“The Whale” Surfaces at off the WALL; Grit & Grace Serves Up American Dim Sum (CPs Sun., 4/26/15)

1) Samuel D. Hunter is being hailed as one of America’s best new playwrights. Last year he received a MacArthur Foundation “Genius Grant”—the award that goes to people doing eye-opening and potentially game-changing work in various fields—and now off the WALL Productions is staging Hunter’s The Whale. This is not a remake of Moby-Dick, though it features a man as bizarrely obsessed as Ahab. Charlie, the central character, is eating himself to death. He has gotten to the point where he can barely move. Beached in his apartment, he’s trying to find redemption for the life that has led him to this end while being visited, like Job, by people who come to comfort or accuse him. Off the WALL’s Pittsburgh premiere of The Whale has F.J. Hartland as Charlie. 3 p.m. Through May 9. 25 W. Main St., Carnegie.

2) Grit & Grace is all about opposites, hence their name and their American-Asian fusion cuisine. Newly opened last year, the restaurant has become a downtown favorite. They are especially known for their American dim sum; the dim sum even has its own menu. The way it works is customers can choose how much (or little) they want of any particular item off of the dim sum cart. Popular items include the pork belly bites and the eggplant. The lunch and dinner menus include soups, salads, noodles and other entrées. Patrons have also praised Grit & Grace’s dark wood decor and communal bar. Sunday brunch served 10:30 a.m. – 2 p.m. 535 Liberty Ave., Downtown.

Double trouble: Senhor José (played simultaneously by James FitzGerald and Mark C. Thompson, foreground) must explain himself (or himselves) to the Registrar (Cameron Knight). Photo: Heather Mull.

3) The late Portuguese writer José Saramago won the 1998 Nobel Prize in Literature for his captivating novels that dance between fantasy and reality. Now a rare opportunity arises: the chance to immerse yourself in one of them performed live. All the Names is set in an unnamed land’s “Central Registry,” a massively spooky place where personal records of all the citizens are kept. When a lowly clerk prowls through the stacks at night, unauthorized, he finds a scrap of paper that triggers a strange and bewildering chain of events. Quantum Theatre is staging All the Names inside an old, historic former library. A team of artists (including Barbara Luderowksi of the Mattress Factory and filmmaker Joe Seamans) have helped devise a play that turns the building into Saramago’s fabled Registry. 8 p.m. with a post-performance discussion. At the Original Carnegie Free Library of Allegheny, Allegheny Square East, North Side.

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