The Impulse Festival, new this spring from Carnegie Mellon University’s Center for New Work, includes among its in-development offerings a musical collaboration with Pittsburgh CLO, and a new TJ Young play, with Pittsburgh Public Theater. In partnership with City Theatre, the festival also boasts a “local artist-focused” New Work Slam, with “scenes, songs, and monologues from some of Pittsburgh’s up and coming playwrights.”
Running April 30-May 3, 2026 at various Pittsburgh Cultural Trust venues, the festival opens with a reading of The Wizard Unworthy, “a psychedelic horror-fantasy” by Hannah Honey Shepard (CMU MFA in Dramatic Writing, Class of 2026) and directed by J. Cody Spellman (Quantum Theatre’s The Moon for the Misbegotten; John Wells MFA Directing Fellow at CMU).
On Day 2, to start off Mental Health Awareness Month, the short musical film Happy Songs About Unhappy Things will be screened ahead of a talkback with the creator and co-director, Nikki Lynette. Jamie Foxx is a producer on the film, “which uses theatrical, catchy songs to address heavy topics like suicide, depression, and trauma in a non-clinical way.”
Also on May 1, the Impulse Festival presents a reading of the “comedic scene cycle” I’ll Be Mother, a one-act play by Liggera Edmonds-Allen, directed by Aurelia Clunie, and developed at CMU’s MFA in Dramatic Writing program.
Patrons will have two chances to catch Pittsburgh CLO’s in-the-works musical Atlantic: A Scottish Story, by Scott Gilmour and Claire McKenzie (the Scottish team behind Noisemaker), and directed by Michael Herwitz.
With Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Impulse Festival offers We Fly, by award-winning Pittsburgh-based playwright TJ Young and directed by Jade King Carroll. We Fly is described as a “satirical mockumentary-style play,” with a cast comprising Brett Sullivan Santry, Bria Walker-Rhoze, Cameron Nickel, Cecilia Staggers, Celia Evans, Christian Trimmingham, Daniel Evans, and Madelyn Streisfeld.
2026 IMPULSE FESTIVAL LINEUP
April 30 | The Wizard Unworthy | CMU Center for New Work | 7 p.m. at Three Stories, 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown.
May 1 | I’ll Be Mother | CMU Center for New Work | 7 p.m. at Three Stories, 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown.
May 1 | Happy Songs About Unhappy Things | CMU Center for New Work | 4 p.m. at the Harris Theater, Downtown.
May 2 | New Work Slam | CMU Center for New Work | 2 p.m. at Three Stories, 937 Liberty Ave., Downtown.
May 2 – 3 | Atlantic | Pittsburgh CLO in partnership with Nancy Woodruff | 7 p.m. both nights at the Trust Arts Education Center, 807 Liberty Avenue, Downtown.
May 3 | We Fly | With Pittsburgh Public Theater | 2 p.m. in the Rauh Rehearsal Hall, upstairs at the O’Reilly Theater, Downtown.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
All events are general admission. Tickets for the musical Atlantic are $20; all others are $6-$20, at different support levels, with fees included. Links above include tickets and further descriptions.
Categories: Our Posts, Show Previews
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