'Burgh Vivant

Reviewed by Dr. Tiffany Raymond, PhD and Theron Raymond (5th grader)

As part of its 27th season, Prime Stage presents James Still’s “And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank”. Pittsburgh theater directorial legend Art DeConciliis has the depth of experience and range to do justice to Still’s magnum opus that tackles the Holocaust through the eyes of Anne Frank and those who were close to her.

The play is multi-media. It cuts between 1995 video footage of Holocaust survivors Eva Geiringer Schloss and Ed Silverberg remembering their experiences and actors playing young versions of them during the war. The third family in the play is the Franks as all three families lived in the same neighborhood.

The play is unflinching, uncompromising, and uncomfortable, never letting you forget the continual onslaught of horrors and suffering. The palpable discomfort one feels is a recognition of the cataclysmic layers of injustice thrust upon a population who were simply born Jewish. These interconnected familial stories are intersected by the appearance of a young German boy and member of the Hitler youth (played by Colin Bozick).

The boy is never given a name. He’s a synecdoche for the indoctrination of hatred across the Hitler youth. He reminds us hate is taught and intergenerational as he parrots his father’s hatred of Jews – a doctrine that is reinforced by the Hitler youth.

As children, we idolize our parents, and one’s environmental influence has the potential for toxicity. By including the Hitler youth, Still resists easy devolution into an oversimplified black and white world where all Nazis are automatically bad.

We learn that he joined the Hitler youth at age 7, leaving no space for reaching his own conclusions – or questioning those of others. Bozick exudes earnestness. His performance has echoes of Orwell’s 1984 as he proudly brags about how he is expected to report his parents if they do not say “Heil Hitler,” which became a public greeting at the time.

The cross-generational, widespread readership of The Diary of Anne Frank tempts us to put Anne at the center of this narrative. Still’s subtitle of “Remembering the World of Anne Frank” reminds us her experience was widely shared.

Frank is portrayed by Molly Frontz who manifests a spirited lightness and wisdom beyond her years. She is both a boy-crazy teenager and a keen observer of the world around her. When Young Ed (Ayden Freed) confesses that his family worries he’s too old for her at 16, she scoffs and retorts, “Why I’ll be 16 in 3 years!” It’s said with all of the confidence of a teenager with the world in front of her.

As her future readers, her off-handed assumption is heart wrenching. We already know she will never see 16 as Anne dies in a concentration camp at age 15. The play traces the spectrum of oppression from Hitler coming into office through the end of the war.

All three families spend time in hiding with the Geiringer family splitting up – father and son in one place and mother and daughter Eva (Sadie Karashin) in another to reduce the burden and increase their odds of survival. Eva and her mother spend two years in hiding before they’re captured on Eva’s 15th birthday.

Their mother/teenaged daughter tensions are exacerbated by the fact they must spend their days sitting at a kitchen table in silence while the woman who owns the house is at work.

Sound designer Samantha Magill highlights the tedium of survival in silence with the booming sound of a loud ticking clock as Eva talks about minutes feeling like hours.

Opening night ended with a post-show discussion with local priest, Father John Nieman. Father John started corresponding with Otto Frank in the 1970s and visited him in Europe three times.

After Otto’s passing, Father John continued his friendship with Frank’s second wife, Fritzi (mother to Eva Geiringer). When asked, Father John shared that his most significant memory of the Franks was their kindness. Despite all they had suffered as targets of antisemitism and as Holocaust survivors, they were consummately kind, positive people.

It’s an apt reminder in a world that seems to embrace polarization; it is only through light that we shine and unite.

At one point, Heinz Geiringer (Jackson Frazer) comes home from his Austrian school bloody and crying. He tells his sister he was beaten by his classmates just for being Jewish while a teacher looked on and failed to intervene.

Last month’s beating and subsequent death of 16-year-old transgender student Nex Benedict by fellow students in their Oklahoma school bathroom is an echo through time of Heinz’s experience.

