With more than a dozen performing spaces that make space available to small and mid-size theater companies, finding a place to perform should be easy. But most -- if not all -- come with drawbacks that make them unattractive or undesirables. With the Hazlett Theater and City Theatre Company's two theaters no longer available for outside rentals, choices have recently diminished even further. Below are descriptive information on the four most available spaces. Also included is information on Smallman Hall, a planned performance space in the Strip District. The descriptions of these five spaces were based on interviews with theater companies as well as my personal observations from the past 15 years as a theater critic and a lifetime of theater patronage, plus information gathered by the Coalition for Acquisition of Performance Space. For complete information on the 15 spaces the coalition researched, go to the Survey of Pittsburgh Performance Spaces by the Coalition for Acquisition of Performance Space .
Gemini Theater
Location: The Factory, 7510 Penn Ave., Point Breeze. Seating capacity : 100 movable chairs on risers. Stage configuration: Audience surrounds three sides of the 22-foot-wide by 21-foot-deep thrust black box stage. Some flexibility for other configurations. Coalition's overall score: B+ Pros: 100-seat capacity and reasonable rental fees ($175 per day/$1,000 per week). Scrupulously clean and well maintained, but institutional ambiance. Abundant free parking on-premises. Neighborhood feels safe with low incidence of the crimes that most often affect theater patrons. Public transportation available. Restrooms are shared with East End Food Co-op but are clean, well lighted and stocked. Cons: Space available only 50 percent of the time. Proximity to Wilkinsburg and memories of shootings and carjackings affect patron perceptions. Handicap access available only at matinees. Limited nearby restaurants. Low ceilings make it impossible to fly scenery. No traps in floor and limited space for sets, props and costume storage. No laundry facilities. D rating for technical features.
Hazlett Theater
Location: 6 Allegheny Square East, North Side. Seating capacity: 457 seats. Stage configuration: Audience surrounds three sides of the 30-foot-wide by 32-foot-deep thrust stage, but there is some flexibility. Coalition's Overall score: C+ Pros: As the former home of Pittsburgh Public Theater, this purpose-built theater space offers multiple dressing rooms with showers and toilets, scene shop with tools, full kitchen, loading dock, green room and laundry facilities, lighting and sound equipment. Concession area has a wet bar, ice machine and large cooler. Metered parking is adjacent to theater. Public transportation available. Handicap accessible. B rating for technical features. Cons: Unavailable while awaiting the results of a feasibility study. The Hazlett is managed by Pittsburgh's Department of Parks and Recreation, which is facing budgetary restrictions. With 457 seats and rental of $500 per day/$2,000 per week, it's too large and expensive for most small and mid-size groups. Lobby areas, bathrooms and grounds need repair, maintenance and upgrading. Nearest restaurants are several blocks away. Parking scarce during some sports events. Allegheny Center ranks among the City's Top 10 neighborhoods for reported crime. Lack of foot traffic and business activity near the theater adds to patrons' perceptions concerning safety.
Kelly-Strayhorn Community Performing Arts Center
Location: 5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty Seating capacity: 384 Stage configuration: 40-foot-wide by 28-foot-deep proscenium stage. Coalition's Overall score: B Pros: Renovations completed in May 2001. Public areas are clean, well-lighted and well-maintained inside and out. The neon-lit exterior is easy to locate at night. Comfortable theater seats. Heating and air-conditioning works well and quietly. Bathrooms are clean and well-lighted. Handicap accessible. Parking is available nearby. Public transportation available. Each of two dressing rooms accommodates up to six people. A rating for technical features. Cons: With 384 seats and high rental -- $450 to $800 day/ $1,700 week -- it may be too large and expensive. Events at East Liberty Presbyterian Church limit available parking. Lobby lacks seating. No dedicated box office, a security issue for groups that deal largely in cash transactions. Concessions area lacks an ice machine. No shower and only one bathroom backstage. No laundry facilities and minimal storage space for sets, props or costumes. A stage manager is provided as part of the rental contract, an unattractive requirement for those groups accustomed to having their own. East Liberty ranks among the city's Top 10 neighborhoods for reported crime. Many perceive the Penn Circle traffic configurations as confusing and the area as dangerous. Few restaurants and bars open during theater hours.
