‘Derek Hough: Live!’ at Benedum; PICT Staging ‘The Heiress’; CMU has ‘Atlas of Depression’ (Wed., 4/17/19)

1) Due to his starring role as a dancer and dance instructor on ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars,” Derek Hough is one of the most recognizable names in popular dance. He has won the competition with his dancing partners a record-setting six times. He has also won two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Choreography for dance routines he created for the show. Now he’s on tour with a dazzling new act which includes ballroom, tap, salsa, hip-hop and various other styles of dance. 7:30 p.m. Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District.

Erika Cuenca IS the heiress in ‘The Heiress’ at PICT. (photo courtesy of the artist)

2) PICT Classic Theatre wraps up its 2018-19 season with an American classic that’s long on seriocomic irony, The Heiress. Adapted from Henry James’s 1860 novel Washington Square, it’s about a wealthy young woman in love with an earnest guy who her father insists is a no-goodnik. Turns out dad is sort of right, but then—ah, sorry, no spoilers. The meta-irony is that James himself disliked the novel after finishing it, yet it became perennially popular. Retooled for theater by the playwriting couple Ruth and Augustus Goetz, The Heiress opened to much acclaim on Broadway in 1947. It was made into a movie starring Olivia de Havilland, and a later Broadway production won the 1995 Tony Award for Best Revival. PICT’s cast for The Heiress has Erika Cuenca in the title role, with James FitzGerald, Alec Silberblatt, and Karen Baum. In the Fred Rogers Studio at WQED. 7:30 p.m. Performances continue through April 27. 4802 Fifth Ave., Oakland. (MV)

3) Judging from the information on his website, one suspects that theater artist Eben Hoffer is not always necessarily entirely serious. He writes that he “creates high-energy funerals” and “secret religious rituals” for the stage, “through technologies both meat- and silicon-based,” and that he is “a core member of Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble, a musical priesthood.” However, Hoffer has returned to the college world for an MFA program at Carnegie Mellon, where he addresses a serious subject. In co-creation with the CMU School of Drama community, he presents a piece titled Atlas of Depression. It includes recorded conversations, live performance, and other elements (such as open-mic karaoke). According to Hoffer, the piece is “an attempt to look directly at the face of depression” and “to answer the question, at least for one night: What is this?“ 8 p.m. Continues through April 19. In Studio 201, 201 N. Braddock Ave., Point Breeze North. (MV)

Share on Social Media