The board of Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre Co. announced today that it has replaced artistic director Andrew Paul, who co-founded the company in 1997.

Paul and operations director Stephanie Riso led PICT from a start-up independent troupe to one of the city’s leading theater outfits. PICT was acclaimed for its renditions of classics from Shakespeare, Wilde, Beckett and Pinter to contemporary works by the likes of David Hare and Martin McDonagh.

Board president Gene O’Sullivan says the decision stemmed from Paul’s move, about two years ago, to Las Vegas, where he followed his wife after she landed a new job there.

For two seasons, Paul ran the company while living in Las Vegas, returning frequently, including to direct productions.

From a theater-goer’s perspective, the shows, in spaces at Pitt’s Stephen Foster Memorial, seemed to go off seamlessly; the boyish Paul himself remained a familiar presence, often introducing performances personally. He led annual theatrically themed trips for patrons to Ireland. And in a press release, O’Sullivan said, “We applaud Andrew Paul for the vision and leadership that have helped to establish PICT as a major part of the Pittsburgh theater scene.”

But, O’Sullivan said in a phone interview today, “The arts needs full-time support, year-round, in town.” Asked whether Paul’s absence affected the company’s fundraising or administration, O’Sullivan said the problem was “no one thing.” He did acknowledge that the company’s small staff — which has been down a development director for some months — felt the burden of Paul’s out-of-city residence.

“We really felt to move the company forward the way we want it to move forward” that they needed to let Paul go, said O’Sullivan.

PICT’s interim artistic directorship has been assumed by Alan Stanford, an acclaimed Irish actor and director who has worked with PICT regularly over the past few years. Stanford is a founder and past artistic director of Second Age Theatre Company, in Dublin, and an award-winning actor.

PICT’s 2013-14 season, crafted by Paul, will proceed as planned. It will open in April with the Pittsburgh premier of Our Class, a 2010 winner of Poland’s top literary prize. Paul was to direct that show; O’Sullivan said a replacement director will be named shortly.

Asked about a permanent replacement for Paul as artistic director, O’Sullivan said there is no timetable for filling the post, but added that Stanford would be in the running for the job.

In previous seasons, "The Snatch Game" episode — RuPaul's take on the 1970s game show, The Match Game — has been a high point. The queens are tasked with performing the double-entendre word game, while also delivering their best — and funniest — celebrity impressions.

Last night's Snatch Game was something of a dud, with queens picking looks — Janet Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, Ke$ha — instead of personalities. Pittsburgh's own Alaska played it relatively safe, opting to mimic another drag queen, Lady Bunny. But Alaska stayed funny, dropping the word "anus" into the game and getting big laughs.

Earlier, in the mini-challenge, Alaska rocked a red-carpet look wearing a lion mask, and later, in her successful runway challenge, she toted a taxidermied trout (late of Lake Erie). Recalling that Alaska arrived at the show wearing a horse head, we gotta ask: Just how many animals parts did this girl pack?!

As previewed last week, Macy's of Downtown Pittsburgh hosted a Black History Month event honoring the work of iconic photographer and film director Gordon Parks. A diverse group of upward of 100 people, both young and old, were seated in anticipation of the “In Conversation” panel discussion, as local DJ Nate Da Phat played classic soul and funk music from the '70s era that birthed Parks' most popular film, Shaft.

Veteran freelance writer/producer Joseph Lewis hosted the panel discussion, while fellow Pittsburgh-based entrepreneur and Emmy-award winning producer Emmai Alaquiva joined as a member of the panel. Alongside Alaquiva were prestigious actors Terrell Tilford and Malinda Williams. In addition to his recent acting role as Sean Clarke on VH1's television series Single Ladies, Tilford is a painter and artist himself. Williams has acted in films including A Thin Line Between Love and Hate, The Wood and Idlewild, and may be best known for her role as Tracy “Bird” Joseph Van Adams on the popular drama series Soul Food, which aired on Showtime from 2000-04.

The conversation at Macy's included a variety of topics related to the panel members' individual artistic background and how Gordon Parks has influenced their lives and work.

“My interest in the arts was more about depicting life,” explained Williams. “I was just a child growing up who saw these interesting characters and interesting people and wanted to share them with the world.”

“You know, it's a privilege to be an artist, and I have to remind a lot of young people about this,” added Tilford. “We don't do a regular 9 to 5 job, some of us are incapable of doing so.”

Alaquiva, who is founder of the Hip-Hop On L.O.C.K. youth arts education program and currently manages his own video production company, acknowledged the life and work of Gordon Parks as an inspiration. He told the story of Parks being birthed a stillborn baby with no heartbeat. As the story goes, the family doctor declared Parks dead before another doctor went through with an idea to immerse the newborn in ice-cold water. The shock caused his heart to begin beating, as the infant Parks cried and came to life.

