HILLMAN CENTER FOR PERFORMING ARTS’ KOUNTZ BLACK BOX THEATER

by Greg Kerestan - December 03, 2025

The only constant is change, as anyone will tell you, and Front Porch Theatricals has always epitomized that. Other than knowing their shows are going to be good, you could go in knowing everything or nothing (more often nothing) about their curated picks and walk out satisfied. ...

by Greg Kerestan - November 29, 2025

Amazingly, some things never DO go out of style....

by Greg Kerestan - October 17, 2025

After twenty years as a preeminent Rocky Horror town, the most radical thing you can do with a Pittsburgh Rocky is be traditional....

by Greg Kerestan - October 07, 2025

Michael Frayn's legendary farce returns, in the Public's most go-for-broke physical comedy yet....

by Greg Kerestan - September 12, 2025

Here's a fun fact about me: I have never played one of the Four Plaids, but I have been in many, many productions of Forever Plaid. There used to be a drawer in my house full of printed-out certificates and plaid-covered dental floss, tokens of my repeat apearances as the 'special audience volunteer...

by Greg Kerestan - August 22, 2025

When it comes to Stephen Sondheim, people often have very strong opinions on 'blue-book Sondheim' (the first half of his memoirs is a blue book covering his origins through Merrily) versus 'pink book Sondhiem' (the second half, a pink book, covers Sunday through Bounce)....

by Greg Kerestan - August 05, 2025

If you saw Very Berry Dead at Big Storm last year (and I hope you did), you probably had some idea what to expect with actor/writer José Pérez IV's latest show, To Battle. You'd be right, but you'd also be wrong. Both shows blend absurdism and realism, comedy and drama, and tease out revelations tha...

by Greg Kerestan - July 28, 2025

One of the biggest debates in the world of theatre is over the genre of Anton Chekhov's masterpiece of early modernism, The Seagull. It's been almost universally acknowledged as a tragedy... except by Chekhov himself, who intended it as a comedy....

by Greg Kerestan - July 21, 2025

A refreshingly non-replica production design breathes new life into the sometimes-overexposed property.aOne of the fascinating things about modern musicals is also one of the most frustrating: we are experiencing them as what Richard Wagner called a Gesamtkunstwerk....

by Greg Kerestan - July 16, 2025

Stripped-down production values but a game cast make the Pythonesque musical fly. There used to be a blog called 'Low Budget Beasts,' which eventually evolved to 'Low Budget Shreks.' Like the title implies, it was a site full of photos mocking community and small professional theatres for staging pr...