Tag: Theatre

PITTSBURGH – Point Park University’s Conservatory Theatre Company will produce five works, including the world premiere of a new musical about the life of the legendary Pittsburgh Pirates Hall of Famer Roberto Clemente, in the 2014-2015 season.

The season begins Oct. 17 and runs through April 26, 2015, at the Pittsburgh Playhouse in the city’s Oakland neighborhood.

Written by Alki Steriopoulos, “21” will be directed by Richard Sabellico, who has directed Off-Broadway, national tours, and several Pittsburgh CLO productions, including The Music Man (starring Jeff Goldblum and Ed Begley Jr.), The Pajama Game, and Bells Are Ringing.

The season’s other productions are William Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy, As You Like It, directed by John Amplas, the musicals Urinetown, directed by Zeva Barzell, and The Boy Friend, directed by Jack Allison, and Tennessee Williams’ timeless classic, A Streetcar Named Desire, directed by Martin Giles.

The Conservatory Theatre Company 2014-2015 season subscriptions, which save patrons up to 35 percent off single-ticket prices, are available now. Five-show season packages are $50-$70. Those who purchase three subscriptions get the fourth free. Single tickets are $18-$20 and go on sale at 10 a.m., Tuesday, Sept. 2. To order tickets, contact the Pittsburgh Playhouse box office at 412.392.8000, or visit www.pittsburghplayhouse.com.

The 2014-2015 season:

“21”

Book, music, and lyrics by Alki Steriopoulos

Directed by Richard Sabellico

Friday, Oct. 17 – Sunday, Oct. 26

Rockwell Theatre

“21” tells the compelling story of the unparalleled life and death of baseball legend, Roberto Clemente, as well as the three women who were instrumental in making Clemente the man he was – his mother, Doña Luisa,  his wife, Vera, and his doting sister, Anairis.

Alki Steriopoulos’ extensive theatre resume includes conducting Those Were the Days on Broadway, Gifts of the Magi at the Lambs’, The Little Prince starring Tony-winner Daisy Egan at the John Houseman, and the 25th Anniversary production of Jacques Brel… at the Village Gate.  He played keyboards for Tommy, served as associate conductor for A Chorus Line, and conducted the U.S tour of Five Guys Named Moe.  He also musical directed Tony Award-winner Joel Gray in his solo portrayal of his father, Mickey Katz, at the Philadelphia Academy of Music, and conducted two-time Tony-nominee Bruce Adler in concert.

Richard Sabellico is an award winning director, seasoned Broadway actor, as well as an acting coach and script adapter. Sabellico directed, choreographed, and adapted the critically acclaimed American Jewish Theatre production of The Cocoanuts and its transfer to Broadway. He has also directed Wonderful Town at Lincoln Center, Leonard Bernstein: A Helluva Town at Rainbow and Stars, as well as a revised version of Jerry Herman’s first musical Milk and Honey. He was nominated for two Outer Critics Circle and one Drama Desk Award for his work on I Can Get It for You Wholesale and Rags. As an actor, he’s performed in seven Broadway shows, most notably as Rooster in Annie and as Pasty in Gypsy.

As You Like It

By William Shakespeare

Directed by John Amplas

Friday, Nov. 7 – Sunday, Nov. 23

Studio Theatre

A favorite among audiences, Shakespeare’s pastoral comedy, which features one of the most often-quoted speeches – “All the world’s a stage” – follows Rosalind as she flees her uncle’s court with her cousin Celia and the court jester, Touchstone, to find safety and love in the Forest of Arden.

A professor with the Conservatory of Performing Arts, John Amplas teaches all levels of acting and directing. He has served as both an actor and director in countless Pittsburgh Playhouse productions dating back to 1972. He is one of the founding members of the Playhouse Repertory Company and has served as associate artistic director since 1999. Most recently, he directed the world premiere of Soldier’s Heart for Point Park University’s professional theatre company, The REP, in September.