“When I hear that story, I connect,” said Alaquiva. “In so many ways as a young man growing up I felt like I was dead, but finding arts at the age of 13, and finding music and falling in love with hip-hop was my first introduction into the arts.”

Alaquiva added about Parks: “His legacy inspires me as a filmmaker, and as a photographer, and as an artist in general to continue to chase my dreams and to continue to use every second as a lifetime.”

“Gordon Parks was an ordinary man who did extraordinary things,” said Tilford, who is a long-time collector of art and fan of Parks' work.

“Of the works in my collection, and I own almost four hundred pieces, there's a piece by Carl Sidle... He shot a photograph of Gordon Parks with a silhouette of a tree over Mr. Parks' face. And, it's appropriately titled 'The Learning Tree,'" explained Tilford, who was evidently impacted by the piece as he began to tear up while talking about it. "The significance of that work resonates in terms of our journey as a people. And when I see that tree and the silhouette over his face, it reminds me of the journey, the struggle, the all that our predecessors gave so that it would even enable us to be here right now."

Like Alaquiva and Tilford, Williams shared a story about Parks that has had a profound impact on her life.

“I remember him saying something, and I'm paraphrasing, that at one point in life he wasn't sure where he was going or what he was going to do but he knew he had a fear of failure,” said Williams. “And that resonated with me because ... in some respects I have a fear of failure, but I also in some respects have a fear of success. What Gordon Parks said was 'I just knew that I would spend the rest of my life beating that down, chasing down my fear of failure.'”

As the “In Conversation” panel discussion concluded, the audience made their way to the table of concessions that was provided by Savoy Restaurant. Lewis, Alaquiva, Tilford, and Williams continued to talk with attendees and share their appreciation for this informative event that Macy's put together.

“Macy's has a tremendous responsibility, being an American staple from a commercial aspect, to give back to the community,” said Alaquiva. “And the fact is that Macy's doesn't necessarily just take one month to recognize African-American history, or diverse history. They do this year-round, it just so happens to be that it's February so we're gonna celebrate Black History Month.”

Here's this.

In the waning days of Black History Month, take a few minutes out tomorrow night to check out a film and discussion about a lesser-known member of the civil rights movement: At 7 p.m.. Wed., Feb. 27, the American Friends Service Committee presents a screening of Brother Outsider, a documentary about Bayard Rustin.

Rustin was one of the organizers of 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, and was a leader in the nonviolent civil disobedience movement. He was also gay, and was arrested in the 1950s for violating laws against homosexuality. He took a less visible role in the civil rights movement because of the controversial nature of his sexuality.

The screening will be followed by a panel discussion. More info right here.

In the ongoing drama, Police Accounts of Our Lives, City Controller Michael Lamb today denied any knowledge of potentially fraudulent or unauthorized slush accounts and theorized that the city's finance department misrepresented funds.

He also used the press conference to launch an anti-fraud hotline.

"The need here is obvious," he said at a press conference, citing the federal investigation into the city's police bureau that led to the resignation of former police chief Nate Harper and questions about funds in the bureau's special events department. "This administration's response has been to look for who to blame."

Lamb denied that he knew as recently as three months ago about potential fraudulent accounts at the Greater Pittsburgh Police Federal Credit Union. Lamb said that a member of the Fraternal Order of Police, Officer Bob Swartzwelder, came to him in November for a "general discussion" on how funds come into the city, where they go and who handles it.

Swartzwelder returned to the office in December, Lamb said, "with more sort of detailed information."

"Then we began our initial questions over at the bureau and based on the answers to those questions that we decided we should go over and audit," Lamb said.

"Again we weren't looking at fraud at that point," Lamb said. "We were looking at what we thought were questionable management practices."

• Photo by Lauren Daley

Lamb said Swartzwelder "had no suspicion" of fraud. "I think he's just as surprised about this whole thing as anybody."

Lamb said his auditors first had to do a required audit of the bureau's property room which is "an all hands on deck kind of thing." Then, as he went to conduct the audit for the special events office, "the FBI seized many of the files we need".

Lamb said that his office isn't responsible for tracking city revenue: "Any incoming money is audited and accounted for by the treasurer's office and finance department."

Lamb said that the treasurer's office and the city finance department should have noticed funds "that should have been identified as city revenue were misidentified as overtime reimbursement. Those funds went into the premium pay account when some of the money was taxpayer money."

By Lamb's theory, the improper channeling of money to questionable credit union accounts "basically padded the [premium pay] account so there was money available in that account, so if someone were going to pilfer checks, it would have gone unnoticed." But he says his theory still has to be proven by his audit and the investigation.

Lamb says the padding may not be the result of a nefarious plot but unintentional misrepresentation of funds.

