February 2022 Theater Guide: Find a February Fling and Make Your Move

Whether it’s dancing on a professional Marley floor, dancing in bare feet, dancing on egg shells, or dancing around real issues at hand, February is filled with fantastic fluidity. And, as we celebrate this “month of love,” live theater in Pittsburgh makes for the kind of intimate experiences often not found in front of the old idiotic box. It’s time to get out of the house and wiggle your toes on the path to enlightenment (if not sole-ful entertainment). You might consider a date with Tom Sawyer, a meet-up with dancer and recording artist, Rachael Sage, or a full-on roadtrip, blasting the memorable music of America’s own dance movements. Lovers of classical dance will revel in the romance of Romeo & Juliet while more progressive patrons of pop will thrill to Dancing with the Stars: Live! Of course, not all stages are set for such smooth sailing; there’s trouble on a Broadway stage, hippocratic hypocrisy in Tuskegee, life-sustaining lessons in a Jewish shtetl, and a reunion of old pals who must part with their past. Anyway you look at it, both drama and dance celebrate the choreography of the human condition peppered with––if not assaulted by––conflict and character. So, make a date this month; your tickets to great theater in Pittsburgh are only a hop, skip and jump away.

Shows are previewed below in two sections. Spotlight Picks for the month are followed by a look-ahead to Big Shows on the Horizon. Spotlight Picks are listed by run dates. The Theater Guide is created by the theater writers and editors of Entertainment Central including Mike Vargo (M.V.) and C. Prentiss Orr (C.P.O.).

Spotlight Picks

DANCING WITH THE STARS: LIVE! Touring dance show. February 4 only, 7:30 p.m.

Tickets have been going fast for the annual one-night visit of Dancing with the Stars: Live! In fact the show is officially sold out, so your best bet is a resale source. Why such a rush for seats? Perhaps because the “Dancing with the Stars” TV series is insanely popular to begin with, and the touring production features a live smorgasbord of every style of ballroom, club, or street dancing seen on the screen. This year the featured star performer for the show in Pittsburgh is the multi-medal-winning artistic gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik. (Watch him executing moves that few can do in the video above.) Some elitists seem to think Dancing with the Stars: Live! isn’t high culture. But just remember the whole franchise is a spinoff from BBC-TV’s “Strictly Come Dancing”—and if it’s British, it’s got to be, right? 7:30 p.m. Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District. (M.V)

TROUBLE IN MIND by Alice Childress. Pittsburgh Public Theater. February 5 – 23

Lorraine Hansbury’s A Raisin in the Sun is credited as the first broadway production of a play written by an African American woman. It might not have been. Four years earlier, in 1955, Alice Childress had such success with her Off-Broadway production of Trouble In Mind, the show was booked for a Broadway opening. That is, until Childress, pressured by her producers, refused to change the ending of her play. Trouble In Mind did not run on Broadway until October, 2021—66 years after its scheduled opening—playing at the Roundabout Theatre Company where it garnered  four Tony nominations. Now it’s premiering here at Pittsburgh Public Theater on February 5.

The irony of Childress’ play is that it deals quite dramatically with the very racism then (and still) festering in American theatre. A play within a play, Trouble In Mind introduces us backstage to the star and cast rehearsing for their grand opening. The time is 1957 and unsettling issues of identity, sexism, and racism create a clash of cultures that are all the more relevant to our modern ideals of progressive art. Oh, the good ol’ days of theatre weren’t always so good. Be advised, Trouble in Mind includes strong profanity and racially offensive terms. Find your way to a theater experience that becomes all too live again. 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

YEARS TO THE DAY by Allen Barton. Irish Riviera Productions/Beverly Hills Playhouse. Carnegie Stage. February 6 – 23. 

A form of live theater that has special appeal is the two-hander—a play with just two characters, which draws you deep into the back-and-forth between them. Allen Barton’s Years to the Day scored a hit in Los Angeles when it premiered at the Beverly Hills Playhouse in 2013. It went on to be produced internationally, and now the acclaimed two-hander can be seen here, courtesy of Pittsburgh-based theater artist Dihlon McManne and his Irish Riviera Productions. McManne himself plays one of the roles, opposite actor David Whalen, widely known for his onstage portrayals of Sherlock Holmes. But a different sort of game is afoot in Years to the Day. The characters are two men who became close friends ‘way back when they were college students. As the play opens, they’re getting together eight years to the day since the last time they met. Surely there’s a lot of jolly and heartfelt catching up to do, except for one catch. Their views have diverged. On subjects including, ahem, politics. Can the friendship survive? See Years to the Day at Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main St., Carnegie. (M.V.)

