From Prime Stage Theatre: According to Shakepeare’s melancholy prince Hamlet, “The play is the thing, wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the King.”
For Prime Stage Theatre artistic director Dr. Wayne Brinda, the play is the thing wherein the audience takes an immersive journey into the mind of the playwright, the play’s historical context and universal themes that resonate with our world today.
“The performance we present on stage is the beginning of a conversation, not the end,” says Brinda. “With every Prime Stage Theatre production we find additional ways to connect our audience with the play they’ve just seen.”
Following the Sat. Nov. 2 performance of Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations, the post-show discussion will feature a live Zoom appearance by Mark Charles Dickens, Charles Dickens’ great-great-grandson and a retired commander in the British Royal Navy.
Adapted by English playwright Neil Bartlett, Prime Stage Theatre’s Great Expectations runs for seven shows Nov. 1-10, 2024 at New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, on Pittsburgh’s Northside.
Over the last several years, Prime Stage Theatre has presented live in-person and online conversations with descendants of Boris Karloff, George Orwell, Sojourner Truth, Ursula Le Guin, Josh Gibson, Maya Angelou and Roberto Clemente.
The company also makes use of local scholars sharing knowledge about writers such as C.S. Lewis, Karel Capek, Helen Keller, Anne Frank and Agatha Christie.
Talkback guests have included Mary Badham, the original Scout in the 1962 Oscar-winning film To Kill a Mockingbird, and Stephen Chbosky, author of the best-selling young adult novel The Perks of Being a Wallflower.
The stage version of Great Expectations is an imaginative take on the stirring rags-to-riches themes Dickens refined in a series of popular novels from 1836 to 1870.
Director Art DeConciliis guides a versatile cast featuring Sam Lander as Pip and Michaela Isenberg as his romantic interest Estella, with a variety of classic Dickensian characters played by Jeff Boles, Alex Brandel, Chelsea Davis, John Dolphin, Dylan Pal, Jennifer Sinatra and Brett Sullivan Santry.
The Nov. 2 discussion with Mark Charles Dickens promises to be educational and entertaining, Brinda says. “He has spent most of his adult life speaking about the legacy and everyday lifestyle of his ancestor. If you already know a lot about Dickens’ work, an hour with Commander Dickens will offer even more insights.”
Those insights include an account of the decision by Charles Dickens to alter the ending of Great Expectations after having completed the novel.
“The first ending Dickens wrote was dramatically different than what was eventually published in 1861,” says Brinda. “The Great Expectations you’ll see on our stage restores Dickens’ original intent.”
Brinda adds that Great Expectations fits squarely with Prime Stage Theatre’s 2024-2025 season theme of Strength, Voices and Hope.
“People often ask why Charles Dickens still matters in our time,” he says. “The answer may be that his skill in conveying a wide range of human emotions and experiences make his messages of optimism and hope timeless.”
Tickets (adult $39, artists & educators $24, student $19) are available by calling (412) 320-4610 ext. 10 or by reserving online at https://tinyurl.com/4avfucnr.
Prime Stage Theatre has also made a special commitment to promoting accessibility for special needs audiences. In2022, Prime Stage Theatre audio describer Nathan Ruggles won a national Achievement Award in Audio Description from the American Council of the Blind.
Prime Stage Theatre offers student matinee performances, as well as an array of teacher workshops demonstrating how theatre enhances literacy and classroom learning.
* Tickets for Prime Stage Theatre’s 2024-25 season are available online here.
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What: Prime Stage Theatre presents Great Expectations; written by Neil Bartlett based on the book by Charles Dickens, directed by Art DeConciliis
Where: New Hazlett Theater, 6 Allegheny Square East, Pittsburgh PA 15212
When: 7 shows running Nov. 1-10, 2024
- Fri. Nov. 1 at 7:30 p.m. (Preview Night, pay-what-you-can admission)
- Sat. Nov. 2 at 7:30 p.m. (Opening Night, special post-show discussion via Zoom with Mark Charles Dickens, Charles Dickens’ great-great-grandson)
- Sun. Nov. 3 at 2:30 p.m.
- Fri. Nov. 8 at 7:30 p.m.
- Sat. Nov. 9 at 2:30 p.m. (Sensory Inclusive with pay-what-you-can admission: sponsored by Autism Pittsburgh)
- Sat. Nov. 9 at 7:30 p.m.
- Sun. Nov. 10 at 2:30 p.m.(Audio Describe and Live Caption, sponsored by Downtown Pittsburgh Lions Club)
Tickets: Adult $39, artists & educators $24, student $19; purchase at https://tinyurl.com/4avfucnr
Official Media Sonsor: SLB Radio
More Info: https://primestage.com/productions/great-expectations/
* For more information on Great Expectations please contact Connie Brinda, Prime Stage Theatre General Manager at (724) 773-0700 or cbrinda@primestage.com
Prime Stage Theatre 2024-25 season of “Strength, Voices and Hope”
Nov. 1-10, 2024 – Great Expectations
By Neil Bartlett; directed by Art DeConciliis
This imaginative English Touring Theatre adaptation brings Charles Dickens’ classic rags-to-riches tale to vibrant new life. Follow the extraordinary adventures of steadfast orphan Pip, who rises from rural poverty to the life of a London gentleman as he seeks to fulfill his romantic destiny with the heiress Estella.
Jan. 17-26, 2025 – Look Forward: The Ruby Bridges Story
By Natalia Temesgen; directed by Linda Haston
The year is 1960. An extraordinary 6-year-old named Ruby Bridges becomes the first African American student to attend an all-white grade school in New Orleans, Louisiana. Experience her remarkable journey as she discovers the true promise of America while blazing a trail for generations to follow.
Feb. 28-Mar. 9, 2025 – I Never Saw Another Butterfly and The Terezin Promise
By Celeste Raspanti; directed by Wayne Brinda
In the Terezin concentration camp, Austrian artist Friedl Dicker-Brandeis teaches Jewish children to make poems and drawings in secret art classes. Witness her passion, the children’s creativity and the irrepressible power of Art to bring hope and healing into the darkest hours of the Holocaust. These two plays honor the 80th anniversary of the Terezin Camp Liberation and are produced as part of the enGAGE genocide education program in partnership with Holocaust Center of Pittsburgh.
May 2-11, 2025 – Twelve Angry Men
Adapted by Sherman L. Sergel; directed by Shane Valenzi
A jury of twelve ordinary men are charged with deciding the fate of a teenager on trial for murdering his father. Can they overcome their own backgrounds and biases as they struggle to render a fair life-or-death verdict? A new take on an American theatre classic, based on the Emmy award-winning 1954 television movie by Reginald Rose.
* SPECIAL EVENT *
Mon. Nov. 4, 2024 – First Mothers: The Women Who Raised America’s Presidents
By L.E. McCullough; directed by Ponny Conomos Jahn
Through compelling first-person dramatizations, First Mothers presents crucial moments in the lives of 15 women who not only raised a President … but helped determine the destiny of the United States as we know it today.
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