Tickets can be purchased online or you may visit the Box Office in the lobby of the Purnell Center for the Arts.

Box Office

Regular Box Office Hours:

Monday through Friday, noon to 5 pm
Weekdays of performance, noon to 5 pm and 6:30 pm to 8 pm
Weekends of performance, an hour and a half before curtain

All sales are final. No refunds are available

Telephone

Tickets can be purchased over the telephone with Visa or MasterCard.
The Box Office telephone number is 412-268-2407.
There is a $2.00 handling fee on all non-cash purchases.

Ticket Prices

View Subscription & Single Ticket Prices

Online

Click here to purchase tickets online for individual shows. Handling fees and service charges are applied to online sales.

Exchange Tickets

View Our Ticket Exchange Policy

Upcoming Performances

Past Performances

He Who Gets Slapped

by Leonid Andreyev

Directed by Tony McKay
View Cast & Production Team

"You are the crowd laughing at my humiliation! The joke is -- you are laughing at yourselves!"
In an exotic French circus, a man battles desperately to come to terms with his shadowy past. Leonid Andreyev’s He Who Gets Slapped is a thrilling and powerful work that explores acceptance, social vanity and moral corruption. Will a man’s failure to conform inevitably lead to his public mortification and private destruction or could his indomitable spirit save them all?

Vanishing Point

A new musical by Rob Hartmann and Liv Cummins

Musical and Stage Direction by Marya Spring Cordes
View Cast & Production Team

“That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.”
Mystery writer Agatha Christie disappeared for eleven days. Revivalist Aimee Semple McPherson disappeared for three weeks. Aviator Amelia Earhart disappeared forever. This stunning new musical explores the ‘lost times’ of three iconic women in a rapidly changing world. Hartmann and Cummings explore their lives, chart new paths and rewrite history.

Barbarous Nights

FEDERICO GARCÍA LORCA

Based on the translation by Christopher Sawyer-Lauçanno,
A new adaptation by Sam Creely, Corinna Archer, and Miranda Steege
Directed by Sam Creely
View Cast

“At the rise of the moon the sea overspreads the land and the heart feels like an island in the infinite."
Written during the political and economic transitions of 1920s Spain, this reworking of a collection of short stories, poems, and playlets by Federico Garcia Lorca explores the performative nature of identity, gender, and sexuality by means of roosters, feather dusters, blind maidens locked in tall towers, talking trees that bear no fruit, and the play's protagonist, Buster Keaton

A Midsummer Night's Dream

by William Shakespeare

Directed by Don Wadsworth
View Cast

“I have had a most rare vision. I have had a dream, past the wit of man to say what dream it was.”
A Midsummer Nights Dream is one of Shakespeare's most popular and most surprising works; a tale of fantastical creatures within a romantic comedy within a dream. A new light will shine on this funny, sexy, poetic and wildly imaginative play.

Lady Han

by ZEAMI MOTOKIYO

Directed by Katie Brook
View Cast

"His keepsake, this fan, has a front and a back, but now I know even more two-faced was his heart."
Obsessed by her lover's unrequited promise, Hanjo appeals to higher powers to cease her suffering and find personal fulfillment in this ancient and exquisite Japanese Noh play.

Blind Alley Guy: Notes from an Unfinished Play

Devised and directed by Joshua William Gelb

Text collaborator Kevin Mullins
About the New Works Series

The Wind Farmer

by Dan O’Neill

Directed by Jessica Mills
About the New Works Series

A Number

by Caryl Churchill

Directed by Lillian DeRitter
View Cast

"Don't they say you die if you meet yourself?"
Caryl Churchill gives us "the first true play of the 21st century," part psychological thriller, part scientific speculation, part exploration of the nature and responsibilities of fatherhood in an age when cloning is just as much a part of child-rearing as lullabies and bedtime stories.

American Realism

Devised & Directed By: Katherine Brook

Text Collaborator: Liza Birkenmeier
About the New Works Series

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Music and Lyric William Finn

Book by Rachel Sheinkin
Directed and Choreographed by Joe Deer
Music Direction by Thomas Douglas
View Cast & Production Team

“Where they treat you well, all because you love to spell.”
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee follows six semi-pubescent middle schoolers competing to be the best speller, as well as their equally quirky adult moderators. This fabulous musical with a heart of gold was directed on Broadway in 2005 by James Lapine. It won two Tony Awards, two Theatre World Awards, three Drama Desk Awards and two Lucille Lortel Awards.

