Tickets Are On Sale Now For The 34th Annual EQT Children's Theater Festival

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has announced that tickets are on sale for the 2020 EQT Children's Theater Festival. Now in its 34th year, this Festival fosters imagination through high-quality professional theater performances from around the world, including performers from Australia, Japan, Scotland, South Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Highlights of the 2020 Festival include six featured performances, over fifty free hands-on activities and experiences, and The Way of Color, an interactive art installation composed of colorful rainbow sand. The festival experience is tailored to children of all ages and includes sensory-friendly performances of Doodle POP! and Dan + Claudia Zanes.

Each year's festival footprint in downtown Pittsburgh's Cultural District includes new and different spaces. This year, the Festival adds the Pittsburgh Playhouse, an entertainment and performing arts center located on the campus of Point Park University that reopened in the Fall of 2018 in a new, award-winning 90,411 square-foot facility that features three main Theater spaces. The 550-seat PNC Theatre whose backstage and inner workings are visible from the street, the 200-seat Highmark Theatre, and the 99-seat Rauh Theatre.

"This edition of the EQT Children's Theater Festival offers performances for everyone, ages 0 through adult," says Pamela Komar, Director of Theater, Music, and Youth Programming for the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. "Audiences will discover adventurous shows that include music, humor, puppetry, storytelling, interactivity, imagination, wonder, and so many "aha" moments. The Festival is a terrific way to inspire family time away from our individual screens."

"I am also happy to announce the return of South Korea's Brush Theatre to Pittsburgh with Doodle POP. The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust was the first to bring this artist collective to the United States back in 2008. Being able to premiere shows of this caliber during the EQT Children's Theater Festival every year is not only a great opportunity for the artists but the Pittsburgh arts community."

The EQT Foundation, which was established by EQT Corporation, one of the nation's largest producers of natural gas, returns in 2020 for a seventh year as the Festival's lead and title underwriter, connecting the Pittsburgh community to international arts, entertainment, and culture. Through focused giving, the EQT Foundation provides educational opportunities for all ages, values the development of livable communities, and is committed to the preservation of natural resources in our region. Established in 2003, the EQT Foundation prides itself on being a responsible corporate citizen and invests in programs that promote an understanding of culture and heritage.

"The EQT Foundation is honored to once again provide underwriting support for the EQT Children's Theater Festival, an exceptional event that brings top-rated performing and visual artists from around the globe to our beautiful city for audiences to witness first-hand," said Ellen Rossi, Manager of the EQT Foundation. "We're proud to be a part of a festival that can help bring arts to life for so many children and families in our region. As we do every year, we look forward to the weekend and the liveliness it brings to the already thriving Cultural District."

In addition to the EQT Foundation, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust thanks its sponsors, Giant Eagle, Inc., The Fine Foundation, Gateway Health, the Maranne P. Welch Family Endowment, Allegheny Regional Asset District, The Children's Institute of Pittsburgh, The Grable Foundation, The Buhl Foundation, and The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. Special thanks to collaborators Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership, City of Pittsburgh, Citiparks, Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, and Alco Parking Corporation, and media partners KDKA-TV and Kidsburgh.

Featured performance tickets are $12 each, and multishow packs are available for as low as $8 per show! Flex Vouchers from the Children's Theater Series and EQT Bridge Theater Series are honored for all ticketed events taking place during the Festival but must be redeemed in advance of the performance. Some performances will sell out in advance. To avoid disappointment, plan ahead. For tickets and information:

• Visit TrustArts.org/PGHKids

• Call 412-456-6666

• Visit the Theater Square Box Office at 655 Penn Avenue

• Groups of 10 or more start at $10 per ticket per show, and are as low as $5 per ticket per show. Call 412-471-6930 or email GroupSales@TrustArts.org

• On site at the Festival, visit a pop up box office at 807 Liberty or the venue where each show takes place just before show time.

Families and Pittsburgh Cultural Trust Partners help the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust to continually present affordable, high quality theater productions. Giving at the $100 Sustaining Partner Level grants access to priority seating at the Children's Theater Series and EQT Bridge Theater Series. As a member, you'll also receive many other terrific benefits for a full year! Visit TrustArts.org/SupportKids or call 412-471-3518 for more details.

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has overseen one of Pittsburgh's most historic transformations: turning a seedy red-light district into a magnet destination for arts lovers, residents, visitors, and business owners. Founded in 1984, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a non-profit arts organization whose mission is the cultural and economic revitalization of a 14-block arts and entertainment/residential neighborhood called the Cultural District. The District is one of the country's largest land masses "curated" by a single nonprofit arts organization. A major catalytic force in the city, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is a unique model of how public-private partnerships can reinvent a city with authenticity, innovation and creativity. Using the arts as an economic catalyst, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust has holistically created a world-renowned Cultural District that is revitalizing the city, improving the regional economy and enhancing Pittsburgh's quality of life. Thanks to the support of foundations, corporations, government agencies and thousands of private citizens, the Trust stands as a national model of urban redevelopment through the arts.

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