Theater Guide April 2026: The Irony of Illusion Makes Great Theater

Much of the magic of live theater comes from the expectation that, as soon as the curtain rises, we will enter a wholly new environment in which characters reveal a story of some relevance to our daily lives. Of course, we know we’re seated in an auditorium, that the stage is adorned with a set, that the characters are really trained actors, that their lines were crafted by a writer many months (and likely years) before we hear them on stage. But there comes a far more magical experience from this staged artifice when the audience, now absorbed in the drama unfolding before them, learns certain details of the story that the characters do not themselves know. This element of theater is called dramatic irony. We experience it when we see the disgruntled wife poisoning her waking husband’s coffee, when we learn that one of the bank robbers is secretly an undercover cop—when the vain king, riding in the parade, shows off his finest new suit. 

Given that the month of April begins with Fool’s Day, our recommendations for all things theatrical share in similar irony. Quantum Theatre’s offering is a tech rehearsal of a play that is itself the play. At the Madison Arts Center, six black students grapple with very different ideas about diversity at a white college trying to assimilate diversity. In Carnegie, an aging writer trying to complete her autobiography must rely on a complete stranger to help her finish it. At the Benedum, the definition of corny is a pun that’s both funny and sappy. Later, Shakespeare’s most beloved fool thinks he can get ahead by creating trouble. And, at the Gargaro Theater, a lonely misfit lies to be loved. 

Shows are previewed below in two sections, Spotlight Picks for the month and Other Shows of Interest, 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.).

10 OUT OF 12 by Anne Washburn. Quantum Theatre. April 3 – 26. 

Every so often there comes a play about theater itself. Sometimes the play is described as a love letter to the medium. Anne Washburn’s 10 Out of 12 is more like a wacky but heartfelt tale told to a couples counselor. Other creations by Washburn include Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play, about survivors of a global apocalypse trying to keep Western culture alive by re-enacting episodes of “The Simpsons.” Expect no Simpsonia in 10 Out of 12. The true-to-life subject here is a tech rehearsal—the occasion shortly before a play’s opening night, when all the actors (ideally) have their roles nailed down, and the director must now integrate their acting with the various technical elements of sound effects, lighting and scenery changes, etc. This can be a hectic exercise. Cast and crew may have to cope with Murphy’s Law while racing against time, as stage-union rules limit members to working 10 hours out of a given 12. Reviewers in multiple cities have called 10 Out of 12 comical, yet more than farce, as it’s truly gripping. Quantum Theatre presents the spectacle for Pittsburgh audiences in the auditorium at Mellon Institute. 4400 Fifth Ave., Oakland. (M.V.) 

PARADOX OF EDUCATION by Ty Greenwood. Pittsburgh Playwright’s Theatre. April 4 – 20.

“The paradox of education is precisely this—that as one begins to become conscious one begins to examine the society in which he is being educated.” James Baldwin delivered this provocative notion in an essay published in The Saturday Review in December, 1963. In 2022, Ty Greenwood began workshopping a new play in which six black students enter a predominantly white college and learn that, despite the good intentions offered by the academic program into which they’ve been granted “opportunity,” their collective experience falls well short of various expectations once promised. The students struggle to define common purpose while pursuing the freedom of independent thought. Greenwood’s play is both funny and furious, and it mostly stems from his early days at Washington & Jefferson College. Now a polished playwright with a Masters of Fine Art in Dramatic Writing from Carnegie Mellon University, Greenwood has collaborated with the Asolo Theatre Company in Sarasota, the Hansberry Project in Seattle, and, in 2020, with our own City Theatre in Greenwood’s hometown. Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre’s Monteze Freeland has grabbed his Paradox of Education to open the company’s 2026 season. Madison Arts & Entertainment Center, 3401 Milwaukee St. in the Upper Hill/Schenley Heights. (C.P.O.)

SPRING MIX (program of short ballets). Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. April 10 -12. 

The time is at hand, we hope, when the dreaded “wintry mix” will vanish from weather forecasts. Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre celebrates the season with a bouquet of four sprightly dances. Bundled under the title Spring Mix, they mingle contemporary pieces with the classical. Choreographer Mark Godden’s thrilling “Angels in the Architecture”—presented for the first time in Pittsburgh—is danced to Aaron Copland’s music from Appalachian Spring. Also on the bill are an untitled new short ballet from Garrett Smith, Barak Marshall’s rocking “Monger,” and a new staging by Adam W. McKinney of the pas de deux from Swan Lake. Plan to hear music from sources as diverse as Verdi and Balkan Beat Box. PBT’s Spring Mix unfolds in the theater of the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. 980 Liberty Ave., Cultural District. (M.V.) 

BREADCRUMBS by Jennifer Haley. Off the WALL Productions. April 10 – 18. 

Off the WALL Productions, a company that has produced some of the most adventurous live theater in the Pittsburgh area, is now formally ending its 19-year run here. The closing production is a two-hander by American playwright Jennifer Haley, and perhaps fittingly, the play deals with issues of memory. But in Haley’s spooky Breadcrumbs, the memories aren’t of a beloved theater company. The central character is an aging writer now slipping into dementia. A young woman sent as an in-home caregiver tries to help the writer untangle elusive trails of thoughts and recollections, and gets caught up in an eerie quest to the heart of life’s secrets. Playwright Haley is known for spinning spider-webby mystery and crime dramas, both on stage and for TV. This play’s title comes from the folk tale in which Hansel and Gretel leave a trail of breadcrumbs in the forest to find their way home, but become lost when birds eat the crumbs. Off the WALL presents the play with Virginia Wall Gruenert, the company’s cofounder and longtime artistic director, acting the role of the writer and Erika Cuenca as the caregiver. See Breadcrumbs at Carnegie Stage, 25 W. Main St., Carnegie. (M.V.)

