June 15, 2022 - Pittsburgh City Paper

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How Amber Sloan became a champion for Pittsburgh’s Black communities

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JUNE 15-22, 2022

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5/23/22 PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 15 - 22, 2022

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VIEWS

TAINTED PRESERVATION An Insider's Take on the Tito-Mecca-Zizza House Landmarking

BY DAVID S. ROTENSTEIN // INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

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PHOTO: DAVID S. ROSENSTEIN

The Tito-Mecca-Zizza House

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 15 - 22, 2022

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TAINTED PRESERVATION, CONTINUED FROM PG. 5

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“Sarah, thank you for opening us up to the history of this property. It’s really interesting and I see there’s even other history that goes back to some of the first Black-owned baseball fields,” Mondor said.

Quinn’s presentations before the HRC and Planning Commission focused instead on the property’s more salacious attributes and its architecture. In fact, in the November 2021 meeting, mention of Black history was missing altogether from her presentation to the HRC. I repeatedly asked for clarifications from planning department managers and I received no replies. I subsequently wrote about the erasures in a March Urban History Association blog post.

HRC commissioners Matthew Falcone and Richard Snipe voted to deny the nomination, citing the property’s connections to organized crime. They ignored the testimony and documentation about Tito’s close friend and Negro Leagues, bootlegging, and gambling partner Gus Greenlee’s Crawford Grill No. 2 being listed in the National Register of Historic Places. And, Woogie Harris’ home, now known as the National Negro Opera Company House, is a city landmark.

In all landmarking cases, the buck stops with the City Council. Council members R. Daniel Lavelle (D-Hill District) and Bruce Kraus (D-South Side)

both indicated that they would have voted to deny the designation had it not been for the overwhelming support for landmarking voiced by their constituents.

Both members stated they believe that property owners should have the final say in whether or not their properties become city landmarks. Their votes tipped the scales to the supermajority of six votes necessary for approval.

Historic preservation is so broken — tainted — in Pittsburgh that it was the subject of a 2011 University of Maryland PhD dissertation by former resident Ruth Bergman. Her 365-page study also exposed the erasure of Black history by the HRC and other shortcomings in how the law is implemented.

After the council bucked its own precedents and voted to landmark her family’s former home, Peckich agreed with Burgess’ comments about historic preservation here. “His little critique there is basically how I feel now that I’ve been through the process of this designation process in Pittsburgh,” Peckich said in a telephone interview five days after the council vote.

In the Tito-Mecca-Zizza house case, it doesn’t take a dissertation or a doctorate to recognize a bad and immoral process.

All it takes are working ears and eyes.

Pittsburgh has a new historic landmark, but at what cost? •

Editor’s note: David Rotenstein worked as a paid consultant to Uptown Partners on the Tito-Mecca-Zizza House designation. Much of his academic work focuses on racism and other biases in local historic preservation programs.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 15 - 22, 2022

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PHOTO: COURTESY OF PITTSBURGH REGIONAL TRANSIT

An illustration of a new Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus

NEWS

FROM BOATS TO BUSES

BY JAMIE WIGGAN //JAMIE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

W

...HILE ANNOUNCING the Port Authority of Allegheny County’s rebranding as Pittsburgh Regional Transit, officials emphasized the need to shed the redundant maritime associations for a name that better reflects a land-based urban transportation system.

“They hear that term ‘port’ and wonder when Kathy’s going to bring the boats in and which river she’s going to get them to stop in,” said Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald during a June 9 press conference announcing the name change.

The Port Authority branding had, as Fitzgerald notes, essentially persisted as a misnomer for most of the agency’s tenure.

But this was not the case in the early days.

Port Authority was established by county council in 1957 on the back of a new state law allowing counties to “plan, acquire, construct, maintain and operate facilities and projects for the improvement and development of the port district.” Pittsburgh functioned as a major inland port during the industrial heights of the 1950s, and even today, millions of tons of coal and manufactured goods are shipped through Pittsburgh’s three rivers each year.

According to contemporary newspaper clippings, the Authority’s initial focus was on developing riverfront railroad and shipping property. But its scope quickly expanded, and within a year, the new agency was exploring the creation of

a combination terminal for boats, trains, planes, and trucks. (Buses were noticeably absent.)

A feasibility study ultimately determined this ambitious vision would be cost-prohibitive, so council axed the plans in November 1958 before they got off the ground. Following this early failure, the authority quickly shifted focus to transit, hatching a plan to buy up the various privatized bus and streetcar services to consolidate them into a single seamless system.

Although they’ve essentially operated every bus route and light rail service in town since 1964, officials say the switch to Pittsburgh Regional Transit finally marks a fulfillment of that initial vision for a unified transit experience. “[The rebranding] lets us have a unified product,” said Pittsburgh Regional Transit CEO Katharine Kelleman during the rebranding press conference. “So if I’m somebody trying to figure out, ‘How do I not drive myself?’, it’s easy to see what those choices are, and it makes sense for me to make those connections.”

