Director Sheila McKenna gives a sneak peek into the mysteries of MADAGASCAR, on set at the Carlyle building, downtown Pittsburgh, opening January 31st and playing through February 16th, produced by Quantum Theatre. Continue reading “Preview: MADAGASCAR, Quantum Theatre (1/31 – 2/16)”
To simply state that this week’s guest Randy Kovitz is an actor doesn’t even begin to scratch the surface of this dynamic artist. I addition to being a writer, director, and fight choreographer, he’s performed in numerous stage works on Broadway and beyond, film and television in Los Angeles, yet he may just love Pittsburgh best! And Pittsburgh has a unique opportunity to see Randy in action Feb. 5th through 26th at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre in the one-man-show UNDERNEATH THE LINTEL, directed by Cameron Knight and produced by 12 Peers Theater. Listen to “The Full Martini” – the complete unedited interview in audio podcast to get more of Mr. Kovitz’s perspectives on Pittsburgh, what he likes to see in a good fight, how to act in a soap opera, – and what’s with the “evil stare”??? Underneath the Lintel photo credit: Craig Thompson. Continue reading “RANDY KOVITZ – Actor, Fight Choreographer, Writer, Director”
Exciting, evocative, emotionally impactful… just a few words used by ‘Burgh Vivant’s resident reviewers Mike “Buzz” Buzzelli and Lonnie the Theatre Lady to describe City Theatre’s current production of THE MOUNTAINTOP by Katori Hall, directed by Peter Flynn. Though they may disagree on the theme, they most certainly agree on the quality of this theatrical experience. Lonnie claims never to use the term “magnificent” (we’ll let you be the judge), and Buzz is vigilant as ever on “spoiler watch,” but no more spoilers here – watch and see for yourself! And listen to “The Full Martini” – the complete unedited review in audio podcast for more in-depth reactions to the production, running Jan 18th through Feb 9th at City Theatre. It’s a review (and a show) not to be missed! Production photos by Kristi Jan Hoover. Continue reading “Review – THE MOUNTAINTOP, City Theatre (1/18 – 2/9)”
Mike “Buzz” Buzzelli and Lonnie the Theatre Lady are back in their first review of the new year! The dynamic duo discusses SOUTH SIDE STORIES by Tammy Dixon, directed by Matt Morrow, and playing at CITY THEATRE now through January 26th. Parking chairs, pierogies, and pubs – Pittsburgh, this play’s for you! Hear their favorite moments, as well as some interesting background on how this unique work came to be. Listen to “The Full Martini” – the complete interview in audio podcast for more on the local flavor of SOUTH SIDE STORIES! Continue reading “Review – SOUTH SIDE STORIES, City Theatre (1/8- 1/26)”
If it can be said that there exists a “Dynasty of Puppetry,” then Heather Henson unquestionably hails from one if its most recent generations. Daughter of legendary Muppet creator Jim Henson, Heather brings her own unique expressions to the stage through her Orlando-based company, Ibex Puppetry – with its most recent production, FLIGHT: A CRANE’S STORY premiering in Pittsburgh this weekend at the Charity Randall Theatre! Heather discusses the show, her inspirations, and her favorite Muppets – but not without a nod to her favorite Oakland eateries, The Porch and Conflict Kitchen! Listen to “The Full Martini” – the complete interview in audio podcast to hear more of Heather’s philosophy on puppetry – past, present, and future, and what the other four Henson siblings are up to these days. Continue reading “HEATHER HENSON – Founder, Artistic Director, Ibex Puppetry”
Directed by John Shepard, show previews Jan. 30, runs Jan. 31-Feb. 16 at Pittsburgh Playhouse
PITTSBURGH – The REP, Point Park University’s professional theatre company, continues its compelling 2013-2014 season with the Pittsburgh premiere of EM Lewis’ heart-wrenching prize-winning drama, Heads.
