Club Cafe Hosts Singer/Songwriter Showcase with Brooke Annibale, Heather Kropf, and Judith Avers; PICT Opens “How the Other Half Loves” (Thurs., 5/28/15)

1) Brooke Annibale, Heather Kropf, and Judith Avers are teaming up tonight at Club Cafe for a showcase highlighting three of Pittsburgh’s finest singer/songwriters. Brooke Annibale is known for her acoustic, pop folk sound which she started developing from a very young age. At 17 she cut her first album and for her senior project at Moon Area High School she staged a concert with the proceeds benefiting UNICEF. On 2013’s Words in Your Eyes, Annibale explored new electronic orchestrations combined with sharp, crisp lyrics and wrapped in a framework of ambient sounds. Several of her songs have been used on TV series including “One Tree Hill” and “The Vampire Diaries.”

Heather Kropf possesses an expansive vocal range and mastery of multiple musical genres, including jazz, folk, and pop. Since 2000, she has independently released four studio albums and has had her performances described as “a sanctuary of beauty and solace.” In 2012, Kropf created a collection of new songs that became part of her Kickstarter-funded fourth album, Chrysalis, released in June 2014.

A Pittsburgh resident by way of her hometown of Liberal, Kansas, and time spent in Nebraska, Colorado, and, West Virginia (sometimes it takes awhile to find the right spot), Judith Avers, co-founder of The Song Jar—a custom songwriting business—and a member of the Appalachian-inspired folk trio, The Early Mays, has a smoky, pleasantly resonant voice. This showcase should be a concert of the highest musical quality. 8:30 p.m. 56-58 S. 12th St., South Side.

2) Alan Ayckbourn’s comedy is about three couples, of whom Wife A is having an affair with Husband B. Hot-tempered Wife B smells a rat, so Husband B tells her he’s been out late comforting Husband C, whose Wife C is cheating on him (none of which is true). Meanwhile, Wife A has covered her tracks by telling Husband A she’s spending time with poor Wife C whose Husband C is running around (equally untrue). Put all three couples together at dinner, add further wrinkles, and you have a recipe for pandemonium. PICT Classic Theatre has chosen comedic mixmaster Martin Giles to direct its production of How the Other Half Loves. 8 p.m. Continues through June 13. Charity Randall Theatre in the Stephen Foster Memorial, 4301 Forbes Ave., Oakland.

3) Mad Max: Fury Road — Heads must have rolled in Hollywood when studio executives realized that someone had allowed the Mad Max franchise to go dormant for 30 years. You just know somebody lost their job because of that glaring oversight. So original writer/director George Miller returns to bring us this story of a post-apocalyptic world where evil, vicious people drive around the desert in repurposed cars looking to kill people. The title character, having lost his wife and children to these monsters, wants to be left alone – but a woman named Imperator Furiosa needs Max to lead her out of the desert. Tom Hardy takes over the role which made Mel Gibson an international star way back in 1979. If Furious 7 wasn’t loud or violent enough for you, Mad Max might be just the ticket. Check Fandango for showings at your local movie house.

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