Program Notes, Pittsburgh City Paper

Performance Passes Someone’s Life Before Your Eyes

Bill O'Driscoll — Fri, 17 May 2013 15:20:00 -0400

An ad hoc group of performers is staging a curious sort of multimedia show tomorrow.

Starting at noon, in a nondescript building on Bigelow Boulevard, in Polish Hill, they’ll enact the stages of a single human life.…

Delving into Racism with Clybourne Park at Pittsburgh Public Theater

Bill O'Driscoll — Wed, 08 May 2013 14:06:16 -0400

Bruce Norris’ Pulitzer-winning play does what good plays should by dragging secrets, emotions and hidden assumptions into the harsh light of day.

The play’s two acts take place, respectively, in 1959 and 2009, in the same house. In Act One, members of a white Chicago neighborhood respond to the news that a black family is moving in.…

Harrowing play Our Class Closes Saturday

Bill O'Driscoll — Thu, 02 May 2013 15:03:41 -0400

Four performances remain of this Pittsburgh-premiere production of a recent play about a Polish war atrocity little-known in the U.S.

Our Class, by Tadeusz Slobodzianek, is an artful docudrama that follows from childhood — and until death — a group of 10 classmates in the Polish village where, in 1941, Catholic villagers herded as many as 1,600 of their Jewish neighbors into a barn and set it on fire. Half the play's characters are Jews, half Catholics.…

Robot Repair Shop closing its doors

Jeff Ihaza — Thu, 02 May 2013 13:09:00 -0400

The lonely robot at Downtown's Robot Repair Shop is planning an escape.

The shop, at 210 Sixth St., opened in 2011 as part of Mayor Ravenstahl’s Project Pop Up: Downtown, which brought a number of small businesses and public-art spaces to Downtown in an effort to make the area “pop.” Its last day is Monday.

Artist Toby Fraley's project in particular has garnered a substantial amount of attention.…

Local Arts CSAs Announced

Bill O'Driscoll — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 15:45:00 -0400

An idea new to Pittsburgh, community-supported art, has spurred two initiatives to launch practically at once. You can preview the art on offer at tonight's Gallery Crawl.…

Nora Chipaumire at the Kelly-Strayhorn

Bill O'Driscoll — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 13:12:00 -0400

Noted choreographer Chipaumire’s latest dance work was dreamlike, by which I mean it was both partly memorable and largely baffling. And the latter quality, it appears, is by design.…

Everything is Terrible at Arcade Comedy Theater

Jeff Ihaza — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 11:30:00 -0400

Despite what its name might suggest, Chicago-based visual art and comedy group Everything is Terrible wants to make you laugh.

This Saturday at Downtown's new Arcade Comedy Theater, the group brings its pop-culture inspired comedy show to Pittsburgh with the ironically titled Zack Braff Laff Carafe.…

Duo's "Fireside Chat" Variety Show at Arcade

Bill O'Driscoll — Wed, 17 Apr 2013 17:56:00 -0400

You might have seen them amazing the host on Letterman — Mark Hayward using a yo-yo to light a match stuck betweeen Jonathan Burns’ teeth. Or maybe you’ve heard of Stunt Lab, their well-reviewed comedy show that’s played New York City.

Well, Hayward lives in Pittsburgh, Burns in Lancaster, and on Friday they bring a brand-new act to Downtown’s Arcade Comedy Theater.…

Pitt Theater Legend Bows Before Retirement

Bill O'Driscoll — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 12:50:00 -0400

After 44 years at the University of Pittsburgh, the man who founded the school’s theater department is retiring.

But he’s going out talking. Attilio “Buck” Favorini — who also founded the Three Rivers Shakespeare Festival and Pitt’s Shakespeare-in-the-Schools program — gives a free public lecture tomorrow afternoon at, appropriately enough, Pitt’s Charity Randall Theater.…

Pitt Rep’s City of Asylum

Bill O'Driscoll — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 10:30:45 -0400

City of Asylum/Pittsburgh, which shelters writers persecuted in their home countries, has done a pretty good job over the years representing itself and its guests. Since its founding, in 2004, its several guests from around the world have participated in numerous public readings and other events, and at least one went on to teach at Pitt.…

Kids’ Book on Beatles Has Local Illustrator

Bill O'Driscoll — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 11:00:00 -0400

You can hardly discuss The Beatles without noting their collective sense of humor, but as far as I know, until now no one’s written a book about it. And if someone did, it couldn’t have been as lushly and cleverly illustrated as The Beatles Were Fab (and They Were Funny).…

Local authors sought for event

Bill O'Driscoll — Mon, 08 Apr 2013 15:00:00 -0400

Michel Sauret is seeking other Pittsburgh-based authors to join him at the inaugural Pittsburgh Authors Symposium.