Directed by John Shepard, Heads previews on Thursday, Jan. 30, and runs Jan. 31-Feb. 16, in the Studio Theatre at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave. Performances are 8 p.m., Thursday – Saturday, and 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Written by EM Lewis and called “provocative and wonderfully threatening” by Edward Albee, Heads tell the deeply human story of four hostages in a war zone and how they each respond to their ordeal by making difficult choices to survive.
The REP’s production of Heads stars Tony Bingham as Michael Apres, Patrick Cannon as Jack Velazquez, James Fitzgerald as Harold Wolfe, and Diana Ifft as Caroline Conway. Scenic design is by Britton Mauk, costume design by Don DiFonso, lighting design by Todd Wren, and sound design by Steve Shapiro. Alicia DiGiorgi is the stage manager.
Tickets range from $24 to $27; preview tickets are $15. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Pittsburgh Playhouse box office at 412.392.8000, or online at www.pittsburghplayhouse.com. Patrons can take advantage of the “Pay what you will” performance at 2 p.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, subject to availability. New in 2013-2014, The REP’s Talkback series, where the audience is invited to stay after the performance and discuss the show, has been moved to the matinee performance on the second Saturday of every show. For Heads, the Talkback session will be held after the 2 p.m. performance on Saturday, Feb. 8.
The Los Angeles Times named Heads one of the Top 10 productions of 2007, with critic David Ng writing, “EM Lewis’ new drama at the Blank Theatre Company, tells a story so topical that it feels as if the play was co-written by CNN.” The Denver Examiner said of the play, “If you are looking for an evening of theatre that will get you thinking, that will leave an indelible impression long after the show has ended, and that will move you to tears – then this is for you. … Heads is a welcome, intelligent, and moving drama that is a must see.
For The REP, John Shepard has directed Buried Child, The Chicken Snake (world premiere), One Flea Spare, The Visit, Mother Courage and, most recently, August: Osage County, which was named “Best of 2012” by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Conservatory Theatre Company productions he has directed include Evita, Marat/Sade, Candide, and Joined at the Head, among others. He has directed locally for Off the Wall (Shining City) and at theatres across the country. As an actor, he recently appeared in the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s production of Our Town, as well as the world premieres of The Electric Baby for Quantum and Mid-Strut for The REP. He has appeared in many other productions for Quantum, City Theatre, PICT and The REP, and was chosen as Performer of the Year by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette for his performance as Willy Loman in The REP’s 2008 production of Death of a Salesman. Shepard has appeared on Broadway – in American Buffalo with Al Pacino (as well as the subsequent national tour and on the West End) and A View from the Bridge (with Tony LoBianco) – Off-Broadway, and at many regional theaters. He teaches acting and directing at Point Park. For more information visit www.johnshepard.info.
EM Lewis won the 2008 Francesca Primus Prize for an Emerging Female Theater Artist for Heads. Her award-winning plays have been produced around the country, and worldwide. In addition to winning the Primus Prize for Heads, Lewis won the 2009 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award for her play Song of Extinction, and 2010-2011 Hodder Fellowship in playwriting from Princeton University. Lewis is a member of Moving Arts Theater Company, the Dramatists Guild, the International Centre for Women Playwrights, and the Alliance of Los Angeles Playwrights.
Photo above by Kelly & Massa for Opera Philadelphia.
Pittsburgh, PA… Pittsburgh Opera continues its 75th anniversary season with Nico Muhly’s DARK SISTERS, a new production of a very new opera exploring issues ripped from the headlines and created by a thirty-something composer. The first work in Pittsburgh Opera’s American Opera Series,* DARK SISTERS stars the Resident Artists and is on stage at CAPA Theater January 25 – February 2.
