Pittsburgh CLO And Pittsburgh Public Theater Complete Merger; Announces Inaugural Shows

Pittsburgh CLO and Pittsburgh Public Theater completed their merger, uniting two of the region's most storied performing arts institutions into a single company, which will be the largest professional producing theater in Pittsburgh. The transaction closed, followed immediately by the organizational meeting of the new company's inaugural Board of Trustees.

The merger comes just five months after the two boards agreed to join forces and appointed six board representatives each to a twelve-member unification committee. In that time, the group established a corporate structure, hired interim leadership, drafted bylaws, elected officers, and executed an Agreement and Plan of Affiliation.

"There was no official charter, no template, no roadmap - just a shared recognition of the importance of this project to the future of theater in this region," said Tom McGough, Board Chair. "It's a classic Pittsburgh story: people with widely different perspectives coming together to do something that just needed doing."

The new company will operate on a year-round producing model, replacing the seasonal rhythms that defined each legacy organization. Venues will also change based on the production, with programming taking place in year one in multiple downtown theaters.

"You're no longer going to see everything in one or two venues," said Kyle Haden, Interim Artistic Director. "We've built a company where the right play gets the right room."

Beginning next year, audiences will have multiple ways to subscribe, including a series honoring the artistic excellence long associated with Pittsburgh Public Theater, a series carrying forward the large-scale musicals Pittsburgh CLO has produced for eighty years, and a full season combining both. Combining audiences, staff, and production teams allows for a diversity of offerings neither company could have mounted alone.

The merger also unifies two of the region's largest arts education platforms, bringing CLO Academy and Pittsburgh Public Theater's education programs under one roof. Signature programs including the Gene Kelly Awards and the Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest will continue and expand.

"This is investing in the future of this entire industry - not only here in Pittsburgh, but on Broadway and well beyond, wherever our young artists end up flourishing next," McGough said.

The company's first offering is a fall Prologue Season spanning three downtown venues: The O'Reilly Theater, the Greer Cabaret Theater, and the Byham Theater. Programming includes the Pittsburgh premiere of How Shakespeare Saved My Life, written and performed by Gene Kelly Award winner Jacob Ming-Trent and hailed as "the best performance of the year" during its recent run at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C.; the adults-only holiday comedy Who's Holiday!; and family favorite A Musical Christmas Carol.

Tickets for How Shakespeare Saved My Life are officially on sale now. The November 11 preview performance is Pay What You Can, part of a broader access commitment that includes Pay What You Can pricing throughout previews, and a portion of every house reserved for low-price seats at every performance.

Two titles from the inaugural full season were also announced: William Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, at The O'Reilly Theater in 2027 - two sets of long-lost twins, separated by shipwreck, who spend the entire play a few feet apart before finally finding each other - and the Pittsburgh premiere of Purpose, the Pulitzer Prize- and Tony Award-winning drama. The complete season lineup will be announced in the coming months.

Beginning today, audiences, artists, and community members are invited to participate in naming the new company. Interested people can review some options and submit their own ideas at NextActPgh.com.

"Our identity was never going to live in a word," said Brett Ashley Crawford, Interim Executive Producer. "It lives in the work, in the people who create it, and in every show we'll ever make for this city. So we're going to write this next chapter differently - and we don't want to write it alone."

The new company is led by Interim Executive Producer Brett Ashley Crawford. Tom McGough, a three-term member of the Pittsburgh Public Theater board and former counsel to Pittsburgh CLO, serves as the newly elected Chair of the Board of Trustees. Renowned artist and educator Kyle Haden serves as the Interim Artistic Director.

The inaugural Board of Trustees includes Joe DiVito, Lesley Evancho, Ed Karlovich, Chris Kobus, Krysia Kubiak, Rich Lipovich, Jessica Priselac, Pete Robinson, Bal Srinivasan, LaShawnda Thomas, and TJ Young.

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