click to enlarge CP Photo: Amanda Waltz
A sign for PICT Classic Theatre hangs over the entrance to WQED Studio in Oakland
As 2022 draws to a close,
Pittsburgh City Paper's editorial staff members select their favorite stories from the year. Relive A&E editor Amanda Waltz's 2022 highlights below:
click to enlarge CP Photo: Jared Wickerham
Kate Schaich
After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to strike down Roe, people across the country started making big birth control decisions, and Pittsburgh was no exception. I was honestly surprised at the number of people willing to speak with me about getting salpingectomies and vasectomies and saw it as an important step to destigmatizing and opening conversations about the various realities of this issue.
click to enlarge CP Photo: Amanda Waltz
Justin Avi of Saint Ravioli
Justin Avi took a pandemic hobby and turned it into a business, becoming a one-man ravioli machine turning out thousands of little dumplings. More interviews should end with someone insisting you take home a box of homemade ravioli.
click to enlarge CP Illustration: Jeff Schreckengost
For years, rumors swirled about PICT Classical Theatre's artistic and executive director, but it wasn't until the theater company suddenly canceled its anticipated production of
Boys in the Band that people came forward. After
City Paper ran this story,
PICT announced that the person in question was fired.
click to enlarge CP Photo: Amanda Waltz
Bottlerocket Social Hall
Allentown has slowly become a destination for vegan food, coffee, music, and more. Then Bottlerocket swooped in with a plan to attract some of the country's most innovative comedy acts to the neighborhood. From the time this article ran, the venue has presented multiple, often sold-out shows, as well as film screenings, DIY theater shows, dance parties, and so much more.
click to enlarge CP Photo: Amanda Waltz
Ice Cream Station Zebra and Other Works by Emily Newman
Curator Tavia La Follette provided valuable insight into how the Russian invasion of Ukraine disrupted the long-planned
Pop-Aganda: Revolution & Iconography group exhibition. The show stood as a tangible example of how war impacts lives, paying ode to missing pieces and informing audiences of measures taken to protect the identity of Russia-based artists. I was also floored by the works of Syanda Yaptik and Sonya Kelliher-Combs, which demonstrated, with heartbreaking severity, the impact colonization, and organized religion have had on Indigenous populations in Russia and Alaska.