Stop by the Reclaim Your Vote Party, hear from renowned poets or check out the great food at the Hometown Homegrown festival at Phipps Conservatory — here’s what to do in Pittsburgh this weekend.

Event
You might have heard there’s an election coming up, and a big march about it this Saturday. This month’s Intermission networking event at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center is on theme, too, with the Reclaim Your Vote Party. On Thursday, Oct. 15, representatives of groups such as the Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh will be on hand to supply voting resources and encourage people to make a voting plan. Pittsburgh favorite Selecta supplies a Party at the Polls DJ set. Admission is free.

Words
A poet born in Santo Domingo, one born in Haiti, and one born in Florida walk into the Carnegie Lecture Hall. Pittsburgh Arts & Lecture’s A Celebration of International Poetry features acclaimed Dominican poet Frank Báez (“The End of the World Came to My Neighborhood”), prize-winning poet P. Scott Cunningham (“Self-Portrait as the ‘i’ in Florida”), and PAL executive director Sony Ton-Aime, whose collection “Konbit” came out earlier this year. The reading is Thursday, Oct. 15, and admission is free with registration.

Opera
A loyal court jester turns the tables when the duke who employs him seduces the jester’s own daughter. Thus Verdi’s classic “Rigoletto,” back on stage at Pittsburgh Opera for the first time in 14 years. Renowned baritone Sebastian Catana sings Rigoletto, with tenor Daniel O’Hearn as the Duke and soprano Susanne Burgess as Gilda. Two performances at the Benedum Center remain, Friday, Oct. 16, and Sunday, Oct. 18.

Theater
Branden Jacobs-Jenkins won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for his play “Trust,” but his oeuvre also includes 2015’s “Gloria,” which was a Pulitzer finalist. The workplace satire about an ambitious group of editorial assistants at a prestigious Manhattan magazine makes its Pittsburgh premiere this week at Pitt Stages. Ricardo Vila-Roger directs. Performances run Friday, Oct. 16, through Oct. 25 at the Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre (inside the Cathedral of Learning).

Visual Art
Mattress Factory debuts “Home Is Not A Place,” the new large-scale installation by Detroit-based artist Akea Brionne. Brionne’s concept of home is informed by the devastation caused by Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans, where she grew up. “As Louisiana continues to lose land,” she writes, “I find myself reckoning with the possibility that my home could one day become a myth, like Atlantis.” The show, featuring a rowhouse fabricated from textiles, is co-presented with Pedantic Arts Residency. It opens to the public on Saturday, Oct. 17, and continues into next September.

Market
Pittsburgh’s food scene takes the spotlight at Hometown Homegrown. The day-long outdoor Phipps Conservatory event, co-presented with Good Taste! Pittsburgh, celebrates local restaurants, artisans and food products. Hometown Homegrown features dozens of local food and drink vendors plus local chefs, cooking demonstrations and all-ages activities. It runs noon to 5 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 18, and admission is included with a ticket to Phipps.