Barebones Productions’ new play, “Our Dear Dead Drug Lord,” opens Friday in Braddock, bringing dark humor and a story of friendship among four high school girls portrayed by local actresses.
Carnegie Mellon University students Aurora Martinez (Kit), Ava Benson (Squeeze), Boston University graduate Lila Grace English (Zoom) and Point Park sophomore Gianna Gutierrez (Pipe) are set to star in the show. It will run from Friday through June 28 at the Barebones Black Box in Braddock.
Patrick Jordan, artistic director and producer at Barebones Productions, said he reads plays all the time and some of them “inevitably stick with me.” This was one of them.
“We never have done a play like it, so that was fascinating to me,” he told TribLive on Monday.
Running 81 minutes, “Our Dear Dead Drug Lord” is a coming-of-age play written by Alexis Scheer and set in 2008, Jordan said. The whole show takes place inside a treehouse.
“Teenage girls are told to behave. These girls summon a dead drug lord instead,” the show’s description says. “High up in a backyard treehouse, four teenage outcasts build a shrine to Pablo Escobar and dare each other to believe in something bigger than themselves.”
Jordan said the girls have a club where they study former leaders and dictators, and they decide they’re going to study Escobar.
“(They) try to figure out how to summon the ghost of Pablo Escobar,” he said. “The cast is really amazing.”
Despite being unsure of the staging, after talking to Dana Michelle Griffith — the show’s director and Pittsburgh-based acting coach — they agreed that “we have to do this.”
“She’s the perfect fit to direct it,” Jordan said.
“This play is a wild ride, but at its core, it reminds us all what it means to be human as we navigate our personal growth and friendships and relationships in a culture embedded in the ‘cult of personality,’” Jordan said. “Yes — ‘Our Dear Dead Drug Lord’ is a coming-of-age story, and it’s funny and it’s brutal at times, but at its core, it taps into feminist rage and bodily autonomy and reclamation.”
Tickets are on sale online, and several of the dates have already sold out, according to Jordan. He recommended getting tickets ahead of time for those interested. A performance schedule is available at barebonesproductions.com.
Thursday, Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 8 p.m., with Sunday matinee performances starting at 2 p.m.
For the first Thursday performance, Barebones Productions will offer a “Pay What You Can” ticket to increase accessibility. Also during the run, there will be collaborations with local nonprofits and topic-area experts to host fundraising events and post-show talkbacks.
Jordan said the theater building also houses Braddock Public House by BG Brewing, where people can eat and drink before and after shows.