2020 Pittsburgh Humanities Festival Programming Line-up Announced

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and The Humanities Center at Carnegie Mellon University have announced the complete programming lineup for the fifth Pittsburgh Humanities Festival, taking place March 20-22, 2020 at locations throughout the Cultural District. The Festival brings together internationally-renowned academics, artists, and intellectual innovators offering interviews, intimate conversations, and select performances focused on art, literature, music, science, policy, politics, and more-all in a lively, entertaining, accessible format in the Cultural District. It's smart talk about stuff that matters.

This year's Pittsburgh Humanities Festival consists of Featured Events, featured performances and presentations in Cultural District Theaters, Core Conversations, intimate interviews, presentations, and conversations featuring internationally renowned academics, artists, and intellectual innovators, and a Public Open Call, which provides a chance for new voices to be heard at the Festival through web-based auditions open to anyone interested in presenting or performing.

2020 Pittsburgh Humanities Festival Featured Events kick off with the return of Sh!t-faced Shakespeare. Previously seen in Pittsburgh with interpretations of A Midsummer Night's Dream and Romeo and Juliet, the group takes on the world of tragedy with Macbeth on March 20th at the Byham Theater. The next night of the Festival, March 21st, features beloved This American Life host and creator Ira Glass with his show Seven Things I've Learned at the Byham Theater. Glass mixes audio clips, music, and video to deliver a unique talk, sharing lessons from his life and career in storytelling. Blair Imani is the final featured event of the Festival, giving her Making Our Way Home talk on Sunday, March 22nd at the Greer Cabaret Theater.

Core Conversations at this year's Pittsburgh Humanities Festival run the gamut - from Kennywood Behind the Screams, a discussion with Rick Sebak and Brian Butko about Kennywood's history, to Predicting Elections: Trump's Chances of Winning in 2020, during which University of Pittsburgh's Jonathan Woon provides data and statistical analysis of Donald Trump's chances of winning re-election. From Brewing Black Beer, a conversation with Fresh Fest Founders and Black Frog Brewing, to Becoming a Queen, where Pittsburgh Drag Queen Kierra Darshell discusses her journey as a drag performer and her efforts to make drag mainstream in Pittsburgh, the 2020 Festival's Core Conversations fill Saturday, March 21st and Sunday, March 22nd with 'smart talk' in the Trust Arts Education Center at 805-807 Liberty Avenue.

The Public Open Call provides the general public with a chance to be heard at the Pittsburgh Humanities Festival and to engage in dialogue about the humanities. One presentation is selected by a jury panel to appear in the lineup of Core Conversations. The final selection is made based upon factors including, but not limited to, the auditioning person's stage presence and merit in commanding a theater audience, ability to articulate a story or discussion points in a cohesive, compelling way, and topic suitability amid the Festival's diverse overall programming. The open call is available for any individual or collective of three or fewer individuals, and is open until Friday, January 31, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. Information on the Open Call can be found at TrustArts.org/SmartTalk.

Tickets are now on sale for all Core Conversations and Featured Events. Tickets for Core Conversations can be purchased for $5 per Conversation. Ticket prices for Featured Events vary. For pricing and to purchase tickets, visit TrustArts.org/SmartTalk , the Box Office at Theater Square, or call (412) 456-6666.