OpenStreetsPgh Rolls On; ‘The Irish… and How They Got That Way’ at Mountain Playhouse (Sun., 6/30/19)

The Strip District was crowded with bikes, walkers, and shoppers during OpenStreetsPGH. (photo: Heather McCracken)

1) OpenStreetsPGH is a fun event during which neighborhood streets are closed to auto traffic in certain parts of the city, so people can roll on through, whether biking, walking, or skateboarding. For the June 30 OpenStreetsPGH, participants will roll through parts of Downtown, the Strip District, and Lawrenceville. Businesses and civic organizations along the route often have special programs and offers. The July 28 event travels through Downtown, Uptown, and the South Side. There will be plenty of fun activities in each neighborhood. For more info, check out the OpenStreetsPGH website. 9 a.m. – 1 p.m.

2) Irish-American writer Frank McCourt was famous for his Pulitzer Prize-winning memoir Angela’s Ashes and for spinning tall tales that he presented as nonfiction. (His mother, Angela, once attended an autobiographical stage show he’d co-written, shouting from the audience that it was “all a pack of lies.”) But there’s no denying McCourt was a colorful writer, and his 1997 musical The Irish… and How They Got That Way is grounded in historical facts. Drawn from first-hand sources, the show retells grim and not-so-grim events ranging from the Irish Potato Famine of the 1840s to Irish immigrants’ experiences in America. All is mixed with authentic Irish music, from “Danny Boy” to U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Now the folks at Mountain Playhouse are staging The Irish… and How They Got That Way in the green, green hills of the Laurel Highlands. 3 p.m. Ends today. 7690 Somerset Pike, Jennerstown. (MV) 

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