For actor, singer, dancer, and director Mils “M.J.” James, returning to Pittsburgh isn’t just a homecoming, it’s a mission. Born and raised in the city, M.J. built a global artistic career based in New York, performing with legends and lifting new generations of talent. But in 2024 and 2025, the spotlight brought him back to his roots in a major way.
In early summer 2024, Mils played Cordero in Fishy Woo Woo, Monteze Freeland’s all-Black, all-queer sitcom-style comedy at Pittsburgh Playwrights’ Madison Arts Center. And in 2025, he returned again to perform and design costumes for Fences at the August Wilson House, a historic production mounted by Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company. Two defining moments. One powerful hometown return.
“I’m a Pittsburgher through and through,” he says. “I come back to Pittsburgh to give back. They gave me so much. If we don’t go ahead and collect the gifts and bring them back, how do the fruits of the land continue to grow?”
Fences wasn’t just another show, it was sacred ground. “To be here at the house, on the soil that August Wilson comes from, to have worked with this man and to have him put his hand on my shoulder and approve my work, it’s a full circle moment,” M.J. says. “It’s not something that you pass up or take lightly. People around the world would die for this opportunity.”
As Lyons, Mils brought nuance and gravity to a role rooted in intergenerational struggle, performance, and manhood. And as the production’s costume designer, he added another layer of meaning: reclaiming style as cultural expression and history.
Long before queer visibility became a hashtag, Mils lived it on stage, on tour, and back home where it wasn’t always safe.
“Coming from Pittsburgh, it wasn’t easy being Black. It wasn’t easy being queer. It wasn’t easy being gifted,” he says. “And I made it look easy because it was just natural. I’m just who I am when I show up every day, unapologetically.”
That energy pulsed through Fishy Woo Woo, a celebration of Black gay friendship in which Mils played Cordero. The play was wild, hilarious, and deeply real. “There are a lot of gay people in the Hill District,” noted playwright Monteze Freeland. “They deserve to feel represented in their neighborhood.”
Mils has worked with theater royalty. Billy Porter, Hinton Battle, George Faison, but his legacy lives most clearly in how he lifts others.
“I give back with my art by creating opportunities for other LGBTQ artists to know that their voice matters,” he says. “If I can take you to the door and walk you through it, I will. Just like someone once did for me.”
As the founding artistic director of Reflections Theatre CO-OP in New York, and as a mentor, teacher, and choreographer, Mils doesn’t just talk about community, he builds it.
Asked what pride means to him, Mils returns to the mirror.
“Having pride means being able to start your day in the morning, look in the mirror, and say, ‘Hey, I love you.’ Good, bad, and indifferent,” he says. “Not just LGBTQ, but as a person living, trying to make it.”
Back in New York, Mils continues to create, inspire, and thrive. But his imprint on Pittsburgh is permanent. Whether he’s bringing sitcom chaos to the Hill or honoring August Wilson with reverence and flair, Mils “M.J.” James shows us what it means to live with pride, purpose, and power, onstage and off.