What happens when Shakespeare’s Othello leaves the battlefield and walks onto the football field?
In Pittsburgh, the answer comes this fall with Othello of the End Zone, or The Steel City Tragedy, a contemporary reimagining that puts a Black woman at the center of one of Shakespeare’s most enduring tragedies—and places her in the head coach’s chair of America’s most beloved football franchise.
The production runs October 22–25 at the New Hazlett Theater, marking the theater’s first-ever co-production, in partnership with Pittsburgh’s DEMASKUS Theater Collective.
Directed by Pittsburgh arts leader and DEMASKUS founder Shaunda Miles McDill, the production stars Pittsburgh native Cynthia Dallas as Imani Othello, alongside Michael Patrick Trimm as Desmond Mitchell.
And while the setting may be professional football, the questions at the heart of the story reach far beyond the field.
“Imani Othello is not a symbol, but rather she is proof of what happens when talent finally gets the room it has earned.”
— Shaunda Miles McDill, Director & DEMASKUS Founder
What happens when a Black woman finally gets the room she has earned?
In this adaptation, Imani Othello has reached the highest level of her profession. She is a Black woman leading a professional football franchise in an environment where power, ambition, loyalty and public scrutiny collide.
The Shakespearean framework remains recognizable, but the battlefield has been replaced by the intensely competitive world of professional sports. The result is a story about power—and the price that can come with breaking through barriers.
The production explores intersectional discrimination, gender bias, media scrutiny and the expectations placed on women who enter spaces where they have historically been excluded.
A Steel City setting for a very Pittsburgh story
The New Hazlett’s Artistic Director Melissa Cardello-Linton says the production represents more than an interesting collision between Shakespeare and football. For the theater, the collaboration is part of a broader commitment to creating space for Pittsburgh artists and new work.
“Staging a play about a pro football franchise just blocks away from Acrisure Stadium feels like a perfect Northside moment. But the significance goes deeper.”
— Melissa Cardello-Linton, Artistic Director, New Hazlett Theater
DEMASKUS Theater Collective was founded by McDill in 2005 with a focus on soulful, spiritually grounded and unapologetically Black storytelling. Over the course of her career, McDill has worked across Pittsburgh’s cultural landscape, including leadership roles with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, August Wilson African American Cultural Center, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Community Empowerment Association and The Heinz Endowments. She also spearheaded the $10 million Pittsburgh’s Cultural Treasures initiative in partnership with the Ford Foundation.
From Shakespeare to the Steelers
Originally developed during a 2023 residency at Bishop Arts Theatre Center, the adaptation was written by award-winning playwright and television writer Franky D. Gonzalez, whose credits include Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why.
Rather than Shakespeare’s military battlefield, Gonzalez places the story inside professional football, where the pressures of leadership and public perception become part of the conflict. The production centers on Imani Othello as she navigates her new position, relationships and the forces working to undermine her. It is Shakespeare—but it is also a story about the realities of being a woman of color in a powerful position.
A Pittsburgh cast with deep local roots
Cynthia Dallas (Imani Othello) is a Pittsburgh native and former collegiate and professional athlete. Her extensive credits include Pittsburgh Public Theater, City Theatre, Primestage, Hiawatha Project, Real Time Arts and PICT. Her screen credits include The Lincoln Lawyer, Shameless, Swagger, The Deliverance and Tapawingo. She is also an adjunct professor at Point Park University and a SAG-AFTRA member.
Michael Patrick Trimm (Desmond Mitchell) is a Pittsburgh-based actor and director whose theater credits include City Theatre Company, Pittsburgh Public Theater, Barebones Productions, Kinetic Theater, PICT and Pittsburgh Playwrights. His film and television work includes The Alto Knights and Parallax.
The cast also includes Maxwell Hayden Medford as Jacob Iago, Emily King Brown as Michaela Cassio, Richard McBride as Jameson and Kevin McGuire as Mr. Mitchell.
Why this production matters
There is something fitting about placing a story about ambition, race, gender and power in Pittsburgh’s football culture. But Othello of the End Zone isn’t simply using football as a backdrop. It is using a familiar American institution to ask audiences to look at who gets to lead, who gets believed, who gets scrutinized and what happens when someone who has historically been denied access finally reaches the top.
For Pittsburgh audiences, it is also an opportunity to see local artists and cultural leaders creating work that connects classical storytelling with contemporary Black life.
“I’ve spent my career proving I belonged; now I choose rooms where my values are aligned, and my full self is cherished.”
— Shaunda Miles McDill
See It Live
Othello of the End Zone
October 22–25, 2026
New Hazlett Theater · Pittsburgh’s North Side
Tickets and information available through the New Hazlett Theater.