Clare Drobot

Co-Artistic Director 

Clare Drobot joined the staff at City Theatre in 2015 serving as the Director of New Play Development and Associate Artistic Director (since March 2020). A dramaturg, playwright, and producer Clare has worked in various capacities at Premiere Stages at Kean University, Laura Stanczyk Casting, Williamstown Theatre Festival, The McCarter Theatre, Play Penn, and New Dramatists. Her work as a writer has been seen in Ars Nova’s ANT FEST and the New Hazlett Theatre’s CSA Series among others. She serves on the boards of the National New Play Network and Brew House Association. BA/BFA Carnegie Mellon University, member of LMDA.  

Monteze Freeland

Co-Artistic Director

Monteze Freeland, a Pittsburgh Post-Gazette “Performer of the Year” (2017), has been employed by City Theatre in multiple positions, including actor, teaching artist, and box office associate. In 2020, he joined the full-time staff as Associate Producer and was selected as a Producer in Residence by the National New Play Network. A Baltimore native, his roots in theater began at the Arena Players before moving to Pittsburgh in 2006 to attend Point Park University (‘09). He has served as Producing Artistic Associate for Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company and Director of Education for Quantum Theatre Company. 

Marc Masterson

Co-Artistic Director 

Marc Masterson returned to City Theatre in 2018 after serving in the same capacity at Actors Theatre of Louisville and at South Coast Repertory Theater in Costa Mesa, CA. He previously served as City Theatre’s artistic director from 1981 to 2000. In over three decades as an artistic leader, he has produced the world premieres of some of the most produced plays in the American Theatre, along with innovative productions of the classics. He has championed pioneering work in community engagement, arts education, and diverse voices for the American stage. 

James McNeel

Managing Director

James McNeel joined City Theatre as its Managing Director in January 2015. He came to Pittsburgh after four seasons in the same role at the Contemporary American Theater Festival in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, where he was integral in the development and production of 20 new plays (including 10 world premieres and four commissions). Previously, he served as Literature Specialist at the National Endowment for the Arts focusing on grants to nonprofit presses, magazines, and literary organizations, as well as awards to individual poets, writers, and literary translators. While at the NEA he also worked on the development of such national initiatives as Operation Homecoming, Shakespeare in American Communities, Poetry Out Loud, and the National Book Festival. In 2005, James moved to New York City where he was General Manager and project consultant for the arts management firm, The Center for Creative Resources. At the Center, he worked with numerous individual artists and arts organization in all facets of institutional development and was a team leader in the feasibility study, opening, and first year management and operation of The Times Center, owned by The New York Times Company and designed by Renzo Piano. In addition, he was Director of Development and Marketing at the historic Cherry Lane Theatre, located in Greenwich Village. James holds a degree from Shepherd University and studied Arts Management at American University. He is currently a board member of the South Side Chamber of Commerce and is on the national board of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT), the largest theatre association if its kind in the United States.