Organic Theater Pittsburgh is a theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It is the first theatre company in Pittsburgh to focus on being "eco-friendly." [1] Founded in 2011 by Jaime Slavinsky, the company's mission is to create an "organic theatre product" through "a unique rehearsal process based on improvisation" and "relying on Earth-friendly, recycled, and sustainable materials & partnering with local artists, merchants, and environmental organizations." [2] The company's first performance, a production of Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, was held in ModernFormations on Penn Avenue in July 2011. [3] The organic theme of the company was reinforced by reducing ticket prices for audience members who brought in a used cell phone to recycle. [4] The company has been reviewed in such publications as Broadway World, Out Online, Pittsburgh Magazine, and Pittsburgh City Paper. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] Organic Theater Pittsburgh uses prominent actors from Pittsburgh's theatre scene. [10] Jaime Slavinsky received recognition in the Post-Gazette's "Performer of the Year" article for her leading performance as Jean in the company's inaugural production of Dead Man's Cell Phone. [11]
Organic Theater Pittsburgh's production of Dead Man's Cell Phone was named 2011's "Best Debut of a New Company" by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. [12]
On January 30, 2012, Organic Theater Pittsburgh in conjunction with Dramatist's Guild of America hosted the event "From the Ground UP!" in which 12 local theater companies and 12 local playwrights were introduced to encourage future local collaborations. [13] [14] [15]
Eurydice is a 2003 play by Sarah Ruhl which retells the myth of Orpheus from the perspective of Eurydice, his wife. The story focuses on Eurydice's choice to return to earth with Orpheus or to stay in the underworld with her father. Ruhl made several changes to the original myth's story-line. The most noticeable of these changes was that in the myth Orpheus succumbs to his desires and looks back at Eurydice, while in Ruhl's version Eurydice calls out to Orpheus perhaps in part because of her fear of reentering the world of the living and perhaps as a result of her desire to remain in the land of the dead with her father. Ruhl's script has been explicitly written so as to be a playground for the designer of the sets.
Sarah Ruhl is an American playwright, professor, and essayist. Among her most popular plays are Eurydice (2003), The Clean House (2004), and In the Next Room (2009). She has been the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and the PEN/Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater Award for a distinguished American playwright in mid-career. Two of her plays have been finalists for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and she received a nomination for Tony Award for Best Play. In 2020, she adapted her play Eurydice into the libretto for Matthew Aucoin's opera of the same name.
T. Ryder Smith is an American actor. A native of New York state and long-time resident of New York City, he appears frequently on stage, particularly in avant-garde theatre works, as well as on TV, film, and as a voice actor.
Michael Kooman is an Emmy nominated composer writing for the stage and screen. He is most known for composing songs on the Disney Junior animated series, Vampirina, and as the composer of the musical Romantics Anonymous, which premiered in 2017 at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre in London. He is half of the writing team of Kooman and Dimond.
Joshua Elijah Reese is an American actor.
Quantum Theatre is a professional theatre company that produces experimental productions in non-traditional performance spaces around the Pittsburgh area. Founded in 1990 by Karla Boos, current Artistic Director, the company aims to incorporate influences from world culture and the international theatre scene. Additional staff members include Stewart Urist, Managing Director, and Teresa Trich, Director of Operations.
Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003 by artistic director Mark Clayton Southers, the company originally held productions at the Penn Theater in Garfield and moved to a new space on Penn Avenue in Pittsburgh's Cultural District. It now holds productions in a space on Liberty Avenue in the same building used by Bricolage Production Company, as well as the August Wilson Center for African American Culture, where Southers is artistic director of theatre initiatives.
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 productions." A member of the Shakespeare Theatre Association of America, the company has produced classic works by Shakespeare, Ibsen, and Brecht, as well as contemporary plays inspired by classic works such as Paula Vogel's Desdemona, A Play about a Handkerchief. Some of these contemporary plays have included premiere productions by Pittsburgh playwrights, such as Amy Hartman's Mad Honey, Anya Martin's Teatro Latino de Pittsburgh, and Wali Jamal's Braddock '76. The company has received praise from local publications such as Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, City Paper, and Pittsburgh Magazine and has received recognition for their own productions as well as productions in conjunction with the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. The company has also received national and international attention, having been featured in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the National Performing Arts Conference.