Exploring issues of suppressed individuality and subservient women’s roles, the opera uses episodes from the media – most recently the 2004 raid on FLDS leader Warren Jeffs’s compound in West Texas – to tell the story of the women’s suffering, and how one woman tries to escape. Premiered in 2012, DARK SISTERS revolves around sister-wife Eliza, who has a profound self-discovery after the world comes to the gates of her family’s complex, run by The Prophet. During an appearance on national television to defend her way of life, Eliza makes a dramatic confession, and her world falls into chaos. Resolving to make her own way in the world, she faces the consequences of leaving everything she has ever known.
Pittsburgh Opera’s DARK SISTERS features Resident Artists in the roles of the sister-wives: Jasmine Muhammad is the rebellious Eliza; Meredith Lustig is the lovesick Zina; Nicole Rodin is the troubled Ruth; Samantha Korbey is Presendia; and former Resident Artist Alexandra Loutsion (Rinaldo, 2011) is Almera. Resident Artist Joseph Barron takes the dual role of The Prophet and the newscaster King. Rebecca Belczyk (The Magic Flute, 2013) portrays Eliza’s daughter Lucinda. Resident Artist George Cederquist is the stage director for DARK SISTERS. Head of Music Glenn Lewis conducts the Pittsburgh Opera Orchestra. Composer Nico Muhly is expected to attend the opening night performance.
* Pittsburgh Opera’s American Opera Series is supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and includes DARK SISTERS, PAUL’S CASE (Feb. 22 – Mar. 2) and ORPHÉE (Apr. 26 – May 4).
Facts about the opera and the composer
DARK SISTERS premiered in 2012 at Gotham Chamber Opera in New York City, and was co-produced and co-commissioned by Opera Philadelphia.
Nico Muhly, a 32 year-old “wunderkind” (Huffington Post) who defies convention and definitions, has worked with Philip Glass, Björk, Benjamin Millepied, and Grizzly Bear. He was recently featured on the cover of Opera News, in advance of the premiere of his Two Boys at The Met. Mr. Muhly composes film scores (The Reader, Joshua, Choking Man), liturgical music (an Our Father, a Nunc Dimittis, a setting of Psalm 139), and scored the ballet From Here on Out with Millepied for American Ballet Theater. Most recently, he appeared at New York City’s Le Poisson Rouge with violinist Pekka Kuuisto; the featured piece was a Bach Partita with other pieces interspersed between the original piece’s movements.
In October 2013, Mr. Muhly’s opera Two Boys premiered at The Metropolitan Opera, with former Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Juan José de León in the cast. The opera revolves around a detective investigating a murder of a teenager that leads her to a trail of clues on the Internet.
Nico Muhly has been researching the history of the Church of Latter Day Saints for many years. “I read the diaries of some of the wives of Brigham Young; you think you could be reading something from the Old Testament or from today. Similarly, once you get in the world of what constitutes marriage, it was always political, and about property, land. Marriage for love was a Victorian construct.”
Nico Muhly has been quoted as saying that “I can’t think of one opera that isn’t political in some way. When you look at Rameau, Handel, Mozart, they were all looking at the world around them socially and politically. [Mozart’s] Cosi fan tutte is an incredibly political opera. Right now there is a flare-up of interest about Mormonism, but the politics and discussions around it aren’t new.”
The story, in brief
At a polygamist compound in the American Southwest, five mothers cry out in despair. State officials have just raided their homes and removed their children, under the suspicion that minors are being abused and forced to marry. The husband of the five women, a professed Prophet, discloses that he has received a revelation. He must journey into the desert, where he will receive guidance that will ensure the return of their children. The Prophet instructs his wives to “keep sweet” while he is away, explaining that total obedience is necessary to ensure their salvation and the safe return of their children.
Eliza, the fourth wife, has visions of her only child, Lucinda. She remembers her wedding: she was 16, afraid, an unwilling bride. Eliza does not want her daughter to suffer the same fate, but cannot imagine how they could ever leave this life. As night slowly turns to day, Eliza passes the time with her sister-wives. Almera is haunted by dreams of her mother and grandmother, while Presendia and Zina work diligently to pass the time, longing for their husband’s return. Ruth is tormented by mental illness and the memory of her two sons, both of whom died tragically.
