Author Archives
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Review: South Park Theatre’s ‘How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying’ Brings Back 60’s Corporate America in a Fun Way
By BOB HOOVER Head to the South Park Theatre and turn your watch back 60 years. It’s 1961, the Steelers practiced across the street at the South Park fairgrounds, boys rubbed Wildroot Cream Oil on their crew cuts, folks ate dinner at… Read More ›
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Review: Jeremy Seghers’ Kafkaesque Production of ‘The Trial’
By BOB HOOVER The Trial is a theatrical adaptation by Nick Gill of the Franz Kafka novel. Like Kafka’s protagonist, Joseph K., we know very little about the world of this curious production independently produced and directed by Jeremy Seghers. First, where is it? No signs… Read More ›
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Review: Kinetic Theatre ‘Embers’ is a Tour de Force
This review has been updated with new production photographs. By BOB HOOVER Many plays have been written to showcase a particular actor. British playwright Christopher Hampton drew on an obscure 1941 Hungarian novel by Sandor Marai to write a vehicle for Jeremy… Read More ›
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Review: PICT’s production of ‘Miss Julie’ at Carnegie Stage
By BOB HOOVER There’s no more “Irish” in PICT, the reborn theater company that survived the departures of founder Andrew Paul and his successor Allan Stanford. There’s plenty of energy, though, as PICT has scheduled a series of programs inspired by the current… Read More ›
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Review: Public’s ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ Still Packs a Punch
By BOB HOOVER It’s the third time around for Edward Albee‘s 63-year-old masterwork, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Previously produced here in 1999 and 1983, the Public blows the dust off the once-sensationalist play as part of its 50th… Read More ›
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Quantum scores a coup with ‘The Return of Benjamin Lay’
By BOB HOOVER Quantum Theatre is staging more than just a play, but a theatrical coup. Securing The Return of Benjamin Lay and its actor, Mark Povinelli, Quantum brings this play from its London premiere in 2023 to the Braddock Public Library, now under impressive… Read More ›
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Review: barebones productions Unleashes ‘Crocodile Fever’
By BOB HOOVER The patriarchy has taken punches to the midsection in two recent productions on our regional stages. City Theatre last month presented Salina Fillinger‘s farce, POTUS Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive,… Read More ›
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REVIEW: ‘POTUS Or Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying To Keep Him Alive’
By Bob Hoover Don’t you love farce? Of course you do, and City Theatre is giving you one of the most raunchy, pratfall-filled comedies ever staged in Pittsburgh. With its awkward subtitle, POTUS opens City Theatre’s 50th season, starting with a word I can’t repeat and throws in a dozen… Read More ›
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Atmosphere and Acting. Both Shine in Quantum’s Latest Production, ‘A Moon For The Misbegotten’
By BOB HOOVER Atmosphere and acting. Quantum Theatre’s wholehearted embrace of Eugene O’Neill’s last play blends the cricket-filled night of a wooded hill overlooking the Allegheny River with the moving performances of its leading cast — Melessie Clark, Wali Jamal, and Brett Mack. Rounding out… Read More ›
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Liberty Magic’s Spotlight on the ‘Burgh Continues with Big Laughs, Mentalism and Daring Tricks
By JESSICA NEU Liberty Magic continues its annual Spotlight on the Burgh series this week, featuring local Pittsburgh magicians to conclude Liberty’s magical season. For its second week, Spotlight on the Burgh again featured comedic magician Michael Mistow, who helped open the series in week one… Read More ›