Achieving this will mean installing new signage for all 7000 bus stops and painting all regular buses with a uniform blue-and-yellow color scheme to prevent any misunderstandings caused by having red, green, blue, and yellow buses that don’t signify specific routes. Buses running on special routes like the East and West Busways will be given distinctive CONTINUES ON PG. 10

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CP PHOTO: JAMIE WIGGAN

A redesigned Pittsburgh Regional Transit bus on display at a press conference announcing the company’s rebranding efforts on June 9.

colors to help them stand out, according to PRT spokesperson Adam Brandolph.

Local transit activists say they welcome moves to streamline services and improve their ease of use but would rather see more investment in boosting services.

“Above all, riders want our transit agency to plan for more frequent and reliable service, taking more people to more destinations,” says a statement from local transit advocacy group Pittsburghers for Public Transit. “[R]iders need fare payment to be more affordable because we continue to pay some of the highest transit fare costs in the entire country, without any fare relief programs available for low-income residents.”

The group also notes that riders have “organized, marched, and testified for the Port Authority to fulfill these baseline needs around service and fares for years. If a marketing campaign is what the agency needs to catalyze these improvements, then we will welcome it.”

Some of these changes may be coming, but it’s not clear when.

Last fall, PRT adopted a 25-year plan to overhaul the region’s transit system.

The plan outlines 18 possible projects

CP PHOTO: JARED WICKERHAM

including expanding the Martin Luther King Busway to Braddock, extending the light rail service to the North Hills, and establishing neighborhood routes to cut out unnecessary Downtown transfers.

All the projects are dependent on yetto-be-realized funding thresholds and have different assigned priorities for implementation.

Kickstarting the work, Port Authority secured a $565,000 grant earlier this year to study busway extensions.

Brandolph said the rebrand “is built into” the 25-year plan, which he said remains on course.

As the public transit agency looks to expand and rebrand, it does so against lingering headwinds from the pandemic, which shrank ridership to 50% below peak levels.

Kelleman remained upbeat about PRT’s future outlook while announcing the rebrand, saying the COVID-induced disruption offers another opportunity to reimagine the system’s best use of its resources.

“I couldn’t tell you when we’ll get back to the 200,000 [daily rides baseline],” she said. “But we will get there.” •

CEO of Port Authority, Katherine Kelleman

Follow news editor Jamie Wiggan on Twitter @JamieWiggan

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 15 - 22, 2022

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CP PHOTOS: JARED WICKERHAM

Amber Sloan poses for a portrait in the Homewood-Brushton neighborhood on Fri., June 9.

BLACK-LED COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

MAKING IT

BY DANI JANAE // DANIJANAE@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

F

OR MANY PEOPLE who were once incarcerated, starting a new life can be challenging. In 2020, the national recidivism rate was around 50%, meaning half of those released from prisons were rearrested and incarcerated again within three years of their original release. The other half? They’re folks like Amber Sloan.

Raised in Homewood, Sloan has become a champion for her Pittsburgh neighborhood. In addition to doing violence intervention and reentry work, she says the most significant thing she does

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for other people is serving as an advocate: for those who have run-ins with the police, for children who need school supplies, and more.

MADE IT facebook.com/MadeIt2011

In high school, Sloan says she was a basketball star with a four-year scholarship to the University of North Carolina.

But then, during her last year of school, her mother died of a heart attack, and

she became heavily involved with local gangs. Eventually, she became a leader in the gang she was a part of, and not long after, was incarcerated for over 15 years.

“When I was in prison, all of us would sit around and talk about what we would do when we got out,” Sloan says. “Some of us said we were gonna do hair and nails, I said I was going to make a difference. I came up with the idea for MADE IT in my prison cell.”

MADE IT, which stands for “Making Al te rn a t ive De ci s i o n s Effe ct ive ly Impacting Teams,” is Sloan’s program

geared toward serving at-risk youth in Pittsburgh. It serves people between the ages of 13-24 years old and works alongside community leaders, school districts, and juvenile detentions to assist in impacting the lives of participants.

Sloan was also recently named a Community Success Coach for CCAC’s Homewood Campus, which is a position she officially starts on June 16, and serves as a committee person on the Allegheny County Democratic Committee.

“When Leon [Ford] got shot, who is my nephew, of course, I got into the

“I came up with the idea for MADE IT in my prison cell.” advocacy thing, but my goal was always come back and change my community,” she says, referring to a 2012 incident when Ford was shot and paralyzed by Pittsburgh police.

Sloan says she is especially excited to get started working with CCAC because she’ll get to help people who are coming home from prison. In a city where she says there are few resources geared toward this kind of reentry work, Sloan is ready to roll up her sleeves.

While she says she might not be the most popular advocate doing the work she does, Sloane says it is still important for her to help those struggling in her community. She talked with Pittsburgh City Paper about homelessness in Homewood, and how little is being done to help. Sloan says that many politicians have made promises about what they were going to do, but she says they either didn’t hold up their end of the bargain or they made things worse.