Ruth discovers a letter in the Prophet’s study and gives it to Eliza: the letter voices Lucinda’s concerns about being promised to a much older man. Eliza is shocked to learn that her daughter would be promised so soon, and resolves to leave the compound. The Prophet returns, and Eliza convinces him to spend the night with her. She needs his full trust so that she can travel with him the next day and enact a plan to share her own message with the world. Alone in their bedrooms, the other women seethe with jealousy, sadness and longing.
The next day, television personality King interviews the women via satellite. The women are careful to stay on message. Afraid and distraught, Ruth suffers a breakdown during the interview. Although paralyzed with fear, the women continue with the show.
Eliza, afraid that she may not have the courage to speak out, suddenly explodes with the announcement that she was indeed married underage. She also seizes the opportunity to speak to her daughter – she looks into the camera and begs Lucinda to have faith, and to relays her own divine message: “Don’t be afraid of what lies beyond the sharp cliffs, the red earth – blaze a trail beyond the canyons! This is my hope for you, Sisters of Zion! I promise you, kind hearts beat for all of us in the outside world!”
Chaos erupts. Eliza’s sister-wives cannot believe she would betray them. Later that night, Ruth sits atop the mesa near the compound, under a starlit sky. Praying for relief from her pain, and longing to be with her two children in heaven, she jumps to her death.
Back at the compound, a few days later, Ruth is buried. The children have been returned to the ranch. Eliza comes to the gate of the compound and is shunned by the other women. Lucinda approaches her mother, furious – she is sickened that Eliza lost her faith and will not gain eternal salvation. Lucinda refuses to leave with her mother. Eliza pledges that she will always be waiting for Lucinda, and will always love her. Heartbroken, she walks away from the compound and into the unknown.
Tickets to DARK SISTERS are $50, with all performances at CAPA Theater, 9th Street and Ft. Duquesne Blvd., Downtown Pittsburgh. For additional information, videos, photos, musical samples, cast biographies, and the full story of DARK SISTERS, visit www.pittsburghopera.org. To purchase tickets, call 412-456-6666 or visit www.pittsburghopera.org.
The 2013-14 Pittsburgh Opera season is generously supported by PNC.
American Eagle Outfitters is the Friday Night Sponsor.
Dark Sisters is generously sponsored by Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Filstrup.
The National Endowment for the Arts provides project support for Pittsburgh Opera’s 2014 American Opera Series.
Giant Eagle Foundation is the Resident Artist Program Sponsor.
WQED is a media sponsor for the 2013-14 Pittsburgh Opera season.
WYEP and WESA are media sponsors for Dark Sisters.
Cast and Artistic Team (cast is listed in order of vocal appearance)
Zina Meredith Lustig *
Presendia Samantha Korbey *
Almera Alexandra Loutsion **
Ruth Nicole Rodin *
Eliza Jasmine Muhammad *
Prophet/King Joseph Barron *
Lucinda Rebecca Belczyk
Conductor Glenn Lewis
Director George Cederquist *
Set Designer Dan Daly
Costume Designer Antonia West
Lighting Designer Robert Figueira
Director of Musical Studies Mark Trawka
Associate Coach/Pianist James Lesniak
Hair & Makeup Designer James Geier
DARK SISTERS is a new production by Pittsburgh Opera.
+ Pittsburgh Opera debut
* Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist
** Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist alumni
Tickets for all performances of DARK SISTERS are $50. Group and subscriber discounts are available. For tickets, call (412) 456-6666 or visit www.pittsburghopera.org. For discounted group tickets (6 or more), contact Randy Adams at 412-281-0912, x 213.
Related Events
Brown Bag Concert
Saturday, January 11 – 12:00 p.m.
