Alan Stanford News

It's a new year, and PICT Classic Theatre opens its nineteenth season out of the gate with a world-premiere, For the Tree to Drop, written by celebrated local actress Lissa Brennan. Part of PICT's brand-new Downtown Series, it is no coincidence that this compelling piece will run February 19 - 28, during Black History Month, at the Peirce Studio inside The Trust Arts Education Center at 805 Liberty Avenue.

On the heels of the most-attended production in PICT's 18-year history, PICT Classic Theatre presents Charles Dickens' Great Expectations from tonight, December 4 - 20 at the Stephen Foster Memorial in Oakland.

On the heels of the most-attended production in PICT's 18-year history, PICT Classic Theatre presents Charles Dickens' Great Expectations from December 4 - 20 at the Stephen Foster Memorial in Oakland. The final production before PICT's 2015 Downtown Series, Great Expectations concludes the year with an adored classic, perfect for the holiday season, which evokes feelings of nostalgia for countless readers worldwide.

September 30, 2014. For one night, on the eve of Halloween, PICT Classic Theatre will transform J. Verno Studios on the South Side into a den of dastardly delights! Dinner, dancing, and "spirits" of all sorts set the scene as PICT celebrates its brilliant 2014 season and this year's honorees.

September 30, 2014. For one night, on the eve of Halloween, PICT Classic Theatre will transform J. Verno Studios on the South Side into a den of dastardly delights! Dinner, dancing, and “spirits” of all sorts set the scene as PICT celebrates its brilliant 2014 season and this year's honorees.

PICT Classic Theatre's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, by Frank McGuinness, opens just about 100 years after the historical WWI events that are authentically portrayed in the performance. Running today, September 4, through September 20 at the Stephen Foster Memorial, the play, appropriate for ages 12+, leaves audiences with a better emotional understanding of events that changed the course of millions of lives and a sense of the surprising ways that WWI continues to shape the world today.

PICT Classic Theatre's Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme, by Frank McGuinness, opens just about 100 years after the historical WWI events that are authentically portrayed in the performance. Running September 4-20 at the Stephen Foster Memorial, the play, appropriate for ages 12+, leaves audiences with a better emotional understanding of events that changed the course of millions of lives and a sense of the surprising ways that WWI continues to shape the world today.

The Pittsburgh premiere of Marina Carr's Woman and Scarecrow is even more noteworthy since the acclaimed playwright is coming to Pittsburgh for the production. Artistic and Executive Director Alan Stanford extended an invitation to Marina to participate in the final week of rehearsal and the show's opening.

Marina Carr's play Woman and Scarecrow is a perfect embodiment of the bittersweet humor and comical tragedy that pervades the plays of the Irish, much like PICT's production Waiting for Godot that closed June 21. Alan Stanford will direct this third play in PICT's season, which he selected "because of its delicate investigation of the one event in our lives that we all share. The leaving of it."

When Artistic & Executive Director Alan Stanford was planning the 2014 PICT season, Managing Director Stephanie Riso suggested the addition of the Beckett classic Waiting for Godot. She knew Alan had a special relationship with this particular work of Beckett, having portrayed Pozzo for the Gate Theatre Dublin's touring production for more than twenty years.

When Artistic & Executive Director Alan Stanford was planning the 2014 PICT season, Managing Director Stephanie Riso suggested the addition of the Beckett classic Waiting for Godot. She knew Alan had a special relationship with this particular work of Beckett, having portrayed Pozzo for the Gate Theatre Dublin's touring production for more than twenty years.

PICT Theatre's Artistic and Executive Director Alan Stanford has selected a bold assortment of classic plays for PICT's 18th season, Something Wicked This Way Comes. Each play contains its own version of wickedness, with the Noel Coward classic Blithe Spirit opening the season tonight, May 3rd (May 1 and 2 previews.)

On Thursday, March 27, PICT Theatre and the Arts and Law Committee of the Allegheny County Bar hosted more than 150 guests at the Duquesne Club for the inaugural PICT UnCommon Pleas, a legal theatrical event featuring attorney Dennis Unkovic of Meyer, Unkovic and Scott LLP, and Pittsburgh Tech Council president Audrey Russo as Macbeth and Lady Macbeth. Federal and state judges Maurice B. Cohill Jr., Nora Barry Fischer, Jeffrey A. Manning, Judith Ference Olson, Christine A. Ward, and Dwayne R. Woodruff presided as advocates pleaded their cases for or against the Macbeths. Scroll down to see some photos from the event!

PICT Theatre's Artistic and Executive Director Alan Stanford has selected a bold assortment of classic plays for PICT's 18th season, Something Wicked This Way Comes. Each play contains its own version of wickedness, with the Noel Coward classic Blithe Spirit opening the season May 3rd (May 1 and 2 previews.)

PICT Theatre, presenting sponsors PNC Bank and Jones Day, and Dance Party sponsor American Eagle Outfitters are pleased to announce PICT's reimagined annual fundraiser, a three-part celebration to be held at J. Verno Studios on the South Side.

PICT Theatre (Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre) packs its eighteenth year of classic favorites and pure Irish genius, a return to its original mission under the leadership of Producing Artistic Director Alan Stanford. The selection of plays all fit the theme, "Something Wicked This Way Comes," a line taken from the fifth show of the season.

Following an extensive search process, PICT Theatre's board of directors has appointed Alan Stanford as the company's producing artistic director. Stanford has been serving as the interim producing artistic director since February. Board president Eugene O'Sullivan said, "We were fortunate to find someone of Alan's caliber to lead this organization at a most critical time. His experience as well as his performance in the intervening months proved he was the best of all of the candidates for the job."

British playwright Duncan Macmillan was asked numerous times to adapt Don Juan Comes Back from the Warby Odon von Horvath, and after reading it in the original German as well as a few translations, he felt compelled to accept the challenge. "I thought it was a fascinating play, to take this extraordinary character - the archetypal lover Don Juan - and refract his character through the dark experience of going through the war, and coming back to a war-torn Berlin as an older man, looking for love and redemption." Macmillan's version of the play has only been produced once before, at the Finborough Theatre in London in 2012. Macmillan traveled to Pittsburgh to attend rehearsals and work with director Alan Stanford and the cast for its U. S. premiere. This production will run August 8-31.

Renowned Oscar Wilde expert Alan Stanford, PICT's interim Producing Artistic Director, will direct his adaptation of the great Irish playwright's comedy, Lady Windermere's Fan. Wilde's play, first produced in 1892 in London, satirizes the morality of Victorian society. Stanford has moved the setting forward in time to 1947; in post-World-War II London, Wilde's language and ridicule of high-society still resonate. Oscar Wilde was not so much a writer of polite English comedy, but rather a biting Irish satirist who lampooned the social absurdities and prejudices of the English upper classes, prejudices that lasted well into the Twentieth Century. This production, which runs tonight, July 11 through July 27, is PICT's third show of the season, and features a cast of 17 actors.

Renowned Oscar Wilde expert Alan Stanford, PICT's interim Producing Artistic Director, will direct his adaptation of the great Irish playwright's comedy, Lady Windermere's Fan. Wilde's play, first produced in 1892 in London, satirizes the morality of Victorian society. Stanford has moved the setting forward in time to 1947; in post-World-War II London, Wilde's language and ridicule of high-society still resonate. Oscar Wilde was not so much a writer of polite English comedy, but rather a biting Irish satirist who lampooned the social absurdities and prejudices of the English upper classes, prejudices that lasted well into the Twentieth Century. This production, which runs July 11 through July 27, is PICT's third show of the season, and features a cast of 17 actors.