With news about: Kathryn Spitz Cohan joins Arcade Comedy Theater, Little Lake’s Play in a Day at Canon Theatre, PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh in 2026, New Works Festival Best Playwright Winner, and this weekend: Mandy Gonzalez with the PSO Pops, PICT’s Refugee Rhapsody, Pittsburgh Opera’s Rigoletto and barebones’ Ulster American.
🎭 ICYMI:
- Review: A Full House for a Full Sound: Khailah Johnson, Jeff Goldblum & The Mildred Snitzer Orchestra with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra at Heinz Hall
- Preview: Performance and Politics Collide in barebones’ Dark Comedy ‘Ulster American’
- Preview: OFF THE RECORD XXVI: ONE SINGLE YINZER NATION!
- Preview: Maire Therese Carmack Comes Home to Pittsburgh in ‘Rigoletto’
- Review: Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Welcomes New Season with a Goodbye
- Review: He Goes by Dustin: Mal MacKenzie’s Aura at Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s Alloy Studios
KATHRYN SPITZ COHAN TO LEAD ARCADE COMEDY
Arcade Comedy Theater has named Kathryn Spitz Cohan its new Executive Director, effective October 1, 2026. The founder and longtime Executive Director of Film Pittsburgh, Spitz Cohan “will lead the behind-the-scenes work that keeps the shows, classes, and community magic moving at Pittsburgh’s home for comedy,” the Arcade announcement said. Upcoming performances at Arcade Comedy Theater’s multilevel home at 943 Liberty Avenue, in the Pittsburgh Cultural District, include Rough Magic: “A troupe of merry vagabonds will improvise a fantasy adventure where modern day characters will get sent into Shakespearean chaos with witches making prophecies, wizards conjuring tempests, and fairies dispensing love potions. Lord, what fools these mortals be!” October 16, 23 and 30, and November 6, 13 and 20, 2026. During the lead-up to taking the job at Arcade Comedy, Spitz Cohan has been working hard as producer of the annual musical comedy fundraiser, OFF THE RECORD. In its 26th year, inspired by A Chorus Line, the title is ONE SINGLE YINZER NATION!
🎟️ TICKETS: For Rough Magic and more: https://www.arcadecomedytheater.com/events/.
A SPECIAL NIGHT OF THEATER IN CANONSBURG
Eight playwrights, eight directors and dozens of actors from throughout the region, a newly opened auditorium, and 24 hours to make it all work. You couldn’t help but be blown away by the scope of Little Lake Theatre’s third annual Father McDowell’s Play in a Day, with the eight one-acts performed October 3rd at the Canon Theatre in Canonsburg. (Scroll to find a full list of all those involved in last week’s Call Board.)
BROADWAY’S FALL SEASON IN PITTSBURGH
Fall marks a new season of openings and closings on Broadway, but the touring season never ends. Still to come in 2026 are the return of Tony Award-winning musical Hadestown to the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh season, October 27-November 1, 2026, and newcomers The Notebook (November 10-15, 2026) and another Tony-winning Best Musical, Maybe Happy Ending (December 29-January 3, 2026), with How the Grinch Stole Christmas to start off the holiday season at the Benedum Center (November 24-29, 2026). Hadestown remains on Broadway with revolving cast of stars, including Norbert Leo Butz and Ben Davis recently entering the cast. The principal touring cast includes Nickolaus Colón as Hades, Jose Contreras as Orpheus, Rudy Foster as Hermes, Hawa Kamara as Eurydice, and Namisa Mdlalose Bizana as Persephone.
TICKETS AND DETAILS: https://trustarts.org/pct_home/events/series/pnc-broadway-in-pittsburgh.
LOCAL WRITER TAKES BEST PLAYWRIGHT HONORS AT NEW WORKS FESTIVAL
Pittsburgh New Works Festival’s 36th season closed Sunday with its annual Wrap Party at The Fools, where playwright Jeff DeSantis of Coraopolis took home the festival’s Best Playwright Award for The Harrowing of Hell. A panel of theater experts selects the award, which includes a $500 prize. In accepting the honor, DeSantis praised McKeesport Little Theater, which produced The Harrowing of Hell, along with director Sean David Butler and the play’s entire cast.
DeSantis’ play also made the short list for the festival’s Audience Favorite Award, one of three productions receiving the most votes from audience members who attended all 12 festival productions. The other finalists were The Great Anderton Snowfall Debacle of 2025 by Lisa Feriend of Singapore and produced by Prime Stage Theatre, and Undiscovered Country by Dana Leslie Goldstein of Brooklyn, N.Y., produced by the Community Theatre Players of Ben Avon. Undiscovered Country, directed by Jim Critchfield and starring Katy Wayne and Ron Gmys, captured the Audience Favorite honor.
OUT & ABOUT THIS WEEKEND
Local openings on Friday, October 9, include Broadway star Mandy Gonzalez starting three performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra Pops at Heinz Hall; Pittsburgh International Classic Theatre’s rolling premiere of Refugee Rhapsody by Yussef El Guindi, directed by Elizabeth Elias Huffman, at Carnegie Stage; the Pittsburgh debut of Ulster American, by David Ireland, directed by Patrick Jordan, at barebones’ Braddock Black Box Theater; the Pittsburgh Savoyards‘ production of Yeomen of the Guard at the Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall in Carnegie. On October 10th, Pittsburgh Opera‘s Rigolettio opens at the Benedum.
- Preview: Mandy Gonzalez Sings the Songs of Lin-Manuel Miranda With PSO Pops
- Preview: Premiere ‘Refugee Rhapsody’ Rolls In for PICT’s 30th Season
- Preview: Performance and Politics Collide in barebones’ Dark Comedy ‘Ulster American’
🎟️ 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.
Categories: Arts and Ideas, CALL BOARD, Our Posts, Preview, Reviews
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