Written and directed by Darlene Thompson, whose company has 3 times won awards at the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival. Some of the performers are doing puppets for the first time. A funny and family-friendly offering. Genre: Theater Rating: PG Show Run Time: 32 minutes Show Creator(s): Puppets in Performance About the Performer(s): Puppets in Performance has been performing in the Pittsburgh area since 2014, in various venues. Three times, PiP has won awards in the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival. A puppet film, The Tempest in a Teaspoon, won honorable mention at the Seattle Film Institute in 2022. PiP's founder and artistic director, Darlene Thompson, is a playwright and composer with over 25 years' experience in puppetry. She and her puppets have performed hundreds of times in 15 states. She holds a BA in Drama and an MFA in Playwriting. She is a member of the Musical Theater Artists of Pittsburgh, the Tuesday Musical Club, and the Puppeteers of America. Website and Links: http://www.puppetsinperformance.com/ Social Media:  https://.facebook.com/puppetsinperformance

A dark, witty take on the American pop art icon, Andy Warhol, and the woman who shot him, Valerie Solanas. Lou Reed, Capote, Edie Sedgwick; see what they have to say about Drella and what he says about them! Virtual show! Genre: Theater Rating: hard R Show Run Time: 57 minutes Show Creator(s): Garry Roost Website and Links: http://www.garryroost.co.uk/ Social Media:  Twitter: http://twitter.com/WarholBulletKar/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/francisbaconwarholplays Facebook: http://facebook.com/WarholBulletKarma Check out what others are saying: "A tour de force!" Brian Ritchie Bassist Violent Femmes MONA Tasmania 2019 WARHOL: BULLET KARMA    "...a very talented solo performer." - Pip Utton - Review  "...a totally convincing Warhol." Philip Wyn Jones - Chapter Arts Edinburgh 2018

Brawling Bard tackles Shakespeare’s “Macbeth,” with their characteristic blend of physical comedy, audience interaction, and swords. Lots of sword fights. Sure, “Macbeth” is a famously cursed play, but what could really go wrong? Key actors disappearing at the last minute? No Macbeth to be found? What are the odds of that? Show Creator(s): Brawling Bard Theater About the Performer(s): All of Brawling Bard's shows are originals, designed for fringe festivals, and most have won awards. Their original shows draw on all their diverse skills and backgrounds as actors, storytellers, magicians, side show and improv performers. They have produced an original show each year for the Pittsburgh Fringe, winning the Spirit of the Fringe award (2015), Best Ensemble (2016), honorable mention for Best in Show (2018), and Audience Choice (2019), and have also performed at the Rochester Fringe (2016) and Frigid NY’s So Many Shakespeare's festival (2020). Along the way they have developed a style of performing that emphasizes direct address to, and interaction with the audience, along with physical comedy and fight work, and, most importantly, a sense of fun. And swords! They love swords. Social Media Facebook: http://facebook.com/brawlingbard Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brawlingbard Twitter: https://twitter.com/brawlingbard Check out what others are saying: \\\"The chemistry between the members of this company and the amount of fun they have performing is what made Brawling Bard Theater an easy choice for Best Ensemble.\\\" - Jack Lake, Pittsburgh in the Round \\\" the cast of Brawling Bard Theater delivers a merry performance...lively and full of gags,\\\" - Megan Grabowski, Pittsburgh in the Round

It's November 7, 2028 and two-term President Donald Trump is about to be replaced. Will he go rogue like before, or will a plan to keep him focused on golf, gorilla documentaries, and developing his perfect Presidential library avert disaster? Genre: Theater Rating: PG-13 Show Run Time: 55 minutes Show Creator(s): Breaking Burgh Productions Performed at INDYfringe (2023)! Website and Links: http://www.breakingburgh.com/ Social Media:  https://www.facebook.com/itrumptheplay https://twitter.com/BreakingBurgh

"Shakespeare: This Could Be True", a new one-act by Charles David “Stoney” Richards.

“This Could Be True is a one-act play about an Actor confined to an insane asylum as he suffers from Misidentification Syndrome and Auditory Hallucinations believing he is a member of Shakespeare’s company. He thinks the people speaking to him are someone else. When he learns of Shakespeare’s death, he becomes further obsessed in getting John Heminges and Henry Condell (who led printing of the First Folio) to publish Will’s plays before ‘they are scattered by the winds of time.

