| rev:text
| - For many years, my best friend and her mother were season ticket holders and when her mother reached a point in age where she could no longer fully appreciate theater (sight and hearing), I became the theater companion. We've been going now for three years, and although the overall 'experience' of the Public is pleasant, the base reason of why I attend 'theater' has been a mixed bag of mostly disappointment.
The theater itself is a grand and beautiful piece of architecture. Acoustically sound, very comfortable, clean and organized. The staff, from box office to ushers, is always pleasant and helpful. As with all theaters, the concessions are overpriced, but in this era, that's to be expected.
The theater offers a LOT of 'fun' incentives to draw in groups and keep folks as regular attendees, like the brunch series for season ticket holders, or the wine Wednesdays, and other 'groupings' that give 'value added' to the experience.
My friend and I have our tickets on what we call 'donut day', or the brunch series. It kind of an all-you-can-eat continental breakfast with mass donuts, bagels and pastries from Giant Eagle, with coffee and tea. It's a nice incentive, but we've begun to look forward to the donuts more so than the actual 'theatre' experience.
The reason I go to the 'theater' is to enjoy the play that's on the stage, and in the past three years, I've been mostly disappointed with the productions. I've seen a LOT of live theater in my life, from small low budget black box, to college, to Broadway tours, with varying levels of production value, but with a much broader range than I've yet to see at the Public.
I've even seen a few productions in other 'less substantial' theaters that the Public presented in the past three years, and had to wonder 'what were they THINKING?' One production, 'ART' comes specifically to mind, having seen it in Florida presented by a mid-level budget theater company with high production value that nailed the script, characterizations and flow 100%. I was excited to see the show again, as it is a spectacular piece of writing - when done right. The moment I walked into the Public's production and sat down and looked at the set, I had to say 'HUH????' The play that followed kept me saying 'Huh?' They totally missed the boat on direction, character development, as well as a just wrong set.
Their choices in season also seem to pander heavily to the 'donors' and not to 'theatre' lovers. With all of the scripts available in the world, and I've seen a LOT of them, I have to ask why most of the more challenging pieces (intellectually as well as artistically) are never touched. After three years, we're now asking ourselves if buying season tickets is really worth it, when so many of the shows in the season we've already seen - but we seem to go back out of habit, not out of enjoyment. This past season, 'Private Lives' was part of the season. I saw Private Lives at the public in the 80's. Pittsburgh Irish and Classical did it three or four years ago. Theatre Factory in Trafford did it two years ago. Again this past year at the Public? Seriously?
The sets for most productions have been great (except for ART), and the performances have been 'ok', with some capable performers who were doing 'just ok'. Exceptions were Superior Donuts, God Of Carnage, and Circle Mirror Transformation. Three plays in three years that were exceptional and worthy of exceptional applause.
Yet, da burgh audiences give out standing ovations for EVERYTHING, whether or not it deserves a standing ovation. Do they really believe that all of what they're seeing it exceptional? If so, they need to get out of the box a little more to really experience the difference between 'Yeah, that was ok' and 'WOW!'.
I really miss well-done challenging live theater, and rarely do I find it in Pittsburgh. Instead, I end up settling for an day out with lunch or dinner, good company, and two hours of 'diversion' on the stage that make going to the movies more appealing. And for me, this is what the Public is...
Maybe it's just Pittsburgh, and a matter of 'giving them what they want'. But every time I receive a 'now playing' e-mail from the many theater sites I belong to, and read the synopsis of the MANY production listings, I drool, and wonder 'Why can't anyone do this stuff HERE??'
The Public SHOULD be that venue. And their productions SHOULD be on that exceptional level. Sadly, they just aren't.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)