Urinetown

Book by Greg Kotis, music by Mark Hollmann, lyrics by Kotis and Hollmann

Directed by Zeva Barzell

Tuesday, Dec. 9 – Sunday, Dec. 14

Rauh Theatre

Winner of three Tony Awards, three Outer Critic’s Circle Awards, two Lucille Lortel Awards, and two Obie Awards, Urinetown parodies popular musicals and the Broadway musical form itself. Set in an undisclosed town where a 20-year drought has made private toilets unthinkable, Urinetown is a hilarious, irreverent and poignant musical about greed, corruption, love, and revolution.

Director Zeva Barzell has trained in London and New York City where she resided for many years. Professional acting credits include Off- and Off-Off-Broadway, where, among other roles, she originated the Great Lady in Robert Patrick’s Orpheus and Amerika, as well as performing in regional theater, summer stock, dinner theater, daytime television, industrials, and national voice over work. Credits include Sweeney Todd (Mrs. Lovett), Broadway (Lillian Rice), My Three Angels (Madame Parole), A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Titania), Annie Get Your Gun (Annie), Hello, Dolly! (Dolly), and Angels in America (Hannah). National directing and choreography credits include I Heard It at the Movies, Just Jerry, Once Upon a Mattress, You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (revival), Bye Bye Birdie, Hello, Dolly! Red Hot and Cole, Peter Pan, Godspell, Pride and Prejudice, Dracula, No U Turns?, Disney Days. Most recently, she directed the Point Park University Playhouse Jr. production of The 25^th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.

The Boy Friend

Book, music, and lyrics by Sandy Wilson

Directed by Jack Allison

Friday, Feb. 27 – Sunday, March 15

Rockwell Theatre

Set on the French Riviera during the Roaring Twenties, The Boy Friend premiered on the West End in England in 1953 and ran for more than 2,000 performances. It premiered the following year on Broadway and was revived in 1970. A film version, starring Twiggy and directed by Ken Russell, hit theaters in 1971.

Jack Allison has directed at most of the major regional theatres in the United States, Canada, and Europe, including, among others, The Walnut Street Theatre, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Cincinnati Opera and the North Shore Music Theatre. In New York, he has staged acclaimed productions at the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Circle Repertory Company. He premiered Cabaret at the National Theatre of Belgium. He has received prestigious awards for his direction, including three Florida Carbonell Awards and three Boston Globe Best of Season Awards. At the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera he served as resident director and staged more than 30 productions.

A Streetcar Named Desire

By Tennessee Williams

Directed by Martin Giles

Friday, April 17 – Sunday, April 26

Rauh Theatre

Tennessee Williams’ sultry, steamy classic needs no introduction. One of the greatest plays of the 20^th century, this 1948 Pulitzer Prize-winner opened on Broadway with a cast that featured Marlon Brando, Jessica Tandy, Kim Hunter and Karl Malden. In 1951, most of this cast – Vivien Leigh replaced Tandy as Blanche – and director Elia Kazan turned Williams’ play into an unforgettable film.

A popular Pittsburgh actor, director and writer, Martin Giles’ directing credits include many productions for The New Group Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director and playwright. He also directed productions in PICT’s BeckettFest and Synge Cycle. Best-known for his work on stage, he has performed for both Opera Theater of Pittsburgh and PICT. His Opera Theater credits include Beggar’s Holiday and Lost in the Stars. For PICT, his credits include The History Boys and What the Butler Saw. He is the 2002 Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Performer of the Year.

Andrew Paul and Phoenix Theatre board re-name company, announce summer plans for Pittsburgh premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet’s ROMANCE

Pittsburgh, PA – June 20, 2014. Long-time PICT artistic director and founder Andrew Paul and Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre founder and former director of theatre initiatives at the August Wilson Center Mark Clayton Southers have decided to part ways after just one production of their fledgling company, The Phoenix, but Paul and the Board of Directors have decided to re-name the company and continue with a 2014 season of two plays. “The two Artistic Director model simply didn’t work,” says Paul, “we work in very different ways and it proved impossible for Mark and me to adapt to one another’s methods. After much discussion, we have decided to separate. Mark will continue to produce through his excellent Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co. and the Board and I will continue on under this new moniker.” The newly minted Kinetic Theatre Co. will produce the Pittsburgh premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet’s Romance this summer, running July 17-August 2 at the Alloy Studios on Penn Avenue and a second play TBA, running from September 25-October 5 at The New Hazlett Theatre on Pittsburgh’s north-side. The mission of Kinetic Theatre Co. is three-fold: to explore the issues facing our diverse and rapidly changing world through the language of theatre, to value text, both classic and contemporary, as our primary source of inspiration, and to honor, value, and respectfully compensate the artist.

