DIVINA: A FANTASY CABARET Starring Regina Gibson to be Presented at Prime Stage Theatre

Regina Gibson will bring her Divina: A Fantasy Cabaret one-woman stage show to New Hazlett Theater Monday, November 10 at 7:30 p.m. as part of Prime Stage Theatre's 2025-26 Monday Specials Series.

Tickets are pay-what-you-can and available by calling (412) 320-4610 ext. 10 or reserving online at https://newhazletttheater.org/events/monday-special-presents-divina.

Gibson stars as Mary, a woman anxiously awaiting a return text from yet another disappointing suitor. As she ponders whether she is being ghosted, soft-ghosted or simply gaslit, Mary fantasizes what her musical hero, legendary opera singer Maria Callas, would do.

When the diva's summoned spirit appears in Mary's apartment, the story veers into a music-filled romp redefining what it is to be a leading lady on your own terms.

Directed by Stephanie Cunningham and featuring accompaniment by Pittsburgh pianist Douglas Levine, Divina: A Fantasy Cabaret is an endearing homage to Callas, whose soaring artistic career and tumultuous romantic liaisons were often intertwined.

"After I went on another laughably bad date in New York," says Gibson, "I went home and listened to Maria's version of Mon coeur s'ouvre ta voix (My heart opens at the sound of your voice). I started to imagine what she would say to a man who treated her with anything less than adoration. Juxtaposing these operatic songs with self-deprecating humor was enormously appealing.

"It's a show that inspires the audience to live bigger and more fully, while at the same time reminding us it's okay to laugh at all the craziness happening along the way."

Gibson graduated from Fox Chapel Area High School and earned her BFA degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

A versatile actress and multi-genre vocalist spanning opera, Broadway, country and pop, her recent theatre credits include performances with National Yiddish Opera Folksbiene, Metropolitan Playhouse, DC Capital Festival, Connecticut Shakespeare, Theatreworks/USA and Delta in The Sky with Diamonds starring Austin Pendleton at Theatre 54 at Shetler Studios.

Gibson began honing her comic sensibilities a decade ago when she created a one-woman show, The Apple Tree, for New York's United Solo Theater Festival and an original comedy web series Honestly, Amelia based on the classic children's book character Amelia Bedelia.

Divina: A Fantasy Cabaret fuses comedy with her lifelong love of opera, introducing Maria Callas' timeless music into a cabaret setting.

This will be Gibson's first time working with pianist Douglas Levine, well-known to Pittsburgh audiences as an adept composer and stellar performer in jazz, classical and musical theatre.

"I am enormously excited," she says. "When I decided to take Divina to Pittsburgh, my good friend and former singing teacher Daphne Alderson immediately suggested I contact him. She had developed her own wonderful cabaret shows with Douglas, and I feel very fortunate to have this opportunity to perform together for Prime Stage Theatre."