Events like these highlight that this play is more resonant and important than ever. The critically important work of protecting vulnerable groups and stopping hate crimes is tragically not timebound. We don’t have to shake our heads at history; we can all help create a more just future.

TKR, Ph.D., & TR

“And Then They Came for Me: Remembering the World of Anne Frank” runs through March 10, 2024 at the New Hazlett Center for Performing Arts in Pittsburgh, PA

by Dr. Tiffany Raymond, PhD and Theron Raymond (5^th grader) 

Stage 62 celebrates its 62^nd season with “Garfield: The Musical with Cattitude!”, book by Michael J. Bobbitt and Jim Davis and music and lyrics by John L. Cornelius III. As the owners of four cats, we headed into this production predisposed with love – and weren’t disappointed.

I grew up with cats, and one of my Sunday delights was stretching out on the living room floor reading the comics. Garfield was always my favorite. This tradition has continued with Theron who also loves following Garfield’s ongoing adventures in the Sunday comics. Jim Davis’ lazy, lasagna-loving feline has crossed the chasm with multigenerational appeal.

At one hour, the show’s length is kid-friendly. Set designer Jeff Way engages the eye; his set pops with color. Green striped wallpaper provides a visually contrasting backdrop for the orange Garfield while also mirroring his stripes. The walls defer to the feline king of this castle, revealing glow in the dark paint to showcase changes in emotional depth.

Gavin Calgaro is joyful to watch as Garfield. Calgaro is an elementary school teacher, and his love for kids translates to and radiates as a children’s theater actor. From the opening scene where Garfield is waking up, director Tracy Rudzinski has Calgaro embrace and exaggerate the feline pandiculation from curled, sleeping ball to extended stretch. Garfield can be a cynic, but Calgaro never lets his character linger in that space.

The play’s action centers on Garfield’s dismay that no one remembers it’s his birthday, which triggers his impulsive decision to run away, a decision he ends up reversing in his solo number “Solioquy.” Calgaro’s voice deftly handles the vocals.

Like many of us, Garfield is known for hating Mondays. His song “I Hate Mondays” is a highly relatable homage. Mondays tend not to be a favorite, whether you’re a kid going back to school or a parent going back to work. Calgaro transforms it into a reciprocal relationship as the song ends with “…and Mondays hate me!”

Garfield’s foil is Nermal (Mackenzie Heidenreich). Heidenreich captures Nermal’s youthful kitten energy when she asks Garfield influencer-style which of her expressions is cuter. Her wide-eyed innocence is as irresistible as the kitten she plays. Costume designer Dana Schulte dresses Garfield’s girlfriend Arlene (Jess Whittington) in her signature pink. To create visual unity, Schulte has all of the animal characters wearing fingerless gloves that help read as paws from the audience.

From The Secret Life of Pets to Shaun the Sheep, animal control plays the antagonist when it comes to escaped pets. This show proves no exception. Rudzinski finds the humor in a dark alley (literally) as Odie (Zachary Holderbaum) engages the animal control officer in a dance-off that ends up getting him to release the net. While Odie isn’t known for his intelligence, Holderbaum’s eager, panting dog demonstrates he’s cleverer than he gets credit for, and cats aren’t the only brains in this operation.

Amerik Cirota plays both Jon, Garfield’s owner, and the animal control officer, hinting at a darker Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde dichotomy to the happy-go-lucky pet owner. However, the affable Dr. Jekyll side quickly triumphs as Cirota captures the hapless Jon.

One thing Stage 62 makes clear is that no matter how many birthdays Garfield has, this cat and his antics never get old.

Stage 62’s production of “Garfield: The Musical with Cattitude!” runs through February 25, 2024 at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, PA.

By Joseph Szalinski

If British Literature is your cup of tea, then The Pittsburgh Savoyards have a treat for you at the Margaret Partee Performing Arts Center in Bellevue. For the fourth production in their 86^th season, they’ve decided to bring a classic romance to the stage with their adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, adapted and directed by Marsha Mayhak.