SESSIONS (dance and live music) with Rachael Sage and Dave Eggar. Attack Theatre. February 8.

With more than 20 albums to her name, Rachael Sage’s alt-pop songs and multi-instrumentation have earned six Independent Music Awards, performances at both Edinburgh Fringe and SXSW, and tours with artists including Rufus Wainwright, Ani DiFranco, and Grammy Award winners Shawn Colvin and Judy Collins. As if her musical talents weren’t enough, Sage is also an accomplished dancer, a student of The School of American Ballet, having also performed with the New York City Ballet. All of which serves to complement the excitement of her one night engagement with Grammy Award winning cellist Dave Eggar, Attack Theatre’s music director, on Saturday, February 8. In a 90-minute performance, Sage and Eggars will collaborate in song, dance and story-telling in an intimate concert entitled Sessions. The production is directed by Attack Theatre’s Artistic Director Peter Kope and features  company dancers Anya Epstein, Isabella Bergamin, Melissa Burke, Miranda Braseth, and Olivia Nellis. The one night performance supports Women Who Rock, a trailblazing art movement advocating for women’s health in support of Magee-Womens Research Institute, the world’s largest research institute dedicated to women’s health. 7:30 p.m. Attack Theatre, 212 45th Street, Lawrenceville. (C.P.O.)

FEED THE BEAST by Layon Gray. New Horizon Theater Company. February 13 – 23.

When Covid-19 hit America, few sectors of our southern states feared federal health guidelines more than the black community. For decades, beginning well before the Civil War and lasting into the Vietnam War, black men had been used as walking petri dishes for any number of viral diseases for which our medical community had no cures. Or said they had none. Or, in fact, lied, hiding behind the ruse of clinical experiment for the greater good. Perhaps the greatest outrage of all happened in Tuskegee, Alabama, when, in 1932, a study group of 700 men with syphilis were enjoined to a placebo study of penicillin. The horrific story, captured on stage in Miss Evers’ Boys (and later made into a film,) has become the stuff of nightmares shared by many. Here, playwright Layon Gray, author of Black Angels Over Tuskegee, follows the lives of five men who for 40 years lived the lie of the Tuskegee study. Examine the case. Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall. 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (C.P.O.) 

ROMEO & JULIET by Sergei Prokofiev and choreography by Jean-Christophe Maillot.  Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. February 14 – 16.

Perhaps the perfect date for Valentine’s Day, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s production of Shakespeare’s most romantic story opens on February 14. Of course, you already know the tale of the two star-crossed lovers who defy their families’ indifferences to join arms in a date with death. You might well know the ballet’s composer, Sergei Prokofiev, famous for his many piano concertos, but nearly world-renowned for his educational composition, Peter & The Wolf. You may not know the choreographer of this ballet. Jean-Christophe Maillot is the choreographer-director of Les Ballets de Monte Carlo, appointed to the position by Caroline, Princess of Hanover. He first created this choreography in 1996. Of course, classic ballets are most often attributed to the composer of their score and, yet, dozens of choreographers, including Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Rudolf Nureyev, and Peter Martins, have staged Prokofiev’s ballet in myriad ways. Maillot’s work pays particular attention to the youthfulness of his iconic lovers. Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Orchestra will perform.  Forget the crowded restaurants and choose your seat at the Benedum Center. 237 7th St., Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

TOM SAWYER: A BALLET IN THREE ACTS by William Whitener and Maury Yeston, adapted from the novel by Mark Twain. Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center. February 20 – 23.

