Point Park’s Playhouse to leave Oakland

In the coming years, Oakland may lose one of its oldest characters: the Pittsburgh Playhouse.

The Pittsburgh Playhouse, the performance center for Point Park University students, is located on Craft Avenue in Oakland, but will relocate to the heart of Point Park’s campus Downtown after the completion of a new university building. 

“I have always thought the condition of the Playhouse has given Point Park a lot of character, and although it is extremely old, it is pretty cool to think about all of the shows that were put on within it throughout history,” Kristin Serafini, a senior majoring in musical theatre at Point Park, said of the theater, which was built in the 1930s.

A September Point Park release detailed specifications of the new Playhouse, which will be called the Conservatory of Performing Arts and include new theaters, an orchestra pit, study areas and tech space. Point Park decided to build new facilities because “the inadequate facilities at the Playhouse have not kept pace with the needs of students and patrons alike,” the release said.

The change isn’t a surprise for Point Park students. The university informed students about the coming Playhouse move years ago, said Keaton Jadwin, a senior at Point Park majoring in theatre arts.

“As freshmen at Point Park University, we were made aware of the plan to move the Pittsburgh Playhouse downtown,” Jadwin said. “This project has been in the works for quite some time and we knew that monumental changes such as this one would take time.”

The move Downtown raises questions among students about off-campus living situations. Because of the Playhouse’s current Oakland location, many Point Park theater students have made off-campus homes in Oakland and take Point Park shuttles to classes Downtown. 

Once the Playhouse moves, the shuttle service probably won’t continue, said Lou Corsaro, managing director of university marketing and public relations at Point Park. 

“It is safe to say that when the project is complete, it’s unlikely we would continue with the shuttle service, since the project would centralize our entire campus downtown,” Corsaro said.

Serafini, who lives in Oakland, said she thinks students will continue to live in Oakland despite the removal of the shuttle service.

“Because Oakland is so affordable and accessible to different restaurants, grocery stores and nightlife, I feel as though students will continue to find housing in Oakland and therefore will be at a big loss without the shuttle,” Serafini said. “They will have to spend extra time and money to rely on public transportation.”

Melessie Clark, a senior majoring in musical theatre, resides on Point Park’s campus but said most of her classmates live in Oakland.

“Every Point Park student that I know who lives in Oakland uses the shuttle regularly,” Clark said. “Even those of us who live on campus use the shuttle regularly to get to Oakland for rehearsals at the Playhouse, restaurants and shopping.” 

Once the Downtown project is complete, students commuting from Oakland will have to find their own way to commute to campus. But in exchange, students will have the new and improved Conservatory, according to Corsaro. 

Point Park hasn’t yet determined what they will do with the current Playhouse building in Oakland after the new Conservatory is finished.

Corsaro said Point Park will release a new and more detailed announcement about the Conservatory in November, and that there is no concrete time frame for completion, though construction is scheduled to begin in 2016.

The Conservatory will be a six-story “teaching and performance venue,” Point Park President Paul Hennigan said in a university release.

Governor Tom Corbett visited Point Park in September to announce that the Playhouse would receive a $5 million Economic Growth Initiative Grant through the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program. Corsaro said the $5 million will fund the Conservatory.

Jadwin said he thinks that Point Park is making a good decision in moving the Playhouse downtown.

“Downtown is the home of the cultural district, where theater and art is continually thriving” Jadwin said. “The addition of the Pittsburgh Playhouse to the already emerging city will only provide economic and artistic growth within the community.”