Theater & Arts category, Page 25
Pittsburgh CLO postpones live shows, plans virtual ‘Christmas Carol’
Pittsburgh CLO has postponed all scheduled in-person performances until 2021, citing “uncertainties and risks related to the ongoing health crisis.” Postponed shows includes the previously scheduled fall Kara Cabaret productions of “Dixie’s Tupperware Party” and “Untitled.” The annual production of “A Musical Christmas Carol” at the Byham Theater will be...
Delmont’s Apple Hill Playhouse is closed but fond memories remain
Pat Beyer says she’s heard many times over the years that ghosts inhabit the Apple Hill Playhouse in Delmont. After all, the structure has been around since Civil War times, starting out as a barn before its reincarnation as a theater with a long string of owners. Beyer, Apple Hill’s...
Pittsburgh playwrights produce new works for online performance
Five Pittsburgh-area playwrights have written 10-minute plays responding to the current state of the world. A one-night-only digital reading of the resulting works, entitled “Homegrown Stories,” is planned for 7:30 p.m. Aug. 6 as part of City of Asylum’s The Show Must Go On(line) Series. The initiative is a collaboration...
Penn-Trafford Drama Guild will stream showcase of spring musical tunesVideo
In early March, just a couple of weeks before the curtain was set to rise on the Penn-Trafford Drama Guild’s production of “Footloose,” musical sponsor Jen Haberberger wasn’t thinking about the coronavirus. She certainly wasn’t thinking about using pool noodles to properly social-distance students at rehearsals. “We would’ve started technical...
Apple Hill Playhouse is closing, leaving theater group seeking new home
The Apple Hill Playhouse in Delmont is going dark. “The time has come” to permanently close the historic stage, executive artistic director Pat Beyer said. “I’m just too old to be in this game anymore. This is my 38th year,” said Beyer, 79. However, it’s just the barn that’s closing,...
Westmoreland Ballet Company plans ‘The Nutcracker’ film based in Greensburg
Westmoreland Ballet Company is seeking dancers and other community partners for a film version of the beloved holiday classic, “The Nutcracker.” “Incorporating area artists, musicians, performers, community members and business owners, the film will highlight Greensburg and surrounding towns,” according to the recently established company. Filming will begin in September....
Pittsburgh Opera ‘pulls back the curtain’ with web conversations
Pittsburgh Opera will “Pull Back the Curtain” in a new weekly web series, giving viewers behind-the-scenes looks at what it’s like to be an opera singer, how operas are made and why opera has thrived for centuries. The first episode of “Pull Back the Curtain” will livestream at 4 p.m....
Postponed school musicals going live and online during July
Stage Right School for the Performing Arts in Greensburg is preparing to stage “Aladdin Jr.,” the spring musical for its preteen home-schooled students that was postponed due to the covid-19 pandemic. It’s the first time Stage Right has had to consult with a medical professional while preparing a musical production,...
Freeport Theatre Festival opens 31st season Friday with pandemic safety protocols in place
The curtain will go up at the Freeport Theatre Festival for a 31st year. This season, there will be noticeable changes at the summer barn theater. Because of the coronavirus pandemic the Allegheny Township theater will seat fewer people. The usual meet-and-greet sessions with actors won’t be taking place. “We...
‘Hamilton’ release spikes surge in Disney+ app downloads
Although it’s difficult to verify viewership for streaming services, it looks like “Hamilton” is a box office smash for Disney+. A prerecorded version of the hit Broadway musical was released on Friday, spurring a surge in app downloads during the holiday weekend. From Friday through Sunday, Variety reports, the Disney+...
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre honors retiring artistic directorVideo
The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre paid tribute to artistic director Terrence S. Orr on his last day with a moving — literally — tribute. Filmed from a moving vehicle, dancers leapt and twirled in front yards, porches, a parking lot, streets, sidewalks and a park to say goodbye to Orr, who...
Kelly-Strayhorn Theater partners with East Liberty arts organizations for virtual fundraiserVideo
The only tax dollars many music and performance venues get are from amusement taxes levied on ticket sales, but that money has dried up since the halls have sat empty since mid-March. Before the pandemic, the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty was partnering with restaurants in the neighborhood to host...
How Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre stays nimble amid coronavirus uncertainty
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre teachers, dancers and students hold fast to the old adage — “dance like no one is watching” — through the rocky days of the coronavirus pandemic. With practice spaces closed and classes canceled, they’ve had to do a bit of improvising to stay on their toes. Joseph...
Broadway shutdown due to coronavirus extended again until January
The shutdown on Broadway has been extended again — until at least early January. Although an exact date for performances to resume has yet to be determined, Broadway producers are now offering refunds and exchanges for tickets purchased for shows through Jan. 3. “The Broadway experience can be deeply personal...
Support local theaters though virtual documentary of the iconic Ella FitzgeraldVideo
Most people know Ella Fitzgerald’s powerful voice. They may not know the talented jazz singer also loved baseball, collected cookbooks and had a passion for fashion. Or that she was once homeless and made fun of because of her weight, and that she fought for civil rights. To learn more...
Pittsburgh Cultural Trust shuffles Broadway series shows
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust announced Wednesday the cancellation of one show and the rescheduling of another for its PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series. “Beautiful — The Carole King Musical” has been canceled. “Hadestown,” originally scheduled for Oct. 27-Nov. 1, has been rescheduled to Sept. 7-12, 2021. These decisions had to...
Playwright August Wilson to get Hollywood Walk of Fame star
August Wilson is going Hollywood, after a fashion. The famed playwright from Pittsburgh will be honored with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame along Hollywood Boulevard and Vine Street in Los Angeles. Wilson was among the Hollywood Walk of Fame’s 2021 honorees announced last week. Also announced...
‘Hamilton,’ ‘Phantom’ will be off London stages until 2021
Some of London’s biggest West End shows, including “Hamilton” and “The Phantom of the Opera,” won’t reopen until next year, producers announced Wednesday, as arts bodies warned that Britain faces a “cultural catastrophe” because of the coronavirus pandemic. Producer Cameron Mackintosh, his producing partners and his Delfont Mackintosh Theatres group...
Real-life Pittsburgh couples to act in live, online micro-plays
Quantum Theatre will host four evenings of live online programming, featuring seven Pittsburgh-area actor couples who cohabit in real life. The text will come from Caryl Churchill’s “Love and Information,” a collection of 57 micro-plays, featuring more than 100 characters “exploring the breadth of human experience and our shared hunger...
Pittsburgh CLO plans online theater education classes
Pittsburgh CLO Institute of Performing Arts will offer a new series of online educational programs from June 29-Aug. 21. Offerings will include week-long workshops, weekend seminars, master classes, private lessons and professional development symposiums. “As leaders in performing arts education, we aim to create a developmental platform for all ages,...
Larry Kramer, playwright and AIDS activist, dies at 84
NEW YORK — Larry Kramer, the playwright whose angry voice and pen raised theatergoers’ consciousness about AIDS and roused thousands to militant protests in the early years of the epidemic, has died at 84. Bill Goldstein, a writer who was working on a biography of Kramer, confirmed the news to...
Pittsburgh Playhouse season will celebrate ‘American spirit’Video
The upcoming season at Point Park University’s Pittsburgh Playhouse will celebrate “love, human resiliency and community spirit,” according to a video announcement from managing director Drew Martorella and artistic director Steven Breese. The 2020-21 season includes the Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning “Angels in America Part One: Millennium Approaches,” eclectic dance...
Patrick Stewart’s Shakespearean sonnet readings shine light during crisis
When the time comes to tell our grandkids about the pandemic of 2020, there will be no shortage of stories. It was scary. Everything shut down, and tens of thousands died. People were so panicked, you couldn’t find toilet paper or flour on store shelves. Schools closed. All you could...
Shakespeare troupe plans open reading session on Zoom
Pittsburgh Shakespeare in the Parks is taking registrations for the next Bring Your Own Bard, an informal session in which professional actors and non-actors can perform their favorite Shakespeare pieces. BYOB is set for May 26 on Zoom, with the room opening at 7 p.m. and the program beginning at...
Pittsburgh’s Prime Stage Theatre connects with patrons through Facebook
Prime Stage Theatre is bringing the performances to you. The Pittsburgh-based arts and education company, which presents productions based on classic and contemporary literature, has launched an online storytelling series. Prime Stage Shares is available on the company’s Facebook page, free of charge. New segments appear three times a week...