“Golly, Aunt Polly, is it possible to turn my story into a ballet?” Tom Sawyer didn’t actually ask that question in the classic 1876 novel by Mark Twain. But years later, a couple of contemporary dance-and-music artists decided to look into it, and their answer was “Yes!” Tom Sawyer: A Ballet premiered in 2011 at Kansas City Ballet, with choreography by William Whitener—then the company’s artistic director—and score by composer Maury Yeston. If the latter name is familiar, he also wrote the score for the film Titanic. And unlike that ill-fated ship, the ballet didn’t sink. The co-creators conceived a rollicking show that combines ballet with folk dancing, comedy, and storytelling. There is even a dance that demonstrates how to get a fence painted. Now you can see a production of Tom Sawyer: A Ballet near Pittsburgh at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center, 1 Lincoln Park, Midland. (M.V.)

BODYTRAFFIC (modern dance company). Presented by Pittsburgh Dance Council. February 22 only, 7:30 p.m.

Pittsburgh Dance Council brings the world’s leading contemporary dance companies to our city, with the latest being a visit from Los Angeles-based BODYTRAFFIC. Expect to see an evening that is multicultural and genre-crossing to the max. The company’s repertoire of short pieces has been called “a road trip through the American psyche and beyond.” BODYTRAFFIC dancers perform to music ranging from big-band swing and jazz/blues to hip hop and eerie electronica, with soul tracks from the late James Brown (“the hardest-working man in show business”) mixed in. They’ve done dances choreographed by a broad spectrum of contemporary artists, including Pittsburgh native and Pittsburgh CAPA alumnus Kyle Abraham. BODYTRAFFIC has toured overseas as U.S. cultural ambassadors and brought elements of world dance back home, blending them with influences from the streets of L.A. Tickets for the Pittsburgh performance are selling briskly, so you may want to assure you can show up for the show at the Byham Theater. 7:30 p.m. 101 6th St., Cultural District. (M.V.)

I NEVER SAW ANOTHER BUTTERFLY and THE TEREZIN PROJECT by Celeste Raspanti.  Prime Stage Theatre Company. February 28 – March 9.

Theresienstadt was a Bohemian ghetto where during the Holocaust Jewish families were staged before being transported to eastern concentration camps including Auschwitz. Naturally, many children found themselves captive in this once-walled city, wondering about the evils of the world outside. History informs us that artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis taught secret classes to the youngest of these innocent Jews, allowing them to express their fears through drawing and poetry. Celeste Raspanti’s play likewise explores the power of art to protect the soul, to inspire hope, and to give purpose to the possible. I Never Saw Another Butterfly and the Terezin Project recalls the dignity of the human spirit, tested and tortured during the Holocaust in this 80th year of “never forgetting.” The play embraces the actual art—drawings, words, illustrations, and poems—collected from Terezin, the diseased ghetto whose name was rarely spoken. In remembrance of lessons learned,please take your seat. The New Hazlett Theatre, 6 Allegheny Square E., North Side. (C.P.O.)

Continuing:

LIFE OF PI by Lolita Chakrabarti, based on the best-selling novel by Yann Martel. PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh. Through February 2.

A transpacific cargo ship sinks in the middle of the ocean. One survivor, a 16-year-old boy, finds a life raft, but is not alone. On board are a hyena, a zebra, an orangutan, and a 450-pound Royal Bengal tiger. If any, who will survive? Yann Martel’s 2001 novel sold more than 15 million copies. More than just a philosophical treatise on the human condition, Life of Pi is an engrossing story of servitude, wonderment, and dire hope. And now, first brought to stage in 2019 and premiering on London’s West End in 2021, it has served theater audiences worldwide as a brilliantly collaborative spectacle of puppetry, lighting, scenic projections, and choreography. Mostly, however, Life of Pi is a journey of epic proportion, filling the stage with memorable characters, finger-biting suspense, and life lessons you may never forget. With five Olivier Awards and three Tonys, it’s a breathtaking show that—now enjoying its national tour—cannot be missed. Run or swim to get your tickets now! Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District. (C.P.O)

THE RETURN OF BENJAMIN LAY by Naomi Wallace and Marcus Rediker. Quantum Theatre. January 29 – February 23.

