A Letter from the Editor,
Here we are again, on the cusp of Summer. This will be Pittsburgh in the Round’s 5th Summer season here in the Steel City so we truly want to thank you, our precious readers, for sticking it out with us all this time! Pittsburgh’s theatre community grows bigger and bigger every season and so do we! Right now we’re looking to expand our team with new reviewers as well as a newly created position, the Advertising Sales Representative! If you have a sales background or if you love to write and love theatre then email us at info@pghintheround.com! We’d love to hear from you! May has been our biggest month yet and it’s not even over!
If you’re planning on skipping that trip to the beach, why not take in a few shows? Buckle up, because this summer we’re hitting our usual festivals with the addition of a few new ones! We will check in with our old friends like the Pittsburgh CLO, and new friends like FolkLab. Perhaps maybe we’ll even start a new feature series or two!
We would love to hear more from our readers so follow along with all of our theater adventures on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram using the hashtag #SummerwithPITR. To stay up to date on everything we’re getting into, click here to join our email list! Weekly updates straight to your inbox every Thursday.
Summer’s almost here!
Mara E. Nadolski
Editor in Chief, Pittsburgh in the Round
Let’s start off with the Top 5 shows we’re looking forward to most this summer.
#5 – Ragtime by the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center – As we complete our first year of reviews of LPPAC, (with our first, of hopefully many, high school interns) we come to the 1998 Tony-nominated show Ragtime. This 20 piece orchestra and 54 person cast will feature a few Pittsburgh favorites like Daina Michelle Griffith and Tru Verret-Fleming alongside current and former students of the Center. Ragtime features characters from all walks of life and backgrounds that weave together stories of what it truly means to be an American at the turn of the century. Ragtime opens at the Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland, PA June 15. For tickets and more information click here.
#4 – Stupid Fucking Bird by 12 Peers Theater – If you know your Chekhov then you already know what this 2013 play is about. Playwright Aaron Posner brings The Seagull into current times with self-aware characters, political references, and modern language. Throw in a few love triangles, some fourth wall breaking and maybe even a little audience participation and you’ve got a show where everyone grows up a little and learns how life can sometimes just be disappointing. Stupid Fucking Bird runs at the Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre at the University of Pittsburgh starting July 26. For tickets and more information, click here.
#3 – The Short Order Play Festival by the Silver Theater Project – The Silver Theater Project was created by local playwright Michael McGovern in 2017. The company sets out to give voices to the underrepresented playwrights, and characters, over the age of 40. This festival will include plays by local favorites like Tammy Ryan, FJ Hartland, and McGovern himself. Along with their weekend of short plays, they’ll be having a mini-fundraiser that starts before their first night of shows! The fundraiser and following short plays will start at 7 pm on June 9 and continue on June 10 at the Glitterbox Theatre! For tickets and more information click here.
#2 – A Streetcar Named Desire by Little Lake Theatre – In one of Tennessee Williams’ greatest plays, we follow southern belle Blanche DuBois as she travels to New Orleans to live with her sister Stella and her husband Stanley after a few questionable events in her small hometown in Mississippi. Blanche and Stanley do not get along and their increasing friction leads to Blanche’s breaking point. This all happens in Little Lake’s quaint in-the-round space in Canonsburg. A Street Car Named Desire opens July 12, for tickets and more information click here.
#1 – James and the Giant Peach by Cup-A-Jo Productions – One of Roald Dahl’s most beloved stories will be adapted for the Glitterbox stage in a peculiar new way. The story of the orphan boy James escaping the clutches of his evil aunts to go on an accidental adventure to New York City will get a bit of a twist and a makeover by the Cup-A-Jo team. While adaptation will include original music and an ensemble cast, Founder Joanna Lowe stresses that this is not necessarily Children’s Theatre per se, but is still appropriate for all ages. James and the Giant Peach runs weekends at the Giltterbox starting June 22! For tickets and more information, click here.
If these 5 aren’t enough for you, check out our 5 Musicals You Don’t Want to Miss This Summer: 2018!
Want more musicals? Check out our season previews of the Pittsburgh CLO and Split Stage Productions!
Helen’s been spending time with a group of actors at Aftershock Theatre lately. You might have read Part 1 of her feature about them and here’s Part 2 for you!
Some of our favorite Shakespeare happens in unexpected places. If you’re like us, check out our preview of the Steel City Shakespeare Center‘s upcoming production of As You Like It.
In the midst of the hype surrounding the triumphant return of Marc Masterson to City Theatre, don’t forget to check out their season finale: the Momentum Festival.
We’ve made some new friends at the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble! We’ve got some great information on their 43rd season here.
And in case you missed it, here are a few highlights of what we’ve been up to this Spring!
The Diary of Anne Frank by Prime Stage Theater
Picasso at the Lapin Agile by Throughline Theatre Company
Heathers the Musical by Comtra Theatre
Rusalka by Resonance Works|Pittsburgh
Hir by barebones productions
Dogfight by Stage 62
King Headley II by Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company
Social Security at the Apple Hill Playhouse
Recoil by the University of Pittsburgh Stages
Jane Eyre by PICT Classic Theatre
A Bright Room Called Day by CMU Drama
Equus by the Duquesne University Red Masquers
Milo de Venus by Non-State Actors
Byhalia, Mississippi by off the WALL Productions
The Grand Duke by the Pittsburgh Savoyards
The Little Mermaid by Pittsburgh Musical Theater
Inside Passage by Quantum Theatre
In House by Corningworks
Moby-Dick by the Pittsburgh Opera
Heisenberg by the Pittsburgh Public Theater
Rushing Horizons by Texture Contemporary Ballet
Categories: Feature