As the sun lingers late into the evening, plan a leisurely dinner … followed, of course, by a great summer theater show in Pittsburgh. An (extended) punk-rock musical, a comedy about everyone’s favorite suburban sport, a supernatural meeting with a drug kingpin and much more are on the calendar for Pittsburgh’s stages this summer.
What to See in Pittsburgh Theater This June and July
Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Extended)
Through June 14, City Theatre (at the Greer Cabaret Theater)
Just a quick update on this one, as City Theatre’s beloved production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch will be sticking around Downtown a bit longer than expected. The musical, which features soulful performances from Treasure Treasure and Theo Allyn, gets an extension, remaining at the Greer Cabaret Theater through June 14. Grab tickets before they’re all gone, and get ready for a very Pittsburgh-centric visit from the internationally ignored rock star.
Pickleball
May 28-June 14, Little Lake Theatre
Yes, the sport that you hadn’t heard of in 2015 (but had taken over the nation’s parks and tennis courts by 2025) is also a play — and it has a pretty well-known playwright. Actor Jeff Daniels wrote this comedy about the easy-to-access, tough-to-master sport, depicting a collision of friendships, rivalries and romances on the (modestly sized) court. Watch for the charismatic Maddie Kocur among the rising-star cast.
POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive
June 5, South Park Theatre
South Park’s outdoor Park After Dark series features smart — yet decidedly adult — comedies, performed in a staged-reading format by a team of favorite performers. For June’s event, they’ll go with an uproarious political farce that also received an acclaimed staging at City Theatre a few years back. POTUS, as its lengthy subtitle indicates, provides a necessary reminder: At its core, the world of modern politics is utterly ridiculous.
Copenhagen
June 12-27, Iron Horse Theater Company
Journey to Ambridge’s Iron Horse Theater Company, which stages daring productions in an intimate, storefront space, for Copenhagen, a Tony winner by Michael Frayn. The show dramatizes a real-life meeting of the minds — and pretty good minds, in the form of Werner Heisenberg, Niels Bohr as well as Margrethe Bohr — that occurred in Nazi-occupied Denmark.
Our Dear Dead Drug Lord
June 12-28, barebones productions
Reviewing Our Dear Dead Drug Lord for the New York Times, Ben Brantley wrote, “you’re likely to find yourself chanting the characters’ final words in your mind … as befits a show about black magic, they are a fierce incantation, a shield as well as a vow that speak volumes about surviving the truly terrifying world that waits outside.” The comedy — which concerns the conjuring of Pablo Escobar by four teenagers with a Ouija board — stages in Braddock by barebones productions.
Hamlet: The Bad Quatro
June 19-28, Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre
We’re used to modern theater being recut and reimagined — ask a Les Miserables obsessive which of the many versions of the show they prefer, for example — but many assume that the works of Shakespeare are more or less set in stone. Yet a handful of alternate versions survive, including the so-called “Bad Quatro,” an alternate take on Hamlet with some key differences. Was this a poorly pirated version of the show, as some scholars believe? An alternate cut by a touring company? A rough draft? Whatever its origin, it’s a new look at one of the most produced plays in history. See this staging, that’s also independently produced by director Jeremy Seghers, at the Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre in the basement of the Cathedral of Learning.
Legally Blonde: The Musical
June 19-28, Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center
A number of bona fide stars — including longtime touring Phantom of the Opera Allan Snyder and regional favorite Lara Hayhurst — will join the young performers of Lincoln Park for this production of Legally Blonde: The Musical, staged to coincide with the film’s 25th anniversary. Whether they’re rising talents or theater veterans, though, they might get upstaged: As is tradition with this show, a real dog, Ricky, will play Elle Woods’ beloved pooch, Bruiser. (We understood a second pup, Myrtle, is also among the cast.) Plan a trip to the lovely Beaver County theater for this feel-good show.
SUFFS
July 21-26, Pittsburgh CLO (at the Benedum Center)
Some powerful figures helped bring Suffs, a 2022 musical about the women’s suffrage movement, to Broadway: The show’s producers include Malala Yousafzai as well as Hillary Clinton. Don’t think of it merely as a history lesson, though; the show from performer and creator Shaina Taub, won a pair of Tonys for Best Book and Best Original Score, as well as an Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Outstanding New Broadway Musical. The first national tour arrives in Pittsburgh this July, presented at the Benedum by the Pittsburgh CLO.
Story by Sean Collier
Photo by Kristi Jan Hoover
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