George R. White Opera Studio, Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters (2425 Liberty Avenue)
These casual, one-hour concerts feature our Resident Artists in the George R. White Opera Studio at Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters. January’s Brown Bag concert features an All-American program. Guests can meet the performers after the concert. Free and open to the public; no RSVP required. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. For more information, call (412) 281-0912 or visit www.pittsburghopera.org
Opera Up Close: DARK SISTERS
Sunday, January 12 – 2:00 p.m.
An in-depth look at the music and story of Nico Muhly’s DARK SISTERS with singers and directors from the production, in the George R. White Opera Studio at Pittsburgh Opera Headquarters. Panelists include Resident Artist Jasmine Muhammad; stage director, Resident Artist George Cederquist; conductor Glenn Lewis; and Director of Artistic Operations Bill Powers. Admission is $5; the event is free to members of FRIENDS of Pittsburgh Opera and donors at $50 and above. For more information, visit www.pittsburghopera.org.
DARK SISTERS Previews on WQED-FM 89.3 and WQED.ORG
Saturday, January 18 – 1:00 p.m.; Friday, January 24 – 7:00 p.m.
Hosted by WQED’s Stephen Baum, and broadcast over the airwaves as well as the WQED website, the DARK SISTERS preview gives listeners an engaging introduction to the singers, music and story of the opera. For more information, visit www.pittsburghopera.org.
CAPA Theater Black Box
Ticketholders are invited to attend a Pre-Opera Talk on DARK SISTERS one hour before each performance’s curtain in the Black Box at CAPA Theater. Learn about the composer and the story of the opera. Free to all ticketholders.
Audio Description: DARK SISTERS
Tuesday, January 28
Ticketholders with visual impairments are invited to use Pittsburgh Opera’s Audio Description service at our Tuesday performances. Trained volunteers describe the scenery, costumes, and stage action via headphones. Those wishing to use Audio Description should reserve seats to the Tuesday, January 28 performance: call Randy Adams at 412-281-0912, ext. 213 or groups@pittsburghopera.org. Braille and large-print opera programs are also available in the lobby.
Meet the Artists of DARK SISTERS
Tuesday, January 28
Immediately following the opera, in the CAPA Theater Black Box
Ticketholders for the Tuesday, January 28 performance of DARK SISTERS are invited to gather in the Black Box immediately following the performance for interviews with General Director Christopher Hahn and the stars of the opera. This event is free to all Tuesday performance ticketholders.
Filmed before a live audience at Arcade Comedy Theatre in beautiful downtown Pittsburgh, host Brian Edward laughs it up with Thoreau, NM Executive Director Lance Eric Skapura. Through the course of a dry martini, Lance discusses the origins of Thoreau, its unusual name, and the company’s long-standing involvement in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. Listen to “The Full Martini” – the complete unedited interview in audio podcast to hear Lance’s insight on Thoreau, NM’s encore production of HOTLINE (which performed at Arcade immediately following this interview), absurd telephone trivia, and just who is Emma Nutt? Continue reading “LANCE SKAPURA – Artistic Director, Thoreau, NM”
Greetings ‘Burgh Vivants! A very Merry Christmas from all of us here at BV.
For me, Christmas Day itself has always carried with it a strange energy. All of the big build-up; the songs, the cookies, the sales, lights and decorations running the gamut from elegant to garish – all of it a technicolor locomotive barreling unrelenting toward Ground Zero: Dec. 25th. And whether this day itself puts a roll in your eyes or a song in your heart, there comes with it a solemnity of knowing that its all over. Until, of course, the day after Halloween comes ’round once again, and the cycle begins anew; louder, faster, brighter. But there’s a stillness upon the summit, after the whirlwind incline of frantic shopping, card writing, and the joy, dread, or indifference of interacting with relations we may only see once a year. Somehow, you’ve worked. Whether you were the one preparing the Christmas dinner, or enduring it. Whether you were a Christmas Commando, charging headstrong through the season, little drummer boy at your side, holly in hand, and knitted sweater ablaze – or a benign “armchair enthusiast” with a more discreet capacity for “jolly,” simply caught up in the current, clinging to the one obligatory Christmas decoration you’ve put up as if it were driftwood upon the churning sea.