David Mamet meets the Marx Brothers in Romance, an uproarious courtroom comedy.  The play will star two of Pittsburgh’s go-to leading men, Patrick Jordan and David Whalen, alongside Matt DeCaro, who starred in the play’s Chicago premier at the Goodman Theatre. Patrick Jordan will play the defendant, a Jewish chiropractor. Jordan is the founder and artistic director of Pittsburgh’s Barebones Productions and recently starred in the acclaimed Barebones productions of The Motherfucker with the Hat and A Steady Rain. His conservative Christian, anti-semitic defense attorney will be played by David Whalen. Whalen played Bruce in The Phoenix’s production of Blue/Orange last November and recently appeared in Shaw’s Candida at Pittsburgh Public Theatre. He plays the father of Gus (the Ansel Elgort character) in the current hit film The Fault in Our Stars, based on the best-selling novel by John Green. Matt DeCaro played the judge in the Chicago premier of the play at the Goodman Theatre and repeats his acclaimed performance here. DeCaro is well-known to Pittsburgh audiences for his many collaborations with director Paul at PICT. He recently starred in Mary Zimmerman’s The White Snake at the Goodman and McCarter Theatres and in productions of Gypsy and The Merry Wives of Windsor at Chicago Shakespeare Theatre. The ensemble will include Kevin Brown (PICT’s Beautiful Dreamers, Comfort Zone, Jitney, and Radio Golf at Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co,) as the bailiff, Paul Guggenheimer (Bricolage’s The War of the Worlds, host of Essential Pittsburgh on WESA radio) as the prosecutor, John Reilly as the Doctor, and Point Park University graduate Andrew Swackhamer (No Name Players Viva los Bastarditos!) as Bernard.

Andrew Paul directed the acclaimed production of Joe Penhall’s Blue/Orange that launched The Phoenix last year. He recently directed a sold-out, extended run of David Ives’ The School for Lies at San Diego’s North Coast Repertory Theatre and a workshop of Edward Ravenscroft’s The London Cuckolds at Los Angeles’ classic repertory company, Antaeus Theatre. Paul previously co-founded the acclaimed Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre (PICT) and served as the company’s producing artistic director from 1996 to 2013.  Under his leadership, PICT produced more than a hundred plays, festivals devoted to the plays of Samuel Beckett, John Millington Synge, Harold Pinter, and Anton Chekhov, and two successful international tours.  His many PICT productions as director include the 2012 productions of Lee Hall’s The Pitmen Painters, Chekhov’s Ivanov, and David Ives’ The School for Lies, 2011’s productions of David Mamet’s Race and Alan Ayckbourn’s House and Garden (co-directed with Melissa Hill Grande), the 2010 productions of Shakespeare’s Othello, Pinter’s No Man’s Land, and Harold Brighouse’s Hobson’s Choice, and the 2009 productions of Alan Bennett’s The History Boys and Tom Stoppard’s Rock’n’Roll.   Andrew’s 2002 production of Friel’s Faith Healer starring Bingo O’Malley played to acclaim at thirteen venues in Ireland and Northern Ireland and he appeared as an actor in the 2003 PICT production of Shaw’s Major Barbara which performed 14 sold-out performances at the Galway Arts Festival and transferred to Dublin for three weeks of performances at the Pavilion Theatre.  In 2008, he directed and collaborated with David Hare on the non English language premiere of Stuff Happens at the Slaski Theatre in Katowice, Poland.  In 2010, Andrew was a featured speaker at the World Theatre Conference in Baku, Azerbaijan.

