City Theatre Announces Departure of Co-Artistic Director Monteze Freeland

City Theatre Company has announced that Co- Artistic Director Monteze Freeland will depart at the end of the 2024-2025 season to become Artistic Director of the Alumni Theater Company (ATC), located in Pittsburgh’s East End. Freeland’s legacy at City Theatre is one of transformation, parlaying his past positions at the organization into a nationally recognized shared artistic leadership model from which he helped guide the organization following the pandemic.

Freeland has been with City Theatre as Co-Artistic Director since 2021 but originally joined the organization in 2009. A graduate of Point Park University, Freeland has held manypositions within the company, from the box office to the board room, throughout which the South Side company has been his artistic home (he has been an actor, director, playwright, and producer at City Theatre). During his tenure, he directed six acclaimed productions, including the regional premieres of the Pulitzer Prize- winning Fat Ham and Clyde’s, and performed in other memorable productions such as Paradise Blue and Wild With Happy. He co-wrote and co-starred in the Theatre’s first- ever film, Claws Out: A Holiday Drag Musical, created during the Covid shutdown and streamed nationally.

Freeland’s achievements include producing six world premieres and serving as lead producer for the company’s annual Young Playwrights Festival, now in its 25th year, leaving an enduring artistic and educational imprint. He recently co-wrote (with Drobot) and directed Ghosted: Tales from Carson Street and directed a retrospective stage reading of Emily Mann’s Having our Say, part of the 50th anniversary “City Rewinds”series. Freeland has received honors such as City Paper’s “Person of the Year for Theatre” in 2021 and The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s ”Performer of the Year” in 2017.

City Theatre, with Freeland as projects leader, partnered with national theatre companies to co-produce productions of FANNIE: The Music and Life of Fannie Lou Hamer (in association with True Colors Theatre, Actors Theatre of Louisville, DEMASKUS Theatre Collective, and the August Wilson African American Cultural Center); Fat Ham (with TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, AR); and the upcoming King James with the Cleveland Play House.

He serves as co-chair for City Theatre’s Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Accessibility committee, in addition to serving on the taskforce to rename the company’s studio theatre after his mentor, the renowned Dr. Vernell Audrey Watson Lillie. Freeland and his fellow co-artistic directors, Clare Drobot and Marc Masterson (who retired in June), created the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights, which has expanded access for underrepresented voices and strengthened City Theatre’s ties to the local and national playwriting community.

City Theatre Board President David Betts praised Freeland’s leadership: "Monteze has provided courageous artistic direction, passion, and unwavering commitment to City Theatre and its values. We are immensely grateful for his contributions and wish him every success in his new role with Alumni Theater Company.”

Reflecting on his time with City Theatre, Freeland shared: “Serving as Co-Artistic Director of City Theatre has been a profound honor and a significant milestone in my career. I am deeply grateful to City Theatre’s staff, artists, board members, and our dedicated audiences. Together, we have created meaningful work, and I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished in audience development by producing bold and impactful stories that live in the pulse of our ever-changing society. I look forward to the next chapter of City Theatre under the leadership of James and Clare and the invaluable staff of professional artists and administrators.”

"Working alongside Monteze has been a deeply meaningful artistic partnership. His artistry and generosity of spirit have been hugely influential and deeply felt across the company and the broader Pittsburgh artistic community," shared fellow Co-Artistic Director Clare Drobot. "I am thrilled for his next chapter with Alumni Theater Company and excited for future opportunities for both organizational collaborations and to welcome Monteze back to City Theatre again as a freelance artist."

James McNeel, City Theatre Managing Director, added, “Monteze epitomizes the concept of a multi-hyphenate artist, equally comfortable on stage as well as off. He is laser-focused on ensuring artistic excellence while also tending to a creative process that elevates and embraces his collaborators. But what I will miss most about working with Monteze on the daily is the kindness and grace he brings to the work: he leads with joy and joyfulness and carries a cool and calming confidence to any space he enters. He is one of Pittsburgh’s most important theatre-makers, and his impact will be profound at ATC and beyond. This is a bittersweet departure, as we’ll miss him tremendously, but one that is ultimately great for Monteze and even better for our larger cultural community because of all he will do to inspire the next generation of artists. They are so very lucky to have him.”

As he transitions to lead the Alumni Theater Company, Freeland is excited to champion ATC’s mission of empowering Black youth in grades 6-12 through performing arts training and bold theatrical productions that amplify their voices. “ATC’s mission aligns with my passion for cultivating young talent and celebrating the voices of Black artists within Pittsburgh and beyond,” he noted. (Alumni Theater Company is a frequent producing and community partner of City Theatre.)

Freeland and the staff and leadership will continue collaborating on City Theatre’s current 50th Anniversary season and contribute to the planning process already underway for 2025-2026. Drobot and McNeel will continue in their roles as the theatre works in the coming months with an outside consultant on a leadership model evaluation process.

Now playing at City Theatre is The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley, which runs through December 22nd. The 2024-25 subscription season continues in the New Year with The Real James Bond...Was Dominican by Christopher Rivas; Birthday Candles by Noah Haidle; and King James by Rajiv Joseph, which Freeland will direct.

To post a comment, you must register and login.