off the WALL Sets 2015-16 Season, Announces New Carnegie Stage and More

There's a lot happening at off the WALL!

As of July of 2015, Hans and Virginia Wall Gruenert, co-founders of off the WALL Performing Arts Center, have donated the building at 25 W. Main St., Carnegie to the off the WALL Charitable Trust. The not-for-profit venue will be renamed Carnegie Stage, as their nod to a supportive community. The anchor tenants will continue to be off the WALL Productions, whose main theater season is October to May, fireWALL dance theater with two new works annually and the Pittsburgh New Works Festival.

Season nine of "alternative theater for grownups" includes great plays, bold choices, and talented artists. off the WALL Productions is excited to announce its 2015-16 season, featuring two World premieres and one Pittsburgh premiere in the Acting Company's four-play program, including repertory theater. Not only will you see many established ensemble members on stage, but also several exciting artists new to off the WALL.

Purchase tickets online at www.insideoffthewall.com, or call our box office at (724) -873-3576, Ext. 1. The 2015-2016 online Season brochure, click here.

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2015-16 Season:

IN REPERTORY

I Won't Be In On Monday by Anne Stockton

World Premiere

After a successful 2012 run of The Speed Queen, off the WALL is honored to welcome Anne Stockton and Austin Pendleton back to Carnegie with their latest collaboration. Nikki has met the man of her life, and she's looking forward to a fabulous adventure with him - until a detective enters the picture, who suspects that she has stolen two very expensive rings from coworkers in order to pay for this adventure. Nikki struggles for the next hour or so to maintain her equilibrium in circumstances that would derail a much more stable person than she. Most of the time she succeeds, by a hair, but she DOES succeed - with wit, honesty, vulnerability, and a persistence that is nothing less than heroic.

Starring Anne Stockton, directed by Austin Pendleton. Runs Aug. 13-16, 2015 and Feb. 25-28, 2016.

THE ACTING COMPANY

Tunnel Vision by Andrea Lepcio

World Premiere

off the WALL celebrates the return of playwright Andrea Lepcio (Looking For The Pony), whose play Tunnel Vision is a multi-layered celebration of the Feminine. Lepcio examines many of the daily challenges women face as well as those issues that are, typically, solely female: the struggle to balance motherhood with the desire to have a career, the stigma that comes with not choosing the traditional path assigned our gender, the hypercritical judgment we place on ourselves in comparison to our female peers, the difficulty we find in truly loving ourselves, and the fear that sometimes comes in loving each other.

Directed by Melissa Maxwell. Runs Oct. 16-31, 2015.

Scared of Sarah by Laura Brienza

Pittsburgh Premiere

Lily and Sam are in crisis mode. Lily's pregnant, and Sam's in a panic that rings entirely true: They're in huge debt - how will they support a baby? Then they begin to face an even graver possibility: what if their unborn child turns out to be like Lily's older sister, Sarah? Sarah is autistic-she's able to care for herself, but still very difficult to handle and know, processing the universe in such an unfathomable way. Sarah's employed, lives independently, and by all means looks "normal," but she's not quite normal. She's the kind of person that one might interact with every day, not realizing her brain is a little different. Lily's fears also ring true: What, she wonders, if our baby can't stand to be held or touched, the way Sarah was? What if I don't love my own child?

Directed by Ingrid Sonnichsen. Runs Dec. 4-19, 2015.

The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) by Eric Rockwell and Joanne Bogart

In this hilarious satire of musical theatre, one story becomes five delightful musicals, each written in the distinctive style of a different master of the form: Rodgers and Hammerstein (complete with dream ballet), Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Andrew Lloyd Webber, and Kander & Ebb. The basic plot: June is an ingenue who can't pay the rent and is threatened by her evil landlord. Will the handsome leading man come to the rescue? This comic valentine to musical theatre was the longest running show in the York Theatre Company's 35-year history before moving to Off-Broadway.

Directed by Robyne Parrish. Runs May 6-21, 2016.

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