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Check out a comedy showcase at Mr. Smalls, enjoy the Pittsburgh County Fair or celebrate Haitian culture — here's what to do in Pittsburgh this weekend.
Comedy
Living to Laugh is an annual comedy showcase benefiting the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Comedy is one way to deal with mental health issues, says organizer and host Zach Funk, whose own life has been touched by suicides and suicide attempts. The lineup of local comics including Derek Minto, Shannon Norman, Brittany Alexis and Abby Elias takes the stage at The Funhouse at Mr. Smalls on Thu., Sept. 12.
Visual Art
“Ikebana,” or traditional Japanese flower arranging, meets well-crafted objects in “[Gei]: The Beauty of Ephemeral and Eternal,” the new exhibit at Contemporary Craft. The show is a collaboration between members of ikebana collective Sogetsu Pittsburgh and three Pittsburgh-based artists — woodworker Tadao Arimoto, ceramicist Yoko Sekino-Bove and sculptor Carol Kumata — along with New York-based sculptor Miwa Neishi. The exhibit opens with a reception Fri., Sept. 13, and runs through Jan. 18.
Opera
It’s not every day Pittsburgh gets a new opera company. SERIO debuts this week with three performances of Gian Carlo Menotti’s supernaturally themed “The Medium.” The troupe was founded by Louisa Jonason, a soprano with international opera credits whose own New York debut was in a production directed by Menotti himself. “The Medium” runs 75 minutes and will be performed in English. It gets three performances Fri.., Sept. 13, through Sun., Sept. 15, at the Pittsburgh Music Academy, in Squirrel Hill.
Festival
A county fair in the city? It’s actually year two for the Pittsburgh County Fair, celebrating urban agriculture and anything homemade or handmade. The all-day event in Allegheny Commons Park West is presented Sun., Sept. 15, by groups including Ferment Pittsburgh, Grow Pittsburgh and National Young Farmers Coalition. It features a Best Tomato in Pittsburgh Contest, a celebrity farmer kickball game, a petting zoo, farm skill games, live music, a “bacteria scavenger hunt” and more.
Words
Colm Tóibín is back with a new novel, and so is Eilis Lacey, the 1950s Irish immigrant who was the heroine of his acclaimed 2009 novel “Brooklyn.” In “Long Island,” Tóibín picks up Eilis’ story some two decades on, including her fraught return to her Irish hometown. Tóibín opens Pittsburgh Arts & Lecture’s season of Ten Evenings with a talk Mon., Sept. 16, at Carnegie Music Hall.
Visual Art
Haiti, though the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, is rich in history and culture. In a new exhibit, Oakland’s Latin American Cultural Center teams with nonprofit group Haiti Friends to present some 90 paintings, sequin flags, sculptures and more from dozens of Haitian artists past and present. The works reflect everything from enslaved Haitians’ famed 1804 revolt against imperial France and the importance of Vodou to the nation’s history of earthquakes and hurricanes and its continuing struggle to remain free. “Haiti: Culture, Religion, and Revolution” opens Tue., Sept. 17.
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