This is the sixth edition of oSP’s Call Board, as we continue to explore fresh ways to share what’s happening across the Greater Pittsburgh performing arts scene.
On Tuesday, we published our annual season roundup — more than 200 events presented by 70 local companies. You can explore the full list, organized by company, here: 2025–2026 Greater Pittsburgh Performing Arts Season Listings. Starting next week, the season listings will live permanently in our top navigation bar for quick and easy access.
Meanwhile, our weekly What’s on Stage Pittsburgh feature, posted Sunday afternoons, continues to offer a chronological view of the next two months: What’s on Stage Pittsburgh This Week.
Pittsburgh Public Theater Names ‘Noises Off’ Cast
Pittsburgh Public Theater has announced the cast of the backstage farce Noises Off, with Margot Bordelon directing a stellar cast of Pittsburgh-based performers alongside newcomers, including Linda Mugleston, a veteran of more than a dozen Broadway shows.
The award-winning farce by Michael Frayn, previously seen at the Public in 2014, kicks off a compacted season of four productions, including the annual A Christmas Story.
Mugleston plays Dotty Otley, a fading sitcom star who has put all of her life savings into the show within the show. Roman Vickers (Lobby Hero, national tour of Tina: The Tina Turner Musical) plays Lloyd Dallas, the temperamental director who has romantic entanglements with cast members Brooke and Poppy, both played by familiar faces from local stages:
Lara Hayhurst is a musical and comedic standout, in productions from City Theatre’s POTUS, to Pittsburgh CLO’s Who’s Holiday!, to the 2014 Pittsburgh Public production of Company. She plays Brooke Ashton, an inexperienced, oblivious actress from London. As Poppy Norton-Taylor, Saige Smith, seen most recently in Front Porch Theatricals’ brilliant Sunday in the Park with George, plays an anxious, emotional assistant stage manager.
Wilsonian actor Wali Jamal, who recently stepped into the role of Holloway in Two Trains Running for Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, will jump from there into the role of Selsdon Mowbray. Ricardo Vila-Roger, head of performance in Theatre Arts at Pitt, whose credits include Indecent and Murder on the Orient Express for the Public, plays Frederick Fellowes, an insecure leading man who gets a nosebleed whenever he witnesses violence.
Busy actor/playwright Matt Henderson (as stage manager Tim Allgood) makes his Public debut after recent appearances in productions including the premiere of Andy Warhol’s Tomato for PICT and Witness for the Prosecution for Prime Stage Theatre.
New to Pittsburgh and the Public is Gwendolyn Kelso (well-meaning Belinda Blair), who appeared in Quantum Theatre’s’ The Seagull, along with Jeremy Kahn (inarticulate Garry Lejeune, who has feelings for Dotty), who has appeared in more than 40 regional productions and whose screen work includes Looking (HBO) and several releases of NBA2K.
Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of Noises Off runs from October 1 to 19, 2025, at the O’Reilly Theater in Downtown Pittsburgh. Ticket information here.
What We’re All Talking About in Pittsburgh Theater . . .
Are there opportunities to counter declining revenures for perforning arts organizations? Industry chatter has been circulating about a grant request proposal to explore a potential collaboration between the Pittsburgh CLO, Pittsburgh Public Theater, and City Theatre. The idea: studying ways to share resources and reduce costs in the face of shrinking revenues across the performing arts. While it’s far too early to know what form this partnership might take, it’s a conversation oSP will follow closely.
In Other News: August in the City Is a Hit
Subscriber-only ticket windows are closing across the region, with many companies now releasing single-ticket sales for individual productions.
Meanwhile, August was a big month for supporting local theaters in a variety of neighborhoods, to support and enjoy local theaters.
Looking at a few full-length productions, Front Porch Theatricals’ dazzling Sunday in the Park with George (above left, Aaron Galligan-Stierle and Saige Smith/Image: Deana Muro) sold out its run, while Quantum Theatre’s The Seagull and Kinetic Theatre’s Hangmen had stellar sales. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company‘s three-play August Wilson American Century Cycle Experience is ongoing for two of its shows, but Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, in the new space at Madison Arts Center, had to extend its performances to meet audience demands.
As a lead-in to summer “blockbuster” season, The Shark is Broken, also was a boon for barebones productions, which twice extended the run of the play.
While theater-going enthusiasm is promising, it is worth noting that ticket sales account for a percentage of costs, and most theaters offer discounts, including for full-time students and certain age groups.
