearheading a collaboration with New York’s Public Theater and Dallas Theatre Center to create Public Works Seattle. This initiative was based on long-term, authentic partnerships between regional theaters and local non-profits and designed to make theater of, by, and for the people. Earlier in her career, Marya co-founded the Washington Ensemble Theatre and served as Co-Artistic Director there for five years, leading season planning and new play development. She has worked as a director, writer, producer and actor and is a proud member of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, Actors’ Equity Association, and the Society of Authors and Dramatic Composers. Marya has taught and lectured on Theater at Hollins University, the University of Washington, and at Cornish College of the Arts, where she was awarded the Drama Department’s Award for Teaching Excellence. She has also been honored with the Genius Award in Theater from the Seattle newsweekly, The Stranger, and has been recognized as an Artist of the Year by Seattle Magazine. Marya holds a BA in English and Theatre Arts from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA from the University of Washington’s School of Drama.

Michael Berresse Michael Berresse is a Tony®- and Olivier Award-nominated actor and OBIE Award®-winning director, choreographer, writer and teacher based in NYC. As an actor, Michael has appeared in nearly 7,000 performances on Broadway alone. He has had the privilege of being directed on stage and film by the likes of Steven Spielberg (A.I. Artificial Intelligence), George C. Wolfe (The Normal Heart), Stephen Soderberg (“The Knick”) and Kevin Macdonald (State of Play). As a Director/Choreographer himself, Michael has helmed award-winning productions across the country, notably the critically acclaimed, Tony nominated original Broadway musical [title of show].

As a writer, Michael co-wrote the pilot “Glass Houses” for ABC Studios/Television and is currently developing several projects, including an animated feature musical and a stage play. A passionate champion of original works, Michael also directed the world premieres of Now. Here. This. (The Vineyard Theater), Call Fosse at the Minskoff by Mimi Quillin, and Paul Gordon’s Analog & Vinyl for the Weston Playhouse where he served as Associate Artistic Director.

 In addition to his work on and off-Broadway, Michael has directed and/or acted at many of the nation’s preeminent regional theaters including American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco), Roundabout Theatre Company, Arena Stage (D.C.), the Mark Taper Forum (LA), The Eugene O’Neill Theatre Institute, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Cincinnati’s Playhouse in the Park, Arizona Theatre Company, Hartford’s Theatreworks, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis and others.