History Center History Uncorked Event Tonight; Last Week for ‘Skeleton Crew’ at barebones productions (Fri., 3/8/24)

1) One of the Steel City’s biggest bashes is happening tonight, History Uncorked: We Love the 90’s. This party takes place on all levels of the Heinz History Center. In addition to the great exhibits and museum displays, there will be beer, wine and signature cocktails, delicious bites from local eateries, an epic dance party hosted by DJ Bonics, live music with DJ Cake, throwback karaoke, arcade and video games, photobooth, a silent auction, and more. Food stations from local restaurants include Bar Marco, Betsy Ann Chocolates, Bigham Tavern, Burgatory, Cilantro & Ajo, Dive Bar & Grille, Fl.2 Fairmont Pittsburgh, Hyeholde Restaurant, Sienna Mercato, and Wildwoods Craft Kitchen and Catering. Drinks from PA Libations and Penn Brewery. VIP tickets are sold out, but there are some general admission tickets remaining. 7:30 to 11 p.m. 1212 Smallman St., Strip District.

The cast of ‘Skeleton Crew’ (l. to r.) Brenden Peifer, Etta Cox, Richard McBride, and Saige Smith, (Photo: Duane Rieder)

SKELETON CREW by Dominique Morisseau. Barebones productions. Through March 10. 

2) Karmic convergence is real. Here’s a strong theater company in a dramatic location doing a play that fits the scene. Barebones productions, known for its staging of cutting-edge modern shows, performs just east of Pittsburgh in Braddock—once a boomtown of 20,000 people, now a town on the rebound that’s home to fewer than 2,000. The company’s theater is at the edge of Braddock, directly across from U.S. Steel’s fabled Edgar Thomson Works. Built in 1875 by Andrew Carnegie, the mill is now modernized and still running—but with vastly fewer workers than it once employed. And the first play of this year at barebones is Dominique Morisseau’s Skeleton Crew. Set in an automotive sheet-metal plant near Detroit, it’s a seriocomic gripper about four workers dealing with the fact that their jobs may soon be downsized out of existence. Skeleton Crew premiered off-Broadway in 2016; a 2022 Broadway production was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. Like the other plays in Morisseau’s “Detroit Project”—a venture inspired, in part, by August Wilson’s 10-play Pittsburgh Cycle—this one draws raves for how it interweaves colorful characters and their stories. Barebones has Tomé Cousin directing a formidable cast including actor/singer Etta Cox. See Skeleton Crew in the barebones black box. 8 p.m. 1211 Braddock Ave, Braddock. See our Entertainment Central review of Skeleton Crew. (M.V.)

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