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.
Announcement of new year-round company includes two productions for first season By SHARON EBERSON The history books will record that Pittsburgh Public Theater and Pittsburgh CLO made it legal on Friday, July 31, 2026, when they officially merged into a… Read More ›
“THE TEMPEST” DELIVERS QUANTUM MAGIC TO CARRIE FURNACES
An event delayed, and delayed, and delayed again serves to build anticipation, so it was with an exhale of relief and exhilaration that Quantum Theatre was able to realize Karla Boos’ magical vision for The Tempest at Carrie Blast Furnaces.
“Hamlet: The Bad Quarto”, a script that predates the best-loved published Folio, employs some names, phrasing and layering that resemble an early draft, before the Bard really got going on eloquence and rhythms. Yet, taken for all, “The Bad Quarto” doesn’t seem so very different by comparison. Rare in presentation, it is an exhilarating treat to experience the play now onstage at the Rauh Studio Theatre in Oakland, presented by director Jeremy Seghers with a youthful cast, led by Ayden Freed.
INTERVIEW with director JEREMY SEGHERS, who has chosen “HAMLET: THE BAD QUARTO” for his second directorial project in Pittsburgh — after his dramatization of Franz Kafka’s “The Trial.” The director has theories of about what good comes of diving into “Q1” — the earliest known version of “Hamlet” — and why it is a relevant and insightful companion to what many consider to be the greatest play in the English language.
Summer in the city just got a refreshing splash of in-your-face joy. Pittsburgh Public Theater’s first Public Works production serves up a respite from the storm and stress of heatwaves, downpours and breaking news, along with the witnessing of wedded bliss: the marriage of a musical “Twelfth Night” and civilian performers working seamlessly alongside seasoned pros.
By SHARON EBERSON Choreographer Gustavo Zajac has worked with some of Broadway’s biggest names – Chita Rivera, for one, in the Tony Award-winning 2003 revival of Nine. In 2025, at the start of a gray Pittsburgh evening in June, standing… Read More ›
Quantum Theatre, Shakespeare and Carrie Furnace will continue their triple-threat collaboration – innovative company, The Bard and a historic site – with “The Tempest,” set for the summer of 2026.
The Scottish play has awakened passions since Shakespeare’s day, inspiring countless interpretations and re-imaginings along the way. Enter Mac Beth by Erica Schmidt, “equally giggly and grisly,” according to Time Out New York, finding its way to Washington’s Landing May 30-June 15.
By SHARON EBERSON For those of you who give jukebox musicals a general thumb’s down, even you might find yourself giving a high five to & Juliet. Star-crossed though they may seem, it turns out that the Renaissance and the… Read More ›
