‘The Bluegrass Mile’ Continues Onstage at Pittsburgh Playwrights (Fri., 10/13/23)

THE BLUEGRASS MILE (drama) by Mark Clayton Southers. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Company. Oct. 6 – 29.

Ever devoted to telling the stories of Black lives in 19th century America, playwright and director Mark Clayton Southers premieres yet another new work. Set in a Louisville boarding house, the play is about two Black horse jockeys who compete for the inaugural running of the Bluegrass Mile. Not surprisingly (but often unstated), jockeys were America’s first professional athletes. Filled with expectation, hope, and fury, The Bluegrass Mile becomes, as Southers promises, “much more than a race for prestige when the quest for truth becomes the ultimate prize.” Featuring a cast of seven, The Bluegrass Mile is his most recent work of his 19th Century Cycle, the first play of which––Miss Julie, Clarissa and John––ran at the 2017 National Black Theatre Festival and also had a three-week run in 2017 at Scotland’s prestigious Edinburgh Festival Fringe. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theater Company performs at its new home in the Madison Arts Center, 3401 Milwaukee Street in the Lower Hill District. (C.P.O.)

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