off the WALL productions at Carnegie Stage A Pittsburgh Theater

by Elizabeth Beck - Senior RMU Sarah Silk - Alec Silberblatt Photo: Heather Mull The first thing I thought when the lights came up at the end of the show was: That was an insane amount of words. This may not have been the most articulate thing to say, but ironically, Off the Wall’s latest opening, Lungs, is extremely eloquent. I think the most mind-blowing part of this play is the mastery with which the two actors deliver the dialogue. It’s what keeps Lungs moving along, and in a ninety-minute show with absolutely no stopping and no obvious transitions, this is crucial. The sheer amount of words spoken throughout the play is astounding; the entire time, I was astonished at the fact that Sarah Silk, who beautifully portrays the complicated and endearing woman, had memorized it all. Watching Lungs, I felt as if I were stuck watching an impossibly long, circular argument that seems to be going somewhere—but as audience members, we can never be too sure where that “somewhere” is....

Lungs   by Duncan Macmillan Performances:  Performances:  Dec. 2–3, 8–10, 15–17  @ 8:00 pm,  Matinee Dec. 4 & 11, 2016  @ 3:00 pm Dec. 2–3, 8–10, 15–17   p m A play by British playwright Duncan MacMillan. Directed by Spencer Whale With: Sarah Silk & Alec Silberblatt A bare stage, no scenery, no furniture, no props, no costume changes but infinite possibilities. LUNGS is a smart and funny drama that follows a couple through the surprising lifecycle of their relationship, as they grapple with questions of family and change, hope, betrayal, happenstance, and the terrible pain that you can only cause the people you love. "Duncan Macmillan's distinctive, off-kilter love story is brutally honest, funny, edgy and current. It gives voice to a generation for whom uncertainty is a way of life through two flawed, but deeply human, people who you don't always like but start to feel you might love." ...

By Liz Beck - Senior RMU When I sat down to watch An Accident , I was expecting a heart-wrenching, highly emotional portrait of a couple trying to work through a traumatic event that had left one of them comatose. While the play does involve two people trying to work past a car accident, and their individual faults in it, the show is markedly different from what I thought I was going to watch.             An Accident immerses us in the story of Libby, a sarcastic, complicated and optimistic woman confined to a bed after being run over by a car. We also meet Anton, the kind, passionate and very guilty man who hit her. Libby awakens after an undetermined time to find she has almost no ability to move her body, and it is unclear whether or not she will regain control. Anton has been visiting her, seemingly out of remorse, and although at first Libby is bitter and guarded, the two gradually warm up to each other.           ...

ICWP - International Centre for Women Playwrights - Sep  15, 2016 Dear 2016 50/50 Applause Award Recipients, We are thrilled that you are a recipient for our 5th anniversary of the ICWP 50/50 Applause Awards! Congratulations! Your theatre is part of a list of 107 theatres in 10 countries and 5 continents, breaking records on all fronts for this award. You are in company with theatres from Australia, Canada, England, Italy, Kenya, Philippines, Scotland, Singapore, Switzerland, and the United States, including its Puerto Rico territory. The full list and our press release may be viewed by clicking this link: http://www.womenplaywrights.org/award Elana Gartner Kris Bauske Deborah Magid Co-Chairs, ICWP 50/50 Applause Awards awards@womenplaywrights.org International Centre for Women Playwrights www.womenplaywrights.org

Guest Blogger: Liz Beck - Senior RMU This is why we can’t have nice things!             It’s a phrase I’ve used many times. Usually, I say it when I’ve embarrassed myself. Other times, I’ve said it in a fit of desperation, after I’ve just seen someone of my own generation doing or saying something incredibly stupid on the Internet. We can’t have nice things because this guy is an asshole. We can’t have nice things because, once again, the Millenials have taken man buns to an unprecedented extreme. We can’t have nice things because one guy thought it was okay to run for president and, well, here we are.             Like I said, I’m a big fan of this phrase. So when I heard that this was the title of the latest venture at Off the Wall Theatre singularly starring Heidi Nagle, I was both extremely curious and excited. Finally, someone was going to dive into the same phenomeno...

