SPOTLIGHT: Thu., April 11 — Stage
On July 10, 1941, half the inhabitants of the Nazi-occupied Polish town of Jedwabne were massacred by their neighbors. Most of the dead were burned alive in a barn, and all of them were Jews; the killers were Catholics. Jan Gross's 2000 book about the atrocity, Neighbors, drew challenges to its accuracy. It also partly inspired Tadeusz Slobodzianek's play Our Class. Our Class (English translation by Ryan Craig) debuts locally at Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre. The season-opener is PICT's first without co-founder and artistic director Andrew Paul, who was abruptly fired last month. The play follows 10 classmates for eight decades, starting in 1925, when they are children singing songs and pondering their futures. "It's really about what neighbors do to neighbors ... in the face of extreme desperation and fear," says the U.S. born, Ireland-based director, Aoife Spillane-Hinks. The show features a cast of 10 (playing five Jews and five Catholics) and live klezmer music by clarinetist Susanne Ortner-Roberts. On closing weekend, author Gross will visit for a talkback and panel discussion. But Spillane-Hinks emphasizes that the play is fiction, and that it actually addresses the issue of multiple perspectives. "It's the deepest stuff of our own lives: Who gets to tell our story?" Bill O'Driscoll Thu., April 11-May 4. Stephen Foster Memorial, Forbes Avenue at Bigelow, Oakland. $25-48. 412-561-6000 or www.picttheatre.org
Thu., April 11 — Stage
Greed, lust, deceit, forgery, gossip, assumed identities — just a day's work for the 18th-century London aristocracy. But that Richard Brinsley Sheridan's classic The School for Scandal is a comedy there can be no doubt; not with character names like Lady Sneerwell, Sir Benjamin Backbite, Mrs. Candour and, not least, Lady Teazle. Another name associated with Point Park University's Conservatory Theatre Co.'s new production is the show's director, Alan Stanford, recently named interim artistic director of Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre. Bill O'Driscoll 8 p.m. Continues through April 21. Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave., Oakland. Preview: $12 (other shows: $18-20; April 13 show is pay-what-you-will). 412-392-8000 or www.pittsbughplayhouse.com
Fri., April 12 — Words
Tonight, Chatham University hosts two Ugandan women, Joan Ahimbisibweand and Teddy Namuyiga, who will tell of their experience with the nonprofit organization BeadforLife. BeadforLife: Eradicating Poverty One Bead at a Time features the women discussing how the organization has helped impoverished women in Uganda by organizing global markets for recycled paper jewelry and shea products. The free event is part of BeadforLife's six-city Opportunity Tour. Jeff Ihaza 2 p.m. Chatham campus, Shadyside. Free. 412-365-1139 or www.chatham.edu
Fri., April 12 — Fashion
Out with the new and in with the old is the idea behind Vintage Pittsburgh, a celebration of '60s culture this weekend at the Heinz History Center. The event starts with today's '60s Fashion Show, showcasing a "Mad Men" style aesthetic and both local and nationally recognized retailers. Saturday's activities include the museum-wide Pittsburgh Vintage Mixer vendor fair (for fashion, housewares, artwork, etc.) and an appearance from Get Smart star (and Pittsburgh native) Barbara Feldon. The weekend's activities are in conjunction with the museum's 1968: The Year That Rocked America exhibit. JI 7 p.m. ($30). Mixer: 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Sat., April 13 (free with regular museum admission). 1212 Smallman St., Strip District. www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Fri., April 12 — Music
Joshua Bell is among classical music's biggest stars. He's a local favorite, too, and returns tonight to perform Leonard Bernstein's "Serenade" with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Bell recently became the first American to be appointed music director of Great Britain's venerable Academy of St. Martin in the Fields. Another star on tonight's program is Spanish maestro Juanjo Mena, on one of his frequent U.S. tours and making his Pittsburgh debut. Mena leads the PSO in Composer of the Year Mason Bates' "Desert Transport" and Brahms' Third Symphony. BO 8 p.m. Also 8 p.m. Sat., April 13, and 2:30 p.m. Sun., April 14. Heinz Hall, 600 Penn Ave., Downtown. $20-93. 412-392-490 or www.pittsburghsymphony.org
Fri., April 12 — Puppets