The OG Bridget Jones’s Diary follows Mrs. Bennet’s (Apryl Peroney) quest to become an empty nester by marrying off her daughters to well-to-do gentlemen. While Jane (Mary-Cait Cox) and Charles Bingley (Calvin Brookins) hit it off splendidly, Elizabeth (Rebecca Radeshak) and Mr. Darcy (Alex Policicchio) experience a bit of turbulence at first before becoming smitten and then engaged.

Staging a story that’s famous in various mediums, particularly film and television, can be a bit tricky. With a novel, the interior lives of characters can be probed; there’s license to explore and plod. Similarly, miniseries can take the time to touch on a multitude of plot points and ideas. Theatre can’t afford those luxuries. Even with source material provided, the act of condensing the text and converting it into a script can be as challenging as writing a play from scratch. While the runtime could be shorter for pacing’s sake, Mayhak addresses all of the crucial moments in the narrative, occasionally being bogged down by excessively wordy dialogue.

Tasked with delivering these academic rhapsodies, with English accents, is a talented cast whose members swap in and out depending on the date of the performance. Despite the reluctant romance between Lizzie and Darcy being the focus of the show, the chemistry between Jane and Lizzie in the scenes they share together is the most palpable. In addition to the more emotional elements, there is also a great deal of comedy in the form(s) of Mr. Bingley, William Collins, and Mrs. Bennet, who all elicit chuckles verbally and physically. The dance is perhaps the scene that stands out the most. Not only is it well choreographed and executed, but the physicality is a great mirror of the battle of wits occurring concurrently.

Aside from performances, this production delights from a technical standpoint as well. The set is expertly designed, taking advantage of the space provided, with a few instances where the performers get particularly close to the audience, making the whole thing seem a bit immersive. Costumes are amazing. They evoke the sense and sensibility of those who don them, existing as set pieces and characters themselves.

Bellevue is another spot close to the city that’s experiencing a revival in art and cuisine. Its residents, and interested thespians, are incredibly fortunate to have a seasoned theatre company and a dependable venue in town, especially one that so heartily encourages all members of the community to get involved in helping to create something meaningful.

-JS

Pride and Prejudice continues its run at the Margaret Performing Arts Center in Bellevue, PA February 16^th, 17^th, 23^rd, and 24^th at 7:30 PM and a matinee performance at 2:30 PM on Sunday, February 18th. For more information, click here. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

By Claire DeMarco

Sara Porkalob invites you into her world to see, hear, and feel her stories about the maternal side of her family in “Dragon Lady.” Her maternal grandmother, Maria the “Dragon Lady” is the center of this adventure into her past.

As Maria’s 60^th birthday approaches, she feels the need to pass on details of her life and her confidant is Sara Porkalob. As her story unwinds, its apparent that she has quite a few secrets to unveil, from a brief career as a singer in a tawdry club to a pregnancy (the child is Sara’s mother, also named Maria), a kidnapping and a murder. But through all the drama associated with her life, Maria is a fighter and a survivor (with a sense of humor).

Maria’s life changes again as this young Filipina woman immigrates to the Pacific Northwest. Her oldest child (Porkalob’s mother) is to care for her siblings. Now, without a husband, Maria works several jobs, often leaving her young daughter in charge of not only the running of the household but also caring for her siblings. The ramifications of this situation are that young Maria often isn’t able to attend school. This situation causes the resentment and rift that exists between the young and old Maria. That tension is highlighted at Grandmother Maria’s 60^th birthday party.

Porkalob’s performance is brilliant, stunning, and creative! This is not just a solo performance, but many as Porkalob plays the parts of those relatives and acquaintances who are part of her narrative.

Her timing is impeccable as she smoothly reinvents herself as her grandmother, mother, her mother’s young brothers, and any character that’s part of her story. Reinventing also includes not only the vocal pitch of those she’s portraying, but their unique mannerisms as well. Great comedic timing, excellent facial expressions, and a beautiful voice elevate those roles.

