Watch the play "Unreconciled" at Barebones Black Box in Braddock, listen to Shostakovich's final symphony or check out BRIDID, a musical celebration of a Celtic goddess — here's what to do in Pittsburgh this weekend.
Words
Acclaimed children’s-book author Kelly Starling Lyons visits Pittsburgh Arts & Lectures’ Words & Pictures series. Of special interest is her 2019 book with illustrator Keith Mallett, “Sing A Song,” which tells the story of the Black National Anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” (which is marking its 125th anniversary). Starling will speak in the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh main branch’s South Wing Reading Room at 6 p.m. Thu.., Jan. 30. Admission is free.
Theater
In “My Sister’s Lipstick,” Pittsburgh-based playwright Anna King Skeel explores “how isolation affects self-expression and the active choice to keep living.” It’s about queer repression, a Judy Garland obsession, and a nonbinary protagonist named George, who has locked themself up and whose sister longs for a reunion. The show, part of the New Hazlett Theater’s Community Supported Art series, gis performed Fri., Jan. 30, and Sat., Jan. 31.
Music
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra presents Shostakovich’s final symphony, written in 1971 as a personal and even “somewhat surreal” reflection on his life and career, according to the PSO. The program, which also includes a work by Sibelius and Vaughan Williams’ Oboe Concerto, features guest conductor Sir Mark Elder and guest oboist Cynthia Koledo De Almeida. The performances are Fri., Jan. 31, and Sun., Feb. 2, at Heinz Hall.
Theater
Western Massachusetts-based actor Jay Sefton stars in “Unreconciled,” a play based on his own experience, some 40 years ago, as a Catholic adolescent cast as Jesus in a school passion play and directed by the priest who allegedly abused him. Sefton, who wrote the play with fellow survivor Mark Basquill, portrays multiple characters in the one-man show produced by barebones productions. It opens Fri., Jan. 31, at Barebones Black Box, in Braddock, and runs through Feb. 16.
Theater
Benjamin Lay was a Quaker dwarf, born in England in 1682, who lived much of his life in the Philadelphia area and was a vehement early abolitionist. “The Return of Benjamin Lay” is a 2023 play by Naomi Wallace and University of Pittsburgh professor Marcus Rediker, based on a biography by Rediker. In the one-man show, Mark Povinelli plays the 18th-century radical confronting a contemporary audience. Quantum Theatre stages the show’s U.S. premiere at the Braddock Carnegie Library, with performances starting Fri., Jan. 31.
Dance
The Pittsburgh Irish Festival gets a jump on St. Patrick’s Day with BRIGID, a musical celebration of the Celtic goddess and other patron saint of Ireland. The show at the August Wilson Center features Grammy-winning fiddler Eileen Ivers and locally based performers including Katie Grennan and dancer Morgan Bullock. Oh, and it’s on Sat., Feb. 1 — St. Brigid’s Day.
