University of Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre
Encyclopedia
The University of Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre, or Pitt Rep, is the flagship theatre company for the University of Pittsburgh
Department of Theatre Arts. Pitt Rep features students on stage with professional actors and teaching artists staging public performances of classic masterpieces, contemporary productions, and student-directed labs. The company's primary performance spaces include the University's Stephen Foster Memorial
and Cathedral of Learning
. Pitt Rep also runs the Shakespeare-in-the-Schools program which tours classic theater for K-12 students throughout the Pittsburgh area.
; Morgan Neville, the son of Presley Neville
; and future U.S. Congressman and Senator William Wilkins
. This club was frequently mentioned by travelers commenting on the early culture of Pittsburgh, however it was disbanded by university faculty in 1833 because, according to Agnes Starrett's 1937 history of the university, "instead of Shakespeare
, the members had begun to produce vulgar modern comedies".
Modern theatre at the university has its origins when the school was named the Western University of Pennsylvania, often referred to as WUP. On January 15, 1908, the Cap and Gown Club was founded by John S. Ashbrook and Charles R. Porter, along with students, graduates, and faculty of the Dental Department
. The club was the first dramatic group at the university and staged original, all-male, musical comedies often with themes of local or university interest. The first production by the group was In Wupland, which was staged at Pittsburgh's Nixon Theater on April 24, 1908, followed by another performance at the Duquesne Theater on May 23, 1908. Early members of the group included George M. Kirk who penned the lyrics to the university's fight song, "Hail to Pitt
", for a production of the club's Here or There at the Carnegie Music Hall in the spring of 1910, after the university had changed its name to the University of Pittsburgh in 1908. The increasing recognition and reputation of the club in the 1910s precipitated multiple performances of its productions and the touring of areas outside of the city into the surrounding areas of Western Pennsylvania
as far away as Altoona
and Erie
, as well as in Youngstown, Ohio
and Jamestown, New York
. By 1929, the club's productions had become so profitable (some of the profit was directed into the Alumni Hall
Building Fund), and had gained such a level of importance, that the graduate club configuration was no longer sufficient to run the club. Therefore a corporate charter was obtained from the state in order to reorganized the club's structure with club founder Ashbrook (D.D.S. 1911) elected as its first president. Among the Cap and Gown club's alumni were Hollywood stars Dutch Hendrian
, Regis Toomey
and Gene Kelly
, along with Kelly's brother Fred, who became an influential choreographer and television producer and director. Following his graduation in 1933, Gene Kelly remained active with the Cap and Gown Club, serving as its director from 1934 to 1938. The club's 1938 production, Pickets, Please!, featured the debut of the university's other major spirt song, the "Pitt Victory Song
". The club thrived for 34 consecutive years before it became dormant in 1942 due to the entrance of the United States into World War II
. Following the war, the club was revived in 1946 and staged a production in December of that year, followed by its 36th and final production in 1947, although it lingered on as a club until 1978.
Meanwhile in 1916, another extracurricular student theatre group, the Pitt Players, was organized by George M. Baird who wrote the lyrics to the University of Pittsburgh Alma Mater
. The Pitt Players was a co-ed student club originally focused on more serious, non-musical dramatic presentations than the Cap and Gown Club. This club evolved to put on multiple theatrical productions each year, and its 1947 production of Joan of Lorraine
, the first off-Broadway presentation of the play, received national publicity on Fred Waring
's radio program. Later that year, both the Cap and Gown Club and the Pitt Players came under the direction of Harvey J. Pope, who arrived at Pitt from Northwestern University
Workship Theater to serve as a permanent dramatic coach at Pitt and as a faculty member of the speech and drama departments. Following their 1947 show, the Cap and Gown Club became inactive and the Pitt Players sought to widen the scope of their productions, which came to include musicals. In 1961, the university's Speech Department presented its first public production stemming from its dramatic theatre class, "Theatre 11". The play, Eugene O'Neill
's The Hairy Ape
, was held in early October in the Cathedral of Learning room 1126. It was thus during the early 1960s, with the university now providing theatre training and production through its Department of Speech, that the Pitt Players, having common theatrical coaches and staff with university's academic theatre program, disappeared as a separate entity as it melded into the Department of Speech and Theater Arts' University Theatre, although casts of the University Theatre's productions were still often popularly referred to as the "Pitt Players". The University Theatre, which became known as Pitt Theatre, became professionally oriented in 1981, and the Division of Theatre Arts of the Department of Speech and Theater Arts was spun off into a new department of the university, the Department of Theatre Arts, on October 21, 1982. The department's theatre group was then renamed to its current moniker, the University of Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre, in 1999.