The design team for Romance reunites Paul with two of his favorite collaborators, scenic designer Gianni Downs and sound designer Elizabeth Atkinson. Downs is a faculty member at the University of Pittsburgh. His many designs for director Paul at PICT include The Pitmen Painters, The School for Lies, No Man’s Land, House & Garden, The History Boys, and Stuff Happens. Atkinson served as sound designer and composer for The Phoenix production of Blue/Orange and recently re-united with director Paul on the San Diego production of The School for Lies at North Coast Repertory Theatre. Her many PICT designs include the Beckett, Synge, Pinter, and Chekhov festivals. CMU graduate students Julianne D’Errico and Keith Truax will design the costumes and lighting. Production stage manager is A.J. Bradshaw.

This autumn, Kinetic Theatre Co., thanks to the generosity of Richard E. Rauh, The Steinberg Charitable Foundation, and Dr. Michael Ramsay, will begin a two-play residency at the beautiful New Hazlett Theatre on Pittsburgh’s historic Northside. The two plays will be announced this summer, with the first production running September 25-October 5, 2014 and the second running April 16-May 3, 2015.

The Alloy Studios, former home of the Dance Alloy, is located at 5530 Penn Avenue, between Negley and Stratford Avenues and across the street from the restaurant Salt of the Earth. There will be a special Pay-What-You-Can industry night performance on Monday, July 28^th.   Single tickets for Romance at Alloy Studios are available now! For tickets, phone 1-888-718-4253, visit Showclix online at www.showclix.com/event/KineticTheatreCoROMANCE, or visit Kinetic Theatre Company online at www.kinetictheatre.org.

Kinetic Theatre Company

Mainstage Productions

2014 Season

Romance by David Mamet

A Pittsburgh Premiere

Directed by Andrew Paul

Starring David Whalen, Patrick Jordan, Kevin Brown, Paul Guggenheimer, Andrew Swackhamer, John Reilly, and Matt DeCaro

Alloy Studios, 5530 Penn Avenue

(near Negley and across from the restaurant Salt of the Earth)

July 17-August 2, 2014

Tickets:

Advance Single Tickets:      $30

           At the door:                           $35

25 and Under (w/ valid ID) $15

Artists            :                                   $20

To Purchase tickets online go to:

www.showclix.com/event/KineticTheatreCoROMANCE

Call Showclix at 1-888-718-4253 or visit Kinetic Theatre Co. online at www.kinetictheatre.org

Performance Schedule

Week One:

Thursday and Friday, July 17 & 18 – previews at 8:00pm, Saturday, July 19 (opening night) at 8:00pm, and Sunday, July 20 at 2:00pm.

Week Two:

Wednesday-Sunday, July 23-27 all performances at 8:00pm

Week Three:

Monday, July 28 (pay-what-you-can industry night) at 8:00pm, Wednesday, July 30 at 8:00pm, Friday, August 1 at 8:00pm, and Saturday, August 2 at 2:00pm AND 8:00pm.

There is no performance on Thursday, July 31.

PITTSBURGH – The 2014-2015 season of The REP, Point Park University’s professional theatre company, will include two world premieres by Pittsburgh playwrights, a classic by Nobel laureate John Steinbeck and a hilarious comedy about an American singer renowned for her lack of rhythm, tone and especially an ability to sing.

The season runs Sept. 4 through April 12, 2015, at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, 222 Craft Ave., in the city’s Oakland neighborhood.

The 2014-2015 season opens with Steinbeck’s timeless tale of two migrant workers in the Great Depression, Of Mice and Men, directed by Robert A. Miller, Point Park University’s Conservatory of Performing Arts Distinguished Master Artist-in-Residence.

The REP will next present Tomé Cousin directing Souvenir, Stephen Temperley’s uproarious and poignant comedy about the infamous soprano Florence Foster Jenkins, whose inability to carry a tune did not prevent her from selling out Carnegie Hall. Variety called the play, “A beguiling comic jewel with a heart,” and The Boston Globe raved, “There aren’t many theatrical experiences as good as Souvenir.”

The REP’s remaining productions in the season will be two world premieres of works by Pittsburgh playwrights – Gaby Cody’s riotous farce, Prussia: 1866, directed by Kim Martin, and Anthony McKay’s stirring family drama, Endless Lawns, directed by Greg Lehane.

