Iron Horse Theatre Company debuts Coach and Mrs. Jagoff, a drama set in western Pennsylvania

The plot revolves around the arbitrary firing of a successful high-school football coach and his wife’s efforts to rescue their marriage

AMBRIDGE, PA., July 16, 2025 — Seven performances of a new two-act play that’s set in western Pennsylvania, titled Coach and Mrs. Jagoff, will be performed in August at the Iron Horse Theatre Company, Ambridge.

Coach and Mrs. Jagoff will be directed by Danette Pemberton, a resident of Carnegie who most recently served as director of the critically acclaimed play Unexpected Baggage at the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. The play was written by Bruce Zewe, a 77-year-old retiree in Pine.

“This is a play of western Pennsylvania people, by a western Pennsylvania person, and for western Pennsylvania people,” Mr. Zewe says. The main characters are Jake Sebastian, a successful high-school football coach in Fisk, a declining industrial town in western Pennsylvania, and his wife Lynn, who is from an old-money family.

Jake Sebastian is played by Eric Vollmer of Cranberry Township, and Amy Baschnagel of Gibsonia portrays Lynn Sebastian.

Mr. Zewe notes: “The Sebastians are envied and scorned because they are haves in a community of have-nots. They employ humor and grit in an effort to save their marriage after he is arbitrarily fired and his long-standing drinking problem worsens. The plot has an uplifting, human story arc, with both serious and light moments and regular characters that the audience can relate to.”

Supporting the two leads are seven cast members, all residents of the metropolitan Pittsburgh area: Duncan Jameson, Ellen Kalik, Charissa McMahon, Adam Merulli, Lynne O’Meara, Matt Owens, and Joan Schwartz.

The play will be performed on August 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, and 23, all at 7:30 p.m., and August 17 at 2 p.m.

Ticket prices are $20 for general admission and $18 for seniors. Tickets are on sale at the Iron Horse Theatre Company website, at www.ironhorsetheatrecompany.com/2025-season-buy-tickets.

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