Twenty-six theater shows might seem like a day on Broadway, but the first Pittsburgh Fringe Festival is putting on these shows for two weekends.
The Pittsburgh Fringe Festivalis part of an international project that started in Edinburgh Scotland, which celebrates the performing arts by putting on shows, workshops and forums.
For the next two weekends Shadyside will be alive with theatergoers attending events at four locations all within a mile of each other: Steel City Improv, The Boys and Girls Club of Western Pennsylvania, GalleriE CHIZ, and Winchester Thurston School.
“I always like to say good theater encourages conversation and the conversation continues after the show ends, and that’s what a lot of our shows do,” said Executive and Artistic Director Daniel Stiker.
He says some of the shows are premiers to either Pittsburgh, or the world. Other shows feature twists and changes on classics like "The Compleat Guide to Murder and Mayhem" which stitches together various Shakespearean fight scenes.
“I think that Pittsburgh has a great tradition in the arts, and I think that the theater community is blossoming in Pittsburgh. We have some great professional companies, some great community theaters, and we’re also getting these great smaller companies that are either just starting out, or finding a voice, or finding an audience, and this gives a sampling of those people,” said Stiker.
To see the shows, people must purchase a $3 festival badge. Tickets to the show cost $12 each with 90 percent of the sales going to the artists. There will be free events both weekends, and street performers.
