Got to Category

Theater & Arts category, Page 27

Pope Francis, first Latin American pontiff, dies at 88
Diamond Theatre of Ligonier holding Christmas play auditions
Auditions will soon take place for a production Diamond Theatre of Ligonier owner Leigh Ann Rice-McCulty has written for the holiday season. “‘The Christmas Storm of the Century’ is a funny and heartwarming play about Christmas Eve shenanigans that take place when a family get-together turns out to be longer...
Comedians descend on Strip District for evening of ‘Cake’
Suzanne Westenhoefer and Chrissy Costa are comedians. They don’t want to be labeled solely as female comedians or gay comedians. They are simply comedians. They’ll perform in Pittsburgh at 8 p.m. Saturday at Cake Pittsburgh nightclub in the Strip District. The event is called “An Evening of Laughing and Dancing...
Hillman Performing Arts Series opens with a winner
The Hillman Performing Arts Series at Shady Side Academy starts its new season on a high note with a performance by a Grammy Award winner and two-time Emmy nominee as part of its Black Box Series. The series opens at 7:30 p.m. Sept. 28 with Dom Flemons, whose repertoire covers...
Carlow University in Pittsburgh celebrates 90 years with Broadway hit play ‘Abie’s Irish Rose’ 
Travel back in time at Carlow University in Oakland beginning on Tuesday. The school is celebrating its 90th anniversary with weeklong events as part of “Time Capsule 1929.” There will be historical displays that include newspaper stories, photos, maps, and memorabilia from the school’s founding year eight decades ago. One...
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Dance Council mark 50 years
A pair of anniversaries will give dance a special aura during the 2019-20 season. Both Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Pittsburgh Dance Council are celebrating their 50th birthdays this season with vibrant offerings. The ballet stages classic ballet and contemporary dance performed by its roster of world-class dancers. Dance Council is...
‘Mean Girls,’ ‘Blithe Spirit,’ ‘A Few Good Men’ among season’s theater offerings
It’s time once again for opening nights and standing ovations as Western Pennsylvania theater companies get ready to raise the curtain on a new season of stage productions. Besides the classic familiar favorites — “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,” “Les Miserables,” “Chicago” and more — that veteran theatergoers look...
Apple Hill director says ‘Blithe Spirit’ is haunting good time
A classic Noel Coward comedy will close out a busy summer season at Apple Hill Playhouse in Delmont. Matt Mlynarski of Lower Burrell is directing eight performances of “Blithe Spirit,” about a séance gone bad that brings back two of novelist Charles Condomine’s deceased ex-wives to haunt him. Stephen Toth...
Pittsburgh Opera’s season lineup spans centuries
Pittsburgh Opera is in a class by itself in Western Pennsylvania, although there are other opera presentations here that are worth seeing. Opera is an extravagant art form that combines singing, orchestral music, costumes and sets, and sometimes dancing, to tell stories that touch our hearts and give us things...
‘A Few Good Men’ opens Pittsburgh Public Theater’s 45th season
Pittsburgh Public Theater opens its 45th season with “A Few Good Men.” Written by Aaron Sorkin and directed by PPT artistic director Marya Sea Kaminski, the play opens Thursday and runs through Oct. 13 at the O’Reilly Theater, Downtown Pittsburgh. The cast includes professional actors as well as military veterans....
Go ‘Under the Sea’ as Stage Right kicks off new season
At Stage Right Theatre Company, it’s show time and party time. Stage Right is set to begin a new season after a whirlwind 20th anniversary year that featured an added performance location at Westmoreland County Community College, an ambitious undertaking to break a Guinness World Record and a full schedule...
Classic ‘Guys and Dolls’ takes to Geyer stage
It’s a safe bet that Geyer Performing Arts Center’s upcoming production of “Guys and Dolls” Sept. 12-15 will be filled with some classic favorite Broadway tunes. Frank Loesser’s upbeat score including “Sit Down, You’re Rocking the Boat,” “Luck Be a Lady” and “A Bushel and a Peck” is part of...
Music of West Deer’s John Vento inspires play
The music inspired the play. Songs written by John Vento, a Penn Hills native who lives in West Deer, for the album “Love. Lust. And Other Wreckage,” became the foundation for a stage production written by Pittsburgh playwright Amy Hartman. Hartman’s previous plays have been nominated for the American Critic’s...
Behind the scenes with ‘The Lion King’ 
“The Lion King” made its’ debut at the Benedum Center on Wednesday night. On Friday, the Trib got to go behind the scenes of the hit musical to speak with actress Nia Holloway who plays Nala, along with puppet master Michael Reilly, and actor Spencer Plachy, who performs as Scar....
