off the WALL productions at Carnegie Stage A Pittsburgh Theater

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...

There’s a lot happening at off the WALL!  As of July of 2015, Hans and Virginia Wall Gruenert, co-founders of off the WALL Performing Arts Center, have donated the building at 25 W. Main St., Carnegie to the off the WALL Charitable Trust. The not-for-profit venue will be renamed Carnegie Stage, as their nod to a supportive community.  The anchor tenants will continue to be off the WALL Productions, whose main theater season is October to May, fireWALL dance theater with two new works annually and the Pittsburgh New Works Festival. Season nine of “alternative theater for grownups” includes great plays, bold choices, and talented artists.  off the WALL Productions is excited to announce its 2015-16 season, featuring two World premieres and one Pittsburgh premiere in the Acting Company’s four-play program, including repertory theater. Not only will you see many established ensemble members on stage, but also several exciting artists new to off the WALL. Our 2015-201...

Ghosts March 2015 Decades ago, the television was quickly nicknamed “The Boob Tube” for its power to draw people into a viewing stupor. And it continues to do so today. How often do you flip through the channels looking for an interesting show? Does this sound familiar: “There’s nothing good on TV”? It doesn’t seem to matter how many channels there are, sometimes you just want more. So why sit there and watch mindless TV when you can come to our theater and stimulate your senses and challenge your mind? At off the WALL, we don’t mind tackling topics that some may consider controversial or that are at the heart of challenges faced by many in our society. What we do mind — and what you won’t find on our stage as part of our theater productions– are mindless plays about mindless topics. Our audiences deserve better. We strive not only give you something to talk about, but to think about. To REALLY THINK about, that evening, the next day and maybe even the next. off the Wall’s prof...

Live theater.  To those of us who love it so, live theater is a comfortable visit with people we know, or who we are about to know. The ticket we exchange for entry is our invitation to a special time, a time of laughter, smiles, tears and sighs, the same emotions we share with family and friends. The experience of small live theater , in particular, holds a special allure. Instead of watching the story unfold from the front door, we are invited into the living room, invited to share the moment, rather than watch it only. Those who frequent Off the Wall Center for Performing Arts enjoy the intimacy unique to small theater. You are our guests, and we invite you in to be a part of the special stories we have to share. We're one of the few theaters in the Pittsburgh area where professional actors take the stage. lease consider our schedule for the upcoming 2015-16 theater season. We can't wait to spend some time with you. So consider this your invitation to come on in! H...

Wondering what we do after our theater season officially ends? You might think that we sit back, relax, and enjoy some time off. Although that sounds delightful, it’s certainly not reality. Not when we’re committed to bringing some of the best that theater has to offer to Pittsburgh Theater and to the Carnegie community. Where better to find out first-hand the latest happenings in the world of theater? Why New York of course! That’s why we scour the streets, read the reviews, talk with the artists, and learn about the new and upcoming playwrights, directors and plays. We’re always searching for the next great production to bring to you! So you can be sure that we’re working our way through the Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway circuits. We’re excited about all the options to consider, and look forward to sharing some of our finds on our stage in the future. off the WALL Performing Arts Center | a Pittsburgh Theater 25 West Main, Carnegie, PA 15106 | 6 miles from downtown Pitts...

Summertime! We’ve waited all winter for it, and now it’s finally here. Before we know it, we’ll be donning our fall layers and preparing for holidays. So what will you do this summer? Relax, maybe take a vacation, kick back, go picnics, the usual… How about learning? Summertime is a great time to learn a new skill or to expand your existing skills in something you love, or have wanted to do for a long time. That’s why we’re offering summer school at our off the WALL Annex in downtown Carnegie, just 6 miles from downtown Pittsburgh. If you’ve always wanted to write a play or have had writer’s block and/or need a boost for taking your writing to the next level, this is your chance. We are offering both a beginning and advanced playwriting class this summer. But hurry! Classes begin Monday, June 1st!! BEGINNING PLAYWRITING YOU CAN WRITE A PLAY LEARN ALL ABOUT IT ADVANCED PLAYWRITING HONING YOUR PLAYWRITING SKILLS LEARN ALL ABOUT IT ABOUT THE INSTRUCTOR: In 2012 Writers...

Artistic Director Virginia Wall Gruenert hand selects each play for off the WALL Productions. When she came across the well-received reviews of Samuel D. Hunter’s The Whale in the New York Times and read about the script from Playwright Horizons, an Off-Broadway Theater in New York, she had to investigate and learn about the play. She immediately fell in love with the script! A read through of the script resonated for many reasons. The juxtaposition of being simultaneously hilariously funny and extremely sad is captivating in and of itself. Add to that the actual storyline; and the play definitively fit our mold for being a thought-provoking story that will bring new meaning and dimension to the day-to-day perspective of our audience members. The Whale tells the story of Charlie, a 600-pound man facing his last chance. With failing health, the inability to care for himself and the loneliness of his only friend being his nurse, who further enables him with his self-destructive habit...

Straightening Combs takes you along on a journey of growing up in the Hill District through the eyes of a young, African American female. It is written by and based on the life of Kim El.  It is a powerful story about beauty and self-image. The message to all is very simple, yet simultaneously complicated:   Beauty is not only on the outside, true beauty is also on the inside.   Kim El and Nia Washington - Photo by Heather Mull But what happens when young girls are told that their features aren’t beautiful?  What happens when mothers try to change the appearance of their daughters because that’s what their mothers did… because that’s what their mothers did?  What happens when a young girl hears that everyone in her neighborhood is ‘bad’?   What happens when one’s self-esteem is shattered from every angle?   The beauty is still there.  If anything, there is more beauty.  One only needs to realize and accept this beaut...

Kim El Pittsburgh will soon be joining cities such as Chicago, Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco in the revival of repertory theater.  A mainstay of such illustrious companies as the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, repertory theater is a type of theatrical presentation in which several works are presented regularly or in alternate sequence in one season. Off The Wall will begin by hosting our version of Kim El’s Straightening Combs as our first play “in rep.”  The show’s first run will be January 31-February 2; subsequent performances are scheduled for April 4-6 and August 8-10. Click here to learn more or to purchase ticke ts. **USA Cities having made a come-back per Wikipedia :