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Wednesday, November 20, 2002

By Chris Rawson, Post-Gazette Drama Critic

As I was saying ... as everybody's been saying ... the closing of City Theatre's Hamburg Studio to other groups after 2003 has sharpened the search for performance spaces. This need (felt by dance and music groups, too) is endemic, but it's been heightened by the recent theater boom.

First dislodged, Open Stage Theatre has found itself a warehouse space in the Strip, while PICT, Unseam'd Shakespeare and the New Works Festival have a year to find new homes. But they aren't the only ones in the hunt: The instability of the Hazlett Theater threatens Prime Stage, Starlight Productions and other tenants; the instability of Pittsburgh Musical Theater might send them looking for spaces other than the Byham; and it remains to be seen whether Mark Southers can maintain the Penn Theatre (formerly Penn Avenue Theatre) as a home for several small groups.

But efforts are under way.

Mary Navarro of the Heinz Endowments and Jeanne Pearlman of the Pittsburgh Foundation began earlier this year to canvass music, theater, dance and other performing groups on their need for spaces of less than 1,000 seats -- both current and future, because, as Pearlman says, the situation changes constantly. (That's the yeasty nature of small arts groups.) They also are updating a study done several years ago on existing spaces, hoping to house the resulting database with ProArts.

After several lively sessions, they have this week reported back to the canvassed groups that in addition to the space crunch, they've cataloged related needs -- collaborative performance calendar; rehearsal, shop and storage space; shared props, costumes and marketing; music library, etc. The foundations are now "exploring a variety of responses to these issues." But Navarro cautions that in the current economic climate -- i.e., with the market way down -- immediate capital expenditure is less likely than help of other kinds.

Since early summer, Laura Smiley of Unseam'd and arts consultant Lisa Remby have been asking performance groups to band together in what they call CAPS -- Coalition for Acquisition of Performance Space. They've been compiling their own survey of nine rentable performance spaces of less than 500 seats and the group recently had its first meeting (at Dish, a nice touch). They expect to have their survey finished next month, then develop a proposal. Smiley's dream is a performance center with two or three spaces of different sizes, where critical mass would allow small groups (and audiences) to inspire and feed off each other.

Meanwhile, the North Side Leadership Conference is engaged in a study (funded by the Heinz Foundations) of the all-important Hazlett, trying to figure out how to administer and finance its continued operation now that the City of Pittsburgh has stopped its subsidy.

Interestingly, Carnegie Library is exploring the future of the under-used branch library that occupies the other half of the building the Hazlett is in. It wouldn't be appropriate to anticipate the result of that study, but I can imagine that building becoming the sort of performance center we need, with a couple of small performance/rehearsal spaces joined to the Hazlett to create artistic critical mass.

As Navarro says, the positive example of the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in East Liberty -- which is experiencing more use than expected -- shows that money is just one piece of the puzzle. A space also needs administrative and artistic leadership.

So the struggle continues.

PMT progress report

Ken Gargaro reports that PMT students and their parents raised more than $27,000 at Sunday's "Dance-athon," lifting the "Save PMT" campaign above the $100,000 mark in just 35 days -- and without appreciable help yet from foundations. "It's amazing what kids can accomplish when they're passionate about something and are given the opportunity," Gargaro says.

Bottom Line

Paid admissions at city's pro theaters for week ending Nov. 17:

Miss Daisy/Public (77%) ............. 3,719

Mrs. Cratchit/City (78%) .............. 1,422

Jazz Singer/Jewish Th. (69%) ........ 694

Dolce Vita/City (97%) ...................... 687

Tongues/Quantum (80%) ............... 480

Morant/Playhouse Rep (89%) ........ 277