{"id":255333,"date":"2026-07-30T09:35:39","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255333\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T09:35:39","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T09:35:39","slug":"monteze-freeland-comes-full-circle-at-pittsburgh-youth-theater-company","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/255333\/","title":{"rendered":"Monteze Freeland comes full circle at Pittsburgh youth theater company"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is WESA Arts, a weekly newsletter by Bill O’Driscoll providing in-depth reporting about the Pittsburgh area art scene.\u00a0Sign up here to get it every Wednesday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As a performer, playwright, producer, director and artistic director, Monteze Freeland has for years been among the busier folks on the local theater scene.<\/p>\n

But Freeland\u2019s current job, as artistic director at Alumni Theater Company, brings him full circle in some sense to his earliest days in theater, back before he even came to Pittsburgh \u2014 even as Alumni wraps its season with a production of the hit musical \u201cOnce On This Island,\u201d<\/a> Friday, July 31, to Sunday, Aug. 2, at Oakland\u2019s Charity Randall Theater.<\/p>\n

Freeland grew up in Baltimore, where from ages 10 to 18 he trained and performed with The Arena Players, the nation\u2019s oldest continuously operating Black community theater (founded in 1953).<\/p>\n

He graduated from Point Park University and embarked on a career that, though long centered at Pittsburgh\u2019s City Theatre, touched a wide swath of troupes and stages.<\/p>\n

Freeland has been a key contributor at Mark Clayton Southers\u2019 Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co., where he\u2019s artistic producer and curator of its current season. In 2021, the debut of Freeland and composer Michael Meketa III\u2019s \u201cKalopsia: The Musical\u201d was the first in-person show at the New Hazlett Theater since the pandemic began.<\/p>\n

The same year, Freeland became a co-artistic director at City, where he\u2019d direct shows like the 2024 hit \u201cFat Ham.\u201d<\/a> And just this year, he played the lead in Pittsburgh Public Theater\u2019s production of \u201cPrimary Trust,\u201d<\/a> that venerable troupe\u2019s final mainstage show before its imminent merger with Pittsburgh CLO.<\/p>\n

By that time, Freeland was several months into his new day job at Alumni. The company had been seeking a new AD since founder Hallie Donner retired in 2024. The idea of a company dedicated to training young Black performers and producing shows featuring them echoed Freeland\u2019s formative experiences at Arena Players.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was really thinking about my purpose in life and what I hope to leave behind as a legacy, and what I felt like could be fulfilling,\u201d he says. \u201cATC always aligned, because it was like having that version of what I grew up with.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Larimer-based nonprofit works with 45 students grades 6 to 12 from around the region. About 80 other members have studied at Alumni over the years, including professional-level members who still perform in shows and take classes.<\/p>\n

This season, Freeland\u2019s second with the company, is Alumni\u2019s 18th. Its theme is coming-of-age stories. One was \u201cAkeelah and the Bee,\u201d the stage adaptation of the popular film. Closing the season is Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty\u2019s \u201cOnce on This Island,\u201d the 1990 Broadway hit based on Rosa Guy\u2019s novel \u201cMy Love, My Love; or, The Peasant Girl,\u201d itself a retelling of the fairy tale \u201cThe Little Mermaid\u201d set in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n

\u201cI did this play when I was 12 years old and it never left me,\u201d says Freeland.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Human Heart\u201d is one of his all-time favorite songs. And the character who sings it for Alumni will be played by another blast from Freeland\u2019s past.<\/p>\n

Kim Exum is known as the longest-tenured Nabulungi<\/a> in the 2011 Broadway smash \u201cThe Book of Mormon.\u201d She\u2019s also a Baltimore native who was a youthful colleague of Freeland\u2019s at Arena Players, where she once played Dorothy to his Wiz in \u201cThe Wiz.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe haven\u2019t shared creative space in over 20 years,\u201d Freeland says.<\/p>\n

He recruits seasoned pros like the New York City-based Exum in part as inspiration for Alumni members.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe has just been an amazing force of example of what it means to put in the work,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

The kids have been watching the Broadway star in rehearsal.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome of them melt when she starts to sing,\u201d Freeland says. \u201cIt\u2019s been a joyous reunion to have her a part of this production because she understands the essence of ATC and what it means.\u201d<\/p>\n

The cast of 27 includes teens, pre-teens and a few professional Alumni members.<\/p>\n

A number of ATC students over the years have gone on to wider acclaim.<\/p>\n

DaMya Gruley starred on \u201cBlack Lady Sketch Comedy\u201d and is now a comedy star on social media. In August, DeVaughn Robinson, now based in Las Vegas, will star in Pittsburgh Playwrights\u2019 production of \u201cBURNBABYBURN! the american dream,\u201d the new play by ATC alum a.k. payne. And Kat Bruce, the recent Point Park graduate who\u2019ll play the lead role of Ti Moune in \u201cOnce On This Island\u201d will also star in \u201cBURNBABYBURN!\u201d<\/p>\n

Freeland says the message to current students is, \u201cThis can be you. This is not a myth. This is not something that\u2019s so far away and out of touch that you can\u2019t reach. You can. These people did it, you can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is WESA Arts, a weekly newsletter by Bill O’Driscoll providing in-depth reporting about the Pittsburgh area art…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":255334,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":["post-255333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh","tag-pittsburgh-headlines","tag-pittsburgh-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=255333"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/255333\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/255334"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=255333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=255333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=255333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}