Theater Guide October ’25: Words Unspoken, October Theater Has Much To Say

Etymologically speaking, the words devil and evil derive from completely different linguistic beginnings. Of course, a devil is typically evil, and a popular embodiment of evil is the devil. But these are just words, words more often spoken than written, words whose pronunciations have evolved over countless centuries. And yet, however appropriate evil and the devil may be to discuss in the month we celebrate Halloween, the love of words or specifically the means by which we communicate seems to be at the core of the drama to be experienced in Pittsburgh this month. Starting with City Theatre’s ambitious premiere, words are unspoken, but no less potent in their silence. At the Pittsburgh Public Theater, noises heard offstage belie the words spoken onstage. And the Benedum presents the tragic ends of six royal wives whose tears and torture become pop dance numbers with modern-day vocals.

Quantum Theatre offers insight into the world of business, a world where numbers speak quiet truth to outlandish lies of deception. Oh sure, there are devils and demons whose threats defy societal goods: Evil Dead: The Musical wields a chainsaw, Dracula soars with sinister lust, and La Bohème celebrates the meaning of poverty. And just what is the origin of the word poverty? Rooted in Latin, it means “bringing forth little.” Fortunately, Pittsburgh’s theater scene this month is offering lots.  

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.).

Spotlight Picks

ANOTHER KIND OF SILENCE by L M Feldman. City Theatre. Through October 12.

A world premiere and an ambitious play developed through four workshops, Another Kind of Silence engages both deaf and hearing audiences in language spoken, signed, and legible. The bicultural and bilingual story follows a chance meeting between Chap and Evan, two young women who fall in love, despite both being otherwise attached. The opening setting is in Athens, and as such, the women are identified dramatically (at least by cast roles) as having Greek choruses, wherein language—audible, subconscious or visual—becomes the stuff of drama. In addition to the premiere at Pittsburgh’s City Theatre, Denver’s Curious Theatre Company and Austin’s The VORTEX will produce their own similar productions. Pittsburgh’s production is directed by Kim Weild, Area Chair for the John Wells Directing Program at Carnegie Mellon, with ASL Translation and Direction of Artistic Sign Language (DASL) by Monique “MoMo” Holt, a deaf theater artist and professor at Gallaudet. Another Kind of Silence plays on the City Theatre mainstage,1300 Bingham St., South Side. (C.P.O.)

EVIL DEAD: THE MUSICAL by George Reinblatt, with Christopher Bond, Frank Cipolla, and Melissa Morris contributing in music and Bond in lyrics. Pittsburgh Musical Theater. Through October 25. 

So far, well over 500 productions of Evil Dead: The Musical have been staged worldwide. Think of what this has required in human terms. Hundreds of talented actors, fluent at using their hands gracefully on stage, had to learn how to play a character whose right hand is replaced by a chainsaw. Yet the role is a coveted one, for Ashley “Ash” Williams is not your average bionic hero. In the Evil Dead films on which the musical is based, he duels with Deadites in settings from the present-day U.S. to medieval Europe. Ash is a complexly flawed hero who bumbles through everyday life, but excels in matters such as fighting the Kandarian Demon. The British cinema magazine Empire ranked him the greatest horror movie character of all time. Pittsburgh Musical Theater—which has presented a few of those 500+ productions—resurrects Evil Dead: The Musical by popular demand. Brett Goodnack stars again as Ash. To add spooky-night atmosphere, the show is in PMT’s roofed outdoor venue. Exuberant audience response is welcome but leave your chainsaws, and children, at home. West End Canopy, 327 S. Main St., West End. (M.V.)

NOISES OFF by Michael Frayn. Pittsburgh Public Theater. October 1 -19.

Noises Off, a modern farce about a troupe of stage actors bumbling their way through a play titled Nothing On, became an instant hit when it premiered in the West End of London in 1982. Revived many times over, and revised by writer Michael Frayn to modernize props or location references, Noises Off most recently ran again in London in 2023. Now it’s time for Pittsburgh Public Theater and director Margot Bordelon to feature a cast of nine thespians playing a cast of nincompoops trying their best to perform earnestly. But perhaps the star of this three-act comedy, wherein doors slam, props are misplaced, and clueless characters reveal their true passions, is the set. Act Two repeats the chaos of Act One, yet all witnessed from behind the stage. And thus, even through the din of hysterical laughter, there are many—too many—noises off (off stage, that is.) Farce performed well is true theatrical magic; don’t miss this trick at The Public’s O’Reilly Theater. 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

SIX (musical) by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. National Touring Company. October 7 – 12.

