By SHARON EBERSON a.k. payne sets the stage for their new play with a voiceover about the 2019 study that revealed Black women in Pittsburgh experience poverty at rates higher than in 85% of similar U.S. cities. Then they list… Read More ›
Reviews
Reviews of current productions by our writers
Becoming Arts’ 10-Minute Play Festival Returns on Packed Weekend for Pittsburgh Theater
By SHARON EBERSON Explorations of art and class, aging and death, lives well-lived and -loved, the good, the bad and the funny, are rolled into the Becoming Arts Collective’s second annual Bridges & Stages 10-Minute Play Festival. The 26 works,… Read More ›
Review: Pittsburgh Ballet Theater’s “Ballet Under the Stars” is the Perfect End-of-Summer Family Event
By JESSICA NEU Although Taylor Swift declared that August “slips away like a bottle of wine,” the Pittsburgh Ballet Theater proved that there is still much enjoyment to be had before the sun sets on another summer season. The Pittsburgh… Read More ›
Review: Attention Deserves to Be Paid to Killer Cast of ‘Assassins’
ROGUE ARTISTS OF PITTSBURGH’S “ASSASSINS” FEATURES KILLER CAST
The production of “Assassins” now at the Greer Cabaret fires on all cylinders in its choice of cast, a group of vocally gifted local artists, mastering transformative performances, and led by Allan Snyder’s commanding presence as John Wilkes Booth.
Review: ‘Come From Away’ Pulsates With Neighborly Heart and Soul
FRONT PORCH GETS TO THE HEART AND SOUL OF ‘COME FROM AWAY’
Front Porch Theatricals’ second summer season offering is the first locally produced version of the 2017 Tony Award-nominated musical, with brilliant staging harnessing the chaotic energy and performances that dig deep into individuals whose lives were shaped by he 9/11 terrorist attacks, and the mostly hidden story of what happened next.
Review: South Park Theatre’s ‘Boeing Boeing’ Delivers an Entertaining Evening of Comedy
By CLAIRE STEVENS South Park Theatre’s production of Boeing Boeing by Marc Camoletti delivered a humorous evening with memorable characters and amusing theatrics. Directed by Jeanie Cygrymus, the play follows Bernard (Johnny Terreri), who is engaged to three different flight attendants with conflicting schedules. When flight… Read More ›
Review: Five Bodies, One Staircase: Jonathan González’s ‘The Strikebreakers’ at Carnegie Museum of Art
By Guilherme Meletti Yazbek (Note: This post has been updated with new images from the performance.) Ten minutes before eleven, I was already sitting on my folding stool, in the place where I was told the performance would begin. At… Read More ›
Review: This is No Elementary Play: ‘Ms. Holmes and Ms. Watson – Apt. 2B’ Keeps Audiences Laughing and Guessing Till the Very End
By JESSICA NEU When maybe-a-doctor, but definitely not a Mrs. Joan Watson (Erin Berger), arrives at 221B Baker Street to inquire about an open room, she quickly realizes that she will be sharing a space with an eccentric, sometimes erratic, Russian symphony-loving… Read More ›
Review: Revel in the Delights of Kinetic’s ‘The Murder of Roger Ackroyd’
By SHARON EBERSON Exquisitely presented and performed by an illustrious cast, Kinetic Theatre’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd invites everyone, even those who arrive knowing the “who” in whodunit, to relish in a pitch-perfect reimagining of the classic Agatha Christie… Read More ›
The Theater Kids Are All Right: Alumni’s ‘Once on This Island’; CMU’s ‘Midsummer’ Showcase Youthful Talent
July went out like a lion in local theater, including two showcases of Pittsburgh’s top-of-the-line education and training at work. Limited runs of Alumni Theater Company’s “Once on This Island” and the premiere/preview of “Midsummer,” a collaboration of The CMU Center for New Work and Play on Shakespeare, showcased the hotbed of youthful talent and creativity at work on our stages.