“You can’t just snatch somebody’s plate and say, ‘Figure it out,’ you have to say, ‘Here, I have a better plate for you,’” she says.

Sloan credits a 2018 incident with pushing her to action. An employee of Uptown pizza restaurant Pizza Milano

was caught on video allegedly headbutting a woman and tackling her to the ground. Sloan had lost her wife to an overdose one year earlier, and she says it wasn’t until hearing about this woman’s assault that she “got off the couch.”

The case inspired a lot of community action, and when the employee walked away with a not-guilty verdict, many were outraged at what they saw as a failure of the justice system to protect a Black woman. That same year, Antwon Rose Jr., a Black 17-year-old, was shot and killed by an East Pittsburgh police officer, something she says was also a turning point in her life and in her work.

She says that Pittsburgh still has a long way to go when it comes to making the city a more livable place for Black people, and while she believes not enough is being done to protect and help the most vulnerable in the city’s Black communities, she is doing all the work she can to make a difference. If that means traveling to different neighborhoods, then she is willing to go there.

“I’m blessed, I’m anointed,” Sloane says. “My grandmother spoke over me while I was in prison, she told my sisters, ‘When Amber finds her purpose, she’s gonna change the world.’” •

Follow arts & culture writer Dani Janae on Twitter @figwidow PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 15 - 22, 2022

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CP ILLUSTRATION: LUCY CHEN

VIEWS

LET'S GET "REAL"

BY TERENEH IDIA // CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

’M SITTING IN THE LOBBY of the hotel where I had my high school senior prom. Teenaged me: pink silk dress with an ivory sash. Adult me: dark semiprofessional-looking outfit with a little homemade bling, ready for my meeting with a major foundation. Both versions of me: excited, anticipatory, hopeful.

This time, my hope in returning to the Omni William Penn Hotel wasn’t for a night to remember but the hopes of a dream coming true. I was about to meet with a program officer of a

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Pittsburgh-based foundation. Maybe I could get some funding for my work? I was so thrilled.

After going through the summary of my work to date (fashion presentations in Paris, Nairobi, New York, and Pittsburgh; work with Indigenous artisans in Kenya and New York), I was still smiling, still hopeful. Until the moment when, instead of being told my local-global design work was innovative, I was told the foundation could not support my work because I was not a “real Pittsburgh artist.”

My mind started drifting and I imagined my 17-year-old self walking through the lobby in her pink prom dress, masterfully not tripping on the long ivory sash, unlike the way I now found myself tripping over my words.

In this vision, my happy younger self paused as she caught the eye of my frowning and confused 40-something self. She spoke to me, “T, you need to just get up and leave, sis. Just say thank you and walk away.” At which point, I nodded slowly — not in agreement, but

in disbelief — and left. Was I seriously just rejected because I wasn’t a “real Pittsburgh artist”?

A few years after this event took place, I joined a group dedicated to supporting local craftspeople, funded by that same foundation, and I received some money, albeit at a much lower level than if I had been supported individually. But it felt less like a vindication and more like one extra gate, one extra white gatekeeping barrier towards support and resources.

Though I eventually got support through my own crowdfunding efforts and other foundations, I wonder what would have happened if I had been able to get that early funding? I will never know.

Now, as Pittsburgh finds itself with higher artistic representation nationally, “Who is a Pittsburgh artist?” is asked more often, especially when checks are being cut. For me, there are no borders to Pittsburgh creativity and no timeline that can take the title away from a local artist regardless of where they were born, where they reside, or create.

Equally important are Pittsburgh artists who work internationally. Like filmmaker Chris Ivey, who is connecting Black Atlantic and Pan-African issues with experiences of Black folks in Pittsburgh. Artists like Vanessa German, Alisha Wormsley, and Mikael Owunna regularly present work nationally and internationally. Damon Young and Brian Broome writing for The New York Times and Washington Post, respectively, doesn’t make them less Pittsburgh.

I also believe anyone who comes here to create should be welcomed to the city. Philadelphia-born, Pittsburghbased Shikeith photographed Lil Nas X for the New York Times, among other honors. Amani Lewis, a Baltimore-based artist and one of today’s hottest painters in the country, had their first solo exhibition in Pittsburgh at the August Wilson African American Cultural Center and regularly returns to show or support artists in the region.

All of these artists bring something to Pittsburgh, share something with

“It felt less like a vindication and more like one extra gate, one extra white gatekeeping barrier towards support and resources.”

Billy Strayhorn could write about “Takin’ the A Train” because that brother was living in Harlem. Highland Parkborn Gene Kelly was in Hollywood, as was Lena Horne, who spent some of her teens in Pittsburgh. Much copied JeanMichel Basquiat was greatly inspired by Pittsburgh-born and raised Raymond Saunders, which begs the question: Who’s zoomin’ who?

Somewhere, someone is presenting a Pittsburgh-based August Wilson play, even though the playwright spent much of his life in St Paul and Seattle. Andy Warhol famously left Pittsburgh and made NYC the center of his creative factory. Wiz Khalifah isn’t based in Pittsburgh but when he performs here, it is a homecoming. Years before Kinky Boots changed everything, I had the great fortune of running into Billy Porter in Times Square where we chatted a bit about our time together at Allderdice High School.