Imagine if Henry VIII’s six wives were to tell their own tragic stories in dance and song while modeling the modern pop stylings of phenoms like Beyoncé, Rihanna, Ariana Grande or Nicki Minaj. Would you lose your head to get tickets to this international sensation? Unlike Henry’s abused and abandoned queens, you would not be alone. First staged at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2017, then moved to London’s West End in 2019, the hit musical Six has sailed the world over (including two different tours on Norwegian Cruise Line). Still playing in the West End, and now in its fifth season on Broadway, Six comes to Pittsburgh via the touring production on our majestic Benedum Center stage. Presented as part of the PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series at 237 7th St., Cultural District. (C.P.O.)

LA BOHÈME by Giacomo Puccini, with libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Pittsburgh Opera. October 18 – 26.

A little extra publicity never hurts. Giacomo Puccini’s La Bohème, a longtime audience favorite, gets an added boost in modern times by being known as the opera that inspired the musical Rent. See (and hear) what made the original popular, as Pittsburgh Opera stages La Bohème. The opera is loved for its music, of course—the romantic duet O soave fanciulla (“O sweet girl”) comes across wonderfully even without English translation—and the story is richly engaging. It’s set during the 1830s in Paris, where the term “bohemian” was first applied to artistic types living at the fringes of society. Puccini knew the lifestyle from his younger days, and for La Bohème he worked with a pair of skilled librettists, Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Together they crafted an opera that’s an emotional roller coaster, following a group of young bohemians through hilarious escapades mixed with the tensions and perils of living at the edge. Singing the lead roles for Pittsburgh Opera are tenor Daniel O’Hearn as Rodolfo and the heralded South African soprano Vuvu Mpofu as Mimi. In Italian with English supertitles. Benedum Center, 237 7th St., Cultural District. (MV)

ENRON by Lucy Prebble. Quantum Theatre. October 30 – November 23.

Never before has it been truer that the business of America is business. The most popular college major is business. College football is a business. The government runs like a business focused on reducing headcount. And when businessmen go rogue, the results can be tragicomically bad. Too tragic for “America’s Funniest Corporate Videos,” maybe, but comical enough to provide bunches of punchlines to questions like “They did what?” You can get a feel for the phenomenon by seeing Quantum Theatre’s Enron. The play, by British playwright/screenwriter Lucy Prebble, is an over-the-top lampoon of the real-life Enron scandal. It was a smash hit in London, whereas real Enron—once lauded by Fortune magazine as America’s Most Innovative Company—imploded smashingly when the company’s reported revenues and profits turned out to be unreal. Nor was innovative accounting the core problem. Postmortem analysis revealed a culture of wacky thinking dressed up as wizardry, and that is the target of the play’s satire. Enron lost momentum in the U.S. after a Broadway production suffered a controversial early closing. Quantum aims for a rousing revival with a strong cast, flashing lights, and the acclaimed dancers of Attack Theatre. At One Oxford Centre, 301 Grant St., Downtown. (M.V.) 

Michael Pink’s DRACULA (ballet) by Michael Pink. Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. October 31 – November 2.

Opening on Halloween, Michael Pink’s acclaimed choreography unfolds the classic tale of Dracula, Bram Stoker’s gothic mystery of bloodlust and suspense. Set to a score by Philip Feeney, Dracula features exquisite costumes and resplendent scenery as each movement progresses the plot forward in this spine-chilling dance-drama. It’s a story most know. Superhuman powers, the evil of darkness, the lifeblood of romance, a young woman’s awakening passions, intrigue, deception and death all roil and boil into one of the most famous myths people have shared for centuries. Colin McCaslin will dance the title role. Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre at Benedum Center. 237 7th St., Cultural District. (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 date of first performance)

Thursday, October 2
First Lady (PICT) 
Reefer Madness (Little Lake Theatre) 

Friday, October 3
Guys and Dolls (Lincoln Park Performing Arts)  

Tuesday, October 7
Alvin Ailey II: The Next Generation of Dance  (August Wilson Cultural Center) 

Wednesday, October 8
Bartleby, The Scrivener: A Story of Wall Street (Kinetic Theatre) 

Thursday, October 9
Utopia (Pittsburgh Savoyards) 

Sunday, October 12
Legends in the Limelight featuring Meghan Picerno (Pittsburgh Festival Opera)

Tuesday, October 14
The Rocky Horror Show (Pittsburgh CLO) 

Thursday, October 30
Calendar Girls  (Little Lake Theatre) 

Big Shows on the Horizon
(By date of first performance)

November 4
Hell’s Kitchen (PNC Broadway)

November 6  
Newsies  (PMT) 

November 7
God of Carnage (barebones productions) 

November 14
Fellow Travelers (Pittsburgh Opera)

November 25
Les Miserables (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. Mike Vargo is an independent writer based in Pittsburgh.

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