Sweets

by Elizabeth Ellison

Directed by Shannon Sindelar
About the New Works Series

Still Life with Iris

By Steven Dietz

Directed by Maggie Bridges
View Cast

“What our memory leaves unfinished, our heart completes with ache.”
Set in the fantastic world of Nocturno, Still Life with Iris is a sort of Coraline-meets-The Wizard of Oz. The play follows young Iris as she struggles to maintain her fragile memories in an inviting shadow-world. Her journey is one of hope, courage and the power of faith.

Lulu

by Frank Wedekind

Directed by Joshua William Gelb
View Cast

"When it gets dark she's my only thought - especially when it gets dark."
This 1894 German masterpiece was originally banned for its sexual content, questionable morality, and frank discussions of forbidden topics like lesbianism and prostitution. The play focuses on a young woman and her psychological downfall under oppressive, wealthy, and manipulative men.

The Alice Project

Directed by Marianne Weems

View Cast & Production Team
Package Plus

“Speak in French when you can’t think of the English for a thing—turn out your toes as you walk—and remember who you are!”
Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There takes us into a delirious, contrary world behind the mirror. This hallucinogenic journey across a futuristic chessboard ends with a 21st century Alice carrying out the White Queen’s proclamation: “It’s a poor sort of memory that only works backward.” This innovative production will be developed through a year long interdisciplinary collaboration.

A Dream Play

by August Strindberg

In a new version by Caryl Churchill
Directed by Sarah Krohn
View Cast & Production Team

“Who’s that? I’ve heard that voice in my dreams. It’s like a south wind. It’s like angels.”
A Dream Play is Strindberg's rich and strange vision of a divine daughter’s visit to Earth. The daughter’s adventures provide a dark mirror for humanity’s turbulent spiritual struggle. Caryl Churchill's version brings the soul of this masterpiece into the 21st century with a light hand and a celebratory spirit.

Good Person of Setzuan

Bertolt Brecht
Directed by Peter Kleinert
Musical Director Jürgen Beyer

Cast List & Production Crew

“If a few good people can be found, who live lives worthy of human beings, then the world can stay exactly as it is.”

Good Person of Setzuan explores the notion of good and evil when three gods arrive on earth in search of one “good” person. Brecht asks if an individual’s capacity for good still exists in a world riddled with iniquity, avarice and envy. If it does, what would such a person look like? If it does not, what are the consequences for society? Translated and adapted by Wendy Arons and Tony Kushner, and directed by international guest artist Peter Kleinert, Good Person is epic theatre that will provoke and entertain in equal measure.

New Works Fall 2011

New Works is the cauldron in which exciting ideas, concepts and performance practices are presented to our audiences by the next generation of dramatic writers. Just as Goethe and O'Neill were once new dramatic voices, so too are our graduate writers who seek fresh ways of telling compelling stories.

November 2011

Undesirables/ Kevin Mullins

November 3, 7 pm

November 4, 10 pm

November 5, 7 pM

The Falser Heart / Jason Sebacher

November 2, 8 pm
November 4, 4 pm
November 5, 10 pm

Archaic Television Sex and Noise / Liza Birkenmeier

November 3,10 pm

November 4, 7 pm

November 5, 4 pm

The Learned Ladies

Molière Directed by Shannon Sindelar

"A learned fool is more foolish than an ignorant one."

The Learned Ladies examines a family divided over conflicting views of a woman’s place not only in a household but also in the world. This 90-minute version of Moliere’s popular comedy absurdly recontextualizes traditional power relationships with a modern twist - while at the same time articulating struggles that transcend its historical setting.

Mad Forest

Caryl Churchill

Directed by Jed Allen Harris

Cast List & Production Crew

“I see people running away and I try to stop them to ask what is happening...at last someone says, Let's hope it has started.”

The 1989 Romanian revolution left a country in chaos. Caryl Churchill uses a blend of theatrical journalism and magical realism to provide an account of this wrenching moment in European history. Part documentary, part bold imagining, Mad Forest challenges our expectations about the nature of civic revolution, and the people left to pick up the pieces.

Suddenly Last Summer

Tennessee Williams
Directed by Katherine Brook

“The truth is the bottom of a bottomless well.”

Suddenly Last Summer is an elegantly grotesque one-act play, in which the traumatized family of an eccentric gay poet struggles to repress, dismember and reconstruct the story of his death. Approaching the production through innovative performance styles will shine new light on Williams’ poetic and darkly somber masterpiece

Hair

Book and Lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni
Music by Galt MacDermot
Directed by Christian Fleming

“Where will they lead me, and will I ever discover why I live and die?”

