City Theatre | Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy's Chicken Shack in Harlem

 

City Theatre kicks off 2026 with a highly anticipated two hander – the co-world premiere of Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem by Jonathan Norton, directed by Dexter J. Singleton.

“Jonathan has written a remarkably prescient and hilarious script that imagines the formative years of two enormously influential figures,” shared Artistic Director Clare Drobot. “We’re thrilled to build this production with TheatreSquared, Virginia Stage Company, and Dallas Theater Center and to introduce audiences to the exceptional team behind it.”

Hailed by the press as “a captivating two hander about people you think you know in an era you think you understand.  Above all, it is the evolution of a friendship that reverberated throughout two meaningful lives.” (The Unforgettable Line). Furthermore, production’s initial run at TheatreSquared hailed as a show “to see this fall” by The New York Times; the play and artists are featured in the current edition of American Theatre magazine.

The cast introduces Pittsburgh audiences to Trey Smith-Mills and Edwin Green. The creative team includes: scenic design by Kimberly Powers, costume design by Claudia Brownlee, lighting design by Levi J. Wilkins, and sound design by frequent City Theatre collaborator Howard Patterson. The production is stage managed by Patti Kelly.

City Theatre is partnering with several community organizations in conjunction with the production including Alumni Theatre Company, Steel Smiling, August Wilson African American Cultural Center, and Vibrant Pittsburgh.

“Following the record-setting and triumphant runs of our first two world premieres of the season – Another Kind of Silence and Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women – we are poised for an incredibly exciting back-half of our 2025-2026 season,” said Managing Director James McNeel. “Audiences have been flocking to the South Side since September, as we have sold over 100 more subscriptions than last year, the most since the pandemic, while seeing our most recent production reach 94% capacity and set single ticket box office records with Little Women. We look forward to keeping this momentum with our third world premiere of our 51st season as we welcome the ‘Malcolm and Redd’ team to Pittsburgh.”

ABOUT MALCOM X AND REDD FOXX WASHING DISHES AT JIMMY’S CHICKEN SHACK IN HARLEM

By Jonathan Norton

Directed by Dexter J. Singleton

January 17 – February 8, 2026

A Co-World Premiere

Before they were icons, they were two young men washing dishes in Harlem. It’s 1943 and Foxy (soon to be Redd Foxx) befriends fellow dishwater Little, better known, many years later, as Malcolm X. Through a summer of heartbreak, uprisings, and leftovers, the two shape each other into the legends they are known to be through a revolutionary mix of humor and heart.

A Co-World Premiere produced by TheatreSquared, City Theatre, Virginia Stage Company, and Dallas Theater Center.

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE

January 17 – February 8, 2026

Wednesdays at 1:00 p.m. and/or 7:30 p.m.

Thursdays and Fridays at 7:30 p.m.

Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. and/or 5:30 p.m.

Sundays at 2:00 p.m. or 7:30 p.m.

For a complete listing of show times, please visit CityTheatreCompany.org or call 412-431-2489 (CITY).

PRESS & OPENING NIGHT

Friday, January 23, at 7:30 p.m.

SPECIAL EVENTS AND ACCESSIBLE PERFORMANCES:

SAT, JAN 17 - 5:30 PM | RAD Pay-What-You-Want

SUN, JAN 18 - 7:30 PM | RAD Pay-What-You-Want

THU, JAN 22 - 7:30 PM | City Connects Night

FRI, JAN 23 - 7:30 PM | Opening Night

SUN, JAN 25 - 2:00 PM | Post-Show Talkback

FRI, JAN 30 - 7:30 PM | Greenroom: Art & Afterparty

SAT, JAN 31 - 1:00 PM | RAD Pay-What-You-Want

SAT, JAN 31 - 5:30 PM | ASL | Open Caption

SUN, FEB 1 - 2:00 PM | Audio Description | Post-Show Talkback

WED, FEB 4 - 1:00 PM | Open Caption

SUN, FEB 8 - 2:00 PM | Open Caption

BOX OFFICE INFORMATION:

412.431.CITY (2489) or CityTheatreCompany.or

Discounts for special performances and groups can be found at CityTheatreCompany.org/promotions.

