Two contemporary dramas back to back on the schedule lend a modern note to the Pittsburgh Public Theater's upcoming season that also features a trio of audience-pleasers.

"The season naturally divided itself into two themes -- American classics and new American voices," said the Public's producing artistic director Ted Pappas, who directs the opening show, the 1927 collaborative comedy "The Royal Family" by Pittsburgh's George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber, best remembered as the author of the novels "Show Boat" and "Giant."

A work that both parodied and glorified the world of theater folk, the title refers to the Barrymores -- Ethel, Lionel and John -- the siblings who tread the boards during much of the early and mid-20th century. This broad farce turns on plans by one of a fictional theater family to chuck the stage for married life.

There's a Kaufman connection to Mr. Pappas, whose first Public Theater production was "You Can't Take It With You," written with Moss Hart.

He said Anne Kaufman, the playwright's daughter who attended that play, will also be in the audience for "The Royal Family" (Sept. 30-Oct. 3). She also gave the Public the rights to the play.

The Public lost its rights to Lanford Wilson's "Talley's Folly" for the current season when that 1980 Pulitzer-Prize winner was scheduled for a New York revival that's still in the planning stages. Mr. Pappas said he was able to acquire the play for the season's Nov. 11-Dec. 12 slot.

The one-act setup is a ramshackle boathouse in Missouri, the era is World War II and the story is an old one -- opposites fall in love.

Mr. Pappas believes "Talley's Folly" is a "true American classic" that's never been staged by the Public.

Could there be a more congenial spot in January than "Camelot"? Mr. Pappas believes so.

He will direct the 1960 musical hit Jan. 20-Feb. 20, a popular show that played two years on Broadway and even found a place in presidential history. Alan Jay Lerner wrote the lyrics, Frederick Lowe the music and Hart directed the original.

"You've got to find an actor who can both sing and act to play Arthur," said Mr. Pappas, who saw Broadway's first Arthur, Richard Burton, in the role.

He pledges to stage a full-out "Camelot."

"I like shows big, so this will be a full visual and aural experience for the audience," he said. "This musical truly deserves that big treatment."

Annie Baker is the current whiz kid of American theater, the 28-year-old playwright of the 2008 "Body Awareness" and last year's "Circle Mirror Transformation," which recently closed at New York's Playwright Horizon. The Public will stage it March 3-April 3.

"Baker is the hottest new writer in New York right now," Mr. Pappas said, adding that her play forms a bridge between the classic and the contemporary.

Much in the vein of "The Royal Family," Ms. Baker's play is about the theater, in this case, a class of four acting students and their teacher in a Vermont town.

Echoes of another Public production, "Harry's Friendly Service," can be heard in the April 14-May 15 offering, "Superior Donuts" by Tracy Letts, whose "August: Osage County" won the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award in 2008.

The Chicago doughnut shop, like the Youngstown gas station in Rob Zellers' 2009 debut at the Public, is a gathering spot for the neighborhood characters.

Owner Arthur, like Harry, needs a shake-up -- and gets one when a new character shows up.

Rob Ruggiero, director of this season's "Ella" and the earlier "Anna of the Tropics," will direct "Superior Donuts."

There's no decision on the season's final production set for May 26-June 26, but Mr. Pappas said he is considering more new American works.

The Public will offer The Second City improv troupe Dec. 16-18 and Reduced Shakespeare Company's "The Complete World of Sports (Abridged)" Jan. 4-9.

The O'Reilly Theater is the Public's home at 621 Penn Ave., Downtown. Box office phone: 412-316-1600.

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