. At 478 seats, the Charity Randall Theatre is the largest space, followed by the 151-seat Henry Heymann Theatre on the memorial's lower level. The third space is the black box
Studio Theatre located in the lower level of the adjacent Cathedral of Learning
near the Department of Theatre Art's training classrooms and costume, scene, and properties shops.
theater, located in the Stephen Foster Memorial and formerly known as the Foster Memorial Theatre, was renamed as the Charity Randall Theatre following a $2 million renovation in 2003. The theater was reconditioned to bring it up to code, update its equipment, and replicate the original conditions of the auditorium's features. These renovations were undertaken with donations from the Charity Randall Foundation which was established in 1977 to remember the sister of Pitt graduate and businessman Robert Randall and to support her interest in the arts after her death in a car accident. The plush, deep red seats, identical to those first installed New York
's Radio City Music Hall
, were reupholstered and their wrought iron frames and oak arms refinished to their original 1930s condition. The number of seats were reduced from 572 to 478, including the addition of 24 new freestanding balcony seats. Other auditorium improvements include new carpeting and new lighting that highlights the vaulted stone ceiling, as well as a restoration of the original Samuel Yellin designed chandelier. In addition, state-of-the-art sound, lighting, and production equipment was added, as well as a new rigging system, actors' restroom, and various stage improvements. Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre
has staged many productions in this space.
with seating on three sides. The theater honors the university's longtime scenic designer, and theater donor, Henry Heymann, who taught scenic design from 1968 until he retired in 1993. The Heymann Theatre was created in 2000 in a space that formerly served as the memorial's social room, which hosted USO
dances during World War II
. A little-known tunnel also extends from the Heymann Theatre to under the loading dock level of the Cathedral of Learning, connecting the two buildings. During the 2003 renovations to the memorial, the downstairs dressing room area was reconfigured to accommodate three "star" dressing rooms and men's and women's showers. Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre
has also staged many productions in this space.
in that it is a square, unadorned room with black walls, a flat floor, and chairs that can be moved or removed to accommodate a particular production. It is home to student-directed laboratory productions, play readings, Dark Night Cabaret, and plays host to Pittsburgh's longest-running theater show, Friday Nite Improvs
, started in 1989 by graduate theatre students. This space has also been home to productions by Unseam'd Shakespeare Company
and Cup-A-Jo Productions
.
University of Pittsburgh
The University of Pittsburgh, commonly referred to as Pitt, is a state-related research university located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded as Pittsburgh Academy in 1787 on what was then the American frontier, Pitt is one of the oldest continuously chartered institutions of...
Department of Theatre Arts. Pitt Rep features students on stage with professional actors and teaching artists staging public performances of classic masterpieces, contemporary productions, and student-directed labs. The company's primary performance spaces include the University's Stephen Foster Memorial
Stephen Foster Memorial
The Stephen Collins Foster Memorial is a performing arts center, museum and archive at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
and Cathedral of Learning
Cathedral of Learning
The Cathedral of Learning, a Pittsburgh landmark listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
. Pitt Rep also runs the Shakespeare-in-the-Schools program which tours classic theater for K-12 students throughout the Pittsburgh area.
History
The heritage of theatre at the University of Pittsburgh stretches back to at least 1810 when the Thespian Society was organized by students of the forerunner of the university, the Pittsburgh Academy, in order to stage popular comedies and musical entertainment. These students included Henry Marie Brackenridge, the son of university founder Hugh Henry BrackenridgeHugh Henry Brackenridge
Hugh Henry Brackenridge was an American writer, lawyer, judge, and justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.A frontier citizen in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, he founded both the Pittsburgh Academy, now the University of Pittsburgh, and the Pittsburgh Gazette, still operating today as the...
; Morgan Neville, the son of Presley Neville
Presley Neville
Presley Neville was an American military officer, and state official who served in the American Revolutionary War.Presley Neville was born at the family home in Winchester, Virginia, to General John Neville and Winifred Oldham Neville. He served as the Marquis de Lafayette's aide-de-camp for two...
; and future U.S. Congressman and Senator William Wilkins
William Wilkins (U.S. politician)
William Wilkins was an American lawyer, jurist, and politician from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. During his career, he served in both houses of the Pennsylvania State Legislature, and in all three branches of the United States federal government, including service as a United States federal judge, as...
