With news about … Henry Johnson’s David Butler on Robert De Niro and Katharine Hepburgh, the Rogue cast of Assassins, local playwrights honored, WQED New Hazlett documentary.
🎭 ICYMI:
- Comfort Food: RealTime Arts’ Equitable Dinners Create Pathways to Conversations
- A Conversation with Michael Patrick Trimm
- Here’s to New Beginnings: With ‘Mean Girls,’ the Curtain Comes Down on Pittsburgh CLO Summers
- What’s On Stage Pittsburgh: July 6th to the end of August, 2026
- Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center’s 20th Season Revisits Favorites
CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH ROBERT DE NIRO AND KATHARINE HEPBURN
David Butler, who is returning to the Pittsburgh stage in Kinetic Theatre’s production of Henry Johnson this week, was living in New York, working on stage and screen for many years, before returning to his hometown in February of this year. He has many stories to tell. Here are two, starring Robert De Niro and Katharine Hepburn.
A low-to-high point: Winning the part of John Bonney in the 1992 remake of Night and the City. The movie stars Robert De Niro and Jessica Lange, directed by Irwin Winkler:
“I went in and they gave me a reading, and I blew it. I just kind of stumbled through it. And they were very cool. Robert De Niro was very cool. He was smiling. He was kind of laughing. ‘Do you want to try it again?’ ‘I would love trying it again.’ And I kind of blew it again. I stumbled, again. One more time. So we did it again, and he tried it this way, and I did it, but I left just ready to shoot myself. I thought I blew it. This is the big one, and I blew it. No! I got a call. I got home and Todd Taylor, who was the casting agent, calls and says, ;They want to use you in the movie.’ I said, ‘I can’t believe it.’ I just thought I totally blew it. I was ready to commit suicide. And so the first day of shooting for that movie, I had to be on set at 5 in the morning, and I got up like at 3, on a cold winter day. They sent a car for me! I couldn’t believe it. I had a speaking role, and I was, needless to say, a little nervous, and I’m taking my shower and shaving and I’m like, I can’t believe it. And the car came and I got in the car, and it’s still dark. It’s like 4 in the morning by the time, and we’re crossing the 59th Street Bridge, and the city is still lit up. It’s dark, but it’s early, early morning, very cold. And I’m in the back of this mid morning to film a movie called Night in the City and I looked at New York going across the bridge … and that was the moment that you asked me about. Not that I cruised from there, but that was it. That was the one.”
On meeting Katharine Hepburn, while performing in The Seagull with Katharine Houghton, Hepburn’s niece, at Pittsburgh Public Theater. (Aside: Anne Baxter was set to star, but had a stroke and died not long before the production. She was replaced as Irina Arkadina by Mary Hara , who understudied the role in the 1964 Broadway revival.)
The Public was like the big time. At the time I was living on the North Side with some friends, still not making any money. But we were right down the street from [the New Hazlett Theater, the Public’s home before it moved Downtown]. They had an apprenticeship program where you could play a smaller role or as an extra … if you got a certain amount of weeks on this program, you could get your equity card. None of us had parts. So I was doing that program and I did like three shows. I did Mr. Roberts, I did Macbeth … and the director of Macbeth [Ben Shaktman] liked me a lot, so they used me for The Seagull. Katharine Houghton, who was known for Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner, and was Katharine Hepburn’s niece, was in it. Lovely, lovely woman. And the great aunt came to see the show. That was a great moment. They came downstairs to where the dressing rooms were. And of course, [Houghton] said, ‘Would you like to meet my aunt?’ [Hepburn] was getting on, but it was such a magical moment to meet this icon. Since then, there have been people that I knew that became stars, but that was my moment of like, ‘Wow, I just loved this.’ I thought, that was the big theater in Pittsburgh, and I kind of had cracked the nut.”
David Whalen, David Butler, John Steffenauer and Cotter Smith. (Courtesy of Kinetic Theatre)
🎟️ TICKETS AND DETAILS: www.kinetictheatre.org.
THE ‘ASSASSINS’ ARE NAMED
Assassins at the Greer Cabaret August 20-23, 2026, will feature Pittsburgh-based actors Allan Snyder as John Wilkes Booth, Alex Noble as Sam Byck, Anthony Marino as Giuseppe Zangara, Connor Bahr as Charles Guiteau, Corwin Stoddard as John Hinkley, and Zanny Laird as Sara Jane Moore, “and [introducing] Pittsburgh to a new crop of talent from across the U.S., making their Pittsburgh stage debuts.” Others in the cast include Carnegie Mellon undergrads Asher Alcantara as The Balladeer, Griffin Frye as Leon Czolgosz, Mae Ryness as Squeaky Fromme; Allante Walker as The Proprietor; and ensemble members Michaela Isenberg, Arkida Sawai and Marshall Henton. The production of the Stephen Sondheim-John Weidman musical is Rogue Artists Theatre of Pittsburgh & Doctuh Mistuh Productions, with direction by Michael McKelvey, collaborating with designers Andrew Ostrowski (lighting), Sydney DeHahn (costume and set) and Ben Brosche, recently the music director of City Theatre’s Hedwig and the Angry Inch.
🎟️ TICKETS AND DETAILS: https://trustarts.org/production/109094/assassins
HONOR FOR PITTSBURGH PLAYWRIGHTS RYAN AND CODY
Pittsburgh-based playwrights Tammy Ryan (The Boy King in Queens) and Gab Cody (The Adventures of Pussy Jones) have been named to 50 Plays by Women+ Over 50, “a curated list for producers, theater artists, and anyone who loves new plays.” Learn more about the list, the playwrights, and their works here.
NEW HAZLETT SUBJECT OF WQED DOCUMENTARY
The New Hazlett Theater and WQED are partnering to present the documentary Making Space: The Story of the New Hazlett Theater on Thursday, July 30, 2026, at the theater’s North Side home (6 Allegheny Square E). The evening features an exclusive premiere screening of the WQED documentary celebrating the building’s deep roots, the New Hazlett’s upcoming 20th Anniversary milestone, and its legacy as the original home of the former Pittsburgh Public Theater, which spent its first 25 years inside the North Side space. Following the live celebration, the documentary will launch to the public on Friday, July 31, on WQED+ and air on WQED Channel 13 at 11:45 pm on Monday, August 3.
👉 Archival view of the Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall (built 1886–1890), home to the New Hazlett Theater.
🎟️ Reminder: The discount ticket initiative Go See a Show! is ongoing, with 18 performing arts companies and Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama participating. Find tickets at https://www.goseeashowpgh.com.
👉 Don’t forget — you can always explore the next two months of performances, organized by date or company, at onStage Pittsburgh.
👉 Did we miss your show? Send us your updates at info@onstagepittsburgh.com so we can share them in Listings and a future Call Board.
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