There are not enough superlatives to describe this unique, stimulating, and wonderful performance by Sara Porkalob.

Porkalob created the Dragon Cycle, a trilogy of works about her grandmother (“Dragon Lady”), her mother (“Dragon Mama”), and Porkalob herself (“Dragon Baby”–still in development).

The set is striking with a modicum of stage props. The center stage is highlighted and framed as an intricate lounge setting for musical numbers. Different stage levels allow Porkalob to move up and down, often showing a different location and/or time as her story unwinds.

Excellent music by Hot Damn Scandal: Pete Irving, Jimmy Austin and Mickey Stylin.

Kudos to Scenic Designer Sasha Jin Schwartz.

Expert direction by Andrew Russell.

-CED

“Dragon Lady” is a production of the Pittsburgh Public Theater. Performances run from February 7 through February 25. For more information, click here.

By Gina McKlveen

Along the Allegheny River, beneath the Fort Duquesne Bridge, a garden of greatness is blooming right before our city’s eyes.

Cameron “Camo” Nesbit, the Artist Resident responsible for the 12 portraits of local Black artists, leaders, and entertainers, “see[s] this site as having the potential to grow into a public art mecca for the city of Pittsburgh, and beyond.” The faces of these colorful portraits stare across the waters towards the North Shore, intertwined with images of various bright flowers and brilliant monarch butterflies that break up the industrial feel of the bridge’s beams and invite the viewer to picture a nourished culture. Among the portraits of Black excellence are the familiar faces of the Artist Resident himself, and other well-known Pittsburghers, like Billy Porter, the Broadway and movie-star actor, Wiz Khalifa, the Grammy nominated rapper, Dr. Ayisha Morgan Lee, founder and CEO of Hill Dance Academy Theatre, Alma Speedfox, the “Mother of Pittsburgh’s civil rights movement.”

 

The project, which was established in 2021, grew out of a previous Black Lives Matter mural created along this same pathway by another group of Pittsburgh mural artists following the brutal murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer in 2020. In concert with those mural artists and in conversation with Pittsburgh’s Office of Public, Camo sought to engage the community around the subjects of healing, strength, and enlightenment. In his artist statement, Camo declared, “I believe Pittsburgh is ready for this: a place for people to gather and celebrate new voices and a new style of street art and murals.”

Nourished by its location at the riverfront and sponsored by the Office of Public Art, Riverlife, and Pittsburgh’s Cultural Trust, Camo’s “Black Flowers” is hopefully the first of many art gardens in Pittsburgh where community and conversations around culture, civil rights, and contributions thereto can flourish. “Black Flowers,” in particular though, is a perfect bouquet—a dozen faces—all picked to honor lives and legacies that were at one point or another rooted right here in Pittsburgh. This writer was fortunate enough to experience this beautiful arrangement on the warmth of a recent February weekend, which served as a reminder that as the weather turns closer towards spring by the day soon the City of Pittsburgh will also be in full bloom.

“Black Flowers” is located along Three Rivers Heritage Trail, approximately a half mile from Point State Park, and discoverable by GPS at “Ecstatic RiverFront.” For more information, click here.

-GM

If you can’t find the perfect mate, why not create one? After all, it is 2063 and technology has advanced to a new level.

Joan Sweete (Autumn Hurlbert) still wants true love with a human but as she pursues the dating scene, no one she encounters passes the test. Humans are letting her down. Her bubbly enthusiasm as she meets new possible love interests dwindles with each new encounter.

Susan Botelli (Josey Miller), a savvy business woman, intent on promoting and gaining funds for her idea, wants to create a humanoid, someone who looks like a man but can be programmed to have the qualifications required by that specific client.

Note: One of those techie advancements but not on the level of a humanoid is HomeBody (Ryan Cavanaugh), a human-looking robot built like a man but with an arm appendage that is a sweeper nozzle. He diligently (with appropriate sweeper sounds) earnestly cleans everything in sight.