. This club was frequently mentioned by travelers commenting on the early culture of Pittsburgh, however it was disbanded by university faculty in 1833 because, according to Agnes Starrett's 1937 history of the university, "instead of Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, the members had begun to produce vulgar modern comedies".
Modern theatre at the university has its origins when the school was named the Western University of Pennsylvania, often referred to as WUP. On January 15, 1908, the Cap and Gown Club was founded by John S. Ashbrook and Charles R. Porter, along with students, graduates, and faculty of the Dental Department
University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine
The University of Pittsburgh School of Dental Medicine, located in Pittsburgh, PA, is one of Pitt’s six schools of the health sciences and is closely affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center....
. The club was the first dramatic group at the university and staged original, all-male, musical comedies often with themes of local or university interest. The first production by the group was In Wupland, which was staged at Pittsburgh's Nixon Theater on April 24, 1908, followed by another performance at the Duquesne Theater on May 23, 1908. Early members of the group included George M. Kirk who penned the lyrics to the university's fight song, "Hail to Pitt
Hail to Pitt
"Hail to Pitt" is the most traditional fight song of the University of Pittsburgh, which is commonly referred to as Pitt. The saying "Hail to Pitt!" is also the most traditional and commonly used slogan of the University of Pittsburgh and its athletics teams. The slogan is frequently used in...
", for a production of the club's Here or There at the Carnegie Music Hall in the spring of 1910, after the university had changed its name to the University of Pittsburgh in 1908. The increasing recognition and reputation of the club in the 1910s precipitated multiple performances of its productions and the touring of areas outside of the city into the surrounding areas of Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania
Western Pennsylvania consists of the western third of the state of Pennsylvania in the United States. Pittsburgh is the largest city in the region, with a metropolitan area population of about 2.4 million people, and serves as its economic and cultural center. Erie, Altoona, and Johnstown are its...
as far away as Altoona
Altoona, Pennsylvania
-History:A major railroad town, Altoona was founded by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1849 as the site for a shop complex. Altoona was incorporated as a borough on February 6, 1854, and as a city under legislation approved on April 3, 1867, and February 8, 1868...
and Erie
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
, as well as in Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown, Ohio
Youngstown is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Mahoning County; it also extends into Trumbull County. The municipality is situated on the Mahoning River, approximately southeast of Cleveland and northwest of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania...
and Jamestown, New York
Jamestown, New York
Jamestown is a city in Chautauqua County, New York in the United States. The population was 31,146 at the 2010 census.The City of Jamestown is adjacent to Town of Ellicott and is at the southern tip of Chautauqua Lake...
. By 1929, the club's productions had become so profitable (some of the profit was directed into the Alumni Hall
Eberly Hall
Eberly Hall is an academic building on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Designed by architect Benno Janssen and dedicated in 1921, Eberly Hall was originally named Alumni Hall, and is still sometimes referred to as "Old Alumni Hall"...
Building Fund), and had gained such a level of importance, that the graduate club configuration was no longer sufficient to run the club. Therefore a corporate charter was obtained from the state in order to reorganized the club's structure with club founder Ashbrook (D.D.S. 1911) elected as its first president. Among the Cap and Gown club's alumni were Hollywood stars Dutch Hendrian
Dutch Hendrian
Oscar George "Dutch" Hendrian was an American actor and former American football player in the National Football League.-Football career:...
, Regis Toomey
Regis Toomey
John Regis Toomey was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey and attended Peabody High School...
and Gene Kelly
Gene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
, along with Kelly's brother Fred, who became an influential choreographer and television producer and director. Following his graduation in 1933, Gene Kelly remained active with the Cap and Gown Club, serving as its director from 1934 to 1938. The club's 1938 production, Pickets, Please!, featured the debut of the university's other major spirt song, the "Pitt Victory Song
Pitt Victory Song
The Pitt Victory Song, one of the most popular and widely used fight songs of the University of Pittsburgh, is often played in conjunction with Hail to Pitt and the Panther Song. Few people know the rarely heard first portion of the song, before the chorus. Lyrics were by G. Norman Reis and...
". The club thrived for 34 consecutive years before it became dormant in 1942 due to the entrance of the United States into World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Following the war, the club was revived in 1946 and staged a production in December of that year, followed by its 36th and final production in 1947, although it lingered on as a club until 1978.
Meanwhile in 1916, another extracurricular student theatre group, the Pitt Players, was organized by George M. Baird who wrote the lyrics to the University of Pittsburgh Alma Mater
University of Pittsburgh Alma Mater
The Alma mater of the University of Pittsburgh was adopted soon after the University changed its name in 1908 from the Western University of Pennsylvania to its current moniker. Lyrics were written by George M. P. Baird, class of 1909 and were set to the tune of what was then the Austrian National...
