August Wilson lived in Seattle for a time. I was lucky to meet him when I worked at the Seattle Rep Theater––all these amazing actors came from all over to do his workshops of new plays. What an amazing man, so kind to people, and the quote is so perfect. Rosanne, do you ever go to the Pittsburgh Public Theater?
August Wilson lived in Seattle for a time. I was lucky to meet him when I worked at the Seattle Rep Theater––all these amazing actors came from all over to do his workshops of new plays. What an amazing man, so kind to people, and the quote is so perfect. Rosanne, do you ever go to the Pittsburgh Public Theater?
I live in DC now & haven't been back to Pittsburgh in many years, a city much changed and for the better I understand. In my day it was the Pittsburgh Playhouse, long gone, that was the heart of the surprisingly vibrant theater scene.
Everyone has a trip they had to cancel because of the pandemic, mine was Pittsburgh, April, 2020. It was a bummer-- I had the coolest airbnb by a gorgeous park in Shady Side.
That's too bad. Shadyside & adjacent Oakland, where the universities are, are the city's two best & most beautiful neighborhoods. I'm guessing it was either Schenley Park or maybe Fern Hollow near where your airb&b was, both lovely. I spent every minute that I could in Oakland in the wonderful & gorgeous Carnegie Library, his best among the hundreds he'd built. Wilson haunted the library, too, though we weren't there at the same time. He got into Central Catholic, no easy feat, but was so mistreated by the brothers, this on account of race, that he skipped more than he went & spent his time in the stacks instead. Just as well, as it turned out. Hope you finally get your trip to Pgh.
My husband is the auctioneer for the theater's fundraiser, he goes every year unless the virus screws it all up again. I'll try again next time he works there and take all your tips.
Horrible to hear about August Wilson having to deal with those jerks.
I love Pittsburgh. My brother lives in Squirrel Hill and I've been there many times. He's a block off of Murray Avenue, if that means anything to anyone.
Maybe we'll drag him to the Pittsburgh Public Theater auction. I'll just knock on every door on that block and tell people to get dressed, we're going. Although that's not good virus etiquette...
Very cool about your husband's work. He probably knows a lot more about the city than I do at this point. When I lived there Forbes Field still existed & you couldn't swim in the rivers or, on certain summer days of air inversions, breathe. Well, you could but at your peril. As for Central Catholic, my father, first-born into a large Irish Catholic family, went there too, although years earlier, & had, not surprising, a completely different experience.
It's terrible how we've poisoned the air and water in certain places, but really, in the end, all over the place. I wonder how it was cleaned up. Something to dig into.
The steel mills began to close in the 1970s at which point began Pgh's rise as a medical & research center---the medical system had always been strong (Salk developed his polio vaccine here), now it began to thrive. Plus, there was Carnegie Mellon, Pitt, etc. Theresa Heinz, former wife of John Heinz, scion of the famous Pittsburgh ketchup family & the US Senator from PA who later died in an airplane crash, took up, along with several other of the city's wealthy (the Hillmans, Mellons, etc) & spearheaded the clean-up. (Theresa later married John Kerry.) There are now parks, river walks & green spaces all over the place. The city drew on its remaining strengths (unlike a lot of place, it had some) & the turnaround was swift, considering.
August Wilson lived in Seattle for a time. I was lucky to meet him when I worked at the Seattle Rep Theater––all these amazing actors came from all over to do his workshops of new plays. What an amazing man, so kind to people, and the quote is so perfect. Rosanne, do you ever go to the Pittsburgh Public Theater?
I live in DC now & haven't been back to Pittsburgh in many years, a city much changed and for the better I understand. In my day it was the Pittsburgh Playhouse, long gone, that was the heart of the surprisingly vibrant theater scene.
Everyone has a trip they had to cancel because of the pandemic, mine was Pittsburgh, April, 2020. It was a bummer-- I had the coolest airbnb by a gorgeous park in Shady Side.
That's too bad. Shadyside & adjacent Oakland, where the universities are, are the city's two best & most beautiful neighborhoods. I'm guessing it was either Schenley Park or maybe Fern Hollow near where your airb&b was, both lovely. I spent every minute that I could in Oakland in the wonderful & gorgeous Carnegie Library, his best among the hundreds he'd built. Wilson haunted the library, too, though we weren't there at the same time. He got into Central Catholic, no easy feat, but was so mistreated by the brothers, this on account of race, that he skipped more than he went & spent his time in the stacks instead. Just as well, as it turned out. Hope you finally get your trip to Pgh.
My husband is the auctioneer for the theater's fundraiser, he goes every year unless the virus screws it all up again. I'll try again next time he works there and take all your tips.
Horrible to hear about August Wilson having to deal with those jerks.
I love Pittsburgh. My brother lives in Squirrel Hill and I've been there many times. He's a block off of Murray Avenue, if that means anything to anyone.
Maybe we'll drag him to the Pittsburgh Public Theater auction. I'll just knock on every door on that block and tell people to get dressed, we're going. Although that's not good virus etiquette...
Very cool about your husband's work. He probably knows a lot more about the city than I do at this point. When I lived there Forbes Field still existed & you couldn't swim in the rivers or, on certain summer days of air inversions, breathe. Well, you could but at your peril. As for Central Catholic, my father, first-born into a large Irish Catholic family, went there too, although years earlier, & had, not surprising, a completely different experience.
It's terrible how we've poisoned the air and water in certain places, but really, in the end, all over the place. I wonder how it was cleaned up. Something to dig into.
The steel mills began to close in the 1970s at which point began Pgh's rise as a medical & research center---the medical system had always been strong (Salk developed his polio vaccine here), now it began to thrive. Plus, there was Carnegie Mellon, Pitt, etc. Theresa Heinz, former wife of John Heinz, scion of the famous Pittsburgh ketchup family & the US Senator from PA who later died in an airplane crash, took up, along with several other of the city's wealthy (the Hillmans, Mellons, etc) & spearheaded the clean-up. (Theresa later married John Kerry.) There are now parks, river walks & green spaces all over the place. The city drew on its remaining strengths (unlike a lot of place, it had some) & the turnaround was swift, considering.