Real Time Arts Returns to Ukranian Stories 🌻
RealTime Arts invites the public to Forge Us Teeth of Metal: Ukraine’s Stories … Revisited, a second live performance featuring Ukrainian folktales, music, food and community conversations, part of the company’s Ukrainian Storytelling Series and fundraiser for an upcoming production.
The event on September 4, 2025, 7-9:30 p.m. at Carnegie Coffee Company, 132 E. Main Street, Carnegie, PA, supports the theatrical development of there is a blue that only children see, a theatrical collaboration with Ukrainian and United States veterans.
The stories and songs will be performed by Pittsburgh actors Julianne Avolio, Cynthia Dallas, Hazel Leroy, Joe McGranahan and Cotter Smith, with musicians Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko (a City of Asylum fellow) and his wife Mari, both from Lviv. Audience members have the opportunity to write personal messages to Ukrainian soldiers, to be delivered by the humanitarian organization DTCare.
The series concludes on November 13, at Carnegie’s St. Peter and St. Paul Church, where four Ukrainian veterans will share their experience utilizing art to re-integrate into Ukrainian civilian society.
Real Time’s efforts will culminate next year in the world premiere of the play there is a blue that only children see, written by Molly Rice, with contributions from veterans, the Pittsburgh community, music by Oleksandr Frazé-Frazénko, and directed by Rusty Thelin.
Tickets to Forge Us Teeth of Metal: Ukraine’s Stories … Revisited are available for a minimum donation of $20, and include coffee, tea and smoothies from the venue. For more, visit https://realtimeinterventions.thundertix.com/events/251823.
Other One-Night-Only Specials, September 1-7 . . .
🎶 Aria 412 – Alternate Worlds
Hop Farm Brewing Company | September 2
Aria 412 kicks off the month with Alternate Worlds—a cabaret of unexpected musical pairings and reimagined classics. Pair your pint with powerhouse vocals and a setlist you can preview here.
🔗 Details
🎭 Stage 62 – Songs from the Steps: Miscast
Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall | September 6
As twilight settles, the library parking lot transforms into a pop-up stage. This year’s theme—Miscast—lets performers belt Broadway hits in roles they’d never usually play, with results both hilarious and heartfelt.
🔗 Details
🎭 New Renaissance Theatre Company – Two Gentlemen of Verona
Cribbs Field, Verona | September 6
Love, betrayal, cross-dressing disguises, witty servants, bandits—and yes, a dog. Shakespeare’s early comedy of tangled hearts gets a fresh, outdoor staging in Verona.
🔗 Details
🍸 Theatre Sans Serif – Much A Brew About Nothing
Kingfly Spirits | September 6
The Bard meets the bar in this cocktail-infused riff on Shakespeare’s comedy of mischief, matchmaking, and questionable choices.
🔗 Details
🌳 Britsburgh – Mrs. Shakespeare, Will’s First & Last Love
Allegheny River Trail Park | September 7
Celebrate one year since Britsburgh joined King Charles III’s call for environmental stewardship. The afternoon includes tree-planting remembrances, light refreshments, and time to gather in nature along the scenic river trail.
🔗 Details
. . . And Multi-Day Runs Opening This Week
⚔️ Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks – Macbeth: Fair is Foul
September 5–7: Frick Park | Touring through October 12
Dark prophecies, ruthless ambition, and moral ambiguity take center stage as PSIP launches its fall tour of Macbeth. Twilight performances unfold across six city parks through October.
🔗 Full Schedule
🔥 Vigilance Theater – Campfire Stories
Camp Guyasuta | September 5–13
Gather round the fire for s’mores, songs, and a scary story competition that takes a sinister turn. A summer-camp adventure with laughter, mystery, and a few goosebumps—plus marshmallows included with every ticket.
🔗 Details
✨ Pittsburgh New Works Festival – Program C – Four One-Act Plays
Genesius Theater at Duquesne University | September 4-7
- The Bowl – A family dinner, engagement news, and a very bad mix-up with gummy bears.
- Forty-Three Flights ’til Truth – Two sisters trapped in an elevator confront long-buried secrets.
- Violet & Harris – A fractured sibling bond tested by memory and self-protection.
- Date with the Devil – A clever deal with the devil that might not be as clever as it seems.
🔗 Details
ICYMI: These productions are ongoing:
- The Outsider | South Park Theatre | August 21 – September 6, 2025
🔗Details - Michael Misko in Laugh in the Face of Magic | Liberty Magic | August 15 – November 1, 2025
🔗Details - Fences by August Wilson | Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company | Outdoors at August Wilson House | Through September 14, 2025
🔗Details - Two Trains Running by August Wilson | Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company | Madison Arts Center | Through August 30, 2025
🔗Details
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