‘A Life Behind Bars’ Opens at Carnegie Stage; New Pittsburgh Playhouse Has ‘Good Grief’ (Thurs., 10/24/19)

1) In case you missed it in January, A Life Behind Bars returns to the Pittsburgh area, and it’s not a prison drama. Theater artist Dan Ruth created this solo play about his previous life tending bars and drinking in them. The real-life scenes that he re-enacts transpired over a couple of decades in New York City, where Ruth premiered the show in 2015, winning praise (and various awards) for both its dark-comic tales and how deftly he presents them. His subjects range from the bizarre patrons he served to the social evolution of Brooklyn, once an affordable haven in the pre-man-bun era and now Gentrification Central. In a sense, A Life Behind Bars is a panorama of New York life from the saloon perspective. But it’s also a story of altered consciousness gone wrong, as Ruth relates his own tainted love affair with intoxicating beverages. He’s been in recovery for a while and intends to show up sharp as a straight-edge razor when he performs A Life Behind Bars at Carnegie Stage. 8 p.m. Continues through October 26. 25 W. Main St., Carnegie. (MV)

2) Good Grief, an introspective play with an odd title, received rave reviews in New York last year with playwright Ngozi Anyanwu in the lead role. It’s about a young woman who loses her school-days best friend and would-be lover when he dies in an auto accident. Point Park Conservatory Theatre performs Good Grief in the Rauh Theatre in the new Pittsburgh Playhouse. 7:30 p.m. Continues through October 27. 350 Forbes Ave., Downtown. (MV)

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