Our Steel City may have an industrial past and be known for its sports, but did you know Pittsburgh has an astounding history of art and artists? That continues today across the city, including at these five venues whose work you won't want to miss.
1. Pittsburgh Public Theater
The Public, as it’s otherwise known, is one of Pittsburgh’s oldest continually operating theater companies, and opened its first season in 1975 on Pittsburgh’s North Side. Now, at its current home in the O’Reilly Theater, Pittsburgh Public Theater welcomes more than 70,000 guests each year and has a rich tradition of premiering new work alongside staples of the American canon. Spotlights on The Public’s history include the world premieres of August Wilson’s King Hedley II and Jitney.
Other notable names in The Public’s history include Andrew Lloyd Webber, whose By Jeeves played at The Public before moving to Broadway’s Helen Hayes Theatre in New York.
Today, The Public is known for its mix of programming on its stand-out thrust stage (What is a thrust stage?) and the consistency with which it attracts some of the nation’s top talent. Pittsburgh Public Theater’s season typically runs from September to June and tickets start at $35. Discount tickets are available for anyone under 26, and full-season subscriptions are available from as little as $135.
2. City Theatre Company
This gem in Pittsburgh’s South Side also opened in 1975 with a mission to provide an artistic home for the development and production of contemporary plays that engage and challenge a diverse audience. City Theatre produces a mix of shows including Pittsburgh and world premieres, including some locally beloved titles like South Side Stories Revisited.
City Theatre was named among Pittsburgh City Paper’s 2020 People of the Year for Theater for its Drive-in Arts Festival at Hazelwood Green, one of the first live performances in Pittsburgh after the COVID-19 pandemic shifted many companies’ plans.
3. Pittsburgh CLO
Few arts organizations in Pittsburgh have existed quite as long as the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera, today referred to as the Pittsburgh CLO. The company’s inaugural season in 1946 began at the since-demolished Pitt Stadium in Oakland. Pittsburgh CLO moved to its current home in the Benedum Center in 1988, and presents art year-round with its CLO Cabaret.
Pittsburgh CLO is also the presenter of the Gene Kelly Awards, an annual award celebrating musical theater excellence of Pittsburgh area high schools. The producing company shows musical theater and stage plays, including recent and upcoming productions of Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein, Seussical, and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill.
4. PNC Broadway Across America – Pittsburgh
The Steel City is a thriving destination for touring shows from Broadway, which this year include Hamilton, Life of Pi, Kimberly Akimbo, and Some Like it Hot. The stunning series of Broadway shows is coordinated by the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, an arts and cultural development organization for Downtown’s Cultural District.
Millions of people visit the Cultural District each year, and the Trust’s Broadway Series is just one element of its wide variety of programming, which features art galleries, multiple performing arts venues (including the O’Reilly Theater), the Three Rivers Arts Festival, and more. Broadway shows in Pittsburgh are hosted at the Benedum Center at 237 7th Street in Downtown, and tickets are available at trustarts.org.
5. Kelly Strayhorn Theater
This magnificent building stands as a testament to some of Pittsburgh’s greatest entertainers, named for legendary actor Gene Kelly and jazz star Billy Strayhorn. (Watch: Billy Strayhorn comes to life at The Public) This dynamic performing arts organization at the crossroads of Pittsburgh’s Friendship and East Liberty neighborhoods is a home for creative experimentation, community dialogue, and collective action.
Kelly Strayhorn Theater roots its work in the liberation of Black and queer people, and focuses its work on Black women, queer people, people of color, and emerging artists. The organization’s home in the former Regent Theatre reopened under its current name at the turn of the millennium with lines down the block of patrons waiting to buy tickets. Kelly Strayhorn Theater presents performance art, visual art, dance, and more in its innovative lineup.