Review: ‘Lion King’ still magically transports Pittsburgh audience to African savanna
Some Broadway musicals have a way of pulling in their audiences as soon as the pit orchestra plays its first bars of music at the start of Act I. The national touring production of Disney’s “The Lion King” — in town for a four-week run through Sept. 29 at the...
Theatre Factory’s 25th season focuses on all kinds of families
The Theatre Factory’s 25th season will focus on families – not only traditional families, but also families of faith, neighbors, cultures, passions and friendships. “When picking the shows for our anniversary season, we wanted to incorporate a family feel,” says Jeff Johnston, promotions manager for the Trafford theater company. “We...
Wonders of Mother Nature inspire ‘Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy’ 
Neil Goldberg’s “Cirque Dreams Jungle Fantasy” is coming to two area venues. One of the theatrical and circus director’s many productions created from his Dream Studios in Pompano Beach, Fla., the acrobatic and musical adventure is inspired by Mother Nature’s wonder and beauty. Western Pennsylvania audiences will have an opportunity...
Barebones Productions gets back to bare essentials with ‘True West’ play in Braddock
After enjoying a brief foray into glitz and glamour with its successful staging of “The Legend of Georgia McBride,” Barebones Productions is getting back to the gritty content it’s largely known for. Sam Shepard’s play “True West” opens Friday at the Barebones Black Box in Braddock, representing a return to...
Family values at heart of new Apple Hill Playhouse production
An award-winning contemporary play set in rural Ireland that digs into family values and love caught the eye of veteran actor Dennis “Chip” Kerr of Greensburg. “Irish plays are almost always about families, unrequited love, words not spoken, words that should not have been spoken, and all delivered by characters...
Unmatched spectacle of ‘The Lion King’ returns to Benedum stage 
“Disney’s The Lion King” has proven itself to be the most moving Broadway musical — both literally and figuratively — that many theatergoers have ever experienced. From the emotions of a touching story about “The Circle of Life” expressed in music by Tony Award-winning artists Elton John and Tim Rice,...
Inclusive theater troupe will hold ‘Grinch’ auditions in Murrysville
Acting Up, an inclusive theater troupe for actors of all abilities, will host auditions for a production of “The Grinch,” from 2 to 4:30 p.m., Sept. 14 at First Presbyterian Church in Murrysville. Appoints will be in 30-minute blocks with nine actors per block. Actors should prepare the following: •...
Vigilance Theater Group produces immersive theater
There is a theater experience where guests become part of the show. “Welcome to Moonside” is a production of the Vigilance Theater Group where there is no stage, no curtain. You, who attend, will be asked to assist evil spirits who are from a place called Moonside. Some of them...
Get the inside scoop on The Palace Theatre with free tours
Visitors on the annual free public tours of The Palace Theatre in Greensburg not only learn the theater’s history, but hear tales of its operation and other functions the venue serves. “I think one of the things people enjoy the most is not just what they see, but what they...
Jake Gyllenhaal attributes conquering fear to Oscar-winning doc 
Few performances are as daunting as the one-person play. That’s why Jake Gyllenhaal had to find a way to conquer that fear when he took on the role of Abe in the second half of “Sea Wall/A Life.” “Before I did it, I was terrified,” Gyllenhaal said of “A Life,”...
Heidelberg native cast in ‘Hello, Dolly!’ playing at Benedum
Davis Wayne couldn’t stop smiling as he stepped onto the Benedum Center stage. He was home. “I love Pittsburgh, and I won’t shut up about it, and everybody knows that,” said Wayne, 23, a native of Heidelberg. For the past year, he’s been traveling the United States as part of...
Demolition of former Pittsburgh Playhouse continues 
Demolition of the Pittsburgh Playhouse buildings in Oakland is underway. The site of live theater since the 1930s, the structures became vacant last year when the new Pittsburgh Playhouse opened Downtown as part of Point Park University’s ongoing expansion. The Oakland site will be sold by Point Park for development....


Editor's Picks

Front Porch Theatricals’ musical ‘Baby’ is a labor of love

Washington townhouse on the market for $1,225,000
Folk legend Bruce Cockburn gives uplifting performance at City Winery
‘Champagne & Chapeaux’: Westmoreland Symphony’s annual soiree for a good cause
Jimmy Stewart’s P-51 Mustang stops in hometown for museum anniversary
More Editor's Picks >