The Merchant of Pittsburgh A Comedy.Freed.06 04 2018.rev4.pdf

The Merchant of Pittsburgh

Synopsis
“The Merchant of Pittsburgh: A Comedy” is set in an Equity-based
theatre in Pittsburgh in the late eighties and concerns a fed-up Jewish
board member who takes over as acting artistic director in order to stage a
Shylock-friendly production of “The Merchant of Venice” while being
forced to confront his own set of racial and ethnic prejudices.
This play is a brilliant mash-up of Shakespeare and August Wilson,
mixing Shakespeare's exploration of human desires and foibles in
“Merchant of Venice” with the complex social narratives of our
own times. Think Canada's “Slings and Arrows” meets Chicago's
“Clybourne Park.”
Ned Camuso, New School for Social Research critic
Sample scenes from the Dramatists Guild San Francisco Staged
Reading:
1. New artistic director, Milt, and aging-ingenue actress, Samantha
flirting:
https://vimeo.com/user8588759/review/121213002/8cbbb427cc .
2. Homeless father, James, and play director daughter, Cherise, reuniting: https://vimeo.com/204712852 .

2 – Freed