PITTSBURGH: This fall, Pittsburgh will have a new theatre downtown: the Pittsburgh Playhouse, which will open its doors on Oct. 13. The facility will house the REP, a professional theatre company; a theatre for young audience; and the students of Point Park University‘s theatre and dance departments.
“We believe the new Pittsburgh Playhouse will be a game-changer for Downtown Pittsburgh,” said PPU president Paul Hennigan in a statement. “Not only will the new facility be a dynamic learning environment for students in our Conservatory of Performing Arts, it will allow their creative process to be an integral part of the Downtown experience.”
The new Pittsburgh Playhouse will be four stories and 92,000 square feet. It will contain three different academic and theatre spaces, a large scene shop, sound stage, prop shop, costume shop, and café. The main theatre will seat 535; the transformational theatre, 250; and the black box theatre, 100. The playhouse also has a 10,000-square-foot production area, and 11,147 square feet of tech space for technical theatre and cinema arts programs. Its opening season includes Cabaret, Sunday in the Park with George, and History Boys.
“For the inaugural season in our beautiful new home, we chose groundbreaking productions that explore themes of politics, gender identity and culture which seem particularly fitting for these turbulent times,” said Ronald Allan-Lindblom, artistic director of the Conservatory of Performing Arts and the Pittsburgh Playhouse. “Seminal works like Cabaret and History Boys will encourage not just students but also audiences to examine how aspects of life and performance transform for entertainment and learning.”
The Pittsburgh Playhouse was designed by Paul Westlake of the Cleveland architecture firm DLR Group|Westlake Reed Leskosky. It connects to two existing buildings: the University Center and the Stock Exchange Building.
Point Park University was in charge of the capital campaign for the space, which cost $74 million. To date, the university has raised $45 million.
