Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: What a strange sight we must have seemed, even in a place where giant Elmos and a Naked Cowboy roam. Dozens of people clad in Pittsburgh black and gold were hugging and huddling before taking up a big portion of the Red Steps at the northern end of Times Square.
The scene included a mad dash by actors Marcus Stevens and Maggie Carr, Point Park University alums who made it just in time for a heartfelt rendition of the Pittsburgh anthem, "It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood."
2 comments:
I love that this article is posted every year. It is so great to see everyone out there together in one picture! This only reiterates the importance of networking because our industry is so small. However, what I would like to focus is that all of these people have ties to Pittsburgh. I feel that people tend to look down on Pittsburgh, but we have one of the largest arts communities out there. What I think gives people this impression is that we are big and flashy like New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. However, at any given week there are at least five performances going on (between dance, theater, opera, and gallery shows). How many other cities can say that? Also one of the largest arts colleges in the world, Carnegie Mellon University, is based in Pittsburgh. This draws artists of all walks of like to our fantastic city.
It is cool to see all of the people involved in the theater industry in NYC that have come from pittsburgh in one place! This is a really cool meetup that I would love to see happen in other cities as well. Jason mentions in his comment the other "big art cities" people think of, LA and Chicago, but I am sure each of those cities have a reasonable number of Yinzers in their ranks as well. One of my favorite things about Pittsburgh is the amount of pride Pittsburgh natives and transplants alike have in their city, even as they spend years and years away from it. I have spent a lot of time around the world, and there are very few other cities that have the same level of pride instilled in their residents, current and former, than Pittsburgh does. We can appear in masse in New York City, and I am sure we could do the same in Los Angeles, or Chicago, or San Francisco, or Boston, or anywhere else and show the world that yeah, we live and work in these places, we contribute to their arts communities, we embrace their culture, but when it all comes down to it, we are Pittsburghers.
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