off the WALL productions at Carnegie Stage A Pittsburgh Theater

Daina Michelle Griffith and Erika Cuenca - Photo by Heather Mull All bragging rights aside, we’re thrilled to let you know that Off The Wall Theater was noted on Michelle Pilecki’s short list of ‘Best Surprises in Pittsburgh Theater’ two times for the year 2013! Daina Michelle Griffith and Erika Cuenca were zeroed in on for their performances in The Zero Hour, which played from October 25 to November 9.  And the No Name Players’ “Viva Los Bastarditos!” production, which played at our theater in July, was noted as “polished nonsense.” A special thanks to all our fans for your continued support of our theater and our mission to bring thought-provoking plays to Pittsburgh theater .  We thank you and ask that you continue to help us reach out by sharing our posts and blogs on our theater and upcoming productions. Click here to read the full article on the ‘Best Surprises in Pittsburgh Theater’.

Daina Michelle Griffith You’ve seen her on our Off The Wall Theater stage no less than three times this past year.  Her varied roles demonstrate her talent, dedication, and versatility!  At our Pittsburgh theater alone, she’s played a butch lesbian, several hallucinated Nazis, the supportive friend of a sister with cancer, and the self-absorbed daughter of a chronically ill woman. So who is the 2013 Post-Gazette Performer of the Year?  Congratulations go to Daina Michelle Griffith !   Read more about Daina Michelle’s accomplishments. “She [Daina Michelle Griffith] is an actress for all theaters and whatever roles, tragic or comic, dramatic or musical, as are available to a young leading woman.”  Christopher Rawson / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Daina Michelle Griffith & Virginia Wall Gruenert - Photo by Heather Mull This weekend is your last chance to catch the Pittsburgh Premiere of ‘WELL’ – a hilarious, heartfelt seriocomedy. Come join us for our last weekend of performances.  How often do you have the opportunity to enjoy a play in a theater so intimate that you’re not only almost sitting on the stage, but where the actors are blatantly aware of you? Well, by Lisa Kron, is written in a unique autobiographical style, where Lisa, the daughter, has brought her mother to our stage to ‘make an exploration of universal issues’.  What does that mean?  That means that Lisa, always thinking of herself, is perhaps using her mother a bit as she tells the story of her own life through a play.  But the fun is just beginning!  Ann, the mother, has some different recollections of Lisa’s childhood and early adult years, and she doesn’t hesitate to point those differences out to Lisa. The play gets funni...

Daina Michelle Griffith, Virginia Wall Gruenert Photo by Heather Mull Most of us say it at one time or another, “I don’t want to be like my mother (or father),” only to find out years later that’s exactly what we have become! WELL gives us insight into the life of playwright Lisa Kron, who worries that her mother’s chronic battle with “allergies” will likewise plague her own life. Kron presents “a play within a play,” portraying a unique and somewhat satirical look at chronic illness, human weakness and family ties that bind. “No one can be anything but pleased with the acting,” notes Christopher Rawson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, adding, “her (Kron’s) memories and the feisty characters keep rising up and commandeering the stage.” Read more of Rawson’s review . LAST WEEKEND TO SEE 'WELL' - December 26, 27 and 28:   Don’t miss it! Order your tickets today by selecting this link . Well, written by Lisa Kron, is a riotously funny play that acknowledges the heartbre...

Daina Michelle Griffith & Virginia Wall Gruenert- Photo by Heather Mull What happens when a daughter, who has been impacted all her life by her mother’s undiagnosed illness, decides to write a play about her experiences? Well, an auto-biographical play, explores various life issues, such as wellness and illness, integration, and mother-daughter relationships.   Watching the main character Lisa (the daughter) deliver the dialogue on the play and run through its scenes is much like watching a Christmas present being unwrapped. Once unwrapped, a very nice gift is revealed. Like a present, Lisa must unwrap and shed layers of past experiences before she can get to the core issue with her mother – why can her mother, who healed a failing neighborhood, not heal herself? The empathy and understanding that ensues is the true gift of healing. December 19-28. Pittsburgh Theater Live:  WELL, written by Lisa Kron, plays this weekend before Christmas and the weekend after Chris...

Virginia Wall Gruenert - Photo by Heather Mull Looking for a personal gift for someone close to you this holiday season? What could be better than spending time and having a good laugh with someone you love?  Our production this holiday season is perfect for a mother-daughter outing, any close relationship, or two friends wishing to spend some time together. WELL, written by Lisa Kron, is about a mother-daughter bond and the need for empathy for those you love most. It is also about how a mother heals a failing neighborhood when she can’t heal herself and what constitutes wellness versus illness. But the best part is that although the messages in the play are meaningful, you and your loved one will laugh your way through the entire play. You will be glad you spent this time together. WELL, a 2006 Tony Award-nominated play,  runs the weekend before and after Christmas. So take a break from the hectic holiday and spend some time with a loved one in our cozy theater. Co...

Virginia Wall Gruenert & Daina Michelle Griffith. Photo by Heather Mull. Well is a seriously funny play! Autobiographical in nature, it is the story of a mother-daughter relationship. Ann, played by Virginia Wall Gruenert, has galvanized the community by spearheading the racial integration of a Lansing, Michigan neighborhood, but is not able to cure her own mysterious illness, which she attributes to unidentifiable allergies. Lisa, played by Daina Michelle Griffith, struggles with her mother’s inability to heal herself.  Lisa not only blames her mother for the impact her health has on her own life, but also assumes that she has the same life altering ‘allergies’ as her mother. If you’re looking for a unique experience in a Pittsburgh theater , join us for this play.  You’ll laugh as you, the audience, are not only entertained by both sides of the story, but become part of the play as the actors and characters voice their awareness of you. December 13-28. Pittsbu...