The man known as Ishi was a Yahi Indian who, though residing in California, lived his life completely outside of European culture until a few years before he died, in 1916. Moved by Ishi's story, Baltimore-based artists Lisa Krause and Eamon Espey have turned the narrative of "the last wild Indian" into the "science-fiction ritual" Ishi's Brain, enacted with shadow puppets, a marionette, masks and an original soundrack. Tonight's Puppet Happening event at ModernFormations Gallery also features excerpts from the new work-in-progress by puppet impresarios Tom Sarver and Mike Cuccaro, an adaptation of Aristophanes' play Peace. BO 8 p.m. 4919 Penn Ave., Garfield. $10. 412-362-0274 or www.puppethappening.com
Sat., April 13 — Art
A luna moth as a pendant in opal and moonstone. A ladyslipper orchid pendant of sapphire, blue zircon, black diamond, coral and abalone pearl. A spider brooch in opal and white gold. These — and other, more fanciful creations inspired by nature — are among 60-some original works in Garden of Light: Works by Paula Crevoshay, a new exhibit at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. The show, opening today, juxtaposes jewelry artist Crevoshay's works with mineral and insect specimens from the museum's collection and even suggests ecosystemic relationships. BO 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Exhibit continues through Aug. 11. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $11.95-17.95. 412-622-3131 or www.carnegiemnh.org
Sat., April 13 — Fixes
The folks at Transition Pittsburgh are into community resilience, and that means learning how to fix stuff. Moreover, it means teaching each other how. So today, at the Carnegie Library's Squirrel Hill branch, learn about repairing clothing, bikes or computers — or all three — from people who know. Maria McDonough teaches hand-stitching and repair for rips, tears, buttons and more (12:30 p.m.). Chris Chirdon does bike duty (2 p.m.). And Josh Savage tackles desktop computer problems, from replacing optical drives and memory to ridding your machine of dust (3 p.m.). BO 12:30-5 p.m. 5801 Forbes Ave., Squirrel Hill. Free. www.meetup.com/transitionpgh
Sat., April 13 — Words
It's a weekend for indie bookstores and the writers who love 'em, centering on novelists and publishers Rami Shamir and Maggie Craig. Today, their Embracing the Accidental reading tour hits Copacetic Comics (along with locals moon baby and Carolyne Whelan). On Sunday, Shamir (an Occupy Wall Street veteran) and Craig ("a freak, a queer and a punk") join a panel of distinguished locals for Having Our SAY and Eating it, Too: A Panel on Indie Publishing in the Age of Amazon, at East End Book Exchange. Small-press advocate Karen Lillis moderates. BO Copacetic: 5:30 p.m. (3138 Dobson St., Polish Hill; free; 412-251-5451). Panel: 2-4 p.m. Sun., April 14 (4754 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield; free; 412-224-2847).
Mon., April 15 — Music
The Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society ends its season with Ebène Quartet. Tonight's program includes Mozart's Divertimento; "Salzburg Symphony No. 3"; Mendelssohn's Quartet; and Tchaikovsky's Quartet No. 1. The show at Carnegie Music Hall is the Pittsburgh debut for the Ebène Quartet, 2004 winner of the ARD International Competition in Munich and the 2005 winner of the Forberg-Schneider Foundation's Belmont Prize. A pre-show lobby recital features the Montgomery Fellowship Quartet. JI 7:30 p.m. 4400 Forbes Ave., Oakland. $15-35. 412-624-4129 or www.pittsburghchambermusic.org
Mon., April 15 — Words
Anne Fadiman's essays and articles have appeared in Harper's, The New Yorker and The New York Times. The daughter of renowned TV personality Clifton Fadiman won a National Book Critics Circle Award for her 1998 book The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down: A Hmong Child, Her American Doctors, and the Collision of Two Cultures. Tonight, capping the 13th season of the University of Pittsburgh's Pittsburgh Contemporary Writers Series, Fadiman speaks at the Frick Fine Arts Building, in Oakland. The talk is free. JI 8:30 p.m. Schenley Plaza, Oakland. Free. 412-624-6508 or www.pghwriterseries.wordpress.com
Thu., April 18 — Words
They're calling it A Reading with Boulet, but it's really more of a discussion with this French cartoonist and comics star. Boulet (a.k.a. Gilles Roussel) is known for his strip "Raghnarok," for pioneering the comic-strip blog in France, and for his acclaimed 24-hour comic book Darkness. Tonight, City of Asylum/Pittsburgh hosts him in conversation with local cartoonists (and Tell Me Something I Don't Know podcast co-conspirators) Jim Rugg (Afrodisiac, The PLAIN Janes) and Jasen Lex. Seating is limited, so RSVP. Boulet also appears at the April 20 Drawing Power comics-and-zines conference at the Carnegie Museum of Art. BO 7:30 p.m. (7 p.m. reception). 330 Sampsonia Way, North Side. Free. RSVP at 412-323-0278 or [email protected].