3,376 stories from onstagepittsburgh.com
There is something inherently disconcerting about going to see a theatrical restaging of the 1976 film Carrie, and finding out the theatre it’s presented in is a rustic barn. Seemingly b…
Many people credit The Who as one of their favorite rock bands. Maybe you like their music as the theme song for your favorite CSI: series. One thing the Who should probably get credit for i…
A new adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice is playing at one of Pittsburgh’s most charming landmark settings. Marsha Mayhak created her stage version for Steel City Shakespear…
People know when attending a Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s Richard E. Rauh Conservatory Company (RERC) show that the production features all youths, rather than a Broadway cast of professi…
“Jazz is a verb” or The Space Upstairs “Second Saturdays” at The Space Upstairs is an elusive event. It’s not supposed to be understood by words, but by experience. It’s ther…
How do you create a structure that you can pull metaphor from? An interview with slowdanger “Dance is the demonstration of life.” -Merce Cunningham “The body doesn’t lie.” -Martha …
Step into this bad dream: a debilitating pedestrian accident. In An Accident, Lydia Stryk draws on her own accident experience to place both in an injured woman’s hospital room. This unset…
Fall has descended upon Pittsburgh with a comical quickness, and so the time has come embrace mystery, horror and the supernatural realms. This Halloween season, Pittsburgh’s theaters are …
When asked to review The Pittsburgh Savoyard’s productions of Gianni Schicchi and Trial by Jury I at first refused. Up until my attendance of these operas my experience of this art form wa…
I remember the first time in my life I asked a question that had no satisfactory answer. I was maybe, 11 and asked a buddy at school something about why other kids made such a big deal about…
There is a certain added poignancy felt when watching the marvelously, passionately staged work Intimate Apparel at the University of Pittsburgh Stages. Set in New York in 1905 and functioni…
Try to remember a time when you were young and in love. You had a certain mindset for how the world would be: you’d fall in love, get married, and live out years and years in perfect bliss…
Pittsburgh Opera’s 78th season opened Saturday night with the first of four performances of Giuseppe Verdi’s perennial La Traviata. First performed in Venice in 1853, the opera today hol…
It’s 2016, America. A time of vigilant political correction, when we can look at the follies of our past faux pas and indict our recent ancestors for insensitivity. That’s the game, …
It should be noted, in all fairness as a spectator, that I walked into The Red Masquers production of Avenue Q with a profoundly intense ardor for the quirky—at times aberrant—…
I’m Gonna Pray For You So Hard is a play about a genius playwright father and his daughter, an aspiring actress who cares for him. The potently acted drama is a bit like David Auburn’s P…
Meet Tyrone: a puppet on an evil mission in the small town of Cypress, Texas. City Theater’s production of Hand to God is Pittsburgh’s premiere of Robert Askin’s Tony-nominated play. F…
When I was asked to review Titus Andronicus at SixTHReeFouR produced by Cup A Jo Productions, I had some concerns. Being a musical theatre guy, this would be outside of my wheelhouse and fur…
Do you remember The Toxic Avenger? A cult film from the eighties about a little nerd who gets drenched in chemicals and becomes a violent, deformed mutant hero? Bad production value but an e…
One of Pittsburgh’s most treasured annual events, the Pittsburgh New Works Festival has successfully bestowed upon us another year of marvelous original work! I had the pleasure of viewing…
Often disheartening fodder for plays, films and other creative works, the concept of a world in which art is subjected to critical sanitization and scorning approval from a dispassionate dem…
Mental health is a tricky subject to approach in storytelling. Do you try to solve the depression of a character, and risk pulling all the weight out from under your story’s credibility? D…
I am consistently impressed by unique staging techniques, and each of the three short pieces at the New Works festival managed to pack a unique idea into a small running time. While it is ce…
There is a certain uncanny valley effect to the popular theatrical adaptation. The more well-oiled productions of a play there are, the less vital the story will feel. This is not to say tha…
There is a certain acuity and adroitness in presentation and delivery that must be fostered in order for one act plays to be successful. To conceive of a one act play—a scenario, a colle…