The event, meant to introduce local writers to the community, will be held May 4 at — of course — Bruster’s Ice Cream of Ingomar, 9600 Perry Highway.…

Historic Photo Exhibit Highlights March after King assassination

Jeff Ihaza — Thu, 04 Apr 2013 11:04:00 -0400

On April 7, 1968, three days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., residents of Pittsburgh's Hill District peacefully marched through the city, mourning the civil-rights leader's death.

Pittsburgh's nonviolent response came as public reaction to King's assassination was marked by intense riots in dozens of major cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles.…

Author's experience echoes a generation's job woes

Bill O'Driscoll — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 11:58:00 -0400

Written by Jeff Ihaza

Pittsburgh author Matthew Newton is familiar with the reality of economic decline. Raised at the end of the steel age, Newton has a perspective on the world informed by the unpredictability of local economies.…

Untitled Feminist Show at the New Hazlett Theater

Bill O'Driscoll — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 15:33:00 -0400

Pretty gutsy of playwright Young Jean Lee to title this 2012 show as she did. On the one hand, you risk scaring away people afraid of the word “feminism,” or at least those who fear a harangue of some kind.…

Final Weekend for Breath & Imagination at City Theatre

Bill O'Driscoll — Fri, 29 Mar 2013 14:56:00 -0400

This stage bio of African-American singer Roland Hayes isn’t a play in the standard sense. It’s more a succession of imagined scenes from his groundbreaking life, from childhood in rural Alabama poverty to stardom on world concert stages in the early 20th century.…

Social Media Contest brings Pop Art to smart-phones

Jeff Ihaza — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:54:00 -0400

A new contest invites you to submit cultural images converted into digital Andy Warhol-style screen prints via The Warhol D.I.Y. POP App.

New York-based translation and marketing agency Acclaro and The Andy Warhol Museum present the social-media contest, called “POP Your Culture with The Warhol D.I.Y. Pop App.”

Submissions should be entered online on the Acclaro Facebook page.…

Straightening Combs at Pittsburgh Playwrights

Bill O'Driscoll — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 16:09:00 -0400

In the way of many solo shows, Kim El’s new work is a tour de force.

In this full-length autobiographical play, the local performer and playwright portrays eight characters, only two of whom are explicitly versions of herself.…

Zany Umbrella Circus at Market Square

Bill O'Driscoll — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 23:20:00 -0400

Performer Ben Sota’s troupe — now 10 years old! — is doing a cute little show called “Cake” as its first Pittsburgh performance in a bit.…

Author sets thriller around Pittsburgh Marathon

Bill O'Driscoll — Thu, 14 Mar 2013 14:34:00 -0400

Three years ago, J.J. Hensley had neither run a serious distance race nor thought about writing a book. But one challenge followed the other, and his debut novel, Resolve (The Permanent Press), is available now for pre-order on Kindle, with a hardback edition due tomorrow.

The book is structured around a running of the Pittsburgh Marathon, with “miles” instead of chapters.…

Novelist sets fantasy in local music scene

Jeff Ihaza — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:39:00 -0500

Local author and comic book creator Wayne Wise’s new novel This Creature Fair starts with an ostensible dream-come-true. The book tells the story of Nick Chambers, a 40-year-old super-fan of a beautiful British musician named Morrigan Blue; through a chance encounter Chambers finds that his adoration for Ms. Blue is mutual.

Wise says he got the idea for the novel from hearing news reports of celebrities being stalked by overzealous fans.…

Zine Tour Hits Town

Bill O'Driscoll — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 16:33:49 -0500

Four notable zine-makers visit The Big Idea Cooperative Bookstore & Café on Wednesday night.

The Thank You For Being A Friend Zine Tour includes Taryn Hipp, JC, Kerri Radley and Sarah Rose.…

Frank Lloyd Wright Opera is Staged

Bill O'Driscoll — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 08:56:31 -0500

Pittsburgh Opera Theater previews its SummerFest tomorrow night with a one-night staging of Shining Brow: An Opera About Frank Lloyd Wright.

The show’s in a new venue for the Opera Theater, The Father Ryan Arts Center, in McKees Rocks.…

Artist Talks at Center for the Arts

Bill O'Driscoll — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:55:15 -0500

As usual, there are a ton of artists showing work right now at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts. Starting tonight, the artists and artist teams represented in the ten exhibits will be showing up to discuss their work.…

PICT Board Ousts Company Co-Founder

Bill O'Driscoll — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 17:25:07 -0500

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.…