Watch a one-actor show "Dragon Lady," enjoy some neo-soul songs Downtown or check out the highlights of "65 Artists, 65 Years" of Pennsylvania artists — here's what to do in Pittsburgh this weekend.
Theater
A rising star of the American stage comes to town as Sara Porkalob, from 2022’s Broadway revival of “1776,” performs her own one-actor show “Dragon Lady” at Pittsburgh Public Theater. It’s a familial memoir with music, centering on Porkalob’s outspoken immigrant Filipino grandmother on the story-telling occasion of her 60th birthday. Ranging from outrageous humor to darker drama, “Dragon Lady” is recommended for mature audiences. It runs Wed., Feb. 7, through Feb. 25.
Words
Acclaimed poet Terrance Hayes, formerly of Pittsburgh, returns for a daytime event Sat., Feb. 10, at the Carnegie Library Lecture Hall. An Afternoon with Terrance Hayes is a multimedia event and Q&A with the National Book Award winner, whose latest includes the poetry collection “So To Speak” and the nonfiction “Watch Your Language: Visual and Literary Reflections on a Century of American Poetry.” It’s free, with registration encouraged, seating first-come-first-served, and overflow space to watch a livestream if all seats are taken.
Dance
For 50 years, the male dancers of Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo have been delighting audiences with both balletic skill and witty parodies of classic ballets from “Swan Lake” to “Sleeping Beauty.” Frequent visitors to Pittsburgh, the world-touring Trocks return to the Byham Theater Sat., Feb. 10, tutu-adorned ballerina personas in tow, with an anniversary program you needn’t be a ballet expert to enjoy.
Visual Art
Portraits from the 1820s … and the 2020s. Works by renowned Pittsburgh-based artists like John Kane and Thaddeus Mosley … and by famed Pittsburgh-native artist Mary Cassatt. These are just a few highlights of “65 Artists, 65 Years,” an anniversary exhibit at the Westmoreland Museum of American Art, ranging from its 1959 inaugural show (“250 Years of Art in Pennsylvania”) to today. The exhibit runs Sun., Feb. 11, to Sept. 8.
Theater
“In Our Time: Pandemic Stories from the Frontlines” is a new play by Anya Martin blending interviews with women ICU doctors about the pandemic with Ernest Hemingway’s writing about the World War I-era flu pandemic: “Characters and stories layer through time and stage space, as they reach for meaning and connection in the spaces between words and worlds.” There’s a free staged reading Mon., Feb. 12, at Alphabet City, courtesy of Pittsburgh’s long-running Hiawatha Project.
Music
Kindred the Family Soul emerged in the 1990s, as part of the neo-soul movement, and the husband-and-wife duo are still performing and recording today. Fatin Dantzler and Aja Graydon come to town for the August Wilson African American Cultural Center’s Soul Sessions series. Appropriately for the makers of LPs titled “Surrender to Love” and “Legacy of Love,” the group visits on Valentine’s Day — Wed., Feb. 14.