After staging the  in-repertory production of the World Premiere of Mother Lode by Artistic Director Virginia Wall Gruenert (Shaken & Stirred, Without Ruth) in January of 2016, off the WALL productions now is presenting the third and final run. The often contentious relationships between mothers and daughters will no doubt keep therapists in business for years to come, but there is no denying the deep bond that exists between them.  Mother Lode tells the story of Pittsburgh actor Linda Haston’s mother, Ruth, a force of nature who leaves Jim Crow Alabama as a teen to work and raise her family in Pittsburgh’s Hill District.  This one-woman show deals with the end-of-life decisions that must be made by dutiful daughters, as well as the discord, conciliation, warfare, and ultimate acceptance between strong, independent women bound by love and family. Written by Virginia Wall Gruenert Directed by Virginia Wall Gruenert and Spencer Whale Starring Linda ...

A New Work July 7-9 & 14-16 & 8:00 pm Beauty. Sex. Power.  Three scenes. Dynamic. Provocative. Effulgent. Choreographed by  Elisa-Marie Alaio                 Original Music by  Reni Monteverde The struggle of feeling comfortable in your skin, wanting to explore your sexual desires and finally being who you are and owning every bit of it. With  Elisa-Marie Alaio, Alexis Bomer, Glenna Clark, Vicki Lynn Mcwilliams, Cammi Nevarez, Jenna Rae Smith. TICKETS - click here

A New Work July 7-9 & 14-16 & 8:00 pm Beauty. Sex. Power.  Three scenes. Dynamic. Provocative. Effulgent. Choreographed by  Elisa-Marie Alaio                 Original Music by  Reni Monteverde The struggle of feeling comfortable in your skin, wanting to explore your sexual desires and finally being who you are and owning every bit of it. With  Elisa-Marie Alaio, Alexis Bomer, Glenna Clark, Vicki Lynn Mcwilliams, Cammi Nevarez, Jenna Rae Smith.

Purchase one of our season packages  and enjoy  four plays for the price of three. In addition, receive discount on other Carnegie Stage events. off the WALL productions has once again put together a diverse lineup for the 2016-17 Pittsburgh Theater Season. For our 10th season, you can expect a variety like never before. Our acting company continues to address challenging topics, using various theater techniques. Not only will this year’s selections bring about a wide range of emotions, sometimes resulting in laughter, other times tears; they’ll also bring about a better awareness and understanding of what others experience and perhaps add a new perspective to all our lives. Click here for our Season brochure Packages/Discounts – click here Ticketing Links: Opening Night Regular Run    Super Saver

Pittsburgh’s drinking troupe with a sketch comedy problem!   Matt Butoyak, Nathan Bell, Heidi Nagle, Tyson Schrader, Monica Stephenson    June 17 & 18 @ 8:00 pm, June 19 @ 2:00 pm $ 10.00 in advance ($ 15.00 at door) .   BUY TICKETS HERE As someone once so eloquently put it,  “WE’LL DO IT LIVE! F#@K IT! WE’LL DO IT LIVE! I CAN – I’LL WRITE IT AND WE’LL DO IT LIVE! F#@KIN THING SUCKS!” We’ve done live sketch comedy before, in ways that even Bill O’Reilly couldn’t imagine. Conspiracy theorist weathermen, jilted lovers at the gates of heaven, sex toys, celebrity nudes, lesbian weddings, and awkward teens. It has all been done and seen before. Until now. Now, The Harvey Wallbangers get lucky with five, and we promise you that this show will be, by far, the most recent. But either way, we're doing it live.   The Harvey WALLbangers at Carnegie Stage A Pittsburgh Theater operated by The Off The Wall Charitable Trust

Linda Haston -  Photo by Heather Mull When Linda Haston, star of Mother Lode , a new play written by Virginia Wall Gruenert, first acted in the show in 2013, her feelings about her mother were very close to the surface. Her mother had passed away in 2011, and she describes still being very raw. “The first time we did this show it was more of a catharsis,” she said. “I was still fresh from her death, reeling from everything that we went through.” Haston describes that she felt unable to give the play the space that it needed, and that she was having trouble separating her performance from the complicated issues she was still dealing with regarding her complicated relationship with her mother. “I suggested that we do it again, rewritten, and I was much more able to get into it.” For Haston, the passage of the three years between the productions had allowed her to come to terms with some of the issues that had been holding her back before. The portrayal of her mother ...

