{"id":148907,"date":"2026-03-26T09:47:06","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T09:47:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/148907\/"},"modified":"2026-03-26T09:47:06","modified_gmt":"2026-03-26T09:47:06","slug":"after-pittsburgh-public-clo-merger-stage-community-ponders-whats-next","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/148907\/","title":{"rendered":"After Pittsburgh Public-CLO merger, stage community ponders what’s next"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is WESA Arts, a weekly newsletter by Bill O’Driscoll providing in-depth reporting about the Pittsburgh area art scene.\u00a0Sign up here to get it every Wednesday afternoon<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In February 1946, Pittsburgh\u2019s Civic Light Opera Association announced its very first season, which began with an outdoor show at old Pitt Stadium. The group \u2014 created with help from department store heir Edgar J. Kaufmann, and staging fare like \u201cBrigadoon\u201d and \u201cOn The Town\u201d \u2014 proved popular enough that the Civic Arena was originally built to house its shows. The CLO moved Downtown to the Benedum Center in 1988, and has been there since.<\/p>\n

In 1974, Pittsburgh natives Joan Apt (a founding member of the CLO board) and Margaret Rieck teamed with New York City-based playwright and director Ben Shaktman to revive the city\u2019s seemingly moribund homegrown theater scene. With support from local philanthropists, foundations and subscribers, Pittsburgh Public Theater debuted in September 1975 with its production of \u201cThe Glass Menagerie\u201d at the Allegheny Theater (now the New Hazlett). A storied history that includes its 1999 move to Downtown\u2019s purpose-built O\u2019Reilly Theater, and a couple dozen world premieres including August Wilson\u2019s \u201cKing Hedley II,\u201d continues to this day.<\/p>\n

But not for much longer.<\/p>\n

Performances begin this week of the Public\u2019s Pittsburgh-premiere staging of Eboni Booth\u2019s 2024 Pulitzer Prize-winning drama \u201cPrimary Trust,\u201d which will likely be the last full production the troupe stages under that name (though other events are planned<\/a>). Likewise, the CLO\u2019s upcoming summer season, featuring a local production of the Tony-winning musical \u201cSuffs,\u201d looks to be its last after the city\u2019s two largest stage groups announced last week they would consolidate into a single entity<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The groups say the new troupe will premiere in January. That means the 2026 fall theater season will be (pandemic aside) Pittsburgh\u2019s first without the Public in half a century. And 2027 will bring the first summer without CLO shows since World II ended.<\/p>\n

Pittsburgh’s two largest theater companies, and two of the oldest, the Pittsburgh Public Theater and the Pittsburgh CLO, have voted to merge into a new organization.<\/p>\n

The decision had been looming for months, ever since the Public and CLO began talks about sharing resources to survive in a difficult climate for live theater nationally. (City Theatre was originally involved, but opted out in January.)<\/p>\n

Statements by the groups led some observers to believe the end result would be more a resource-sharing arrangement than the final arrangement as announced, which resembles an all-out merger. The dissolution of the two venerable troupes \u2014 actor David Whalen calls the Public \u201cthe flagship theater of Pittsburgh\u201d \u2014 was always a possibility, but still felt like an epochal change.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a little shocked by it, and really sad, but hopeful,\u201d said Daina Griffith, performer, director and acting coach who first acted at the Public in 2003.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just assumed that these giant organizations were too big to fail,\u201d said Patrick Jordan, a longtime member of the theater scene as founder of barebones productions. \u201cBut if this works, I\u2019m thrilled.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that it\u2019s a sign of the times,\u201d said Mark Clayton Southers, the founder and artistic director of Pittsburgh Playwrights Theatre Co. The lack of younger patrons to replace the aging theater-goers who have supported the scene for so long is a growing concern, he said.<\/p>\n

Estelle Comay, of Oakland, who with her husband, Bruce Rabin, has been a Public season subscriber since the company began, sounded a hopeful note. \u201cIt seems like a fit that might work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Top of mind for many observers was what the merger means for theater artists trying to survive, whether they are Public or CLO staffers or the cast and crew hired on a per-show basis.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re devastated that our colleagues are in such difficulty and feel quite intimately involved,\u201d wrote Quantum Theatre artistic director Karla Boos, in a statement. \u201cThe theater ecosystem supports all the artists we work with and we must be a place where performing artists, designers, directors, and crew can make their home, and we must have theater made here, by us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ken Bolden, whose dozen roles at the Public began with \u201cThe Comedy of Errors,\u201d in 2007, said the absence of a fall season there will hurt.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s four months [of] no work. That\u2019s a lot for people,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The CLO welcomed some 50,000 patrons in 2025, and the Public last season drew about 40,000. But the impact of the theaters radiates beyond what audiences see on stage.<\/p>\n

Griffith recalls first auditioning at the CLO as a Point Park University student. \u201cThat was the place you started for musical theater,\u201d she said. Even for students, who were unlikely to be cast, just auditioning is valuable experience.<\/p>\n

Wali Jamal, who\u2019s done \u201cKinky Boots\u201d at the CLO and shows from \u201cOur Town\u201d to \u201cNoises Off\u201d at the Public, said the troupes offered local performers like him the chance to work with \u201call these actors that they brought into town that I otherwise never would have met.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Public and City Theatre are the lone Pittsburgh-based members of the League of Resident Theatres<\/a>, and as such are known for paying especially well. \u201cIt was great to have a job at the Public,\u201d said David Whalen, a Pittsburgh native and for years one of the busiest stage actors in town.<\/p>\n

The Public, in particular, also sometimes provided a literally bigger stage (and budget) to local playwrights, including Southers, whose drama \u201cThe Coffin Maker\u201d premiered at the O\u2019Reilly in 2024.<\/p>\n

Details about the merger remain in process; representatives of the two groups and the transition team are not yet speaking about it publicly.<\/p>\n

But the stage community has its hopes \u2014 and some advice.<\/p>\n

Bolden joined Griffith in urging the new troupe to focus less on hiring out-of-town cast and crew \u2014 who require housing and other support for weeks \u2014 and instead support Pittsburgh-based artists. \u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018We\u2019ve got them here! And they\u2019re great!\u201d Griffith said.<\/p>\n

Southers said the new, merged group\u2019s choice of an artistic director will be crucial. \u201cThey really need someone that can galvanize and bring excitement,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we\u2019re going to come out with a new name and a new theater company, that\u2019s gonna be key.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though many questions remain unanswered, many observers expressed faith in the process and its prospects.<\/p>\n

\u201cHaving the Public combine with the CLO, I think it\u2019ll be a good thing,\u201d said Jamal. \u201cPeople just need to give it a chance and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This is WESA Arts, a weekly newsletter by Bill O’Driscoll providing in-depth reporting about the Pittsburgh area art…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148908,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[73,75,74],"class_list":{"0":"post-148907","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pittsburgh","8":"tag-pittsburgh","9":"tag-pittsburgh-headlines","10":"tag-pittsburgh-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}