For an extraordinary variety of reasons better cataloged elsewhere, it is a confusing time to be a young person in America. Thanks to a blame game-y media environment, one needs only type in the phrase “Millenials Are Killing” into Google’s… Read More ›
Month: August 2017
Point Park Gets to Work on Another Eight Shows at the Pittsburgh Playhouse
Summer may be ending, but things are about to heat up at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in Oakland. The home of Point Park University theatre— The REP Professional Theatre Company and the Conservatory Theatre Company—is about to welcome eight exciting new… Read More ›
Go Back for Murder
The Summer Company presents Agatha Christie’s Go Back for Murder, an unusual take on the traditional murder mystery. What could be more exciting than family secrets, intrigue, suspense, romance and seduction? The story begins as a young English woman from… Read More ›
Billy Elliot
Keystone Performing Arts Academy presents Billy Elliot the Musical based on the 2000 film by the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who also wrote the film’s screenplay. The… Read More ›
PNWF – New Works from Around the World: Part 1
If you are a regular reader of Pittsburgh in the Round I’m sure you have realized that the Pittsburgh area has quite the active theatre scene. From productions at the Cultural District theatres, to small professional theatres, university theatres and… Read More ›
Cloud 9
Cloud 9 is a peculiar, challenging play. Its title brings to mind feelings of euphoria and images of paradise. On the other hand, Throughline Theatre Company’s production of Caryl Churchill’s controversial and unorthodox examination of the social and sexual aftershocks… Read More ›
Little Shop of Horrors
Horror and comedy mix well. Laughter and terror are base emotions, but both require a degree of nuance to actually work. A comedy with stilted rhythm is unsettling; horror without subtlety is hilarious. Roger Corman’s Little Shop of Horrors wasn’t… Read More ›
Million Dollar Quartet
There are two kinds of jukebox musicals in the world. In one type, the songs originally performed by an established musical act are incorporated into that person or group’s biography. Examples of these highly marketable, live docudramas include Jersey Boys… Read More ›
Mamma Mia
Any fairly seasoned or routine theatre-goer has a certain expectation for crowd makeup at certain shows. The niche, hyper-baroque, perhaps one person piece—the crowd is replete with art majors, the wandering scraggly dude wearing overalls with nothing underneath as a… Read More ›
Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play
12 Peers’ production of Mr. Burns reminds me how theatre is actually a sickness: an uncontrollable urge for group chemistry to elucidate collaboration, values and to define social archetypes. It’s a phenomenon that spans cultures for a reason; a desperate… Read More ›