"Our original intent...was to look at what we think is the mismanagement of the money which led to the padding, not a conspiracy to commit fraud. ... This, we think, provided the opportunity for fraud, but maybe was not the fraud itself."

Lamb also announced the formation of a fraud hotline in his office, so city employees, vendors and public can report fraud, waste and abuse of city tax dollars.

The hotline launches this Friday. Those with tips or complaints can call 412-255-4777.

In today's copwatch news, a federal judge denied a request by the city to delay the trial of a former detective, Bradley Walker, accused of an off-duty road-rage incident. The judge, Arthur Schwab, ruled that the city was trying to delay the March 18 trial to minimize publicity stemming from former police chief Nate Harper's legal troubles. "[T]here is no reason to believe that any publicity ... would diminish over the [four to six] months for which Defendants request for a continuance," Schwab wrote. Yeah, but at least it would happen after the election. Also from the Post-Gazette, turns out there is an awful lot of goddamn money at stake in police officer's off-duty secondary details work. Like $6 million worth each year. At least.

Also on the Officer Unfriendly beat, the Tribune-Review purports to have a secret FBI file that reveals a cover-up in prisoner abuse at the Allegheny County Jail. The file, some 1,000 pages long, reportedly says that former jail warden Ramon Rustin was among those involved in sanitizing incident reports of abuse directed at inmate Gary Barbour. Barbour is suing; his attorney -- who by the way has also represented the Tribune-Review and its publisher -- is alleging a "vast and deliberate cover-up" in his lawsuit.

In what's become an annual event almost as predictable as the Oscars themselves, the city's film office is grousing that the state's film-tax credit isn't large enough to attract all the film production work the city could be getting. The state allocated $60 million to the purpose in the current fiscal year, and while next year's budget has money, this year's allotment is already tapped out.

In most other states, Republican plans to monkey with Electoral College rules are being seen as the embarrassment they are -- an admission that the GOP has to change the rules because it can't win Presidential elections under the system we've been using for centuries. But being a Pennsylvania legislator requires abandoning all sense of shame ... so it's no surprise that 13 Republicans have proposed a bill to allocated Electoral votes proportionally. That would have garnered Mitt Romney 8 electoral votes here, as opposed to the zero he got in the winner-take-all system. In the abstract, there's no reason to stick with the existing system ... but changing the rules in Blue states while leaving the existing system in Red states is just another way of tilting the playing field.

Could Gov. Tom Corbett's approach to cutting public pension costs actually increase them instead? Some signs point to yes. Among other concerns, Corbett's proposal actually reduces the amount school districts and municipalities pay to the pension fund ... which logically will increase the shortfalls in the fund. You'd think someone would have thought of that.

Applications for volunteers are now being accepted at Fallingwater for positions at the Frank Lloyd Wright masterwork and Bear Run Nature Reserve.

Volunteers are needed to interact with visitors, help with landscaping and gardening projects and assist staff with customer service. Volunteers are asked to commit to at least one day per month from May to October.

Those interested volunteers may apply by contacting Jennifer Hiebert at 724-329-7826 or [email protected]. Spring volunteer orientation will be held on Sat., April 27.

• The Turbosonics

Hey there! It's another Monday, and with it comes another great track from a local band. This week's track is "Zombie-A-Go-Go" courtesy of surf-rock trio The Turbosonics. Stream it below!

To download, right click here and select "Save Link As."

You know that "sequester" thing everybody's been talking about? The latest -- but surely not the last -- manufactured crisis being generated in Washington D.C.? Here's a look at how its massive cuts will affect Pennsylvania. (Tea Party alert: This came from the White House, so obviously it can't be trusted. Like, notice how it warns of an end to vaccination programs, but doesn't mention the secret tracking devices that are implanted in our kids during the MMR shot? Exactly.)

You might have heard this already, but political prognasticator Larry Sabato says Gov. Tom Corbett's re-election prospects are on "orange alert".

Another 55,000 Pennsylvanians dropped off the state's medical assistance rolls in the latter half of 2012. No one is sure why, exactly -- though it's the third sizable drop since Corbett's been in office. Coincidence? And in other Corbett-is-a-dum-dum news, a left-leaning think tank suggests that by opting out of an expanded Medicaid program, Corbett may be squandering a chance to add more than 40,000 jobs to the state.

The Tribune-Review warns that a new state law to protect student athletes from concussions may not do enough. While the law focuses on ensuring kids pass medical muster before returning to the field, it offers little help to prepare them for returning to the classroom. Which suggests something about our priorities, maybe?

This is the kind of week it was for Mayor Luke Ravenstahl: An innocuous story on the Steel City Codefest takes a turn by noting the mayor's absence from a couple planned appearances. Starting to look like this could be a l-o-o-o-o-ong campaign season.