Robyne Parrish - Director of The Zero Hour Robyne Parrish, director of The Zero Hour, woke up this morning wondering if those reviews were real or if they were just a dream.  Robyne, we have news for you.  Those reviews were real! Here’s a quick recap of a few: “I give the cast and crew high marks for an emotionally moving and intellectually stimulating performance.” Rick D’Loss of The Carnegie Shul “The play was warm, compelling, provocative, very funny with some piercing sadness and exceedingly well done.” Maggie Forbes, Executive Director at Andrew Carnegie Free Library “I find it exhilarating to see theater whose artifice is transparent, as here… Quick costume changes take place on stage. The same person plays many roles. It’s a stunt, in a way, like watching the Cirque de Soleil of acting. But the level of acting here goes beyond virtuosity.”   Arlene Weiner of the Coal Hill Blog "Madeleine George's 2010 play, directed here by Robyne Parrish, mov...

Erika Cuenca and Daina Michelle Griffith – Photo by Heather Mull Earlier this week we posted the review by Rick D'Loss from The Congregation Ahavath Achim, Carnegie. Maggie Forbes, Executive Director at Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, also attended the opening night, and this is what she had to say in response to Rick’s blog: “I was blown away by the caliber of what I was calling the “Lesbians and Nazi’s on the No.7 train” play.”  “The play was warm, compelling, provocative, very funny with some piercing sadness and exceedingly well done.” Click here to read the full article and comments.   What will you have to say about the play?  Let us know on Twitter  and Facebook . Last Chance!    Buy Your Tickets Now.  The Zero Hour’s final nights are this Thursday, Friday & Saturday (November 7-9).  Come see two of Pittsburgh’s finest female actors, Erika Cuenca and Daina Michelle Griffith, directed by the brilliant Rob...

“It’s not often that we get a Holocaust themed play in Carnegie. I am probably understating the obvious; we probably have never had a Holocaust themed play in Carnegie!”  Erika Cuenca and Daina Michelle Griffith – Photo by Heather Mull That’s what Rick D’Loss of the The Carnegie Shul had to say about The Zero Hour.  But that’s not all Rick had to say.  Rick delved into the intricacies of the play, the struggles of how to make the Holocaust relevant to 7th graders, especially given that the writer is both a Jew and homosexual, and the challenges of describing the enormity of it all. Rick does a wonderful job capturing the essence of the play: the intertwining of living a lie, the tension that comes with living a lie and the resulting complications when he states  “I especially liked the intertwining of the “living a lie” theme as Rebecca describes a “closet” Jew living with false papers in Berlin, while Rebecca herself is hiding her true life from her mother.”...

Daina Michelle Griffith - Photo by Heather Mull O, a chronically unemployed lover in a relationship with Rebecca, who is not out of the closet, will escort you through a range of emotions throughout the play. O will make you laugh .  Whether she’s prostrating herself asking for forgiveness, taking pictures of Rebecca just about everywhere, or demanding attention when Rebecca is on the phone with her mother, she will make you laugh. O will make you think .  In her own obstinate, childlike way, O demands to know why the full truth cannot be told.  Why is the whole Holocaust story not told to 7th graders?  Why can’t Rebecca tell her mother she is a lesbian? Why can we not all be honest? O will make you feel .  O will make you feel what it’s like to disappoint your lover, what it’s like to miss someone, and what it’s like to carry anger against those you love. Michelle Pilecki of The Pittsburgh City Paper had this to say about O and the play: “The rea...

Erika Cuenca  and Daina Michelle Griffith - Photo by Heather Mull Mike “Buzz” Buzzelli and Lonnie the Theatre Lady ran into each other at the opening night performance of The Zero Hour.  They got together and ‘dished’ it out on ' BURGH VIVANT , Pittsburgh's Cultural Talk Magazine. They could not say enough about the theater, its mission, the actors, the set or the director. Here’s a what they had to say about each: The Theater: “Something special about that theater…not a bad seat in the house.”   Off The Wall Theater mission:   “Enlivening, educating & entertaining audiences in the Pittsburgh Region …dedicated to women: playwrights, directors, actors.” The actors:   “Beautiful women, their talent is just great!” The Play: “Thought-provoking!”  The play makes you talk afterwards about schoolbooks, the Holocaust, and what it must have been like during the time period. The Set:   “The set was great.”  Mike and Lonnie credite...

Daina Michelle Griffith & Erika Cuenca - Photo by Heather Mull Lucid!  Comedic!  Unsettling!  Riveting! Provocative!   The Zero Hour , written by Madeleine George and directed by Robyne Parrish, will fascinate you to the end.  Rebecca, a writer, and her chronically unemployed girlfriend O, struggle to overcome the building tension in their lesbian relationship.  Rebecca wants to remain closeted while O is Out .  You won’t be able to help but to become emotionally involved with the characters as these two actors seamlessly transition from one role to another, right before your very eyes. A thoughtful play that is perfect for an intimate Pittsburgh theater experience.   Tickets on sale now . About Erika Cuenca (Rebecca): Erika is so very happy to be back at Off The Wall, working with such an awesome group of people.  Locally, she has also worked with The Pittsburgh Playhouse Repertory Co., City Theatre, Quantum Theatre, Pittsburgh...