Momentum Festival 2025

Launched in 2003, the Momentum Festival: New Plays at Different Stages sits at the center of City Theatre’s mission to lead the conversation around new play development on both a national and local scale. The festival highlights emerging and established playwrights through a weekend of workshops, readings, and artist panels. In collaboration with the CMU Center for New Work Development, this year’s festival features four new works created by artists from both City Theatre and Carnegie Mellon University.

The 2025 lineup includes a new musical set on Pittsburgh’s South Side with music by Joe Grushecky, a new solo show by Chris Rivas directed by Pittsburgh-based CMU alumnus Adil Mansoor, and two original plays from CMU’s renowned MFA Dramatic Writing program. This reimagined festival revives a vital part of Pittsburgh’s new play ecosystem, forging connections between professional and academic communities and strengthening the city’s artistic future. Each project brings together students and professionals, encouraging collaboration across experience levels and supporting the development of innovative new work.

Audiences are invited to witness these pieces in their earliest stages and experience firsthand how new plays grow and prepare for future premieres. The festival’s return is made possible through the support of the newly developed Center for New Work Development at Carnegie Mellon University.

Center for New Work Development
The Center for New Work Development is a new initiative linking the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama with Pittsburgh’s leading theaters to generate new performance projects. Through readings, workshops, masterclasses, and developmental productions, the Center provides students with for-credit opportunities to work alongside professional theatremakers. In its inaugural year, partners include City Theatre Company, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, and Play On Shakespeare.

City Theatre Company
Founded in 1975, City Theatre enters its 51st season as Pittsburgh’s home for bold, contemporary plays. Located on Pittsburgh’s South Side, the company produces regional and world premieres, oversees the long-running Young Playwrights Festival, maintains a season-long new works reading series, and presents the annual Momentum Festival. City Theatre is committed to community, collaboration, accessibility, and creative risk-taking. With an annual operating budget of more than $3.3 million, it is the largest performing arts organization outside Pittsburgh’s Cultural District and maintains membership in LORT, TCG, and NNPN. Artistic Director Clare Drobot leads the organization alongside Managing Director James McNeel, supported by a staff of 24 full-time employees and more than 125 seasonal and contract artists. Major funding for the 2025–2026 season is provided by the Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Shubert Foundation, the Arthur J. and Betty F. Diskin Cultural Endowment Fund of the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, and donors to City Theatre’s “Next Act” 50th Anniversary Campaign.