This new imagining of HAIR champions the tribal quest for love, lust and liberty that defined the 1960’s. Freed from nostalgia, this version will focus on the Aquarian odyssey through its formation and evolution to its cathartic evaporation.

Sweeney Todd

Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Libretto by Hugh Wheeler

Directed by Joe Calarco
Musical Director Thomas Douglas

PLEASE NOTE: SWEENEY TODD IS SOLD OUT

“The more he bleeds, the more he lives. He never forgets and he never forgives.”

Sweeney Todd is a Tony Award winning masterpiece by composer Stephen Sondheim. Directed by guest artist Joe Calarco, this hauntingly chilling story explores love, loss and blood soaked revenge. Sweeney and Mrs. Lovett systematically kill and bake people into pies – the whole set to a magical score and breathtaking book and lyrics. “Attend the tale of Sweeney Todd” - and you'll get the closest shave you've ever known!

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid

Adapted from the poems of Michael Ondaatje
and directed by Sophia Schrank

A motive? Some reason we can give to explain all this violence? Was there a source for all this? Yup!

The Collected Works of Billy The Kid is a far cry from the dime novels that made the teenage outlaw into an American legend. This adaptation will explore the life of the Kid and those who surrounded him with humor, horror, and passion, reminding us that American history is stranger than fiction, full of dangerous, beautiful, hilarious and heartbreaking tales.

The Turn of the Screw

Adapted by Jeffrey Hatcher from the novella by Henry James
Directed by Olivia Lilley

“The details: a letter, a locket, a riddle, a name. The words are her own – written in her diary in faded ink on the pages of seven days.”

Miss Jessel’s job seemed like paradise; employed by a charming bachelor to be governess to two innocent children in the secluded English countryside. The only condition: she was not to contact her employer - no matter the eventuality. Miss Jessel is confident that her virtue will prepare her for anything. This gothic thriller confirms our fears that the scariest ghosts are those we conjure ourselves.

The Serpent Woman

Carlo Gozzi
Directed by Jessie Mills

“This last trial you can win only with a kiss. Didn’t I warn you that this was the hardest test of all?”

THE SERPENT WOMAN is an epic fairytale set to stage. When an immortal woman falls in love with a mortal prince, the powers that be demand balance. To win her mortality and live happily with her beloved, the woman must send her prince through a series of sadistic trials. Rooted in the grand tradition of Commedia Dell'Arte, this play has informed centuries of physical theatre. Through high physicality and riotous storytelling, this original adaptation of Gozzi's bittersweet classic will delight the eye and amaze the senses.

Master Harold...And The Boys

Athol Fugard
Directed by Elizabeth Nearing

“Lyrical in design, shattering in impact.” -Frank Rich

Set in Apartheid South Africa, Master Harold examines class and race through a microcosmic lens. Incendiary and sublime, Master Harold is a poignant portrait of the relationships between privilege and oppression. Bitter division polarizes three friends in a Port Elizabeth tea room with devastating consequences.

Slavs!

Tony Kushner
Directed by Miranda Steege

“Welcome to Nevermore.”

Slavs! captures the collapse of the Soviet Union in thrilling theatrical style. Part opera bouffe, part tragic satire, Slavs! holds the mirror up to the tyranny of the despot, the desperation of the voiceless, and the consequences of apathy. With the Middle East in turmoil, Slavs! is a prescient reminder that liberty may be delayed, but not denied.

Tickets are FREE and are available at the box office on the DAY OF PERFORMANCE

Bus Stop

William Inge

Directed by Gregory Lehane

Cast & Production Team

“Theater is, of course, a reflection of life. Maybe we have to improve life before we can hope to improve theater.”

Watch an interview with director Gregory Lehane

Inge’s 1955 Tony Award winning play, Bus Stop, features eight idiosyncratically fascinating characters in search of personal fulfillment. Stranded by a fierce snowstorm in a rural Kansas diner, passengers on an interstate bus engage, commiserate, challenge and romance a group of town locals unused to the company of strangers. This beautiful and introspective play reveals the possibility that dignity and grandeur lie in each and every human action

Les Enfants Terribles

Jean Cocteau
Directed by Josh Gelb

“The joy of youth is to disobey, but the trouble is that there are no longer any orders…”

In 1929 Jean Cocteau penned the acclaimed Les enfants terribles over three weeks whilst recovering from an opium addiction. A tragic thriller, Cocteau’s work tells of two sibling adolescents, Paul and Elisabeth, who escape the mundane adult world through an increasingly sinister series of fantastical twists they call “The Game.” This adaptation of Cocteau’s 1950 screenplay explores the delirious contradictions of our modern technological world