New Playhouse, Same Players

By Emily Linder
Point Park University is revolutionizing downtown Pittsburgh with its new playhouse that is planned to open in the fall. With its first performance scheduled to be “Cabaret”, many students and staff are anticipating an opening night to remember.

But it is the memories of the old theater that led to this need for a new performance space. Producing Director of the Pittsburgh Playhouse, Kim Martin, explained the move and renovation. She said “the old girl [The Playhouse] had seen her time”, and explained that the building was composed of fifteen separate structures, all of which were “blended” together and were deteriorating.

Martin explained that the new theater will be able to bring together not only students of the arts, but also students in areas like business and entertainment management and it will “bring the university together in countless ways.”

Martin also said that the theater expands far beyond the college students. Due to its new location downtown, the entire city will have an opportunity to better access the playhouse which benefits the public and the university compared to its present location in Oakland.

Paige Beal, chair for the Sports, Art and Entertainment Management at Point Park, said that the shows being performed at the new playhouse will give students and audience members an opportunity to see and experience the different flavor of the shows that normally receive less publicity. Aaron Bollinger, chair for the Department of Theater for the Conservatory of the Arts, said that though the old theater had “artistic adaptability” and a unique character to the vintage space. The new theater will give students an opportunity to work with “state-of-the-art” equipment and experiment with a wider, more flexible space.

He even said that there is a possibility that the students may end up knowing more than the instructors about the functions of the theater.

Executive Assistant to the Mayor, James Hill, may have put it best when he stated that the playhouse was a “dynamically needed addition to Forbes Avenue.”

Sources:

Pittsburgh Playhouse Website Page 

Emily Linder
The new playhouse under construction

Emily Linder
Art on the new building with “THE ROYAL” in scripted on top