Summertime, and the theater scene in Western Pennsylvania is alive and cooking up new experiences all the time.
Here are 10 theater experiences that are happening in unusual venues or are a little outside the box for summer or anytime.
1. The venerable summer stock companies are in full swing, with Pittsburgh CLO in its 70th year as a seasonal touchstone in the city. The current offering is the family-friendly offering “Shrek the Musical” at the Benedum Center through Sunday.
Mountain Playhouse in Jennerstown, Somerset County, claims the longest-running professional summer stock company in the United States at 77 years strong, and Apple Hill Playhouse in Delmont, Westmoreland County, turns 54 this summer. South Park Theatre, established in 1995, is a relative youngster.
At 67, Little Lake Theatre in North Strabane, Washington County, has a season that stretches from May through December and is turning up the heat with the Pulitzer Prize-winning play “Anna in the Tropics.” Most theaters that come alive in the summer also have regularly programmed shows for children, such as Little Lake’s Looking Glass Theatre, which has “Beauty and the Beast” opening this weekend.
2. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company has done “August in August” programming before, but never like this: “Seven Guitars” will be performed weekends in August beside the August Wilson House at 1727 Bedford Ave. in the Hill District, where the play is set.
The detailed description by playwright Wilson begins: “The action of the play takes place in the backyard of a house in Pittsburgh in 1948. It is a brick house with a single window fronting the yard ….”
“Seven Guitars” is part of PPTC’s second march through the writer’s cycle of plays from each decade of the 20th century, with nine set in the Hill District. It’s a chance to take a look at the work underway to make the August Wilson House a place that fosters artistic expression in the community.
Mark Clayton Southers directs the story, told in flashbacks, about a blues musician named Floyd “Schoolboy” Barton, who has arrived from jail to find a song he recorded months before has become a hit. He sets out to reclaim his pawned guitar, his girlfriend and his place in a community filled with dreamers and crippling obstacles.
The seven voices in the cast of “Seven Guitars” will be Ty Barrow, Jonathan Berry, Teri Bridgett, Kevin Brown, Jamilah Chanie, Wali Jamal and Leslie Ezra Smith.
Showtimes are 8 p.m. Friday through Sunday. Tickets are $35; 65 and older and Hill District residents pay $25. Opening-night fundraiser with food and drink is $100; performance begins at 8 p.m. For group rates call 412-377-7803.
3. Quantum Theatre returns to one of its past outdoor venues, Mellon Park, and leader Karla Boos’ particular interest in Spanish culture with the drama “Peribanez,” a love story from the Spanish Golden Age.
A cast of 10 will frolic Aug. 5-28 in the Jennie King Mellon Rose Garden.
The play is adapted by Tanya Ronder from the work of Lope de Vega, who Quantum points out was writing at the same time Shakespeare was writing in London. Lope de Vega — full name Félix Lope de Vega y Carpio — was also a poet and novelist and considered one of the most prolific and influential authors in the history of literature.
“Peribanez” comes with an adults-only warning: It includes violent and sexual content that may not be suitable for a younger audience.
This being Quantum, the experience includes music and food: Caterer Feast on Brilliant will provide gourmet picnic options before the play. Pre-order a $15 boxed dinner with your tickets, and it will be ready for pick up at 6:30 p.m. in the park (meal options at quantumtheatre.com). Tickets are $38-$51; quantumtheatre.com or 412-362-1713.
4. A relative new kid on the block for summer theater is Front Porch Theatricals, which last summer went from one to two productions, including the operatic Adam Guettel musical “The Light in the Piazza.” After “The Spitfire Grill” earlier this summer, it brings a rarely seen Guettel work, “Floyd Collins,” starring Danny McHugh. The Tina Landau script is based on the media circus that surrounded an explorer who was trapped inside a Kentucky cave for 17 days in 1925.
Rachel Stevens, a Point Park University alumna, directs both Front Porch shows this year for producers Leon Zionts and Bruce Smith.
