Pittsburgh CLO and Public Theater complete merger
The Pittsburgh CLO and Pittsburgh Public Theater have completed their merger, though the name of the new, combined organization has not been determined.
The merger was completed July 31 and announced the same day. The two theatrical companies have been exploring a merger since last year. At one point, City Theatre on Pittsburgh’s South Side was also part of the merger talks, but ultimately dropped out.
Tom McGough, who chairs the board of the new organization, called it “a classic Pittsburgh story: people with widely different perspectives coming together to do something that just needed doing.”
The Pittsburgh CLO’s productions have primarily taken place in the downtown Benedum Center, while Pittsburgh Public Theater’s productions have been nearby at the O’Reilly Theater. The new company will operate year-round, with alternating venues depending on the production.
The education programs of both the CLO and Pittsburgh Public Theater will be combined in the merger.
The newly formed company’s first offerings will be the Pittsburgh premiere of “How Shakespeare Saved My Life,” by Jacob Ming-Trent, the adults-only comedy “Who’s Holiday!” and a Pittsburgh favorite, “A Musical Christmas Carol.”
Also on the schedule for the inaugural season are William Shakespeare’s “A Comedy of Errors” and the Pittsburgh premiere of “Purpose,” a Pulitzer Prize – and Tony Award-winning drama.
Audiences can submit suggestions about what the company should be named at NextActPgh.com.
“Our identity was never going to live in a word,” according to Brett Ashley Crawford, the company’s interim executive producer. “It lives in the work, in the people who create it, and in every show we’ll ever make for this city. So we’re going to write this next chapter differently – and we don’t want to write it alone.”