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The New Hazlett Theater as it appears today.<\/p>\n
The short was produced by WQED digital content manager Emily Brunner, who once worked briefly for the New Hazlett.<\/p>\n
Brunner grew up in northern Virginia and has lived in Pittsburgh since she studied theater at Carnegie Mellon University. She was originally drawn to the New Hazlett by its current incarnation as a nonprofit organization that produces and hosts a range of performances, from theater to dance and music.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know they do amazing things, and I feel that people don\u2019t know about them,\u201d Brunner said.<\/p>\n
But she quickly learned that during its nearly 140 years, the massive granite structure at 6 Allegheny Square East has lived many lives.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a space that kept reinventing itself,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
A history of repurposing<\/p>\n
In 1886, industrialist and burgeoning philanthropist Andrew Carnegie commissioned construction of his first library in the U.S. in old Allegheny City, where the Scottish immigrant had lived during his impoverished youth. The same building included the very first Carnegie Music Hall; both opened a few years later. (Braddock\u2019s Carnegie Library opened first but was commissioned later.)<\/p>\n
As shown in \u201cMaking Space,\u201d the music hall was home to a huge pipe organ and hosted a wide variety of events, including early 20th-century gatherings of the Jehovah\u2019s Witnesses, whose founders lived nearby.<\/p>\n
While the library continued to function, the city-owned music hall fell into disuse. But demolition was staved off, and in the 1970s the building was home to two new theater companies: City Theatre and the Pittsburgh Public.<\/p>\n
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Pittsburgh Public Theater Records, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System <\/p>\n
During its time as home to the Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Hazlett had unique tiered seating.<\/p>\n
Chief on-screen sources in the film include Fred Noel, the Public\u2019s former longtime stage manager, and Rob Zellers, its former longtime director of education. The Public was among the city\u2019s first resident professional companies to produce its own shows, rather than hosting touring productions. The film notes its founders and early leaders, as well as the unique, three-story-tall scaffolding that provided seating in the space.<\/p>\n
The Public eventually became sole tenant of the theater, which in 1980 was renamed the Hazlett Theater in honor of philanthropist Theodore L. Hazlett Jr.<\/p>\n
In 2000, the troupe left the North Side for Downtown and the purpose-built O\u2019Reilly Theater, where the seating and stage area, the film notes, were modeled after the Hazlett\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The old building, still city-owned, needed extensive repairs. It sat vacant for several years while a coalition of arts groups including The Andy Warhol Museum and the Children\u2019s Museum worked to renovate and revive it. The renamed New Hazlett opened in 2004 with an eponymous resident nonprofit.<\/p>\n
The Carnegie Library\u2019s fate was even more dramatic. In 2006, it had to close after it was struck by lightning.<\/p>\n
The latest incarnation<\/p>\n
A new Carnegie Library was later built a few blocks away, on Federal Street; in 2019, the old library space was reborn as the Children\u2019s Museum\u2019s Museum Lab<\/a>. <\/p>\n
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