Pittsburgh Playhouse
Encyclopedia
Pittsburgh Playhouse is Point Park University
's performing arts center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It houses three performance spaces and is home to The Rep, Point Park's resident professional theatre company, as well as three student companies—Conservatory Theatre Company, Conservatory Dance Company, and Playhouse Jr. The Conservatory Theatre Company offers five productions each year that are performed by undergraduate students at Point Park; this season consists of a mixture of established plays and musicals, as well as occasional new works. The Conservatory Dance Company offers ballet, modern, and jazz dance productions featuring Point Park undergraduates; these consist of works by established choreographers as well as new pieces choreographed by both students and professionals. The Playhouse, Jr. offers children's theatre performed by Point Park undergraduates; it is the second oldest continually running children's theatre in the United States. Playhouse, Jr. has also participated in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival
. The Rep offers four productions performed by professional actors; the season usually consists of a mixture of established and new plays. The Rep has hosted regional premieres by such playwrights as Amy Hartman, Tammy Ryan, and Edward J. Delaney.
). In addition to Kelly, other notable performers who were trained at the Playhouse include Shirley Jones
, Sada Thompson
, Barbara Feldon, and George Peppard
.
Burleigh's contract was not renewed when the Rockefeller Foundation
offered the Playhouse and Carnegie Tech
support for a joint operation that resulted in the American Conservatory Theater
(ACT). Under William Ball's direction, the operation lasted six months before the ACT moved to San Francisco due to a disagreement with the Playhouse about the budget. The Playhouse then hired John D. Hancock
of the Actor's Workshop
, but Hancock was soon fired due to strained relations with the Playhouse staff and the board members, some of whom resigned in protest. Faced with a weakened administration and financial problems, the Playhouse closed in 1968; the same year, Point Park College offered to take over the operations of the playhouse, and the theatre continued on until 1973 as a semiprofessional civic theater. Unable to recover financially, the theatre ceased to be an independent theatre and became home to Point Park's undergraduate productions as well as productions staged by its resident professional theatre company, The Rep.
Point Park University
Point Park University is a liberal arts university located in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Formerly known as Point Park College, the school name was revised in 2004 to reflect the number of graduate programs being offered....
's performing arts center located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It houses three performance spaces and is home to The Rep, Point Park's resident professional theatre company, as well as three student companies—Conservatory Theatre Company, Conservatory Dance Company, and Playhouse Jr. The Conservatory Theatre Company offers five productions each year that are performed by undergraduate students at Point Park; this season consists of a mixture of established plays and musicals, as well as occasional new works. The Conservatory Dance Company offers ballet, modern, and jazz dance productions featuring Point Park undergraduates; these consist of works by established choreographers as well as new pieces choreographed by both students and professionals. The Playhouse, Jr. offers children's theatre performed by Point Park undergraduates; it is the second oldest continually running children's theatre in the United States. Playhouse, Jr. has also participated in the Pittsburgh New Works Festival
Pittsburgh New Works Festival
Pittsburgh New Works Festival is an annual festival that produces original one-act plays utilizing the resources of Pittsburgh-area theatre companies. Established in 1990 by Donna Rae, the Festival features four weeks of productions of new plays as well as two weeks of staged readings...
. The Rep offers four productions performed by professional actors; the season usually consists of a mixture of established and new plays. The Rep has hosted regional premieres by such playwrights as Amy Hartman, Tammy Ryan, and Edward J. Delaney.
History
Pittsburgh Playhouse got its start in 1933 as Pittsburgh Summer Playhouse, a stock company in residence at a suburban preparatory school. It shortly reformed as the Pittsburgh Civic Playhouse, a group of volunteer performers with professional aspirations. In 1934 it was incorporated as a nonprofit educational institution and soon became Pittsburgh's largest noncommercial theater. Under Frederick Burleigh's leadership, the playhouse became a semiprofessional civic theater with a professionally trained staff and non-Equity actors. The company would stage recent Broadway hits, as well some original revues, musicals, and plays (one of these revues was choreographed by Gene KellyGene Kelly
Eugene Curran "Gene" Kelly was an American dancer, actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer...
). In addition to Kelly, other notable performers who were trained at the Playhouse include Shirley Jones
Shirley Jones
Shirley Mae Jones is an American singer and actress of stage, film and television. In her six decades of television, she starred as wholesome characters in a number of well-known musical films, such as Oklahoma! , Carousel , and The Music Man...
, Sada Thompson
Sada Thompson
Sada Carolyn Thompson was an American stage, film, and television actress.-Life and career:Born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1927 to Hugh Woodruff Thompson and his wife Corlyss , and raised in New Jersey, Thompson earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, after...
, Barbara Feldon, and George Peppard
George Peppard
George Peppard, Jr. was an American film and television actor.Peppard secured a major role when he starred alongside Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's , portrayed a character based on Howard Hughes in The Carpetbaggers , and played the title role of the millionaire sleuth Thomas Banacek in...
.
Burleigh's contract was not renewed when the Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
offered the Playhouse and Carnegie Tech
Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
support for a joint operation that resulted in the American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater
American Conservatory Theater is a large non-profit theater company in San Francisco, California, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. A.C.T. was founded in 1965 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in conjunction with the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Carnegie Tech by theatre and...
(ACT). Under William Ball's direction, the operation lasted six months before the ACT moved to San Francisco due to a disagreement with the Playhouse about the budget. The Playhouse then hired John D. Hancock
John D. Hancock
John D. Hancock is an American stage and film director, producer and writer. He is the son of Ralph and Ella Mae Rosenthal Hancock. His father was a musician with the NBC Symphony Orchestra in Chicago, Illinois and his mother a school teacher. Hancock spent his youth between their home in...
of the Actor's Workshop
Actor's Workshop
The Actor's Workshop was a theater company founded in San Francisco in the 1950s. It is considered by many to have been a seminal part of the modern theater movement in America. Its co-founders, Herbert Blau and Jules Irving, were professors at San Francisco State College...
, but Hancock was soon fired due to strained relations with the Playhouse staff and the board members, some of whom resigned in protest. Faced with a weakened administration and financial problems, the Playhouse closed in 1968; the same year, Point Park College offered to take over the operations of the playhouse, and the theatre continued on until 1973 as a semiprofessional civic theater. Unable to recover financially, the theatre ceased to be an independent theatre and became home to Point Park's undergraduate productions as well as productions staged by its resident professional theatre company, The Rep.