Live Theater in the Burg
Having just attended a Quantum Theater production this weekend, I thought it would be fun to introduce you to the great professional theater in our town. Quantum is our roving theater. Purposely not having a home, the artistic director, Karla Boos, envisioned using different settings that enhance the play's atmosphere. For example, the play I saw was about a drowning and set in an abandoned swimming pool in a local library. It was a very clever and original use of the specially created set.
While you never know where you will find Quantum, at the other end of the spectrum is Pittsburgh Public Theater housed in the formal setting of the Pittsburgh downtown cultural district. It's stage is arranged so the audience surrounds the actors on three sides The Public's productions tend toward the classics, musicals and already successful contemporary pieces reproduced for Pittsburgh audiences. It is probably our most conservative and conventional theater.
The City Theater can be found on the southside of Pittsburgh in a renovated church structure. They specialize in the production of contemporary plays that engage diverse audiences. They also have a little black box theater for even more alternative performance like Sister’s Christmas Catechism which will be there at Christmas time.
Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theater does as its title implies plays associated with either the classics or Irish playwrights. They are an independent company that stage their productions on The University of Pittsburgh campus.
The REP is the professional theatre company of Point Park University. Artistic Director Ronald Allan-Lindblom chooses alternative new works that entertain and at the same time give teaching and learning opportunities for the university. While they are housed in the old Pittsburgh Play House in Oakland, they have dreams of moving to a new location in the downtown area near the rest of the university.
All of these companies add up to a thriving local theater community with impressive opportunities to enjoy live professional theater any time you're in town. Enjoy!
