Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is teaming with more than 20 local performing arts organizations to present two weeks of outdoor performances in Schenley Park on PBT’s mobile stage, the company announced Wednesday morning.
“Open Air: A Series in Celebration of the Performing Arts” will be held May 18-31 at Flagstaff Hill. Free seating will be available on the lawn, with VIP options offered at select performances. Audience members will be socially distanced to ensure a safe viewing experience.
PBT purchased the Stageline SAM450 mobile stage for about $800,000 in summer 2020 with financial support from the Richard King Mellon Foundation, the Edith L. Trees Charitable Trust, the Jack Buncher Foundation and Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation. The vision for the mobile stage is that it would not only help PBT artists adapt during COVID-19 while theaters are closed, explained executive director Harris Ferris, but it also would be shared with other organizations to bring the arts to new populations and places across the Pittsburgh region.
The mobile stage got its premiere last fall when PBT presented a short series of outdoor performances at its headquarters in the Strip District.
“Everybody in the audience was just waiting for more,” said artistic director Susan Jaffe. “There was so much gratitude and so much joy. People were excited to see something.”
This time, PBT will share the stage with a more robust list of dance organizations, such as Attack Theatre, Balafon West African Dance, Sidra Bell Dance New York (presented by Kelly Strayhorn Theater), STAYCEE PEARL dance project with Soy Sos, Texture Contemporary Ballet, Hill Dance Academy Theatre, Shana Simmons Dance, slowdanger and The Pillow Project, among others.
Mr. Ferris said PBT worked with arts organizations and foundations to spread the word about this performance opportunity. Participants will not be charged a rental fee to use the stage but are required to cover any costs related to their respective crews and artists.
“We’re all very interested in making sure we’re promoting diversity,” he said, “and that’s reflected in the participating groups.”
For PBT’s portion of the program, dancers will stage eight performances featuring works by several choreographers, including Helen Pickett, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Aszure Barton. They’ll also dance excerpts from ballet classics “Swan Lake,” “Don Quixote” and “The Sleeping Beauty.” PBT principal Yoshiaki Nakano also has choreographed a duet for two male dancers that will be on the program. Each program will be about an hour and 15 minutes, Ms. Jaffe said.
Beyond dance, the open air series will present Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co., Pittsburgh Public Theater, Pittsburgh Opera, River City Brass Band, Lemington Gospel Choir, Pittsburgh Festival Opera, Hope Academy, West Hills Symphonic Band and more. A full list of participating organizations can be viewed at pbt.org/openair.
Ms. Jaffe said she hopes open-air performances will become a tradition for PBT, even after COVID-19 restrictions for theaters relax.
“I think we’re planning on doing performances every year on it,” she said, “and also hopefully finding other areas where we can put the stage, underserved communities and communities farther away from us so more people have access.”
Tickets are available now for subscribers who have chosen to donate the cost of their ticket to PBT. Registration for the general public opens April 7 at pbt.org/openair. Programming dates are subject to change and will not include rain dates.
The lead sponsors for the series are BNY Mellon and MSA Safety, with additional support from Citizens Bank, Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, the Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council, Ryan Memorial Foundation and The Remmel Foundation.
Sara Bauknecht: sbauknecht@post-gazette.com or on Twitter and Instagram @SaraB_PG.
First Published: March 24, 2021, 6:07 p.m.