The REP 2014-2015 season subscriptions, which save patrons up to 35 percent off single ticket prices, are available now and can be purchased for $64-$72. Single tickets, ranging from $24-$27, will go on sale at 10 a.m., Monday, Aug. 4. Those who purchase three subscriptions get the fourth free. To order a season subscription, contact the Pittsburgh Playhouse box office at 412.392.8000. For single tickets, when they become available, or more information about the Pittsburgh Playhouse, visit www.pittsburghplayhouse.com.

The REP’s 2014-2015 season:

Of Mice and Men
By John Steinbeck
Directed by Robert A. Miller

Friday, Sept. 5 – Sunday, Sept. 21, preview Sept. 4
Rauh Theatre

Adapted for the stage by Steinbeck from his novella, Of Mice and Men tells the story of two migrant workers, George and Lennie, and their dream of settling down one day on their own piece of land.

Of Mice and Men premiered on Broadway with Broderick Crawford and Wallace Ford, and was named Best Play by the New York Drama Critics’ Circle in 1938. Brooks Atkinson of The New York Times said about the play, “Steinbeck has caught on paper two odd and lovable farm vagrants whose fate is implicit in their characters.” Steinbeck’s work has been revived many times on Broadway, most recently earlier this year with James Franco and Chris O’Dowd in the lead roles.

Acclaimed Hollywood producer, director and screenwriter, Robert A. Miller, is best known for producing The Crucible, nominated for two Academy Awards and featuring Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Joan Allen and Paul Scofield. Miller also produced Focus, starring William H. Macy, Laura Dern and David Paymer. His directorial credits include Company of Angels in Hollywood, and Bend in the River, a live PBS broadcast featuring Ken Kesey. Miller directed several plays for The REP, including his first-ever production of his father’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play Death of a Salesman in 2008. He also directed The REP’s world premieres of The Umbrella Man in 2010 and A Child’s Guide to Heresy in 2011, and is a producer of the movie The Umbrella Man, filmed in 2012 in Pittsburgh and Dallas.  Miller has served as a Distinguished Master Artist in Residence at the Conservatory of Performing Arts since 2009.

Souvenir

By Stephen Temperley
Directed by Tomé Cousin

Friday, Sept. 26 – Sunday, Oct. 12, preview Sept. 25
Studio Theatre

Told through the eyes of her accompanist, Cosme McMoon, Souvenir recounts the remarkable life of Florence Foster Jenkins, an eccentric wealthy socialite who suffered under the delusion that she was a great soprano when, in reality, her voice made people cringe. Nevertheless, growing fans packed her annual recitals at the Ritz Carlton hotel and single concert at Carnegie Hall in 1944 sold out in two hours.  “What is extraordinary about Souvenir is that Temperley has made Jenkins, for all her foolishness, a remarkably sympathetic woman. You never doubt that Jenkins has tremendous dedication to the composers whose work she massacres,” wrote the New York Daily News.

Point Park University graduate Tome’ Cousin is an internationally recognized director, choreographer, educator, performer and creator of musical theater works, ballets, films, new opera, song cycles and art installations, as well as a published author. Cousin has appeared on Broadway in Contact, A Free Man of Color, and Dreamgirls, national tours of Dreamgirls, My One and Only, and A Chorus Line, and internationally in Bob Fosse’s Sweet Charity (Switzerland), The Who’s Tommy, La Cage aux Folles, Starlight Express, and Tabaluga und Lilli (Germany). He serves as the directing supervisor for original director/choreographer Susan Stroman’s Tony Award-winning musical Contact, having staged 12 companies worldwide including premieres in Hungary, Korea and Poland. Earlier this year, he directed By the Way, Meet Vera Stark for The REP. Cousin teaches at Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama.

Prussia: 1866
By Gab Cody
Directed by Kim Martin

World Premiere
Friday, Feb. 6 – Sunday, Feb. 22, 2015, preview Feb. 5
Rauh Theatre

Written by Pittsburgh playwright and Point Park alum Gab Cody, Prussia: 1866 is a farcical examination of philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche and his proto-feminist friends. When confronted with a difficult life decision so many have asked, “What would Nietzsche do?” Prussia: 1866 asks this question and finds the answer is a farce. While some of the details of Nietzsche’s life may not exactly jive with the details of the play, we do know, however he was alive and 22 and living in Prussia, and was, we can imagine, a passionate and conniving young man at the time.