Benjamin Lay (1682-1759) was an English immigrant to Pennsylvania and an early, radical abolitionist. Raised in the peace-loving Quaker tradition, he wrote perhaps the first anti-slavery tract in the American colonies—a tract published by a fellow Benjamin, Mr. Franklin. Lay also harangued his fellow Quakers for their slaveholding and their initial failure to oppose the practice, often staging outrageous stunts to get his points across, and eventually was drummed out of the Quaker community. Now Pittsburgh’s Quantum Theatre presents the U.S. premiere of a play that debuted dramatically in London in 2023: The Return of Benjamin Lay. This one-man show imagines Lay returning to life today and arguing his case for the ongoing pursuit of justice, with the audience standing for the Quaker congregation that once expelled him. Written by playwright Naomi Wallace and Pitt history professor Marcus Rediker, author of a book about Lay, it stars actor Mark Povinelli. He played the role in London, and is a Little Person, just as Lay was, the latter recorded as being about four feet tall. 

Ron Daniels, former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, comes along to direct the play here. The Return of Benjamin Lay is performed in the historic Braddock Carnegie Library, starting with a pay-what-you-can preview on January 29. 526 Braddock Ave., Braddock. (M.V.)

THE REAL JAMES BOND … IS DOMINICAN  Written and performed by Christopher Rivas,
and developed with and directed by Daniel Banks. DNAWORKS at City Theatre. Through February 16.

Growing up, Christopher Rivas was like many young boys who fantasized about being someone truly famous. Said Dominican-born Rivas in a recent interview, “I loved Bond as a kid. I would run around for hours in my tighty whities with all my nerf guns strapped to my body or hidden around the house, and I would imagine and play out these elaborate James Bond fantasy missions. I had the gadgets, the cool watch, the British accent, everything.” Imagine his surprise years later when, as a brown Latino student attending a white theater conservatory, he learned that the very person on whom Ian Fleming had based his many novels was a Dominican diplomat. His real name was Porfirio Rubirosa, an international polo champion, race-car driver and pilot, and who, as a renowned casanova, had married five times, to women including Barbara Hutton and Doris Duke. Rivas made his revelation into a one-man show which takes stage at City Theatre on January 18. An actor, author of two acclaimed books, podcaster, playwright, and storyteller, Rivas is locked and loaded with the lore of Hollywood. 1 and 5:30 p.m. See our review. 1300 Bingham St., South Side. (C.P.O)

UNRECONCILED by Jay Sefton and Mark Basquill. barebones productions. January 31 – February 16. 

Barebones productions, known for adventurous theater, brings to the Pittsburgh area a new play that’s being hailed as the best treatment yet of a grim subject: sexual abuse by clergy in the Catholic Church. Unreconciled is a one-person multimedia show co-written and performed by theater artist Jay Sefton. Years ago, when Sefton was 13, he was tapped to play Jesus Christ in his middle school’s passion play. He did not suspect he’d been chosen as a target for his parish priest’s illicit advances. Then recently—after an adult life that had taken him from his hometown near Philadelphia, to an acting-and-writing stint in Los Angeles—Sefton moved back east, earned a license as a mental health counselor, and resolved to bring his experiences with abuse to the stage. With help from playwright Mark Basquill, Sefton honed Unreconciled to a taut 80 minutes. And he performs it like a virtuoso. Shifting gears seamlessly, he plays a dozen characters (including the predatory priest) while juggling old video footage of the passion play and other props. 

Strikingly, the play elicits laughter as well as pathos. It’s been called a show to see whether you followed news of the abuse scandal or not. And you can see Sefton in Unreconciled at the barebones black box. 1211 Braddock Ave., Braddock. (M.V.) 

University Theater
In addition to Pittsburgh’s professional and community theater companies we have many outstanding university theater programs as well. Check their box office pages for what’s onstage:

Carnegie Mellon University School of Drama
Duquesne University Red Masquers
Point Park University’s Playhouse
University of Pittsburgh Department of Theatre Arts

Big Shows on the Horizon
(By opening date)

March 4
Kimberly Akimbo (PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh)

March 5
Ballet Folklórico de México (Pittsburgh Cultural Trust)

March 8
Birthday Candles (City Theatre)

March 14
Annie (PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh)
Sound in Motion (Texture Contemporary Ballet)

March 19
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

March 22
Madama Butterfly (Pittsburgh Opera)

March 28
Stand By – An Allegory (Corningworks)

C. Prentiss Orr is a Pittsburgh-based writer who covers theater and other topics for Entertainment Central. He is the author of the books The Surveyor and the Silversmith and Pittsburgh Born, Pittsburgh Bred.

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