University of Pittsburgh Stages Presents "In the Heights"

The University of Pittsburgh Stages will present the Tony Award-winning play In the Heights from March 27 through April 6 in the University of Pittsburgh’s Charity Randall Theatre, located in the Stephen Foster Memorial. 

Performances will be held at 8 p.m. Tuesdays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Sundays. To purchase tickets, visit www.play.edu or call 412-624-PLAY (7529).

In the Heights is based on a book by Quiara Alegría Hudes, and its characters identify primarily as Cuban, Puerto Rican, Dominican, or African-American. Its musical score comprises hip-hop, Latin jazz, merengue, and salsa. 

“The characters, story, music, and dance communicate the rich and complex interplay of African, Hispanic, American and Caribbean histories,” says director and Pitt Assistant Professor of Theatre Arts Lisa Jackson-Schebetta. “The show poses the question: How does a person belong

. . . to a city, to a nation, to a family, and to a history?”

University of Pittsburgh Stages is collaborating with a number of professional artists and musicians, including the STAYCEE PEARL dance project, which will provide dancers for one number and choreography for the other numbers. In the Heights ran on Broadway from January 2008 to January 2011 and won two Tony Awards.

During the show’s run, two related symposiums will be held. On April 4 at 3 p.m. and again on April 5 at 10:30 a.m., University of Pittsburgh Stages will present “Public Praxis: Performing, Race, History,” a free public interdisciplinary symposium featuring a variety of presentations and lectures, some done as performance. Artists, scholars, and members of the general public are invited to gather at Pitt’s Humanities Center in Room 602, Cathedral of Learning, to discuss how race issues are portrayed in live performance and what that means in the larger context of our daily lives.