Kim Martin has directed The REP’s productions of Becky’s New Car, The Lonesome West, and Mojo. A graduate of Point Park University, Martin has directed, acted in, and stage-managed more than 150 productions. Some favorites include Glengarry Glen Ross, Guys & Dolls, Drinking in America, Deathtrap, The Dumb Waiter, Annie, La Ronde and Three Sisters. Martin is the Director of Production at the Playhouse, and serves as an adjunct faculty member instructing students pursuing a technical theatre degree.

Endless Lawns
By Anthony McKay
Directed by Greg Lehane

World Premiere

Friday, March 27 – Sunday, April 12, 2015, preview March 26
Studio Theatre

Written by Pittsburgh playwright and Carnegie Mellon University professor Anthony McKay, Endless Lawns is an emotionally trenchant story about two sisters and the men who love and care for them.

McKay, who received an acting degree from CMU in 1969, has appeared on Broadway with the Negro Ensemble Company in The First Breeze of Summer and in Jean Kerr’s Lunch Hour with Gilda Radner. Off-Broadway, he appeared in Moonchildren, Incident At Vichy, and Clarence at the Roundabout Theatre.

A professor of drama and music at Carnegie Mellon, Greg Lehane has directed plays in New York City, where he was a founding member of Primary Stages Company and directed five New York premieres with that company. His work has been seen in American Regional Theatres, in Canada and in Egypt, where he was a Distinguished Lecturer in Drama at the American University in Cairo. He directed a trilogy of Greek tragedies for the Moscow Art Theatre School. He also has directed television programs for all three networks, PBS, TBS, Lifetime, Nickelodeon, USA, The Disney Channel, in London, and in France for worldwide syndication. He has been nominated for an Emmy for Outstanding Direction twice.

by Michael “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant Contributor.

“To take the sardines, or to leave them!” That is the far less noble question that Dotty Otley (the amazing Helena Ruoti) must ask herself in the first act of “Nothing On!” the tongue-in-cheek play-within-a-play in “Noises Off” now playing at the Pittsburgh Public Theater.

There is much ado about “Nothing On,” as the characters perform the final dress rehearsal of the auspicious play. Otley’s remembering her words but not her actions. She’s not the only one who isn’t off book.

Director Lloyd Dallas (Michael MacCauley) is so exasperated that he’s about to throw his hands up in the air and resign from sheer frustration. Meanwhile, his latest squeeze, Brooke Ashton (Laura Woyasz), is squeezing out her dress on stage, getting close to having nothing on in “Nothing On.” Ashton is pretty in pink underwear and suddenly it’s immediately clear while a professional director would cast Ashton, a talentless and vapid bimbo.

“Noises Off” has many plot twists, actually plot trysts. Brooke does Dallas. The director has also popped off with Assistant Stage Manager Poppy Norton-Taylor (Karen Baum). Leading lady Otley is coupling with the much younger Garry Lejeune (Noah Plomgren), in a May-December affair. Seasoned theater vet Belinda Blair (Garrett Long) has her eye on Frederick Fellowes (Preston Dyar), who’s wife has just left him. Selsdon Mowbray (Ralph Redpath) is in love with liquor. It’s quicker, and rarely disappoints unlike human lovers.

Things are about to get ridiculously crazy. It’s a door-slamming bedroom farce ramped up on ecstasy. Playwright Michael Frayn has created a frenetic ballet, with actors zigzagging around each other with deft choreography. Several games are going on at once. There’s a rousing round of Keep-a-way played with a bottle of booze and the aforementioned alcoholic. There’s a game of tug of war played between two sets of jealous lovers. Dyar’s Frederick Fellowes, obliviously, becomes the monkey in the middle. There are missing contact lenses, nose bleeds and a several slimy plates of sardines. The sardines, ironically, act as a red herring. You think you’re supposed to be paying attention to them, but it’s quite alright if you lose track of the canned critters. In the final act, they are everywhere.

Director Don Stephenson is juggling a lot of balls in the air, and hopefully he’s far less exasperated than his theatrical counterpart, Lloyd Dallas. Stephenson does an amazing job of keeping it all together.