Veronica's Veil Auditorium
Location: 44 Pius St., South Side. Seating capacity: 833 Stage configuration: 52-foot-wide by 41-foot-deep proscenium stage Coalition's Overall score: C Pros: Available for rental 50 percent of the time at $750 a week. Restrooms are old but newly painted. Concessions can be provided: coffee, hot dogs, popcorn, nachos. Ice machine and cooler available. The neighborhood is quiet, residential and ranked among the top third of neighborhoods for safety. Grounds and interior spaces are neat and clean. Minimal storage is available for set, props and costumes. Abundant fly space, wing space and a proscenium curtain. C rating for technical features. Cons: 833-seat capacity -- 500 on the main floor plus 333 in the balcony -- makes it too large for most groups. Mostly available in summer but auditorium isn't air-conditioned. The cavernous 1872 building, last renovated in 1925, retains its appearance from its former use as the auditorium and social hall of a Catholic School. Wooden auditorium seats are hard and unforgiving. The auditorium is on the second floor, up a flight of steps, and lacks handicap access, as does the backstage. The restrooms are downstairs from the auditorium. Unlighted, paved parking lot can accommodate 30 self-parked cars or 50 to 60 cars if an attendant does the parking. Narrow surrounding streets make on-street parking problematic. Location on a steep slope above the South Side flats complicates arrival of school or tour buses. Distant from public transportation and restaurants, bars and coffee shops. Building space available in basement, but set pieces would have to be carried up two flights.
Smallman Hall
Location: 2835 Smallman St., Strip District. Details: Open Stage Theatre organizers hope to transform this 10,000-square-foot former warehouse into a multistage performing arts center. Last season, Open Stage Theatre used a portion of the space for its 100-seat theater. But the huge, flexible space and two-story-high ceilings could be configured for almost any size audience and orientation. The next step is to acquire $350,000 to upgrade the heating and install air conditioning, renovate office space, concession and lobby spaces. Pros: Public transportation available. Near restaurants, bars and nightclubs. Abundant free parking in gravel lot behind and next to the theater. Potential lobby area and a separate concessions area with some equipment from its use as a bingo hall. Plenty of space that can be transformed into dressing rooms, storage areas and restroom facilities for the actors. The building is clean, if a bit shabby, as it awaits transformation. Cons: Renovation plans await funding. Industrial heating equipment is noisy during performance. Presently not air-conditioned. Rental fees not yet determined. Electrical system requires an upgrade to run complex, power-hungry lighting and sound equipment. Bathrooms, though functional are institutional. A young party crowd floods into the area on weekends.
Part-time space
The following spaces have been available to outside groups in the past. While some are attractive performing spaces, the coalition determined that they are available only 25 percent of the time. Most exceed the desirable 100- to 250-seat size. Rental fees and charges are determined on an individual and per-case basis. Philip Chosky Theater, Carnegie Mellon University, 5000 Forbes Ave., Oakland. Proscenium theater, seats 435. Pittsburgh Playhouse of Point Park College , 222 Craft Ave., Oakland. Rockwell Theatre: Proscenium theater, seats 474. Rauh Theatre: Proscenium theater with modified thrust, seats 285. Studio Theatre: Flexible black box capable of a variety of configurations, seats 70. Stephen Foster Memorial, University of Pittsburgh, Forbes Avenue at Bigelow Boulevard, Oakland. Henry Heymann Theatre: Three-quarter thrust stage, seats 151. Studio Theatre: Flexible black box theater, capable of a variety of configurations, seats 90 to 100. Charity Randall Theatre: Proscenium theater, seats 453. Manchester Craftsmen's Guild , 1815 Metropolitan St., Manchester. Proscenium space, seats 350. Penn Theater , 4809 Penn Ave., Bloomfield. Three-quarters thrust stage, seats 99. Katz Performing Arts Center , Jewish Community Center, 5738 Darlington Road, Squirrel Hill. Proscenium-style performing area, seats 385.