No Name Players is a professional theatre company based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Founded in 2000 by Don DiGiulio at Marshall University in Huntington, West Virginia, the theatre company began as a creative outlet for DiGiulio and his classmates to hone their craft outside of college-related performance opportunities. It has since evolved to become an important part of Pittsburgh's theatre scene, establishing its presence in 2004 with a production of Charles Mee's Big Love, which was recognized as one of the Top Ten Plays of 2004 by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. The company's mission is to "present unique and challenging theatrical productions by both new and established playwrights with an emphasis on the collaborative nature of theatre through ensemble." It is notable for its "SWAN Day" celebration, which is an annual theatrical event that features short plays and other performance pieces that are created primarily by women, in connection with the international holiday SWAN Day which occurs on the last Saturday of Women's History Month. The company has no performance space of its own but has used performance spaces around Pittsburgh, including Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, Bricolage Production Company, and the Grey Box Theatre. It has received attention from Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Out Online, and Pittsburgh City Paper.
Pittsburgh Playhouse is Point Park University's performing arts center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It houses three performance spaces and is home to The Rep, Point Park's resident professional theatre company, as well as three student companies—Conservatory Theatre Company, Conservatory Dance Company, and Playhouse Jr. The Conservatory Theatre Company offers five productions each year that are performed by undergraduate students at Point Park; each season consists of a mixture of established plays and musicals, as well as occasional new works.
Theater 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 several decades.
Hiawatha Project is a professional theatre company located in Pittsburgh. Established in 2010 by Anya Martin and Michelle Carello, the company's mission is to "create original performances exploring specific social questions through myth, free association, and movement." Hiawatha Project's premiere production of Camino, an original play by Martin, was researched, developed, and had a workshop presentation in 2008 and 2009, had a public reading in August 2010, and received a full production in September 2011 at Dance Alloy Theater. Inspired by the true experiences of Milton Mejia and Stephany McMullen, the production is the first in a series of planned productions that connect the experience of living in Pittsburgh to larger social questions. A production exploring the contemporary role of parenthood titled Helicopter Parents Anonymous is planned for 2013.
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 theatre with film, dance, music & poetry." The company has produced established contemporary and classic plays, such as Medea, No Exit, A Thurber Carnival, and Hospitality Suite, as well as original works such as Life and Other One-Man Shows. Cup-A-Jo Productions has also produced original one-act plays in conjunction with the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. The company has held productions in numerous venues throughout the Pittsburgh area, including Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Company, Garfield Artworks, and the University of Pittsburgh Studio Theatre.
Phase 3 Productions is a Pittsburgh-based theatre company. Established in 2008, the theatre's mission is to include "relevant social awareness in everything produced." The company has produced theatrical classics like August Strindberg's Miss Julie, as well as contemporary plays like Aaron Carter's Swamp Baby, Bernard-Marie Koltès's Roberto Zucco, and musicals like Godspell. Phase 3 has also held productions in a variety of spaces, such as the Brew House on the South Side and South Park Theatre in South Park Township. The company has also produced original one-act plays in conjunction with the Pittsburgh New Works Festival.
Bald Theatre Company is a Pittsburgh-based theatre company. Established in 2010 by Justin Zeno, the theatre company's mission, "is to explore and expose stereotypes, focus on the individual, and to embrace those qualities which make us unique and valuable. the BALD theatre company is a celebration of our differences beyond stigma without fear of substance or content while connecting to our collective human experience."
Carrnivale Theatrics is a Pittsburgh-based theatre company that has produced contemporary musicals. Established in 2009 by Maggie Carr, Justin Fortunato, and Bob Neumeyer, the company was initially founded as a means to utilize the talents of local college students and raise money for breast cancer research. The company has continued to produce musicals such as Sweeney Todd, Ragtime, and Into the Woods. All of Carrnivale Theatrics' productions have been staged at the New Hazlett Theater in the North Side of Pittsburgh.
Dead Man's Cell Phone is a play by Sarah Ruhl. It explores the paradox of modern technology's ability to both unite and isolate people in the digital age. The play was awarded a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding New Play.
Bill Camp is an American actor. He has played supporting roles in many films such as Lincoln (2012), Compliance (2012), 12 Years a Slave (2013), Love & Mercy (2015), Loving (2016), Molly's Game (2017), Vice (2018), Wildlife (2018), Joker (2019), and News of the World (2021); the HBO miniseries The Night Of in 2016 and The Outsider in 2020; and the Netflix miniseries The Queen's Gambit in 2020. He had a recurring role in the HBO drama series The Leftovers from 2015 to 2017 and the Hulu space drama series The First in 2018.
The Humans is a one-act play written by Stephen Karam. The play opened on Broadway in 2016 after an engagement Off-Broadway in 2015. The Humans was a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Play.
Rebecca Taichman is an American theatre director. In 2017, she received the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Indecent.
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