Karen Baum, Helena Ruoti, Noah Plomgren.  PHOTO: Pittsburgh Public Theater.

There are several standout performances in “Noises Off.”

Ruoti is consistently superb. Recently, Ruoti was recognized by the Allegheny County Council with a proclamation honoring her contribution to women in the arts as part of 2014’s Women’s History Month. She deserves every accolade.

Woyasz has one of the most difficult roles. Her character, Brooke Ashton, is a dimwit, and Woyasz has to convince the audience that her character is inept and untalented. The real life girl is anything but. Woyasz is a shining star playing a dim bulb.

Preston Dyar plays the obtuse Frederick Fellowes oblivious to almost everything going on around him, Long hands in a terrific performance, and Baum is delightful as the much-maligned Assistant Stage Manager Poppy Norton-Taylor. Scott Cote plays Tim Allgood, the Stage Manager, with aplomb. Redpath’s stumbling drunk might be the nicest character in the bunch. He’s also a joy to watch.

The stage was so meticulously crafted. Michael Schweikardt’s set is lovingly rendered. It’s nearly an exact replica of the 1992 film version.

The first act is funny, but the second act is so hilariously and dizzyingly played you might need an oxygen tent to catch your breath from laughing. There are a plethora of laugh-out-loud moments. Unfortunately, things fall apart in the final act. In the third act, the characters have lost their charm and wit and just bumble about. They become much less likable, but that is, unfortunately, the point to all of it. Frayn’s ending is a bit abrupt and loose ends are strewn about like the aforementioned spilled sardines. However, the first two acts are worth the price of admission.

Catch “Noises Off” at the Pittsburgh Public Theater through June 29. Trust me; you’ll be glad you did.

Written by local playwright Philip Real, Cactus is a World Premiere play, produced as the final show of their third season, by 12 Peers Theater. A loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Cactus moves the events to the Arizona border. Two conflicting vampire families patrol the area; one working with the United States Government to kill illegal border crossers, the other protecting them. When Ron and Julie, two seemingly teenaged vampires from the opposing families, fall in love, will it bring their families closer together, or drive them farther apart? Cactus is a play about doing whatever it takes to protect the people you care about, and the dangers that can complicate even the best intentions.

Founding Artistic Director Vince Ventura and Producing Artistic Director Sara Fisher have been working with Philip Real on this project for over two years. Ventura and Fisher saw Real do a reading of the first scene of an early draft in January of 2012, and knew immediately that they wanted to help Philip develop the play. Ventura says:  “We fell in love with the potential, themes, and heart of this play. We jumped at the chance to help Philip develop this play, and over the past two years, Cactus has seen numerous drafts and readings. All the while, Philip has been making this play better, draft after draft.”

About the Playwright

Philip Real’s plays have been produced in San Francisco by Theatre Rhinoceros (The Corner of the Eye), American Conservatory Theater (Stronger and Stronger, conservatory production), and The Marsh (Labels), as well as in Los Angeles at Celebration Theater (Dessert), and San Diego by Diversionary Theater (Lunch), and in Pittsburgh by Future Tenant (The Unknown Artist, directed by Kelly Van Aken). His work has been published in West Coast Plays, James White Review, and Callboard. He also writes about wine for Table Magazine. He has a B.A. in Speech and Drama from Catholic University and has studied playwriting with David Mamet in Chicago and Oscar Eustis in San Francisco. He is a member of the Dramatists Guild.

About the Company

12 Peers Theater was founded in 2011.  Taking the name from the Twelve Peers of Charlemagne, its mission is to provide challenging and engaging theater for Pittsburgh audiences. 12 Peers Theater highlights social, political, and ethical issues in classical and contemporary works exploring myth and cultural identity, endeavoring to open a dialogue with the audience.

Cactus performs June 27 – July 13, Friday–Saturday, 8 p.m., Sunday 7p.m., Monday July 7, 7p.m.,

Tickets $15in advance, $17 at the door / $12 with student or senior ID.

All shows at The Grey Box Theatre, Lawrenceville, 3595 Butler Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15201

Tickets & Info: www.12peerstheater.org