Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre's seventh season bookends a zombie-themed story by North Hills native Scott T. Barsotti with August Wilson's "Jitney," part of the company's mission to produce plays in Wilson's Pittsburgh Cycle in the order in which they appeared on Broadway.

Opening the season Oct. 16 is "The Revenants," with shades of a George Romero film. The play traps two married couples in a basement, where they face their feelings -- and a growing hunger among two of the spouses -- while barricaded against a violent uprising of zombies.

Mark Whitehead directs Barsotti's work. Appropriately, "The Revenants" runs through Halloween.

Also on Pittsburgh Playwrights' 2009-10 schedule:

• "Sanctified" by University of Pittsburgh alumnus Javon Johnson; directed by Carter Redwood (Nov. 14-29): A small African-American church in the rural South is in need of a major revival, so Pastor Jones brings in a diva-like musicologist to wake up a church choir.

• "Valu-Mart" by West Virginian Sean O'Leary; directed by John Amplas (March 13-28): In the award-winning whodunit, five department-store employees are suspected of taking the key to a display case and are detained for questioning.

• "Jitney" by August Wilson; directed by Mark Clayton Southers, founder and producing artistic director of Pittsburgh Playwrights (May 8-30, 2010): Set in the 1970s in the Hill District, "Jitney" was produced in New York in 2000, when it was named best play by the New York Drama Critics Circle.

Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre resides in the Cultural District, 542 Penn Ave., next to Starbucks in the Jackman Building. Tickets: 412-394-3353 or pro-artstickets.org. Season passes are $65.

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