. The Pitt Players was a co-ed student club originally focused on more serious, non-musical dramatic presentations than the Cap and Gown Club. This club evolved to put on multiple theatrical productions each year, and its 1947 production of Joan of Lorraine
Joan of Lorraine
Joan of Lorraine is a 1946 play-within-a-play by Maxwell Anderson. It is about an acting company who stages a dramatization of the story of Joan of Arc and the effect that the story has on them. As in the musical Man of La Mancha, most of the actors in the drama play two or more roles...
, the first off-Broadway presentation of the play, received national publicity on Fred Waring
Fred Waring
Fredrick Malcolm Waring was a popular musician, bandleader and radio-television personality, sometimes referred to as "America's Singing Master" and "The Man Who Taught America How to Sing." He was also a promoter, financial backer and namesake of the Waring Blendor, the first modern electric...
's radio program. Later that year, both the Cap and Gown Club and the Pitt Players came under the direction of Harvey J. Pope, who arrived at Pitt from Northwestern University
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
Workship Theater to serve as a permanent dramatic coach at Pitt and as a faculty member of the speech and drama departments. Following their 1947 show, the Cap and Gown Club became inactive and the Pitt Players sought to widen the scope of their productions, which came to include musicals. In 1961, the university's Speech Department presented its first public production stemming from its dramatic theatre class, "Theatre 11". The play, Eugene O'Neill
Eugene O'Neill
Eugene Gladstone O'Neill was an American playwright and Nobel laureate in Literature. His poetically titled plays were among the first to introduce into American drama techniques of realism earlier associated with Russian playwright Anton Chekhov, Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen, and Swedish...
's The Hairy Ape
The Hairy Ape
-Plot :The play tells the story of a brutish, unthinking laborer known as Yank, as he searches for a sense of belonging in a world controlled by the rich...
, was held in early October in the Cathedral of Learning room 1126. It was thus during the early 1960s, with the university now providing theatre training and production through its Department of Speech, that the Pitt Players, having common theatrical coaches and staff with university's academic theatre program, disappeared as a separate entity as it melded into the Department of Speech and Theater Arts' University Theatre, although casts of the University Theatre's productions were still often popularly referred to as the "Pitt Players". The University Theatre, which became known as Pitt Theatre, became professionally oriented in 1981, and the Division of Theatre Arts of the Department of Speech and Theater Arts was spun off into a new department of the university, the Department of Theatre Arts, on October 21, 1982. The department's theatre group was then renamed to its current moniker, the University of Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre, in 1999.
Performance spaces
Pitt Rep has three primary performance spaces of various configurations and sizes, with the two largest located in the historic Stephen Foster MemorialStephen Foster Memorial
The Stephen Collins Foster Memorial is a performing arts center, museum and archive at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA....
. At 478 seats, the Charity Randall Theatre is the largest space, followed by the 151-seat Henry Heymann Theatre on the memorial's lower level. The third space is the black box
Black box theater
The black box theater is a relatively recent innovation, consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor.-History:...
Studio Theatre located in the lower level of the adjacent Cathedral of Learning
Cathedral of Learning
The Cathedral of Learning, a Pittsburgh landmark listed in the National Register of Historic Places, is the centerpiece of the University of Pittsburgh's main campus in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States...
near the Department of Theatre Art's training classrooms and costume, scene, and properties shops.
Charity Randall Theatre
The university's main 478-seat traditional prosceniumProscenium
A proscenium theatre is a theatre space whose primary feature is a large frame or arch , which is located at or near the front of the stage...
theater, located in the Stephen Foster Memorial and formerly known as the Foster Memorial Theatre, was renamed as the Charity Randall Theatre following a $2 million renovation in 2003. The theater was reconditioned to bring it up to code, update its equipment, and replicate the original conditions of the auditorium's features. These renovations were undertaken with donations from the Charity Randall Foundation which was established in 1977 to remember the sister of Pitt graduate and businessman Robert Randall and to support her interest in the arts after her death in a car accident. The plush, deep red seats, identical to those first installed New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall is an entertainment venue located in New York City's Rockefeller Center. Its nickname is the Showplace of the Nation, and it was for a time the leading tourist destination in the city...
