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The Stanley Theater was built in 1927 at a cost of $3 million and opened on February 27, 1928. James Bly Clark, an early theater tycoon who assisted in the founding of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, financed its creation. Benedum Center Stage The Stanley was billed as "Pittsburgh's Palace of Amusement." In attendence on opening night were Governor John S. Fisher, Mayor Charles H. Kline and Adolph Zukor, president of Paramount Studios. Regular admission cost 65 cents - 25 cents if you came before noon - and performances provided a welcome lift of spirits during the Great Depression. Benedum Center Exterior The theater was purchased and remodeled by the Cinemette Corporation in 1976, and in 1977, DiCesare Engler Productions bought the Stanley to present rock and roll concerts through 1982. Benedum Center Interior The late H.J. Heinz II focused his attention on the historic restoration of the Stanley Theater, and as a result, this became The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust's first project after its founding in 1984. Benedum Balcony The $43 million dollar restoration would take approximately two years, faithfully restoring the Benedum Center to look as the Stanley did on opening night in 1928. Benedum Interior By following the very strict restoration standards set by the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Commonwealth Bureau of Historic Preservation and the Historic Review Commission of Pennsylvania, the building is registered with the National Register of Historic Places. Benedum Center for the Performing Arts A project of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust 719 Liberty Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15222

The source for all things art in Pittsburgh. Listings of artists and presenting companies. Arts news, venue information and links to tickets.

Attack Theatre builds community with artists and audiences through the process and production of personal, accessible dance based performance. Blending varied art forms with dynamic contemporary dance, Attack Theatre creates passionate portrayals of everyday life.

Each year the Pittsburgh Dance Council, a division of The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust, showcases a world-class season of dance. As the largest presenter of international performances in the city, the Dance Council continues to help make Pittsburgh's Cultural District one of the country’s leading arts and entertainment centers.

The mission of the Kelly-Strayhorn Theater is to provide a community theater facility and to encourage diverse artistic, cultural and educational activities that will enrich the community as well as the lives of individuals. The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater is a performing arts venue located in the racially diverse urban neighborhood of East Liberty, drawing its audience from all of Pittsburgh. We are an accessible cultural and educational resource, and an important part of the plan for the community's revitalization. The Kelly-Strayhorn fosters a positive multi-cultural community identity, and generates an appreciable economic and cultrual impact by filling a void in Pittsburgh for a professionally-equipped, 350-seat multiple-use theater. As a moderately priced, informal, intimate performance venue, the Kelly-Strayhorn is an ideal place for regional artists and arts organizations to take risks and try out new work. We are also a warm and welcoming place in which emerging local artists can establish a presence and build a following in the Pittsburgh arts community. We are strategically situated at the eastern terminus of the rapidly-evolving "Penn Avenue Arts Corridor," which allows us to play a significant role in the self-realization of several of Pittsburgh's East End communities. Robert Neu, Executive Director 5941 Penn Avenue Pittsburgh, PA 15206 Phone: (412)363-3000 Fax: (412)363-3416

SQUONK OPERA “rust-belt dada” – Buffalo News Squonk Opera created its first show in a gritty Pittsburgh junkyard, with roaring choreographed cranes and earthmovers, over a decade ago. A flexible interdisciplinary group of artists led by collaborators Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn, we were interested in a theater created from sound and image. We were also inspired by a rust-belt love of spectacle and humor - we were competing with football, catholic ritual, and beer-fed bar bands. Since 1992, Squonk Opera has created eight original shows and has performed in more than 200 venues across the United States. In 1995, we were commissioned by Marc Masterson to create Night of The Living Dead: The Opera for Pittsburgh’s City Theatre. Bigsmorgasbordwunderwerk was an Off-Broadway hit in 1999, a show that Ben Brantley of The New York Times called “ingenious, hallucinatory, hypnotic.” The show was then transferred to Broadway in 2000, where it received an American Theater Wing Special Effects Design Award (previously won by Julie Taymor and Robert Wilson). Squonkumentary, a film about our time in NYC, was produced by independent filmmaker Peggy Sutton in 2005. We have been touring internationally since 2003 - to Scotland, Belgium, Germany and South Korea, where we opened the World Music Theater Festival. Over 200,000 people have seen us around the world, and reviews include “insane majesty" from The Scotsman, and “…surreal and poetic” from USA Today. Squonk Opera has received more than sixty grants and awards over the years, including national grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, The Jim Henson Foundation and three grants from the NEA. We have performed workshops and residencies at over fifty universities, middle schools and museums all over the United States. Artistic Directors Jackie Dempsey and Steve O’Hearn have been working with a collective of between 10 and 20 performers, designers and artists at a time over the years. We have an ongoing desire to make interdisciplinary work that is accessible to a broad and diverse public. Our new project is a development of site-specific residency activities that we have done for years, judging pet parades at rural town halls and giving workshops at inner-city schools. A meta-civic celebration, (put your hometown’s name here): The Opera will combine a heartfelt toast of the city with a vaudevillian roast, poking fun at our own overblown grandeur. Jackie Dempsey and Steve O'Hearn Artistic Directors Squonk Opera 468 Broadway Blvd. Pitcairn, PA 15140 412-372-4264

The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust operates Wood Street Galleries, which features multi-disciplinary artists from all over the world. Located above the T-Station at Wood Street and Sixth Avenue, Wood Street Galleries also houses the Trust's shared office space program which provides a home and tools for small arts organizations. Murray Horne, Curator Wood Street Galleries 601 Wood Street Pittsburgh, PA 15222 p 412.471.5605 f 412.232.3262

The mission of SPACE is to realize a working example of an integrated and open art ecosystem in Pittsburgh. SPACE values the creation of new works in multi-disciplines, presentation of artwork to the broadest possible audience, inclusion of established and contemporary technologies and the promotion of local artists outside of the region. Tuesday-Thursday 11am-6pm. Friday-Saturday 11am-8pm.