City Theatre is proud to partner with the Allegheny Regional Asset District (RAD) on RAD Pass, a County-wide initiative that allows free access to events and performances year-round. Tickets will be available to most performances of Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women by visiting RADPASS.org (tickets not yet available).

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

JONATHAN NORTON (Playwright)’s work has been produced and developed at Dallas Theater Center, Actors Theatre of Louisville/ Humana Festival, Alabama Shakespeare Festival, LaJolla Playhouse, Jacob’s Pillow, The Joyce, TheatreSquared, Company One Theatre in Boston, PlayPenn, InterAct Theatre Company, Pyramid Theatre Company, Black and Latino Playwrights Conference, Bishop Arts Theatre Center, African American Repertory Theatre, Soul Rep Theatre, Kitchen Dog Theater, Undermain Theatre, South Dallas Cultural Center, the National Performance Network, and the National New Play Network. Jonathan’s play Mississippi Goddamn was a Finalist for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award and won the 2016 M. Elizabeth Osborn Award given by the American Theatre Critics Association. Other awards include: Artistic Innovations Grant from the Mid-America Arts Alliance, SDCC Diaspora Performing Arts Commission, the TACA Family New Works Fund and the TACA Bowdon Family Foundation Artist Residency Fund, and Jubilee Theatre’s 2019 Eastman Visionary Award. He is the interim Artistic Director at the Dallas Theater Center.

DEXTER J. SINGLETON (Director) is the Director of New Play Development at TheatreSquared, where he has directed A Raisin in the Sun, A Christmas Carol, Detroit ‘67, and others. He is a director, producer, activist, and educator from Detroit, MI. He is also the Executive Artistic Director of Collective Consciousness Theatre (CCT), a multicultural theatre for social justice in New Haven, CT, which has reached thousands of youth and adults with plays and workshops across the U.S. and Europe since 2007. CCT has produced the work of playwrights Dominique Morisseau, Idris Goodwin, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Katori Hall and many others. His directorial work has been seen at TheatreSquared, Pittsburgh Public Theater, San Diego Repertory Theatre, Playhouse on Park, Connecticut Repertory Theatre, University of Michigan, University of Arkansas, Long Wharf Theatre, and many others. Recent credits include Blood At The Root, Kill Move Paradise, Sweat, Skeleton Crew, North of Forbes, Baton, The Mountaintop, and Topdog/ Underdog. He is a member of the Artistic Ensemble at Long Wharf Theatre and a former Visiting Assistant Professor of Performance at the University of Connecticut. He was awarded the 2021 BroadwayWorld Regional Award for Best Director of a Streaming Production for his work on Kill Move Paradise. He is the recipient of the 2019 Artistic Excellence Award from the State of Connecticut and Distinguished Director of a Play for Black Book from The Kennedy Center/American College Theatre Festival.

TREY SMITH-MILLS (Foxy) recently performed as Foxy in the New York City staged reading of Malcom X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem (59E59 Theaters); JD in Heathers (Arkansas Sings); Tristan in This Bitch, Booth in Topdog/Underdog, Orcus in She Kills Monsters, Belize in Angels in America, and Dr. King in The Mountaintop (University of Arkansas). He holds a BA in theatre and an MEd in higher education from the University of Arkansas.

EDWIN GREEN (Little) is a NYC-based actor and writer who has been attached to Malcolm X and Redd Foxx Washing Dishes at Jimmy’s Chicken Shack in Harlem since its first offBroadway reading in April 2024 (Primary Stages). Notable credits include Eljert Lovborg in Hedda Gabler (University of Arkansas), Claudio in Much Ado About Nothing (Shakespeare in the Shade), Orpheus in Eurydice (Pearl Theatre), Romeo in Romeo and Juliet (Pearl Theatre), Macbeth/ Lady Macbeth in Macbeth (SHSU), and Andre in the upcoming psychological thriller A Gettysburg Haunting (WolfShoulder Productions). Additionally, his one-person show, Memento Mori, was written and performed in the spring of 2022, with a production coming to NYC in the near future. Edwin holds a BFA in acting and directing from Sam Houston State University and an MFA in acting from the University of Arkansas.