Sweete finally agrees to the creation of a humanoid. Kenna and others (Jimmy Nicholas), based on Sweete’s criteria is programmed and created.

The perfect mate is perfect for a short period of time. He is agreeable, maybe too agreeable, doesn’t move much, possibly even boring. He is deprogrammed and Sweete agrees to another incarnation of her perfect mate with perhaps more realistic changes. This perfect mate comes to life as an Elvis-type gyrator who never stops moving and prancing. Another perfect mate
bust!

What does Sweete decide to do after these fiascos?

Note: I think we’ll leave the finale unknown. Come and see this funny, music-filled world premier rom com musical and you’ll find out!

Hurlbert shines as the young woman looking for love (sometimes in the wrong places). Her character evolves from a bubbly energetic woman to one who becomes more frazzled as her experiences in finding the perfect mate reach a dead end. It becomes apparent that she really doesn’t know what she wants. Hurlbert also has a lovely voice and “Ready for Love” exemplifies
that.

Nicholas is excellent as the multiple perfect mates. He is endearing and agreeable in one of his incarnations and extremely humorous as a gyrating Elvis-type in another version. He has great comedic skills and timing and his facial and body movements contribute to his delivery.

Miller does a great job of portraying Botelli as the dominating business woman intent on obtaining funds to produce the perfect mate. She is overbearing at times but she’s on a mission.

Buchheit as Moya delivers with the song “Moya’s Opinion”.

Only making a brief appearance as HomeBody, Cavanaugh is delightful as the human-like robot with the sweeper nozzle arm who consistently exclaims: “I love dirt”! “I love dirt.”

The set’s backdrop is a huge computer with multiple buttons and flashy lights. In front of this mammoth mechanism is a bulky and very large desk. Behind the desk are three people who at first glance appear to be computer operators. It is apparent as the show begins that this large
desk partially hides the fact that the musicians are on stage.

Wonderful direction by Carolyn Cantor.

Hats off to the Pittsburgh CLO Band.

This world premiere of Rom Com Musical of the future was developed and made in Pittsburgh, with book, music, lyrics by Dan Lipton and David Rossmer.

Its genesis is the result of SPARK, an initiative dedicated to the development of new small musicals.

-CED

“The Perfect Mate” is a production of the Pittsburgh CLO Kara Cabaret Series. Performances at the Greer Cabaret Theater run from February 2 through March 17. For more information, click here.

“Blues is in the Roots” runs until February 18 at the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall – 621 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here.

by Michael Buzzelli

Down and out Eliza Doolittle (Anette Barrios-Torres) becomes a guinea pig in an experiment concocted by Professor Henry Higgins (Jonathan Grunert) and his colleague, Colonel Hugh Pickering (John Adkison) in the Lerner and Loewe classic musical, “My Fair Lady.”

The show is based on George Bernard Shaw’s “Pygmalion,” which is based on a Greek myth of a Cypriot sculptor who carves a beautiful woman out of ivory, and falls in love with his own creation.

Higgins believes he can turn a sow’s ear into a silk purse with the power of proper pronunciation (say that three times fast). He invites Eliza into his home, where he begins to teach her phonetics. She spends the majority of her days reading and enunciating her vowels.

His experiment is a success! But, like Pygmalion, Higgins falls in love with his creation.

Eliza, however, is now more uncertain about her future than ever, finding no place to fit in, and runs off with Freddy Eynsford-Hill (Nathan Haltiwanger), a young man who has been mooning after Eliza since he first met her.

Eliza confides in Henry’s mother (Becky Saunders) in her atrium. When Henry goes to tell his mom that Eliza has fled, he finds her there and the two have an epic confrontation. It’s one of the many will-they-or-won’t-they moments that keeps you on the edge of your seat (skip the liquids, this show is three-hours long).

Side note: There’s a subplot with Eliza’s father, Alfred (Michael Hagarty) and his cronies, Harry (Nicholas Carroll) and Jamie (Ryan Farham)  that has very little to do with the main story, but has some of the best songs. “With a Little Bit of Luck” and “Get me to the Church on time” are completely superfluous to the plot, but are absolute highlights of the show.