Dream space
We asked administrators from six of the area's small to mid-size theater companies to dream the perfect space. Here's what they suggested: Joyce Megerson-Moore, chairman of the board of directors, New Horizon Theater: This month, New Horizon made the move to the Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre in East Liberty. It meets some of Megerson-Moore's requirements -- it's on a bus line, has parking available nearby and is handicap accessible for both audience and artists. But it lacks restaurants nearby and office space. "I would be for having administrative space to operate out of ... storage space ... and education space where we could do educational things and outreach on a routine basis," she says. Laura Smiley, artistic director, Unseam'd Shakespeare Company: Unseam'd needs a space for its 2004 season when City Theatre's Lester Hamburg Studio Theatre is no longer available to outside groups. "A multi-disciplinary space is appealing, especially if it had 100 seats but could grow to 200 seats as we enter our next decade," Smiley says. She would like a space -- possibly in the Strip District adjacent to the Cultural District -- where several arts groups could operate at the same time. "There's a positive synergy that happens among arts organizations as well as audiences," she says. She envisions a complex of performing spaces in a variety of configurations and seating sizes from 100 to 500 seats; offices and shared services; rehearsal and classroom space; plus a scene building shop and storage space that serveral groups could share plus a common public gathering and gallery space with a restaurant, bar and/or cafe. Stephanie Riso, general manager, Pittsburgh Irish and Classical Theatre: "Our plays demand a unique new theater not currently in existence -- a 300 to 400-seat proscenium theater along the aesthetics of the (454-seat) Charity Randall Theatre, which is at little big for us," Riso says. As a summer tenant of the University of Pittsburgh's two theaters in the Stephen Foster Memorial building, Irish and Classical Theatre enjoys being able to choose between the Charity Randall's proscenium stage or the three-quarters thrust stage of the Henry Heymann Theatre. Riso also would like to have more, better integrated storage, office and shop space. Jeff Leonard, festival director, Pittsburgh New Works Festival: Now in its final festival in the Lester Hamburg Studio Theatre, Pittsburgh New Works Festival has been looking for a space that would be available over four weekends in September 2004. "I don't want to change the time of the festival which we have established as our time period," Leonard says. "It works with the theater companies (that produce the one-act plays). Vacations are planned around our schedule for auditions, rehearsals and productions." Leonard's ideal space would be a 150-seat black box theater with a three-quarters thrust stage that could be easilyl re-configured as needed, and offering generous dressing room space, a concessions stand and a dedicated box office as well as abundant free parking. The ideal theater would be in a safe neighborhood, near pre-show dining and post-show nightlife and convenient to public transportation. Wayne Brinda, artistic director, Prime Stage Theatre: Presently searching for a home for his company's 2003-04 season, Brinda dreams of a 250- to 300-seat facility with flexible seating plus office and classroom space for education and outreach programs that several groups could share. Any neighborhood with free or inexpensive parking would be fine. But his ideal location would be in the Strip District near the Sen. John Heinz Regional History Center, restaurants and nightlife. He'd like a space with dressing rooms with showers and toilets backstage that's easy for technicians and actors to work in. "It should be accessible to the community, so it can serve the community. A school or youth group looking for a place to perform should have it available to them on a one- or two-show deal," Brinda says. "If we can get audiences used to coming to a facility for a number of productions, everyone can benefit." Managing director James A. Richards and director of marketing and operations Elizabeth Dunn, Open Stage Theatre: This past season, Open Stage Theatre signed a 10-year lease on its dream space -- a 10,000 warehouse building on Smallman Street in the Strip District near restaurants and public transportation. Plans are to convert it into Smallman Hall, a multipurpose performance and event venue for arts and entertainment providers with flexible performance spaces that can be tailored as needed into a multitude of configurations and seating capacities. "Our goal is to have a seven-day-a-week space where something is always hopping," Dunn says. Ideally, it would offer free parking, a concessions area, a ticketing and lobby area, dressing rooms and patron facilities. A $350,000 to $450,000 upgrade would increase available electrical power and add air-conditioning, upgrade and renovate the lobby and office areas, create actor-friendly dressing rooms and expand patron bathroom facilities.
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