Richards muses: “I’ve always been impressed by the storytelling talent of William Shakespeare. As a playwright he was a remarkable rewrite artist. He was able to find stories that many people of his day were already familiar with; Hamlet, Henry V and Macbeth, to name a few. He rewrote them with his own sense of drama , responsibility and the conflicts of life, death, love, all subjects that appealed to his audience’s taste. And this came to mind with “ This Could be True.” I think Will was not afraid to ask, ‘What if?’”

The two sides battle, but the medical team played by Aaron Crutchfield and Anna Singer believes they have found a way to help the mental torture of this actor, portrayed by playwright Richards).

Through the course of this play much is revealed about Shakespeare, the real life character Jon Sincler and the mental maze this illness can create in the human mind.

Dramatic comedy about “coming of age” in the 1980s, mashing hundreds of iconic 80s songs and movies into alternating dialogue and song (a la Moulin Rouge). Clever witty writing. Sassy theatric performance. Crafted by award-winning artist Torrey Shine. Genre: Theater Rating: PG-13 Show Creator(s): Torrey Shine About the Performer(s): Torrey Shine is a free spirit with an analytical mind. Her writing and performance art mashes us poetry, storytelling, comedy, music, and improv – blending personal narrative with social commentary – engaging the audience through a mix of rhythm, rhyme, wordplay, wit, body movement, humor, and soul. As a storyteller, Torrey is a 3-time Moth StorySLAM Champion, and a National Storytelling Network GrandSLAM Finalist. She has performed on the PBS GBH World Channel series “Stories from the Stage.” The Pittsburgh City Paper featured one of her winning stories in their write up of the new storytelling series "StoryClub Pgh." As a producer, Torrey produced and starred in a mixed genre show “Mashed POET-atoes." The show streamed live on Twitch through Pittsburgh's Steel City Theater, featured an international bonus episode as part of the 2021 Pittsburgh Fringe Festival, and was nominated as the “Best Theater Production” by the Pittsburgh City Paper Readers' Poll two years in a row (2021 and 2022). Torrey's solo version of Mashed POET-atoes was awarded “Best in Fest” at Camp Improv Utopia East Tiny Fest (2022), and has gone on to feature at the Steel Stacks Comedy Festival, the Magnet Theater, Tin Pan Alley, and during GRIT Storytelling GrandSLAMs. As a poet, Torrey published her first poem on Boston’s WLVI-56 when she was eight years old. She has since gone on to compete and perform in poetry slam events at the national and international level. Torrey has twice featured as a poet at the UK Glastonbury Festival (where she regrettably set-clashed with Dolly Parton and Cat Stevens). This 2-time (undefeated) champion of the Jam Cruise Gong Show was nominated as “Best Poet” in the Pittsburgh City Paper Readers’ Poll three different times. During her 9-year residency in Pittsburgh, Torrey was a regular performer with Steel City Slam, coached the University of Pittsburgh’s poetry slam team (Hot Slam!), and she featured regularly at places like Acousticafe (at Mr Smalls Funhouse), Hambones Acoustic Brunch, Millvale Music Festival, Lawrenceville Art Crawl, and the Arcade Comedy Theater. She has represented the city of Pittsburgh (and two other cities) at the US National Poetry Slam, and has also qualified and competed as a solo poet at the Women of the World Poetry Slam, the Individual World Poetry Slam, and the UK National SLAM Finals – where Torrey tied for 4th solo poet in the UK. Torrey has more recently begun to experiment with both scripted and improvised music and comedy. She performed on a house sketch comedy team (Rococo), as part of NYC's Magnet Theater’s LiveWire Sketch Comedy Series (2023-2024). She also writes and produces her own comedy sketches. Her musical and non-musical improv indie teams have featured across NYC at venues like the Magnet Theater, The PIT (People's Improv Theater), the Brooklyn Comedy Collective (Main Stage), Caveat (Cage Match), Tin Pan Alley, The Producer's Club, Young Ethels, Funny’s Improv, and Otto's Shrunken Head - to name a few. Recent features as a solo performer in NYC have included places like The Nuyorican Poets' Cafe, Parkside Lounge, House of Yes, Under St Marks, QED, and the Pine Box Rock Shop. As a social scientist, Torrey’s research has been featured on TEDx, NPR Here & Now, US News and World Report, PBS News Hour, Wired, The World Economic Forum, The Guardian, Slate Political Gabfest, The Monkey Cage (via The Washington Post), and on the cover story of New York Times Magazine. As we said, she is a free spirit with an analytical mind. Links:  https://linktr.ee/torreyshine https://youtu.be/QO4HSb3SijE?si=ph88CNNBFZaaLuzK Social Media:  https://www.facebook.com/TorreyShine https://twitter.com/TorreyShine https://www.instagram.com/torreyshine/