Barrios-Torres is an amazing Eliza. She has an incredible vocal instrument, and she is lovely…er…”loverly.”

Adkison’s Pickering is a total joy. He plays the man with an effete allure. Its hard to nail nuance when you’re playing to the back row, but, somehow, Adkison manages it.

Hegarty is marvelous as the drunken lout of a father. He gets to perform two of best numbers in the show. “Get me to the Church on time” is a glorious tribute to excess. It’s a showstopper.

Haltiwanger’s “On the Street Where You Live” is a masterpiece.  Haltiwanger is a delightful Freddy. He is handsome, poised and a masterful singer. Let’s hope the character falls in love again.

Higgins’s mother is the kindest of high society matriarchs. The antitheses of the Dowager Countess of Grantham, Lady Violet Crawley. Saunders plays her to perfection.

Additional show highlights include Christopher Isolano as the wickedly funny Professor Zoltan Karpathy, and Maeghin Mueller’s Mrs. Pearce.

Let’s face it, Professor Henry Higgins is a disagreeable fellow, Frasier and Niles Crane (“Frasier”),  Charles Emerson Winchester, III (“M*A*S*H*”) with a touch of Oscar the Grouch (“Sesame Street”) rolled into one. He treats Eliza like his prize pig at the county fair.  Grunert plays him comically broad, but seems to lack the charm he needs to win her back. The writing is partially to blame here. The chauvinism doesn’t age well. In every other way, there is a beautiful timelessness to the production.

Fantastic sets by Michael Yeargan matched with flawless costumes by Catherine Zuber.

Special shout out to sound designers Marc Salzberg and Beth Lake. On opening night there wasn’t one glitch or popped P.  The sound was crisp and clear and it sounded like we were in the Higgins household.

Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. Fall in love all over again at “My Fair Lady.”

-MB

“My Fair Lady” runs from January 30th to February 4th at the Benedum Center, 237 Seventh Street, between Penn and Liberty, downtown Pittsburgh, PA 15222. For more information, click here. 

By: Joseph Szalinski

As much as theatre echoes the tried and true, as rehearsing is paramount in mounting productions, it can also be an art form full of experimentation. And I don’t just mean improv. Works that challenge not only the mores of society, but also the art form itself, are equally powerful and important, in addition to being difficult to helm. This makes ELSEWHERE Theatre Company’s rendition of the late Sarah Kane’s play, Crave, now running at Carnegie Stage, much more remarkable.

Katy Chmura directs this particular production, bringing the infamous show to life in tandem with a terrific cast and crew. Kane’s scripts have always been controversial, usually on account of violence, but her last two works, of which Crave is one, drew attention for the subject matter while also because of their unorthodoxy. There’s no story, per se, aside from some brief narratives that are shared randomly. Even the dialogue is without much, if any, context, leaving the delivery and intonation almost totally up to the actors and Chmura. Despite traditional theatre’s ability of being able to demonstrate a director’s abilities more clearly, abstract art is still reflective of their talent and style, and this production bears Chmura’s influence.

In keeping with the unusual approaches this play warrants, there are two casts for this show, which makes for an interesting dynamic. Unfortunately, this review only covers the first cast used, which consists of A (Joe York), B (Samantha Hawk), C (Jamie Rafacz), and M (Kauleen Cloutier), characters who are then portrayed by Amanda Weber, Marisa Rose Postava, Abbie Siecinski, and Harper York, respectively. It takes a special kind of thespian to tackle a role like these. Memorizing one’s own lines in the correct order would be hard enough, let alone having to remember them in relation to the equally random lines from one’s castmates, requires a great deal of skill, and deserves commendation, especially considering the reprehensible character(s) one plays, or at least characters who discuss a multitude of reprehensible things. It’s no small feat. Another strength of the cast is their physicality, whether that’s their coordination as a group, moving in dizzying trajectories or contorting their bodies into odd postures to better elicit a response from a line or expression.

