Reviews of current productions by our writers
By JESSICA NEU There was perhaps no better way to celebrate International Dance Day than with the opening of Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts’ annual Spring Dance Concert. The crowd-pleasing tradition showcases the conservatory’s talented and irreverent performers. This year’s performance… Read More ›
By GUILHERME MELETTI YAZBEK Yesterday, as I made my way to downtown Pittsburgh on the bus, I found myself trying to recall what I remembered about the musical Little Shop of Horrors. Not much, as it turned out—just the insistently catchy… Read More ›
By Hannah Wing-Bonica Clowns can be traced back to 2500 BCE in ancient Egypt, but these were not the “clowns” that we know of today. They were known for their sharp insights and humor. In Verdi’s Falstaff, some might see… Read More ›
Maria Caruso’s Bodiography presents Arcadia isn’t just a performance of one of her works; there is a buildup featuring a selection of past choreographic works before Caruso reveals her newest work. Arcadia, a full-length ballet collaboration with composer Kevin Keller, opens with a performance of Astravore, choreographed by Kirstie Corso and performed by Bodiography’s Student Company. It ends with Arcadia, a sequel to Evensong, a previous collaboration between Keller and Caruso.
By JESSICA NEU The first thing you will notice upon entering Heinz Hall for the PSO’s latest installment of PNC POPS, Tropical Rock For 5 O’Clock Somewhere, is the vibrant colors. The ushers are adorned in bright leis, and some of the musicians are wearing… Read More ›
By GUILHERME MELETTI YAZBEK 5, 4, 3, 2, 1—lift off! This is not the much-narrated Apollo 11, nor is it the latest Artemis II mission. In fact, the subject here is not the renewed space race currently underway in the twenty-first… Read More ›
If you love rapid-fire, eye-rolling puns, the North American Tour of “Shucked,” now at the Benedum Center, will fill you to overflowing with “farm to fable” lunacy and laughter.
By GUILHEREME MELETTI YAZBEK There is something inherently unstable about a mixed repertory program. Unlike a full-length work, which unfolds through a sustained aesthetic trajectory—developing its own internal logic and language—a program composed of multiple choreographies often resists cohesion, offering… Read More ›
In Ty Greenwood’s powerful new drama, “Paradox of Education,” a group of Black students discover that scholarships to a PWI — predominantly white institutions — come with student debt, living up to academic expectations and piles of obligations, along with shouldering racially-charged, passive-aggressive encounters and outright hostility.
Produced by Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, in a dynamic directorial debut by Maurice Redwood, the play comes out of the gate swinging, and doesn’t let up.
Theater is an art form that continues to expand humanity’s understanding of reality through many different formats. We’ve seen the changes that theater has gone through and continues to do so, adapting to encapsulate the reality of modern times and tell stories that grab attention and bring us, the audience, into the world. Quantum Theatre’s production of 10 Out of 12 does exactly this. A meta script brought to life through immersive blocking, mixed with sound design that makes the audience feel that they’re in the booth, 10 Out of 12 is a masterclass in what theater today can be.
