Former schools in the Pittsburgh area are being transformed into community hubs by established arts leaders, such as Mark Clayton Southers’ Madison Arts Center (the former Madison Elementary School) in the Upper Hill District, for Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, and Colleen Doyno and Pittsburgh Musical Theater (the former St. James School) in the West End.
Bricolage Production Company is the latest arts organization to find a new home in a school, formerly Johnston Elementary in Wilkinsburg, now branded as Community Forge, “founded in 2017 by eight young adults with roots in Pittsburgh and backgrounds ranging from PhD scientists to educators to extreme sports athletes, with the goal of revitalizing the former school as an asset to the community and region.”
Bricolage left Downtown for the 100-year-old building, with plans to remake the ground floor “into a bustling new destination on Pittsburgh’s East Side — featuring a 130-seat theater, community lounge, and coffee shop.”
To keep the transformation going, Community Forge will hold its first-ever fundraiser on September 13, featuring live jazz by local musicians, festive food and drink, and “three original immersive encounters” courtesy of Bricolage, “in which silence speaks volumes, history hums through the air, and your true self is revealed.”
Attendees are invited to “step into a world where there are no wrong answers — only paths unfolding.”
“When Community Forge thrives, so does Bricolage. And so does the next generation of artists, audiences, and dreamers we hope to serve,” a press release stated.
Tickets and details: Visit https://www.forge.community/.
While awaiting the future Forge, Bricolage will be hosted by The Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles, August 22–24, 2025, for a production of Vaclav Havel’s Protest, starring Steven Schub and Robert Anthony Peters and directed by Bricolage’s Jeffrey Carpenter.
Closer to home, the Bricolage escape room Enter the Imaginarium continues at Shaler Plaza, 880 Butler Street, Pittsburgh 15223. All bookings are private.
Tickets and details: https://entertheimaginariumpgh.com/buy-tickets/.
Categories: Arts and Ideas
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