Local Pittsburgh happenings in arts, performance, culture, etc.
Feb. 3 – Feb. 9
Opening Feb. 7 at 6–9 p.m., Pittsburgh Glass Center, free
Pittsburgh was America’s Glass City before it became the Steel City — Andrew Carnegie’s original 1875 steel mill was predated by the first glass factories in 1797, which produced most of America’s glass. The Pittsburgh Glass Center, founded in the 1990s, carries on this tradition and fosters community and artistry through glassmaking. Aside from offering classes, including ones you can register for through Carnegie Mellon, the Center mounts two exhibitions each year. This season’s exhibition, titled “Glass Lifeforms,” features 50 pieces that use a plurality of techniques to imitate (often very convincingly, given the way the glass absorbs light) various forms of life — from animals to microorganisms.
Feb. 6 – 8 at 8 p.m., Feb. 9 at 2 p.m. Braddock, price varies
Established in 2003, barebones productions fills its abandoned-Chevy-car-dealership-turned-black-box with visually minimalist theater to draw the audience’s focus to challenging and robust storytelling. “Unreconciled” tells the story of a young boy who plays Jesus in a school play and finds the courage to speak up as a victim of childhood sexual abuse in the Catholic church. The storytelling extends beyond the performance itself into The Unreconciled Project, through which playwrights Jay Sefton and Mark Basquill prompt action by working with mental health institutions and holding critical conversations. The Feb. 6 performance offers “pay what you can” pricing, and the Feb. 9 performance is followed by a post-show discussion.
Opening event Feb. 3 at 6–8 p.m., City-County Building Grand Lobby, free
Walking down Apple Street, you wouldn’t guess that its crumbling Victorian hillside house was once purchased by Pittsburgh’s first Black millionaire, home to the first permanent Black opera company in America, and later known as “Mystery Manor,” an inn and social hub for high-profile Black visitors barred from local hotels due to segregation. The state of the house matches the state of the stories inside it. During 2020, the National Trust for Historic Preservation placed it on its annual list of 11 most endangered historic places. Restoration of the physical house began in 2022, and the city of Pittsburgh hopes to recover its place in the public consciousness with an exhibit downtown for Black History Month.
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