It’s been a long time coming. What for 14 years had seemed like “just a dream” to scenic designer Tony Ferrieri came true on Friday, when City Theatre held a groundbreaking for the Philip Chosky Production Center.
Creating the all-purpose design shop at 1315 Bingham St. and a new Main Stage elevator is the $2.5 million second phase of an improvements campaign that began with the Hamburg Studio Theatre. That first phase gave City a modern secondary stage in 2014, and the final phase will be updating the Main Stage space in the former church building at 1300 Bingham.
For 40 years, Mr. Ferrieri, City’s director of production, has been a mainstay, both as a scenic designer for the South Side theater and for theaters throughout the area, with more than 500 stage credits. On Friday, City also announced the new center would hold The Tony Ferrieri Scene Shop.
The projects are designed by Renaissance 3 Architects, with the new construction on the site where the Walter Long Manufacturing Co. was founded in 1898. The ghost of a sign for the company remains on the brick wall that served as a backdrop for the groundbreaking on Friday. City Theatre acquired the building in 2004, mostly for the parking lot that goes with it.
From then until now, the brick building has been used for storage, with the intention to replace the cramped and unwieldy spaces on two floors across the street and adjacent to City’s two theaters. City board chairperson Beth Newbold noted her astonishment when she first learned that every set piece at City has to be made to fit through “people-sized doors.”
Mr. Ferrieri said the plan was for construction to be done sometime in the summer of next year, “or at least in time for next season.”
The ceremony Friday took place just three hours before opening night of a riveting production of Dominique Morisseau’s “Pipeline,” created with community partner 1Hood Media, a collective of artists and activists founded by rapper Jasiri X. In the theater lobby, before hardhats and shovels were carried to the groundbreaking site, the mood was at first subdued as managing director James McNeel acknowledged the Oct. 27 shooting deaths at the Squirrel Hill synagogue and City’s commitment to local partnerships and outreach.
Speakers included Erika Strassburger, a member of City Council for District 8; Lance Chimka, director of the Allegheny County Economic Development; and Sen. Jay Costa, D-Forest Hills. Former and returned City Theatre artistic director Marc Masterson recalled that 40 years ago, his first donor solicitation was from Philip Chosky. The late founder of technical institutes from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg went on to become a leading philanthropist for theaters throughout Western Pennsylvania.
A sustained ovation came when it was announced that Mr. Ferrieri’s work would be acknowledged with his name on his new dream workspace.
Sharon Eberson: seberson@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1960. Twitter: @SEberson_pg. Sign up for the Post-Gazette performing arts newsletter Behind the Curtain here.
First Published: November 5, 2018, 12:00 p.m.