It all ends today.
And as we lay we down to sleep tonight, we begin to sulk into the odd twilight zone between Christmas and New Years. The lights and tinsel are still up, no longer sparkling with the promise of a Christmas Eve sizzling with anticipation, but rather serving a reminder that there’s a chore to be done in boxing them up. In many hubs of commerce, the familiar music still plays, forcing even the most dedicated elf to say quietly in the private chambers of the mind, “Enough, thank you.” Just as in a break-up that happened for all the right reasons, we’re ready to move on. But in the post holiday limbo, we’re still a bit lost. Business hours are anyone’s guess, and we’re timid to reach out to friends with suggestions of hitting the town for we assume that they too must be bearing the burden of the same limbo, but in a different shade. With Santa now enjoying a Corona, feet up, on a beach in Cancun, who can possibly entertain us?
Like a beacon in the night, or dare I say a reindeer with a red nose, our friends at Off The Wall Productions have supplied an excellent refuge.
Off The Wall is one of the only professional theatre companies in the city lacing up their boots and getting back to the trenches the very day after Christmas – and just for you. Dec. 26th, 27th, and 28th mark the closing weekend of its current production WELL, by Lisa Kron, directed by Melissa Hill Grande. In its inaugural year, ‘Burgh Vivant has been delighted to feature this dynamic, professional company. They’re small, but they’re mighty, having recently settled into a freshly-designed theatre in Carnegie, just minutes from downtown Pittsburgh. The productions and performers are consistently top-notch, and WELL is no exception, boasting a stellar cast of Daina Michelle Griffith, Virginia Wall Gruenert, Tony Bingham, Alan Bomar Jones, Linda Haston, and Susue McGregor-Laine. Nominated for a Tony Award in 2006, the play uses humor and inventive storytelling to depict the relationship between the playwright and her ailing mother.
As contributor Mike Buzzelli points out in the recent ‘Burgh Vivant review of WELL, though it’s not particularly a holiday-themed play, the challenges put forth by the skilled cast may very well be similar to those that we confront while willingly (or unwillingly) spending time with our family during the holiday season. At the risk of sounding crass, there may be no more deserved remedy on December 26th than to be entertained by someone else’s dysfunctional family.
So, rather than wallow in left over ham and fruitcake, get out there, relax, and take in a little culture. WELL is without a doubt one of your best bets in town for some post-holiday respite.
WATCH/LISTEN: ‘Burgh Vivant interview with OTW Artistic Director and leading actress in WELL, Virginia Wall Gruenert
-B.E.
Funding to Advance Construction of New Building at PBT’s Strip District Campus
PITTSBURGH, PA – As part of Pennsylvania’s 2013 Economic Growth Initiative grants, Governor Tom Corbett announced today that Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre will receive $1 million to fund the construction of a new annex building at the company’s Strip District campus.
WATCH, LISTEN: ‘Burgh Vivant interview with PBT Artistic Director, Terrence Orr
The $1 million Economic Growth grant will bring PBT to 43% of its total $14 million goal for the PBT School Expansion Project, a four-phase plan to accommodate rising enrollment trends in the company’s official training institution. The grant will advance the fourth phase of the project this spring when PBT breaks ground at its recently-purchased adjoining lot – 2930 Liberty Ave. – to begin significant site improvements, including leveling and retaining projects, for the future footprint of the annex building. Under Phase IV, PBT will construct a 17,000 square foot building, which will house three new dance studios to expand PBT School’s four training divisions, grow community-based programs and generate at least 13 permanent artistic and administrative jobs. PBT has retained IKM Architects, which has developed a preliminary design for the $10 million Phase IV building project based on input from stakeholders.