Guest Blogger: Liz Beck, Senior RMU I adore musicals. Brittany Graham, Gavan Pamer - Photo: Heather Mull             I love Les Miserables. I have Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat committed to memory. I know every word of every song from The Lion King. Please, don’t ask me what my favorite soundtrack is—even though it’s probably Evita—because I won’t be able to choose. Musicals provide us with wish fulfillment that’s unmatched by stage plays. There’s just something so damn satisfying about watching people break out into song and dance choreographed routines, and as a rather cynical person, I truly enjoy the happy, shiny endings musicals offer.             Since I love musicals, it makes sense that I loved T he Musical of Musicals (The Musical), the latest venture at Off the Wall Productions . The show takes the basic plot of a gullible woman who owes rent to her crook of a landlord and retells it in the styl...

Meet our Associate Artistic Director, Erika Cuenca  Erika graduated from Point Park University in 2002 and first started working at off the WALL as an actor in 2009 when she was cast as Lil’ Bit in Paula Vogel’s play How I Learned to Drive . She was with the OTW team when they moved their performance space from Washington, PA to the current space in Carnegie. In December of 2013, she became a part of the administrative team and continues to work both behind the scenes and on stage to select, cast, and perform in the challenging plays that epitomize off the WALL’s commitment to unique and artistically important works. Meet our Operations & Production Manager, Heidi Nagle   Sara McCown Heidi graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with dual B.A. degrees in Theatre Arts and Communications. She is the Resident Stage Manager for off the WALL Productions, a House Manager at the New Hazlett Theater, and is the Founding Co-Artistic Director of the sketch comedy tr...

Guest blogger: Elizabeth Beck (Senior, RMU)           Let me just say this: I am not a dancer. My dance abilities top off at the chicken dance. I have almost zero coordination when it comes to choreographed movement. Needless to say, activities like ballet are not in the cards for me.             That said, I am absolutely enthralled by those who can dance, and even more by those who dance professionally. To me, it’s amazing that people can do things with their bodies to convey stories. I love to watch any kind of professional dance and movement, because it is so beyond my scope of ability. I think my obsession with dance performances is what truly led me to enjoy Off the Wall’s latest production, Kimono. Moriah Ella Mason - Mark Thompson - Photo by Heather Mull             Kimono is a powerful story told through bodily movement, miming and da...

What some may consider a risky move, others state is long overdue. Theater and artistic theatrical performances have long been considered a medium for engaging the community in social discourse, but even so, some may feel the upcoming production of KIMONO at CARNEGIE STAGE pushes the envelope. Mark C. Thompson - Kimono It’s important to ask ourselves why this is the case. In what some consider to be an ‘almost anything goes’ society, why is speaking out on behalf of victims potentially seen as pushing the envelope? Why? KIMONO, developed and choreographed by Mark C. Thompson of Pittsburgh, calls out predators for what they are. As noted on the playbill, “ Kimono deals with the subject of predation and victimization in a form that resembles a parable. It aspires to recount a horrible story in an eerily beautiful way, juxtaposing scenes of ugliness with very beautiful ones. ” We think Pittsburgh is ready for this type of social justice. It is our hope that through the bravenes...

Are you looking for something both new and exciting in Pittsburgh Theater? Then the upcoming production KIMONO at CARNEGIE STAGE is one that needs to be on your short list of things to do in Pittsburgh this March. Not only is this production something new to Pittsburgh, it truly is new.  It is a new work developed and choreographed by Mark C. Thompson. Produced by fireWALL dance theater, a division of off the WALL productions , producing a new work is something they not only love to do, it’s right in line with their mission – to bring new works and developments to fruition and to support new artists. In this case, it just so happens all of the artists involved are native to and/or living in Pittsburgh. Exciting. Intense. Stimulating. Moving. Stirring. Yes, KIMONO is all of these. This unique production is the result of a particularly gratifying collaboration between all involved. The three artists on stage are just that…artists. Through movement, they convey a story, a stor...

