Shameless Plug About What We’ve Been Doing for Love for 26 Years!
Warning: This is a commentary promoting a show that I have been involved with over the course of many years. Miss it at your peril of avoiding a night filled with music, fun and solidarity, all for a good cause.
By SHARON EBERSON
It’s a brand new day for OFF THE RECORD in Year 26, and it’s still a sensation.
I can say that, because I have been involved behind the scenes of the show for many years, and I know it is in good hands. First-year OTR producer Kathryn Spitz Cohan is redirecting the enthusiasm she showed onstage and using her know-how as former Executive Director of Film Pittsburgh, “without having to run up and down the Byham steps!,” Spitz Cohan said. “It’s an honor to follow in the footsteps of previous producers, for an event that means so much to me and to Pittsburgh.”
The title of this year’s one-night-only original musical comedy is ONE SINGLE YINZER NATION!, inspired by the Pulitzer Prize-winning musical A Chorus Line, and including some lampooning of local news and newsmakers, along with lots of “what we did for love” of Pittsburgh twists.
OFF THE RECORD has been a labor of love since it was launched in 2001 as a union collaboration of the Newspaper Guild of Pittsburgh and SAG-AFTRA Ohio-Pittsburgh, to benefit Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank.
The show has been at the Byham Theater in all but the two pandemic shutdown years, and we are back at the Byham October 15, 2026, with Steelers stadium announcer and KDKA Radio’s Larry Richert as emcee.
The scope of the show, and the volunteers, supporters and donors who make it an annual Pittsburgh “mark your calendars” event, has grown and evolved, including the generosity and support of United Steelworkers, from the national to local levels, and a Steering Committee (of which I am one) committed to putting on an entertaining musical, filled with inside jokes about our town, and supporting our neighbors with food insecurities.
City and County officials from Jim Roddy to Mary Beth Buchanan, Rich Fitzgerald to Bill Peduto, Sara Innamorato and Corey O’Connor have made it a point to stop by in October and enjoy a platform to poke some fun at other Pittsburgh newsmakers while enjoying a “just between us” guarantee — what is said at OFF THE RECORD, stays at OFF THE RECORD.
We like to boast that OTR offered the last public appearance of Sophie Masloff, and Mayor Sophie remains a beloved go-to character in the show’s repertoire.
Local celebrities — George Romero, Billy Porter, Steve Blass, Heather Abraham, David Highfield, Daisy Jade, Mary Ours, Kym Gable, Jon Delano, Ken Rice, Rick Sebak and more — have given their time and talent to the fundraiser, along with local performers such as Hope Anthony, Rich Keitel, Jenny Malarkey, Susanne Osche, Johnna Leary and so many more, who return time and again and work their butts off, since 2021 under the guidance of director/choreographer and musical theater star Christine Laitta, with longtime stage manager Jessica Haidet Pedatella. This year’s show includes more than a dozen newcomers to the OTR stage. (To everyone whose name is not here but is appreciated beyond measure, I apologize in advance.)
I am proud to say I have drafted fellow journalists Michael Buzzelli (‘Burgh Vivant) and Jeff Freedman (QBurgh) into the fold, along with new committee member Tom Julian. I don’t think they knew what they were getting into — fitting the rehearsal commitment into the lives of the cast and creative team is a true feat. But once in, they were hooked. It’s what we do for our community, for our unions, for each other …. You thought I was going to say, “What we do for love,” didn’t you? That, too.
In 2026, OFF THE RECORD honors two women who have uplifted our community and the arts in immeasurable ways: Nancy Polinsky Johnson, a co-host of various programs on WQED, former owner and publisher of Shady Ave Magazine, and founder of the Pittsburgh Walk of Fame, and Karla Boos, retiring founder and artistic director of Quantum Theatre, who, among many awards, was recipient of both the Carol R. Brown Award for Established Artist, and its predecessor, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Creative Achievement.
Final shameless plug: OFF THE RECORD XXVI: ONE SINGLE YINZER NATION! has a few surprises in store for audience members, but no spoilers here. If you want to know what’s “off the record” in 2026, get your tickets now.
TICKETS AND DETAILS
OFF THE RECORD XXVI: ONE SINGLE YINZER NATION!, a musical comedy and fundraiser for Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, is at the Byham Theater, Downtown, at 8 p.m. on October 15, 2026. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for free treats and a cash bar. Tickets: $90, $65 and $40 plus fees at trustarts.org/otr. Donate to Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank at https://pittsburghfoodbank.org/record26. Follow OTR on social media at @offtherecordpgh.
Categories: Arts and Ideas, Celebrity News, Feature Stories, Our Posts
Leave a Reply