SHUCKED by Robert Horn with music by Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally. National touring company. April 14 – 19.

Set in rural Cob County where everyone grows corn for cattle, cuisine, and cocktails, two young lovers, Maizy and Beau, plan their upcoming wedding. Suddenly, with no explanation, the local corn crop fails. Maizy, distraught about her future, leaves town for the “big city,” Tampa. There, she meets up with a shady podiatrist, Gordy, who jokingly introduces himself as a corn doctor. Maizy is charmed by Gordy’s advances and Gordy is infatuated with Maizy’s charm—that is, a bejeweled bracelet Beau gave her as an engagement present. Turns out, Gordy is a conman looking to get out from under a debt with the mob. Maizy and Gordy return to Cob County where doctor Gordy assures the hapless folk he will cure their corn.

Shucked opened on Broadway in April, 2023, and earned nine Tony nominations and a win for Best Featured Actor. The musical received a lot of attention for its cornpone comedy (as well as a few great songs) and, if the show sounds reminiscent of the TV show “Hee Haw” (which ran for an amazing 25 years not including re-runs), the truth is that comedy writer Robert Horn (Tootsie and “Designing Women”) began writing the show ten years ago to bring “Hee Haw” to the stage. Of course, Horn’s original concept evolved into the Broadway hit that surprised many for its appealing characters and pun-filled humor. PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh. Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

FALSTAFF (opera) by Giuseppe Verdi with libretto by Arrigo Boito. Pittsburgh Opera. April 28 – May 3.

Adapted and abridged from Shakespeare’s comedy, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Verdi’s Falstaff was only his second comedic opera and yet, the last he wrote of his 26 operas. Perhaps stranger than science, Pittsburgh Opera’s production of Falstaff will be the last opera produced under the leadership of Christopher Hahn, the company’s general director who first served as artistic director beginning in 2000; that makes 26, too! Thus, this production is likely to pull out all of the stops.

Verdi’s central character, of course, is Sir John Falstaff, the roly-poly, self-adulating knight who’s everyone’s comic fool. The operatic story follows Falstaff’s scheme to woo two rich wives and earn easy hush money from their sure-to-be-ashamed husbands. To set the frolic apace, he drafts identical letters and has his henchmen, Bardolfo and Pistolo, deliver one to each. But it takes no time for the two “merry” wives to realize they’ve been duped. Ah, such folly then begets much, much more. This grand production will feature the acclaimed baritone Michael Chioldi as Falstaff and the always-amazing Marianne Cornetti as Mistress Quickly. As Boito’s libretto ends, we celebrate (albeit in Italian) “he laughs well who laughs the final laugh!” Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

DEAR EVAN HANSEN by Steven Levenson with music and lyrics by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul. Pittsburgh Musical Theater. April 30 – May 24.

Poor Evan Hansen, a shy, introverted teenager, has broken his arm. Evan’s therapist has recommended that the depressed boy write himself a letter every day to affirm a positive outlook on his life. And his mom, Heidi, suggests he get his classmates to sign his new cast. None will, except for the one kid who bullies Evan, Connor Murphy. In the course of a subsequent scuffle, Connor pummels Evan and, seeing the letter he was writing at the time, pockets it before storming off. Shortly thereafter, Connor commits suicide. Trying to understand their sudden loss, Mr. & Mrs. Murphy find Evan’s absconded letter and surmise that Connor had had a good friend in Evan. For many reasons, Evan falsely professes he was Connor’s very best friend.

The 2016 Broadway production of Dear Evan Hansen, starring Ben Platt, won six Tony Awards, two Drama League Awards, a 2018 Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album, and even a Daytime Emmy Award when Ben Platt sang the show’s hit song “You Will Be Found” on the Today Show. Beside the vocal brilliance that Pasek and Paul deliver in their exceptional songs, the book is a truly clever exploration of what it’s like to be a lonely outcast who becomes wildly popular. Pittsburgh Musical Theater presents the show at its Gargaro Theater, 327 S. Main St. in Pittsburgh’s West End. (C.P.O.)

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
Robert Morris University
University of Pittsburgh Department of Theatre Arts

Other Shows of Interest
(By opening date)

Thursday, April 2
Jesus Christ Superstar (The Strand Theater)
The Wizard of Oz (Little Lake Theatre)

Friday, April 3
Jesus Christ Superstar (Palace Theatre)
Dressed in Red (Kelly Strayhorn Theater)

Friday, April 10
212 Stories (Attack Theatre)

April 16
Grappling (Erin Kouwe at New Hazlett Theater)

April 23
The Musical Comedy Murders of 1940 (South Park Theatre)

April 30
Dial M for Murder (Little LakeTheatre)

Big Shows on the Horizon
(By opening date)

May 2
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (City Theatre)

May 8
August Wilson’s Jitney in Italian (Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre)

May 14
Foolish Assumptions (Corningworks)

May 15
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre)
Working (Front Porch Theatricals)

May 26
The Great Gatsby (PNC Broadway)

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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