Pittsburgh, and take part of Pittsburgh with them to share with the world. They become part of our creative community, the neighborhood of artists shaped by the region.

I, for one, won’t be checking for birth certificates, passport stamps, or evidence of their time in the region to determine who is welcome to create in our city. And I will continue to take my hometown with me wherever I go — whether it is Downtown Pittsburgh or Dakar, Lawrenceville or London.

If the goal of that program officer in telling me I wasn’t a Pittsburgh artist was to shrink what I create or how I look at myself, it failed. Pittsburgh creatives are local, regional, national, global, heck, even intergalactic. I think back to my younger, smiling self and owe it to her to keep moving forward, knowing her advice to “Just go!” meant to just keep making and that no borders should ever be placed around our creativity. •

Follow featured contributor Tereneh Idia on Twitter @TerenehIdia

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13

MUSIC

PREPARING FOR BATTLE

BY JORDAN SNOWDEN CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

I

T’S NO SECRET that the live music and service industry took a catastrophic blow over the last two years, with numerous Pittsburgh restaurants and performance venues closing their doors, both temporarily and indefinitely.

In response, some sold merch to raise money for laid-off staff and industry workers. Others started GoFundMes to help alleviate bills following canceled jobs and gigs. Pete Cicero, aka DJ Petey C, decided to host a DJ battle.

“I was looking for something that would get people back to work and creating,” says Cicero, the brains behind the forthcoming Battlegories DJ Battle, set for Thu., June 16 at Thunderbird Café & Music Hall.

This year marks the second iteration of the battle, following a successful first run in 2021 where all the money made went directly into the pockets of those in the local service and performance community.

“Out of the money we made, we were able to pay the winning DJ (Arie Cole), all the competing DJs for their time, and were able to employ a sound crew, light crew, production crew, bartenders, the whole nine yards,” says Cicero. “I didn’t make a single dollar.” The remainder of the money, about $800, was donated to the Save Our Stages Act.

DJ PETEY C PRESENTS: BATTLEGORIES DJ BATTLE 7 p.m. Thu., June 16. Thunderbird Café & Music Hall. 4053 Butler St., Lawrenceville. $20-25. thunderbirdmusichall.com

PHOTO: CODY BAKER

Pete Cicero, aka DJ Petey C

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Cicero is hoping that the 2022 Battlegories DJ Battle will be bigger and better than ever, especially considering that last year’s event was limited to how many people could come due to the occupancy rules at the time.

Starting promptly at 8 p.m. with an opening set from DJ Nugget, the night will feature five “battlegories” selected by each competing DJ. DJ Climax, for example, chose “Soundtracks,” which, as Cicero explains, encompasses music

PHOTO: CODY BAKER

DJ Arie Cole

from TV and music. “So that could be audio clips, opening scores, or theme songs, and how they can make it fun at a party,” he says. There’s also “Afrobeat,” selected by DJ Femi; “The Junk Drawer,” which Alexi Rivera picked and where “anything goes” but three completely different genres must be played; and “Who Sampled?”, a pick from DJ B-Renn centering around sampled songs or tracks inspired by samples.

Last year’s Battlegory champion and returning competitor Arie Cole selected Twerk Sum, which Cicero says is open to perspective. “There’s traditional reggaeton music, and a lot of modern rap is considered twerk, so it’s really up to the DJ to how they interpret it.”

Interpretation is the name of the

Battlegory game. And at the end of the day, the event is about having fun, supporting the local performance and service industries, and allowing the diverse selection of DJs to do what feels natural to them.

“Ultimately, they’re performing to a room of their peers, industry leaders, and fans,” says Cicero. “My whole thing to them is to focus on what speaks to you. They all have their personalities and styles, and DJing is an art form. I wanted that to come out … I really think that’s the highlight reel of this event. The DJs picked the battlegories and they sort of dictated how it’s going to go. It’s going to be really fun to watch all five of them take on ‘Soundtracks,’ for example, and take it all in completely different directions. That’s everything that DJing means to me.” •

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Follow featured contributor Jordan Snowden on Twitter @snowden_jordan PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 15 - 22, 2022

15

STAGE

STAGING A REVOLUTION

BY JORDANA ROSENFELD // JORDANA@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

H

AVING SPENT DECADES acting, directing, designing, and writing for the stage in New York, Los Angeles, and London, international theater artist Elizabeth Elias Huffman is thrilled to make her hometown debut this week in the newest iteration of her imaginative solo show, Not My Revolution, at Carnegie’s Off the WALL productions.

Not My Revolution, which Huffman has been developing since 2016, is “a dreamlike play” about two women from two different historical moments dealing with the impact of forced displacement and civil war. The play weaves together a narrative of Marie Antoinette’s imprisonment during the French Revolution with the experiences of a once-wealthy Syrian art dealer, known only as “the Displaced Woman,” who struggles to survive catastrophic loss living as a refugee in Istanbul in 2011. These two women, both played

by Huffman, who is Syrian American, grapple with their powerlessness in the face of war and uncertainty.

“I’d been holding on to that play for a really long time thinking I might perform it one day, but the play had problems for me, it didn’t quite work,” she says.

When she read French Gray to her friend and frequent collaborator Luanne Moldovan, the founder and artistic director of Cygnet Productions in Portland, Ore., they both saw French Gray’s potential as a starting material for a new play involving the Syrian civil war that could speak to the consequences of forced displacement across time and space. Moldovan bought into the vision and signed on as the play’s director.

“She’s somebody who really knows how to develop a script,” Huffman says of Moldovan. “It’s a project that we both are so connected with and we love so much and are really excited to share it.”

The play “sort of wrote itself in a way,” she says, and, although it’s a solo show, Not My Revolution has benefited from the contributions of many talented friends and collaborators over the years as well

"When it comes to revolution and war, it’s a leveler. You could be the richest person in the land and still lose everything.”

PHOTO: ERICKA CUENCA/OLIVIA LESUER

Not My Revolution

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She hopes her play will help audiences see that “when it comes to revolution and war, it’s a leveler,” Huffman tells Pittsburgh City Paper. “You could be the richest person in the land and still lose everything. So it could happen to you.”

The play was born from a desire to elevate the experiences of Syrian refugees. Huffman says that at the time she began envisioning the project that would become Not My Revolution, “I was worried about my family in Syria and upset about the war that was just ripping the country apart, and I wanted to do something that would bring awareness to that situation, but I didn’t know what.”

Around that time, she says, she remembered a play on her shelf called French Gray by Josef Bush, a one-act play about the end of Antoinette’s life.

as her research on the French Revolution and time spent interviewing Syrian refugees about their experiences.

Huffman focused on dramatizing refugees’ often intractable circumstances, pushing questions like, “Where do you go?

To countries that don’t want you and that you don’t speak the language? And how do you survive, and how do you survive the loss? How do you maintain your dignity under those circumstances, when people don’t want you in their country?”

She looks forward to the opportunity to offer talk-backs after the show’s two Sunday matinees, which she says will include invited guests, local people with insight into the Syrian civil war, refugee resettlement, and women’s roles in the history of revolution.

“The one thing I’ve learned about this CONTINUES ON PG. 18

STAGING A REVOLUTION, CONTINUED FROM PG. 16

TOTAL PEACE AND WELLNESS PHOTO: ERICKA CUENCA/OLIVIA LESUER

Not My Revolution

play in every place I’ve played is the audience wants to talk about it,” she says.

Huffman is no stranger to solo performances. Throughout her career, she’s performed in four solo shows, playing a total of 54 characters, according to her website. Solo shows “really require an enormous amount of focus, stamina, and energy,” she says, noting that performing a play by yourself is “like running a decathlon. You have to be in prime shape.

You have to watch what you eat. You have to get to bed early. You have to keep yourself pure and clear-minded because 90 minutes is a long time to hold the stage by yourself and then to navigate through very difficult text and complex characters.”

Born and raised in Monongahela, Pa., Huffman recently decided to return home and get involved in the local arts community.

“There’s a real amazing energy in the arts in Pittsburgh,” she says, “I found that out in my visits coming back here, and I

thought, ‘I want to be a part of this arts community.’” She hopes to eventually open a professional theater company in the Mon Valley.

NOT MY REVOLUTION Fri., June 17-Sat., July 2.

Off the WALL Productions. 25 West Main St., Carnegie. $5-40. insideoffthewall.com

In the meantime, “Off the WALL productions were my first friends here,” she says, letting her use their performance space one day a week throughout the pandemic to continue to develop Not My Revolution. The play’s development has been largely funded by Huffman’s patron Ronni Lacroute, she says.

“It takes more than a village to make a play like this, and it takes years, but I think I’ve got it,” she says. “This is the most beautiful production of this play I’ve ever had … it’s the production I’ve dreamt of from the get-go.”

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Follow news reporter Jordana Rosenfeld on Twitter @rosenfeldjb PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 15 - 22, 2022

17

THEATER

SICK COMEDY

BY JORDANA ROSENFELD JORDANA@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

T

HE WORLD PREMIERE of Kinetic Theatre Company’s The Illustrious Invalid at City Theatre is a lighthearted farce that reimagines the last hours of canonical French playwright Jean-Baptiste Molièr.

Directed by Andrew Paul written by local actor and playwright Simon Bradbury, the play follows Molière (played

by Bradbury) as he prepares for what his wife and others around him fear will be his final performance in The Imaginary Invalid, which is, in fact, the last play the real Molière wrote before his death of tuberculosis. The playwright famously died a few hours after collapsing on stage during a 1673 performance in which he played The Imaginary Invalid’s titular character, a wealthy hypochondriac named Argon who tries to marry his daughter to a doctor in order to save on medical bills.

THE ILLUSTRIOUS INVALID Continues through June 26. City Theatre.

