Check out Margaret Cho's stand-up Downtown, watch the great stage comedy "The Importance of Being Earnest," or visit the Pittsburgh Humanities Festival — here's what to do in Pittsburgh this weekend.
Visual Art
These are the final weeks for “ONENESS: Brie Ruais,” a solo show at Contemporary Craft. Working with her own body weight in clay, the New Mexico-based artist creates movement-based sculptures that explores the concept of mapping places geographically, psychologically and experientially. The show continues through May 4.
Music
Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts High School grad Leo Pellegrino and his band Too Many Zooz are back with their Retail Therapy tour. The internationally touring band’s raucous “brass house” style — an instrumental blend of jazz, funk and house – features Pellegrino’s baritone sax, Matt “Doe” Muirhead’s trumpet, and David “King of Sludge” Parks on drums. The Fri., March 29, show is at the Roxian Theatre.
Theater
“In matters of grave importance, style, not sincerity is the vital thing.” One of the great stage comedies, “The Importance of Being Earnest,” gets a fresh production at Pittsburgh Public Theater. Jenny Koons directs Oscar Wilde’s brilliant confection of hidden identities and scintillating aperçus, with David Ryan Smith in the plum role of Lady Bracknell. The first performance is Wed., March 27, and the show runs through April 14.
Comedy
Actress, comedian and podcaster Margaret Cho brings her national stand-up tour to Pittsburgh. Cho has long been known for her anti-racism, LGBTQ+ advocacy, and outspokenness on politics, and with a title like “Live & Livid” there’s no reason to expect this tour will be any exception. See her Sat., March 30, at the Byham Theater.
Words
Boundary-pushing indie publisher Action Books celebrates 20 years with a birthday event at City of Asylum. “In an emergency, break forms,” reads the manifesto of this Indiana-based press, which is transnational and interlingual, and whose publications have included the first poetry collection in English by Sudanese City of Asylum writer in residence Rania Mamoun. Mamoun joins more than a dozen other writers and Action staffers, virtually and in-person, for an anniversary reading Mon., April 1.
Words
The Pittsburgh Humanities Festival, a forum for smart talks on interesting topics, returns with a new format. Instead of a couple large events and many smaller ones, the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust fest now features four medium-sized talks over four days at the Greer Cabaret Theatre. It opens Wed., April 3, with Carnegie Mellon researcher Vincent Conitzer discussing “moral AI.” Other talks include “Tits Up” author Sarah Thornton on the sociology of breasts; food historian Adrian Miller on soul food; and performer Chia Kwa on ASMR.