, were reupholstered and their wrought iron frames and oak arms refinished to their original 1930s condition. The number of seats were reduced from 572 to 478, including the addition of 24 new freestanding balcony seats. Other auditorium improvements include new carpeting and new lighting that highlights the vaulted stone ceiling, as well as a restoration of the original Samuel Yellin designed chandelier. In addition, state-of-the-art sound, lighting, and production equipment was added, as well as a new rigging system, actors' restroom, and various stage improvements. Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre
Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre
Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre was founded founded in 1996 by Andrew S. Paul and Stephanie Riso in Pittsburgh. PICT has, in 12 short years emerged as a significant contributor to the cultural fabric of Pittsburgh with almost 2,000 loyal season subscribers, and annual attendance of over 23,000...
has staged many productions in this space.
Henry Heymann Theatre
The downstairs of the Stephen Foster Memorial houses the 153-seat Henry Heymann Theatre, featuring a thrust stageThrust stage
In theatre, a thrust stage is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its up stage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performers and the audience than a proscenium, while retaining the utility of a backstage area...
with seating on three sides. The theater honors the university's longtime scenic designer, and theater donor, Henry Heymann, who taught scenic design from 1968 until he retired in 1993. The Heymann Theatre was created in 2000 in a space that formerly served as the memorial's social room, which hosted USO
United Service Organizations
The United Service Organizations Inc. is a private, nonprofit organization that provides morale and recreational services to members of the U.S. military, with programs in 160 centers worldwide. Since 1941, it has worked in partnership with the Department of Defense , and has provided support and...
dances during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. A little-known tunnel also extends from the Heymann Theatre to under the loading dock level of the Cathedral of Learning, connecting the two buildings. During the 2003 renovations to the memorial, the downstairs dressing room area was reconfigured to accommodate three "star" dressing rooms and men's and women's showers. Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre
Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre
Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre was founded founded in 1996 by Andrew S. Paul and Stephanie Riso in Pittsburgh. PICT has, in 12 short years emerged as a significant contributor to the cultural fabric of Pittsburgh with almost 2,000 loyal season subscribers, and annual attendance of over 23,000...
has also staged many productions in this space.
Studio Theater
The Studio Theatre, located in the lower level of the Cathedral of Learning in Room 72, is a typical black box theaterBlack box theater
The black box theater is a relatively recent innovation, consisting of a simple, somewhat unadorned performance space, usually a large square room with black walls and a flat floor.-History:...
in that it is a square, unadorned room with black walls, a flat floor, and chairs that can be moved or removed to accommodate a particular production. It is home to student-directed laboratory productions, play readings, Dark Night Cabaret, and plays host to Pittsburgh's longest-running theater show, Friday Nite Improvs
Friday Nite Improvs
Friday Nite Improvs, or Friday Night Improvs , is a long-running weekly improvisational comedy show staged on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The show functions as an improv jam, performed by improv actors who don't normally work together...
, started in 1989 by graduate theatre students. This space has also been home to productions by Unseam'd Shakespeare Company
Unseam'd Shakespeare Company
Unseam'd Shakespeare Company is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1993, the theatre's mission is to "rediscover and reinvent classic and classically inspired plays for modern audiences and present these plays in artistically ambitious and innovative...
and Cup-A-Jo Productions
Cup-A-Jo Productions
Cup-A-Jo Productions is a theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Established in 2004 by Joanna Lowe, the company's mission is to "further new & established works in an effort to focus on the artist by tackling a variety of subjects, exploring non-traditional venues & styles, & mixing...
.
Alumni
- Harvey HarmanHarvey HarmanHarvey J. Harman was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Haverford College , Sewanee: The University of the South , the University of Pennsylvania , and Rutgers University , compiling a career college football record of...
- Dutch HendrianDutch HendrianOscar George "Dutch" Hendrian was an American actor and former American football player in the National Football League.-Football career:...
- Gene KellyGene KellyEugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
- Allison McAtee
- George McLaren
- Regis ToomeyRegis ToomeyJohn Regis Toomey was an American film and television actor.-Early life:Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he was one of four children of Francis X. and Mary Ellen Toomey and attended Peabody High School...
See also
- Kuntu Repertory TheatreKuntu Repertory TheatreKuntu Repertory Theatre is an African-American repertory theatre based at the University of Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.Dr. Vernell A. Lillie founded it in 1975 as a way of showcasing the playwright Rob Penny...
- Friday Night Improvs
- Theatre in PittsburghTheatre in PittsburghTheatre in Pittsburgh has existed professionally since the early 1800s and has continued to expand, having emerged as an important cultural force in the city over the past 30 years.-History:...