Featuring 30 international companies and artists from 20 countries, including representation from Pittsburgh’s own arts community, the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts (a production of the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust) is electrifying downtown with never-before-seen theater, dance, music, visual arts and immersive experiences!
The last Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts was in 2013 (following Festivals in 2008 and 2004), and since then the Trust has doubled the Festival’s length and tripled its attractions, presenting more than 500 opportunities for everyone – locals and visitors alike – to experience groundbreaking international works in Pittsburgh… reinforcing our reputation as a premier global destination for arts, entertainment, and culture.
Among the Festival’s many must-see offerings this year are a number of very literary — and literature-inspired — performances and premieres: an acrobatic interpretation of the quintessential Georges Perec essay, “Species of Space” (more on that below); a genre-bending look at The White Album by Joan Didion; a pulp-fiction secret agent star of more than 300 books (published in Israel from the 1960s through the 80s) brought to life with Foley sound effects… and more!
We recommend spending some time clicking through the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts’ full event listings, but we’ve also highlighted some of their more literary offerings right here on Littsburgh for your convenience!
This post is brought to you in partnership with the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust.
⭐️ Littsburgh Pick: If you’re anything like us, you got really into Georges Perec in college. Like, maybe too into him. If you’re not like us, you might know him as the guy who wrote an entire 300-page novel without using the letter “e” (La disparition / A Void, 1969). Or as the author of our personal, dog-eared favorite: An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris, Perec’s literally exhaustive, three day record of everything he saw while sitting in the various cafe windows of Place Saint-Sulpice. The ultimate flaneur, Perec’s obsession with the spaces that surround us and his experimental style are the perfect fit for performance art. The fact that there are acrobats involved makes this a must-see in our books!
Along with his Compagnie 111, Aurélien Bory has gained a reputation as a poet of space and a wizard of staging — an artist capable of blending elements of dance, music, magic, and circus in his visual theater.
Created from the essay “Species of Space” (Espèces d’espace) by French writer Georges Perec, Espæce represents another innovative step on Bory’s artistic path. The presence of acrobats, dancers, actors, and singers correctly signals an unusual approach to the theatrical scene. Bory’s ‘space’ includes a colossal but infinitely flexible wall, paper pages of the famous text, and the manipulation of an arsenal of mathematical tools.
With acrobat Guilhem Benoit, dancer Mathieu Desseigne Ravel, contortionist Katell Le Brenn, opera singer Claire Lafilliatre, and actor Olivier Martin Salvan, Bory has composed a tribute to Perec’s unique humor and pathos. Orphaned at a tender age following the death of his father in war and his mother’s deportation to Auschwitz, Perec presents a jigsaw puzzle of faded memories, allusions, voids, and absences.
Don’t miss out: The US premiere of ESPÆCE will be at the August Wilson Center on Friday, November 2nd and Saturday, November 3rd!
“This is how space begins, with words only, signs traced on the blank page. To describe space: to name it, to trace it, like those portolano-makers who saturated the coastlines with the names of harbours, the names of capes, the names of inlets, until in the end the land was only separated from the sea by a continuous ribbon of text. Is the aleph, that place in Borges from which the entire world is visible simultaneously, anything other than an alphabet?” ― Georges Perec, Species of Spaces and Other Pieces
Accessibility: Wheelchair Seating, Assistive Listening
Note: All services may not be available at all performances. Click the link above for accessible performance schedule or contact customer service for further assistance.
Before purchasing a ticket for a child: see the recommendations and guidelines listed on trustarts.org.
Compagnie 111 – Aurélien Bory is accredited by the French Ministry of Culture and Communication – The Occitanie / Pyrénées-Méditerranée Regional Directorate for Cultural Affairs, The Occitanie / Pyrénées – Méditerranée Region and the City of Toulouse. It is supported by the Departmental Council of the Haute-Garonne.
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