Pittsburgh Public Theater annually produces a subscription series that mixes classics, works from Broadway, and musicals.

The pre-Broadway run of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Alan Ayckbourn's By Jeeves was staged at The Public before moving to New York's Helen Hayes Theatre.

Other plays which received their world premieres on The Public's stage include Horton Foote's The Habitation of Dragons; Jonathon Bolt and Thomas Tierney's Eleanor; Michael Cristofer's Amazing Grace; Mark Hampton and Barbara Zitwer's Paper Doll; Rob Zellers and Gene Collier's The Chief; Naomi Wallace's Things of Dry Hours; Mark Hampton and Michael Sharp's The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn; and Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's musical, The Glorious Ones.

[1] 1970s In 1974, Joan Apt and Margaret Rieck created Pittsburgh Public Theater with Ben Shaktman as General Director.

With a grant from the William Randolph Hearst Foundation and a design by Peter Wexler, a flexible stage and audience space with movable scaffold seating for 350 was created.

[5] The first Public Theater production, The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams, starred Carol Teitel and was directed by Ben Shaktman in September 1975.

[7] The final show of The Public's inaugural three-show season was William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which starred Leonard Nimoy as Malvolio.

[13] In September 1984, legendary actress Sylvia Sidney appeared in Marsha Norman's 'night, Mother, directed by Peter Bennett.

[8] The following year, Helena Ruoti made her Public Theater debut in Becoming Memories, written by Arthur Giron and directed by Lee Sankowich.

[19] 1990s In January 1990, Board President Joseph M. Wymard announced The Public's intention to move from the North Side into a new facility Downtown to be built by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.

[25] The Public's 18th season in early 1993 was highlighted by Mad Forest, a play directed by Mark Wing Davey, and playwright Caryl Churchill attended the first preview.

[29] Seven years after announcing its intent to move into a new Downtown facility, groundbreaking for Pittsburgh Public Theater’s future home began in April 1997.

The 650-seat venue, designed by architect Michael Graves and built by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, opened with the world premiere of August Wilson's King Hedley II in December 1999.

In November of the same year, Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham and Marlo Thomas starred in the world premiere of Paper Doll written by Mark Hampton and Barbara J.

In 2005, movie star Haley Mills and Tony Award winner Elizabeth Franz appeared in the U.S. premiere of The Bird Sanctuary by Frank McGuinness.

[38] In 2009, Pappas directed the world premiere of Harry’s Friendly Service by Rob Zellers, who was The Public’s director of education and outreach.

[39] A production of Our Town, previously performed in 1990 by The Public, was revived in 2013 with a cast consisting entirely of Pittsburgh natives, including Tom Atkins.

In 2017, television and film actor Zach Grenier fulfilled his dream to play Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman.