More A&E category, Page 15
High school musical season is again up in the air as pandemic continues
To stage or not to stage, that is the question for area high schools as musical season approaches. As many productions fell prey last year to the pandemic, school personnel and students didn’t think they would be facing the same challenge this year. But they are. With gathering size and...
Carnegie Museum’s 1st podcast series looks at pros, cons of AI
Carnegie Museum of Art today is launching its first-ever podcast series, investigating the intersection of photography, surveillance and artificial intelligence. Each episode of the free, six-part series, “Mirror with a Memory,” will feature artists, writers and academics exploring a different facet of the conversation surrounding AI and photography. The host...
Robinson man wins home theater system on ‘Let’s Make a Deal’
Michael Murray is going to feel like a king watching movies in his new home theater. The Robinson man dressed like royalty to appear on today’s episode of “Let’s Make a Deal.” Offered a choice between $1,000 and something concealed behind a door, he made the right choice. He came...
Westmoreland-based Derek Woods Band wins national music award
“I really didn’t see that coming,” said musician Derek Woods about winning an award at Wednesday’s Hollywood Music in Media Awards. The Westmoreland-based Derek Woods Band took honors for Americana/Folk/Singer Songwriter Song of the Year for “Unforgiving Tree” during a livestreamed program that Woods and his band mates watched from...
Greasepaint Players’ ‘Beauty and the Beast Jr.’ plans livestream, live audience
Greensburg Civic Theatre’s Greasepaint Players are working on a production of “Beauty and the Beast Jr.” to play for both livestream and in-person audiences. About having a live audience, director Becky Ziegler Koch said, “People might say, ‘Why are you doing this now?’ But we thought it was important to...
Black artists’ work creates ‘constellation’ in Downtown Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh-based fashion designer Tereneh Idia says she’s been thinking about constellations since visiting the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. “I’ve been obsessed with the idea of how constellations are made and how we identify constellations in space,” she said. “I saw that there are peoples of these countries...
Things to do in Western Pa.
Looking for some home renovation or decor ideas? Head down to the Washington County Fairgrounds for the annual Washington County Home Show. Have a short story idea rattling around your head? It might be a fit for Parsec Ink’s annual speculative fiction writing contest. Wondering how writers for the “The...
The Westmoreland’s recent acquisitions bolster permanent collection
There is a story behind every piece of art acquired by The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Doug Evans, the museum’s director of collections and exhibition management, is the keeper of many of those stories — some that he can share and others he can’t. One shareable story concerns an...
Latrobe-GLSD Parks and Recreation delays Comedy Night, Daddy-Daughter Dance
Latrobe-GLSD Parks and Recreation has pushed back dates for its annual Comedy Night and Daddy-Daughter Dance amid the ongoing covid-19 pandemic. The 17th annual Comedy Night, which had been slated for Saturday, has been rescheduled for Saturday, Feb. 27 at Huber Hall in Latrobe. The second annual dance also has...
The Palace Theatre’s VIP livestream concerts showcase local, original music
For Lindsay Dragan, the best part of being a musician is playing in front of a crowd. “That’s when I feel most alive,” she said. There hasn’t been much opportunity for that in the past year, but Dragan and her Pittsburgh-based band at least will be able to get onstage...
Westmoreland City artist finds beauty in everyday, recycled materials
Everyday objects and recycled materials are the foundation of works by Nicole Chmel Brown, in the first art exhibit of 2021 in the Greensburg Garden and Civic Center. “The materials I use in my art are recycled objects such as wood, wire, beads, washers, cardboard, toothpicks,” said the Westmoreland City...
Things to do in Western Pa.
Paint outdoors with the Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Ligonier Valley, or make a Valentine shadowbox at home with The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Learn about ongoing preservation efforts at Fallingwater or the history of the world’s largest architectural plaster cast in Carnegie Museum of Art’s Hall of...
New director comes to Latrobe Art Center from job at Bushy Run
There’s a debate in business circles on whether it’s good or bad to be the first to interview for a job, but being number one worked for Michael Tusay — the new executive director at Latrobe Art Center. “He was actually our first in-person interview,” board member Katie Miller said....
Greensburg Art Center members follow ‘Vision’ for new exhibition
The state of the world is the inspiration for the upcoming member exhibition at Greensburg Art Center. “We decided that, with the way the world is right now, all of our institutions are being challenged to make things work,” exhibition chairwoman Rosemary Sovyak said. What everyone needs, she said, is...
KDKA newscaster Rose Ryan Douglas announces her retirement
When Rose Rymarz was about to go on the air for the first time in her professional radio career, the program director at WKPA-AM/WYDD-FM in New Kensington had a suggestion. He decided she should use only her first name because he thought her last name, Rymarz, was too ethnic-sounding for...
Pittsburgh Opera postpones 1st-ever staging of Handel’s ‘Semele’
Pittsburgh Opera has postponed its first-ever production of George Frideric Handel’s “Semele” from February to May. The move was made “in response to ongoing covid-19 concerns, including high cases in Allegheny County and the slower-than-hoped-for vaccine rollout,” the opera said. “Semele” will be performed on six dates, May 8-20, at...
Meet the person up next for NEXTpittsburgh
John Rhoades isn’t afraid to take paths already traveled. He said the people who ventured along those walkways laid a foundation which he can build on. Rhoades considers not only his ancestors for paving the way but the founder of NEXTpittsburgh and her staff. Rhoades has purchased the online publication...
Greensburg artists’ work is Christmas gift to Puerto Rican church
A mosaic made by two Greensburg Art Center members has found a home in a small Puerto Rican church. It’s the last thing artists Rosemary Sovyak of Hempfield and Tom Niggel of Greensburg expected when they put their hands and heads together to create something for last winter’s “Collaborations” show...
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art extends closure into early February
Citing “an abundance of caution and with the health and safety of staff and visitors as the top priority,” The Westmoreland Museum of American Art is extending its temporary closure. The Greensburg museum is now scheduled to reopen to the public on Feb. 7, with resumption of operating hours from...
Artists to discuss Westmoreland billboard project, which drew national attention
Two artists will discuss their involvement in the Diversity Billboard Art Project during a Jan. 14 virtual conversation hosted by The Westmoreland Museum of American Art. Ginger Brooks Takahashi and Susanne Slavick are among 10 artists whose original commissioned work has appeared on billboards across Westmoreland County in a public...
The Westmoreland’s online furniture series looks at a Chippendale desk
How much can you say about a desk? Pittsburgh-based designer Tony Allgeier can go on for at least 30 minutes. Granted, it’s not just any desk — it’s an 18th-century Chippendale mahogany slant-front desk that he’ll be examining during an online “For the Love of Furniture” program at 7 p.m....
PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh anticipates September return
The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust is anticipating the return of live Broadway programming to its PNC Broadway in Pittsburgh series in the fall. At this point, the series is scheduled to reopen Sept. 7 with “Hadestown.” “Hamilton” will return in 2022. “We are proud to have preserved most of the originally...
Brighton Heights man connects puppeteers to perform virtually during pandemic
Brighton Heights resident Tom Sarver, a nationally recognized artist, created a Virtual Puppetry Residency that connects creative people from around the globe. Their work can been Saturday at the International Puppet Festival, an online show featuring 32 artists. There will be children’s, all-ages and adult shows (may contain adult humor,...
Westmoreland Symphony concert is truly ‘Home for the Holidays’ this year
For many around Westmoreland County, nothing signals the arrival of the Yule season quite like the Westmoreland Symphony Orchestra’s annual “Home for the Holidays” concert. Even though pandemic restrictions prevent the symphony from playing in front of a live audience this year, the popular concert is on, via a livestream...
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art closes through Jan. 5
The Westmoreland Museum of American Art will be closed beginning Saturday through Jan. 5. The Greensburg museum cited “recently implemented restrictions” that are part of the state’s reponse to the covid-19 pandemic for the closing. The museum is scheduled to reopen 10 a.m. Jan. 6, when the regular operating hours...