Side note: Ms. Stevens’ brother, actor-writer Marcus Stevens, played the title role in “Floyd Collins” for Point Park’s Conservatory Theatre Company in 2002.
“Floyd Collins” is Aug. 26-Sept. 4 at the New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. Tickets ($24-$30) and details: www.frontporchpgh.com, https://www.showclix.com/event/floyd-collins or 1-888-718-4253.
5. Throughline Theatre aims to link work from classic to contemporary with a seasonal theme, and this election year, it’s “Can You Trust the Government?” Along those lines comes “Julius Caesar,” Shakespeare’s tale of a Senate conspiracy and the violent overthrow of Rome’s leader, who boasted, “I came, I saw, I conquered.” He also bit the dust to the phrase “Et tu, Brute?”
It’s directed by Joseph Ryan Yow at Grey Box Theatre, a small black-box space at the corner of Butler and 36th streets in Lawrenceville.
The play runs Friday through July 30, 8 p.m. Thursday-Friday and 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday. Tickets ($20, $15 for students and seniors) and details: througlinetheatre.org or 1-888-71-TICKETS.
6. For more election-year antics and a lot less angst, Second City comedy troupe returns to the O’Reilly Theater, Downtown, for “Free Speech! (While Supplies Last)” Aug. 26-27. The annual visit by the touring company out of Chicago.
The new show is described as “providing an irreverent look at America’s electoral insanity.” Tickets ($35-$55) and details: ppt.org or 412-316-1600.
7. CLO Cabaret has added a step to a performance of “The 39 Steps,” which has been extended two weeks, through Aug. 28. The evening of “Corks & Comedy” July 30 starts with a bus ride to tour the Pittsburgh Winery. The tour departs at 5 p.m. from the Backstage Bar at the Cabaret at Theater Square, 655 Penn Ave., Downtown, and will return guests in time for the 7:30 p.m. show. Package is $62.75 and includes transportation to and from the Pittsburgh Winery for a tasting class and wine samples and a ticket to the CLO Cabaret. Details: clocabaret.org.
8. Off the Wall Productions is the main theatrical resident of the black box theater Carnegie Stage on Main Street in Carnegie, offering seasons with feminist leanings, including Linda Haston’s “Mother Lode,” an in-repertory production returning in August. The space is also the home of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival and has been a venue for No Name Players. This month, it’s being invaded by pirates, with a lowercase “p.”
“A Pirate’s Tale: A Swashbuckling New Musical,” sailing into Carnegie Friday through July 31, has music and lyrics by Paul Shapera and a book conceived by performer and fight choreographer Shaun Rolly. The all-ages show is described as a “tale of friendship and villainy on the high seas … with thrilling, authentic sword play.”
Showtimes are 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets and details: www.piratestalemusical.com. “A Pirate’s Tale” also is being performed as part of a Gateway Clipper dinner cruise Aug. 24 and Oct. 14 (www.gatewayclipper.com/activities/pirate-dinner).
9. Bricolage Productions is partnering with ScareHouse to bring you its next big immersive experience in September. But before that, try a little “WordPlay.” Part “This American Life,” part stand-up comedy, Alan Olifson’s “WordPlay” is all about the art of storytelling, with a DJ spinning an on-the-spot soundtrack. Aug. 26-27 (happy hour at 7:30 p.m., showtime at 8). Tickets ($25) and details: bricolagepgh.org.
10. As we roll into September, PICT Classic Theatre enters a new era in a new space: The Union Project at 801 N. Negley Ave., Highland Park. The longtime resident of Oakland’s Stephen Foster Memorial Theater in Oakland was forced to move when the University of Pittsburgh reclaimed the space for the school’s theater department. “Shirley Valentine,” by Willy Russell and directed by Alan Stanford, kicks off the season Sept. 1-17. Watch picttheatre.org for when tickets go on sale.
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson.
First Published: July 21, 2016, 4:00 a.m.
