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Last act for historic Pittsburgh Playhouse

PITTSBURGH — An old theater in Oakland is being remembered fondly by those who performed there as the building is now being torn down.

The Pittsburgh Playhouse is being demolished on the spot where it has stood for decades.

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"It was just a unique place to be. If you said you were going to the Pittsburgh Playhouse, people would say, 'Ooh, what are you going to see?' and were excited to see things like that," Raymond Beeson said.

Beeson, a retired teacher, said he started seeing shows at the playhouse in the '50s, and performed there in "West Side Story" in 1964.

"I was fascinated by the fact that there were so many dressing rooms and there was a huge scene shop that opened onto the stage, so they had no problems rolling scenery in and out," he said.

Point Park University bought the buildings a few years after that and maintained them for quite some time. But recently, the school said the old playhouse had "outlived its useful life."

The new Pittsburgh Playhouse opened near Point Park's campus downtown last year.

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