1300 Bingham St., South SIde. $20-45.

(Pay-what-you-want on June 20.) kinetictheatre.org

In contrast to Argon, and as the title of Bradbury’s play suggests, Molière is actually quite sick in this rendition. We first meet him as he rushes into his dressing room at the tail end of a coughing fit, eager to conceal evidence that his tuberculosis has gotten much worse from his wife Armande (Joanna Strapp) and their servant La Forest (Derdriu Ring), lest they decide he is too ill to perform in an hour.

It seems clear that Molière’s death is imminent, but he refuses to admit it. The people around him — Armande and La Forest, with the help of Dufresne (Matt DeCaro), an actor who has played a doctor for so many years that he’s begun to think he is one; Baron (Michael Patrick Trimm), an ambitious young actor gunning for both Moliere’s role and his wife; and, one of the four thankless roles played by David Whalen — scurry to try to manage the situation to their own benefits.

Armande wants Molière to sign a renunciation of his life’s work in the theater to avoid posthumous ex-communication from the Catholic Church.

PHOTO: RPCKY RACO

Derdriu Ring, Simon Bradbury (as Moliere), and Joanna Strapp in Kinetic Theatre's The Illustrious Invalid

Dufresne believes that Molière’s respiratory illness is caused by a blockage in his bowels and tries repeatedly throughout the play to administer a course of enemas as a cure. Baron hopes to persuade Molière that he is too ill to go on stage so that Baron may perform as his understudy. There’s also a drunken musketeer with traditional values (Whalen), a roving priest with a vendetta against Molière (Tony Bingham), and at least one (possibly two) additional one-dimensional character(s) also assigned to Whalen.

Meanwhile, Molière tries to get everyone to leave him alone so he can eagerly await the King, who may or may not be,

but probably isn’t, attending the show.

Bradbury’s script is strong, especially in its alignment with Molière’s values, artistic interests, and raucous sensibility.

The inclusion of many of Molière’s favorite stock characters — the crafty servant, and a cartoonish doctor and priest who respectively stand in for the playwright’s longstanding grudges against the church and the medical profession — as well as Molière’s placement in the middle as a kind of a straight man, reflects Bradbury’s deep engagement with his source material.

I was not won over by Paul and Bradbury’s attempt to construe forced

Follow news reporter Jordana Rosenfeld on Twitter @rosenfeldjb

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enemas as slapstick comedy, and I found no legitimate reason to give the priest a hunchback other than to mock him, which is cruel and superfluous (even if the hunchback was merely an element of disguise, which the play doesn’t really address).

But the cast, mostly veterans of the Pittsburgh stage, produces sharp comedic timing, which supports their successful execution of something rather rare, a funny comedy about a character’s impending death. And Whalen pitches in with a surprise performance in the play’s final moments and sells his fourth turn as one of the play’s plot devices. •

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Fantastic Negrito's White Jesus, Black Problems

BY MIKE CANTON // CPCONTRIBUTORS@PGHCITYPAPER.COM

F

OR YEARS, I’VE PLAYED a game with the weather.

Every day, I decide if today will be one of the Top Ten Days of the Year. If I pick too many too early, there’s no space for later ones. It means a March day better be almost perfect, but a November day doesn’t have to be.

You never, ever play this game with Top Ten Albums — just wait until late November, then compare all of the year’s offerings. But what if you did? This year, I’d take a chance on Fantastic Negrito’s White Jesus, Black Problems. It all starts with the name: provocative thoughts mean he was thinking.

The first track sounds like Prince, The Beatles, and D’Angelo folded together.

It’s a great start. Throughout the album, angry thoughts are enveloped in zaniness. When at work on radio station WYEP, they say to make sure that the presentation is fun. Negrito provides some space for seriousness.

So how does the album sound? At a Highmark Blues & Heritage Festival advisory meeting earlier this year, he talked about being in the 2022 lineup as a blues artist. I smiled, always having thought he was more funk than blues. There are elements of rock, blues, funk, and even some New Orleans on “Nibbadip.”

Great harmonies throughout. I often skim through some album tracks while reviewing; this time I listened nonstop.

Nine open spots left in the Top Ten.

THE SOUL POD: In May, The Soul Pod invited Amy Kline of Dormont Arts and Shelley Johansson of AmeriServ Flood City Music Festival to offer tips for performer success. We came together for one more episode in June. It’s well worth the watch. Check it out online at pghcitypaper.com.

Mike Canton is the longtime host and producer of The Soul Show on WYEP 91.3FM. He recently launched a syndicated edition of the program, now airing in four markets. Both are produced in his Electric Basement Studios. Canton is also a Pittsburgh-area voice artist.

PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 15 - 22, 2022

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SEVEN DAYS IN PITTSBURGH THU., JUNE 16 FRI., JUNE 17

Undiscovered Gallery, a Wilkinsburg-based community event space for local artists, presents the opening for its latest group show Summer Hues. Curated by Nancy Howarth and Margot Dermody, the exhibition includes works by Howarth, Robert Bowden, Charlie Patterson, and William Pfahl, as well as Dermody, a mixed-media artist who works in acrylic, oil, fused glass, and glass and stone sculpture. See paintings, photographs, and other works ranging from landscapes to floral images. 5-9 p.m. Continues through Sun., June 19. 319 S. Trenton Ave., Wilkinsburg. Free. margotdermody.com

EVENT • IRL The North Side will come alive with family fun, new art, and more when the Mattress Factory presents its SHRINE Opening Community Block Party. The event marks the opening of SHRINE, an exhibition of installation works at the museum’s Monterey Annex, presented in partnership with the arts collective and residency program Sibyls Shrine and curator Jessica Gaynelle Moss. Enjoy artmaking activities in the City of Asylum garden, a Mommas’ Market featuring local artists and vendors, a live DJ set from Yadirtydaughter, and food by Mommalicious and ShadoBeni.

Guests can also view SHRINE for free during the event. 6-8 p.m. 1400 Monterey St., North Side. Free. mattress.org

SUN., JUNE 19 MUSIC • IRL Do you remember, the 19th night of Junetember? Travel back in time with Earth Wind & Fire tribute band Let’s Groove Tonight at Allegheny RiverTrail Park.

Presented as part of the Rock the River summer concert series, the event invites everyone to “boogie on down” with a picnic blanket, a bottle of wine, and a few friends and family members. Guests can also enjoy food from Farmer x Baker and local food trucks. 6-8 p.m. 285 River Ave., Aspinwall. Free. alleghenyrivertrailpark.org/ summer-concert-series

ART • IRL

OPERA • IRL The Kelly Strayhorn Theater will present The Strange Child, a new opera by

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HYBRID / MIX OF IN REAL LIFE AND ONLINE EVENT

ART • IRL

FRI., JUNE 17

See works by Pittsburgh-based painter John Burt Sanders when here, Pittsburgh presents the opening of his solo exhibition Spontaneous Horizon. The show will feature 11 new paintings reflecting Sanders’ style, described in a release as focusing “on the formal visual elements of color, texture, and composition to explore systems of order.” The latest collection sees Sanders’ abstract backgrounds “coalesce into more recognizable imagery, such as trees, a shoe, smokestacks, and a rocket launch,” and “engages directly with ideas of human destruction, intervention, and exploration, all while revealing a certain beauty in the excesses of man.” 6-8 p.m.

Continues through July 23. 527 N. Taylor Ave., North Side. Free. gallery-here.com

VIRTUAL / STREAMING OR ONLINE-ONLY EVENT

the World Atlatl Association. Members of the Shawnee tribe will be in attendance to discuss prehistoric hunting techniques and demonstrate tool production.

10 a.m.-4 p.m. 401 Meadowcroft Road, Avella. $7-15. heinzhistorycenter.org

LIT • HYBRID Cave Canem returns in person to the City of Asylum’s Alphabet City venue with what the event website describes as “rousing performances that speak to issues of the day with emotion, with beauty, and with calls to action.” Every June since 2010, City of Asylum has hosted Cave Canem’s annual reading to coincide with the week-long Cave Canem Retreat. The evening will spotlight the poetry of retreat faculty francine j. harris, Evie Shockley, and Frank X. Walker. 7-8:30 p.m. 40 W. North Ave., North Side. Free. Registration required. cityofasylum.org

IRL / IN REAL LIFE EVENT

FAMILY • IRL

PHOTO: COURTESY OF JOHN BURT SANDERS/HERE, PITTSBURGH

^ Spontaneous Horizon at here, Pittsburgh

composer Julia Werntz and librettist Kim Adrian. Based on a fairytale by ETA Hoffman, the show is described on the KST website as a magical tale following two siblings who go up against a cruel tutor and mysterious sprite. The show will feature a cast of vocalists, including Robert Frankenberry and Eugene Perry. 7:30 p.m.

5530 Penn Ave., East Liberty. $25, limited pay-what-you-want tickets at the door. kelly-strayhorn.org

SAT., JUNE 18 EVENT • IRL The Meadowcroft Rockshelter and Historic Village will host its 25th annual Atlatl competition, focused on a spear-thrower used by prehistoric hunters. Beginners are invited to try their hand at the atlatl, and then watch some of the world’s top throwers compete for the high score. This annual event is held in partnership with

Fathers Day is for the birds, at least when it comes to brunch at the National Aviary.

Dads and their families can enjoy cinnamon “Texas” toast or signature cocktails provided by chef Josef Karst and Atria’s Specialty Catering, all served in the Garden Room located at the rear of the building. Tickets also include admission to the Aviary, so after you’re done feasting, check out multiple species of birds, including penguins, as well as the resident sloth. 11 a.m. and 12:30 p.m. 700 Arch St., North Side. $55 for adults, and $35 for youth 12 and under. aviary.org

MON., JUNE 20 MUSIC • IRL The Andy Warhol Museum continues its

SUN., JUNE 19

PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE NATIONAL AVIARY

^ Fathers Day Brunch at National Aviary

Sound Series with a performance by Fuji||||||||||ta, a Japanese noise artist known for working with original instruments. His artist bio describes his music as consisting of “water sounds from multiple aquariums” alongside a “pipe organ” made from 11 pipes and no keyboard, and his voice. Since 2006, Fuji||||||||||ta has embarked on solo performances and collaborations with other musicians and had work exhibited in the Sapporo International Art Festival 2017.