Have you ever noticed the variety of designs on kimonos? They’re often very bold and embellished and each kimono seems unique. It’s as if each kimono tells a story. In fact, that’s exactly what they do. A kimono can have many designs, and each design can be significant to the person’s life. Even the color is part of the story. Some kimonos are very complex, reflecting the person’s status, wealth and their tastes. The symbolism on kimonos is as varied as the wearers, and may even allude to virtues or specific emotions that individual associates with. Like a kimono that one wears, the upcoming fireWALL Dance production Kimono also tells a story. But not all kimonos are bright and bold. It depends on the story being told. Mark C. Thompson's new production new work, Kimono , is a dark and disturbing movement in parable form. It tells the story of a man who has been victimized. But it also tells the story of transformation. In Kimono , the traumatized man (an artist), begins to rec...

The cultural and entertainment industry is thriving in the Pittsburgh area, and that includes the arts such as theater, dance and cabaret. CARNEGIE STAGE hosts all of these forms of art on our small, intimate stage, as well as sketch comedy performances.  If you enjoy the up-close and personal experience of live theater and haven’t experienced CARNEGIE STAGE, we invite you to join us at one of our upcoming productions .   Our great fortune continues with the renaissance of Carnegie. Sometimes it seems as if new businesses are opening their doors monthly, if not even more frequently. A few of the newest businesses include The Flying Squirrel (ice cream and nostalgia items), Bakn, Ooh La La and Eccentricity Designs. Then there are the businesses that moved in just before Carnegie began gaining so much attention, including Modern Mercantile PGH, More Than Words, and 131 East.  And let’s not forget the businesses whom, no pun intended, weathered storms and floods and hav...

We often hear the saying “Life is short, so ____.”  How would you fill in the blank? Here are some common answers: Life is short, so have fun. Life is short, so live life to the fullest. Life is short, so be happy. And the list goes on. But how often to you hear someone say “Life is short, so look past your differences and your struggles and give the gift of acceptance”?  Not typically the first thought that comes to mind, but should it be? After all, what we’re really talking about here is reconciliation. Look at the common answers: have fun, live life to the fullest, be happy. Who is at the center of these responses? Ourselves. But when we start talking about reconciliation and acceptance, it’s no longer only about ourselves. It’s now about our relationship with another. Reconciliations need not be limited to someone with whom you’ve lost touch with or had a huge fight with. No, reconciliations can be life changing even over smaller actions. Any of those ‘little things’ ...

The Mother-Daughter Relationship. Though words cannot really express the depth of the bond, there are countless references to this special relationship. Perform a quick Google search for ‘mother daughter relationship’ and you’ll receive not hundreds or thousands or even hundreds of thousands results. You’ll receive over 350 million results. And that doesn’t begin to account for all the books, movies and even songs on the topic. Take a look on social media, and you’ll find a plethora of posts using #MotherDaughter, innumerable quotes, pins on Pinterest and the list goes on. But as special as mother-daughter relationships are, they are often simultaneously fraught with contention. Even WebMD discusses the topic. There are as many variances within relationships as there are mothers-daughters. But even so, there are also many commonalities, as well as cultural pressures that impact every relationship. In our upcoming production Mother Lode, two independent women deal with end-of-life d...

Mother Lode is off the WALL productions upcoming play. There are so many great reasons to see this play that we’ve select the top seven reasons that make this play stand out. This is a world premiere performance and opens on January 28, 2016 at Carnegie Stage, a Pittsburgh Theater. TOP 7 REASONS TO SEE MOTHER LODE Linda Haston - Photo: Heather Mull The Music: Soulful, old style jazz from the 1930’s – you can’t find that at every street corner in Pittsburgh, but you can find it at C arnegie Stage during the performances of Mother Lode. The Life Story of Two Pittsburgh Women: Mother Lode is based on the lives Pittsburgh actor Linda Haston and her mother Ruth and on growing up in the Hill District. It is also about the stages of their mother-daughter relationship, from contention and discord to acceptance. Style: A one woman show, Linda Haston plays the characters of herself and her mother. Enjoy a Great Story:  Ruth is such a great story teller that you’ll be cap...