You should be looking at a modern, light tan stone complex featuring large rectangular openings that form an open air balcony, marked by a sleek, vertical black sign spelling out Pittsburgh Playhouse. Check the first image on your screen to see the full sweep of this gorgeous modern structure.
Let me tell you, the drama that happened inside this institution rivals anything ever performed on its stages. It all started back in 1933 as a humble community theater. But they quickly ran into debt, so they brought in a man named Richard S Rauh. He was the heir to a massive men's clothing fortune, but his true passion was the arts. While spending time in New York, Richard fell madly in love with a radio actress named Helen Wayne. He was totally smitten. He actually promised to build her a stage to act on if she would just stay in Pittsburgh with him. The couple married in 1935, and Helen went on to star in thirty eight productions at the Playhouse.
For over seventy years, their artistic home was not here, but in a rambling set of buildings on Craft Avenue, which you can see in the second image on your app. That old location even had a basement restaurant with an ice cream parlor and a meat locker!
But that golden age hit a major wall in the 1960s. Enter William Ball, a visionary director who wanted to turn this beloved community theater into a fully professional powerhouse. He staged incredibly ambitious, highly controversial plays. The local supporters, who loved light comedies starring their favorite community actors like Helen Wayne Rauh, were absolutely outraged. Ball lost his backing and left for San Francisco. You would think the board learned their lesson, right? Well, the very next director brought in even more controversial shows! Subscriptions plummeted, causing a massive financial crisis. They had to launch an emergency campaign to raise three hundred thousand dollars, which is over two point eight million dollars today. Even with the money, the board was so fractured that eight directors flat out resigned.
The Playhouse was on the brink of total collapse until Point Park University stepped in and acquired it in 1968, eventually moving it to this stunning downtown complex in 2018.
I just love how they honored the past when they built this place. To clear space for this massive building, they had to remove three turn of the century buildings, which made preservationists incredibly worried. But they salvaged the historic terra cotta facades. Terra cotta is a type of baked clay often used for beautiful, intricate architectural decorations. They carefully deconstructed those clay facades and built them right into an outdoor plaza. They even connected the theater to the historic 1903 Pittsburgh Stock Exchange building next door, restoring its gorgeous stained glass skylights.
Today, this complex has three distinct stages, including a ninety nine seat black box theater, which is just a simple, unadorned square room painted entirely black to allow directors total creative freedom. Naturally, it is named the Rauh Theatre, honoring the family whose romance helped start it all. It is a brilliant mix of Pittsburgh's architectural history and its vibrant creative future. Appreciate the details of this restored facade, and we'll move on when you're ready.