8 p.m. Doors at 7 p.m. 117 Sandusky St., North Side. $15-18. warhol.org

TUE., JUNE 21 KIDS • IRL Let the parks be your inspiration this summer when the Roving Art Cart returns with fun multi-media art projects. The event kicks off at Frick Park’s Big Blue Slide but will travel to a new CitiPark each week through early August. Paint, sculpt, and more while watching local entertainers.

Activities are suited for children 5 to 12 and all children should be supervised by a caregiver. 10 a.m.-1 p.m. Continues through Aug. 5. Beechwood Blvd. and Nicholson St., Squirrel Hill. Free. pittsburghpa.gov

WED., JUNE 22 MUSIC • IRL Fans of the 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World will want to check out Mr. Smalls when the pop-rock band Anamanaguchi presents Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Game Soundtrack: The Tour. The show has made its way through Europe and the

United States and features digital tunes produced as the soundtrack for a video game originally released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. 8 p.m. Doors at 7 p.m.

400 Lincoln Ave., Millvale. $25, $30 at the door. mrsmalls.com/events/anamanaguchi

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White Whale invites readers to experience new work by a Pittsburgh author during the launch of Power in the Tongue by Caitlyn Hunter. Described by Tolsun Books as mixing history with folktales, the hybrid memoir creates an “interior world infused with magic, tricksters, talking animals, chopped hair, red and blue flashing lights, Pittsburgh steel,” and “centers not Black pain, but Black perseverance spanning centuries.” The event will also include selections from Nicole Lourette and Cameron Barnett. 7-8:30 p.m.

4754 Liberty Ave., Bloomfield. Free.

RSVP required. Livestream available. whitewhalebookstore.com/events

6/8/22 2:22

MUSIC • IRL Adult contemporary darling Ben Folds will bring his energetic piano melodies and irreverent lyrics to Heinz Hall for a performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. From his days with the rock trio, Ben Folds Five, to his solo career, the multi-instrumentalist has released a number of albums defined by soaring harmonies, jazzy rock, and narrative-driven songs. His work appeals to fans of pop and classical music, with his 2015 album So There even topping Billboard’s Classical Albums and Classical Crossover charts. 7:30 p.m. 600 Penn Ave., Downtown. $35-75. trustarts.org

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ACROSS 1. Masterpiece channel 4. Internet provider 9. Go all in 15. ___ Speedwagon 16. Granddaddy of computing 17. Set after the set 18. Evian, e.g.

19. Cement head?

20. Big name in yo-yos 21. URL starter, perhaps 23. Lower in office 25. Reagan’s first secretary of state 27. Out of eyesight 28. Stooge first name 32. Good Queen ___ (Elizabeth I) 33. German steel city 35. 24-book epic poem 36. Shirts and skins, e.g.

38. “Move along!”

40. UK lawmakers 41. 2022 Best Musical Tony winner, and theme of this puzzle 44. It has a Tax Witholding Estimator on its site 46. Means of comm. for CODA 47. Cookies that come a Golden variety 48. Stops working 50. CBD Revive Shampoo maker 52. Harley, slangily 56. Jaquel Spivey, of 41-Across, e.g.

57. “I don’t like your ___!”

58. Salad dressing 60. Game with yes/ no questions 62. It’s A Wonderful Life director 63. Recreate 66. Big Energy rapper 70. Onetime Bowie label 71. Singer Badu 72. Screenwriter’s dream 73. ___-de-sac 74. Christmas in the Cinque Terre 75. Libreville’s nation 76. Charmin products

DOWN 1. Lifestyle regimen done before surgery 2. White Album performer 3. Some bridge players 4. He wears #10 for La Albiceleste 5. Two-time Olympicwinning judo fighter Shohei (unsure if he’s related to Yoko) 6. “What’s the ___?”

7. Polish off 8. Brew sold at the Golden Arches 9. Hard wood 10. Difficulty 11. Jeff of the New York Mets 12. Casual slip-on, briefly 13. Financial advisor’s recommendation: Abbr.

14. Total hottie 22. Yesterdays 24. 2013 Miley Cyrus album that starts with Wrecking Ball 26. They may be engaged or jam 27. LPGA mem.

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55. Quests for knights 57. Give to the church 59. Oak of tomorrow 61. Golden State sch.

63. Binger’s spot 64. Tide rival 65. Thriller hit with a three-letter title 67. Gray in a garden 68. Initials in the “V” on the movie poster for Elvis 69. Eastern “way” LAST WEEK’S ANSWERS

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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER JUNE 15 - 22, 2022

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