With a total enrollment of 1,000 students across its Children’s, Student, Pre-Professional and Adult divisions, PBT School conducts classes six days a week at PBT Studios in the Strip District, which sees more than 2,000 weekly visits from employee, student and family commuters through the school and company. In the past five years, PBT School has increased Children’s Division enrollment by 92 percent while Student Division enrollment has grown by 53 percent in the past two years. Overall, the new building would allow PBT School to increase enrollment by nearly 60 percent to 1,590 students.
The Economic Growth Initiative program provides grants to local communities for the construction of regional economic, cultural, civic, recreational and historical improvement projects. PBT’s School Expansion project is among 58 projects state-wide to receive Commonwealth funding through the program. PBT has raised $6 million to date for the four-phase project, and will be matching the RACP award at a ratio of at least 4 to 1 through other funding sources.
“In addition to our full-time company dancers, a significant number of PBT School students from around the country and world move to Pittsburgh to take part in our training program. This new space will allow us to continue accepting and recruiting the next generation of professional dancers to Pittsburgh, and it will also help us to broaden our community programs to increase accessibility to the art form,” said PBT Executive Director Harris Ferris. “We see this surge in enrollment as promising not only for the future of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, but also as a positive trend for the city’s thriving cultural community. Our full-time artists and professional-track students not only make Pittsburgh their home, but they also bring hundreds of friends and family members to the city each year to contribute to the downtown and Strip District economies while visiting Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.”
PBT launched its four-phase School Expansion Plan in 2009 with the opening of PBT School’s first student residence, Byham House, which houses up to 21 full-time Pre-Professional Division students and helps to draw aspiring young dancers to Pittsburgh each year. Phase I also included the installation of five new Harlequin floors in the PBT Studios to benefit the safety and health of PBT company and student dancers. In 2012, PBT completed Phase II by opening a renovated lobby with expanded family waiting areas and student study space to accommodate rising enrollment and the need for more public space in the building. Also in 2012, PBT purchased its neighboring lot at 2930 Liberty Avenue, increased its campus footprint to 60,000 square feet and constructed a new parking lot to improve traffic flow and reduce the need for families and students to cross traffic-heavy Liberty Avenue from PBT’s overflow parking lot. The new building will mark the fourth and final phase in the PBT School Expansion Project.
In addition to PBT School, the PBT’s Strip District Studios currently house five fully-equipped studios for PBT’s professional company of 29 full-time dancers – including eight international dancers – who live and work in Pittsburgh year-round. Throughout the season, PBT also hosts a number of community engagement events at the Studios for patrons, educators, community organizations and supporters.
PBT School’s 2013-2014 enrollment includes 61 out-of-state students and 14 international students, who have relocated to Pittsburgh to enroll in the full-time high school and graduate programs of PBT School’s Pre-Professional Division. In addition to the regular school year, PBT School brings 165 to 200 students to Pittsburgh each summer to participate in its five-week Intensive Summer Program, an immersive training program taught by PBT faculty and prominent guest artists.
About Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is a community based and internationally recognized professional ballet company that performs traditional and contemporary ballets and develops innovative works. It seeks to perpetuate excellence in the art of ballet through performances, superior training of student dancers and community engagement initiatives. Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s 2013-2014 Season continues with Swan Lake with the Orchestra, Feb. 13-16 at the Benedum Center; 3×3, March 7-16, at the August Wilson Center; and Don Quixote with the Orchestra, April 11-13, at the Benedum Center. Tickets start at $25.75 and are available online at www.pbt.org, by calling 412-456-6666 or visiting the Box Office at Theater Square.
About Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School
As the official training institution of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School is recognized as one of the nation’s finest schools for dance education and training. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Terrence S. Orr and School Directors Marjorie Grundvig and Dennis Marshall, PBT School offers classical ballet training and a diverse dance curriculum to more than 1,000 students of all ages, levels and degrees of interest taught by faculty and guest teachers of international acclaim. Strengthened by daily exposure to PBT’s professional company of dancers, PBT School provides dance training through Children’s, Student, Pre-Professional and Adult Open divisions.