Even for being a production that relies heavily on its cast and director, the crew as just as invaluable, as they are with everything else. The stage is simple: a perimeter of lights fencing off stations of varying heights for the performers to stand on and move around. While an uncomplicated setting can allow greater accessibly, which would attract more interest in staging said show, a more basic arrangement can serve as a gauge of the technical brilliance of a company too. Working within constrictions and embracing the minimalistic elements of this show are crucial in delivering a production that stands out. Lighting and sound were also done sparingly and tastefully, elevating the performance(s). The technical aspects of the production really helped bring audiences into the world being realized onstage.

Weird theatre is important, not just for theatre itself, but also for the artistic communities and artists in the area weird theatre is done in. It’s a great change-up from an oversaturation of overdone staples, musical or otherwise. Discussions are spurred; uncomfortable ideas are mulled over; we get to exist in uncommon emotional states. Theatre is more than just escapist entertainment, it’s an experience, a way to confront the awful parts of life, and Crave most definitely echoes this.

-JS

For more information, click here.

 

 

By Michael Buzzelli

On January 29, the Prime Stage Theatre company filled the New Hazlett Theater with kids competing for the High School Drama Awards.

Monteze Freeland, who credited his start in theater to Prime Stage, hosted the event. Local luminaries, who handed out awards, included Scenic Designer, Tony Ferrier; Saturday Light Brigade’s Larry Berger; Playwright Gab Cody; Playwright and actor Matt Henderson; Theatrical Power Couple, Daina Griffith and Dan Krell; Post-Gazette’s Performer of the Year, Wali Jamal; and Prime Stage co-founder Wayne Brinda, among others.

Several schools competed for the Best Drama Award. They were Avonworth High School, Carlynton High School, Our Lady of the Sacred Heart High School, North Allegheny Intermediate High School, Thomas Jefferson High School, Shady Side Academy Senior School, Pine-Richland High School, Deer Lakes High School, Quaker Valley High School, Penn Hills High School, Hampton High School, and Fox Chapel High School.

Throughout the ceremony, several high school’s performed scenes from their nominated shows.

 

The winners are:

Best Overall Production: Shady Side Academy Senior School for Macbeth in “Macbeth.”

Best Actor: Lincoln Marshal from Fox Chapel Area High School for Sheridan Whiteside in “The Man Who Came to Dinner.”

Best Actress: Jay Zhu from Shady Side Academy Senior School for Macbeth in  “Macbeth.”

Best Supporting Actor: Gavin Windows from Deer Lakes High School for Brett in “Winter Break.”

Best Supporting Actress: Elise Schaeffer from Deer Lakes High School for A.J. in “Winter Break.”

Best Student Director: Kiley Vande Geest & Andrew Kaehly for Hampton High School’s production of “Puffs.”

Best Student Stage Manager: Alec Mahathey  & Madeline Potts for Thomas Jefferson High School’s production of “Trap.”

Best Student Scenic Design and/or Fabrication: Jacob Baker, Margaret Sager & Lily Stalewski for Hampton High School’s production of “Puffs.”

Best Student Lighting Design and/or operation: Brandy Bandik for Thomas Jefferson High School’s production of “Trap.” Bandik also took the award for Best Student Use of Creative Special Effects.

Best Student Makeup Design and/or Application: Marena Miller for Our Lady of the Sacred Heart’s production of “We are the Sea.”

Best Student Sound Design and/or Operation: Laren Mutmanksy & Jeremy Thompson for Thomas Jefferson High School’s production of “Trap.”

Best Student Backstage Run Crew: Alexander Bi, Sam Davidheiser& Ada Lin for Shady Side Academy’s “Macbeth.”

Best Student Poster Design or Fabrication: Kaylee Dunham for Fox Chapel High School’s production of “The Man Who Came to Dinner.”

 

For more information about the Drama Awards, please click here.