I have to thank Joyce Meggerson-Moore for two reasons. First off, as chair of the New Horizon Theater board of directors, she allowed me to review the company’s latest production three days before it closed. Normally, reviewers are expected to see a production on opening night or shortly thereafter. Her thoughtfulness introduced me to Layon Gray, a playwright I had never before encountered, but one to keep an eye on, judging by his insightful and emotion-packed Meet Me at the Oak . Secondly, the play, staged at Pittsburgh Public Theater’s third floor Helen Wayne Rauh Rehearsal Hall, provided me with two hours of gripping narrative played out by a septet of accomplished actors and a solid and inventive production staff. The mood starts out rather ominously as the audience listens to Billie Holliday’s haunting 1939 protest song, “Strange Fruit” piped out into the theater as we look on set designer, Herb Newsome’s, comfy, cozy and warm domicile flanked by two white p...
See American History Through Rare Photographs Commemorate the 250th anniversary of the United States while standing face-to-face with the everyday people who built this country, from those who forged steel in Pittsburgh to those who constructed the Empire State Building. Lewis Hine Pictures America Is On View → Draw Connections Between the Fricks & Lewis Hine Pictures America March 12 at 5:30 p.m. Hine’s photography of Homestead further illuminates the disparity between the Fricks’ lived experience and the workers who toiled in the mills. Dive deeper with a unique guided evening tour of Clayton and the exhibition. Look At PGH’s Industrial Past → UPCOMING EVENTS March 5 – Cocktails and Conversations: Lewis Hine Pictures America March 8 – Through the Lens of Arrival: The Italian Immigrant Experience in Image, Film, and Live Music March 12 – Guided Evening Tour of Clayton and Lewis Hine Pictures America M...