There are ultimately two questions audience members will ask themselves at the outset of any contemporary Shakespeare production: what has the production done to modernize the play and what, if anything, have they done to subvert it? Productions of A… Read More ›
FallwithPITR
Carrie: The Musical
There is something inherently disconcerting about going to see a theatrical restaging of the 1976 film Carrie, and finding out the theatre it’s presented in is a rustic barn. Seemingly bucolic, the seclusion, the intimacy, and the—not to spoil the… Read More ›
The Who’s Tommy
Many people credit The Who as one of their favorite rock bands. Maybe you like their music as the theme song for your favorite CSI: series. One thing the Who should probably get credit for is creating the first rock… Read More ›
Pride and Prejudice
A new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is playing at one of Pittsburgh’s most charming landmark settings. Marsha Mayhak created her stage version for Steel City Shakespeare Center’s singular production at Heathside Cottage, a cozy Victorian home in… Read More ›
Jekyll & Hyde
People know when attending a Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s Richard E. Rauh Conservatory Company (RERC) show that the production features all youths, rather than a Broadway cast of professional actors. But if audience members didn’t know that going in to Jekyll &… Read More ›
Building an Organism, Part 2: The Space Upstairs
“Jazz is a verb” or The Space Upstairs “Second Saturdays” at The Space Upstairs is an elusive event. It’s not supposed to be understood by words, but by experience. It’s therefore that The Space Upstairs’ description is a postmodern puzzle:… Read More ›
Building An Organism, Part 1: slowdanger
How do you create a structure that you can pull metaphor from? An interview with slowdanger “Dance is the demonstration of life.” -Merce Cunningham “The body doesn’t lie.” -Martha Graham Taylor Knight and Anna Thompson are founding directors of slowdanger,… Read More ›
An Accident
Step into this bad dream: a debilitating pedestrian accident. In An Accident, Lydia Stryk draws on her own accident experience to place both in an injured woman’s hospital room. This unsettling dramatic juxtaposition allows both the inner thoughts and conversations… Read More ›
Pittsburgh’s Must-See Halloween Shows
Fall has descended upon Pittsburgh with a comical quickness, and so the time has come embrace mystery, horror and the supernatural realms. This Halloween season, Pittsburgh’s theaters are bringing to the stage both new experiences, classic favorites, and the merging… Read More ›
Trial by Jury and Gianni Schicchi
When asked to review The Pittsburgh Savoyard’s productions of Gianni Schicchi and Trial by Jury I at first refused. Up until my attendance of these operas my experience of this art form was limited to watching Bugs Bunny in a… Read More ›