PICT Receives NEA Grant

Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre has received a $10,000 Access to Artistic Excellence grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, for their production of Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest.

The Importance of Being Earnest is being presented by PICT in a version adapted by Irish playwright and director Conall Morrison. The production features a new prologue and interludes which turn Oscar Wilde into a character in the play. The Importance of Being Earnest will be performed from August 4th through August 27th 2011 at the Charity Randall Theatre, located in the Stephen Foster Memorial on the University of Pittsburgh's campus.

The announcement was made by Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts. The Access to Artistic Excellence grant was created to assist with maintaining the arts, as well as to provide access to the arts for all individuals. 1,415 applicants were eligible to receive the grants, and 789 of those were recommended. The grants given in the Access to Artistic Expression category totals $24.9 million.