OnStagePittsburgh: No stranger to Pittsburgh or Quantum, Brook earned her MFA in Directing from Carnegie Mellon University’s School of Drama in 2012 and, while living in Pittsburgh during the pandemic, directed Quantum’s The Cherry Orchard in 2022, when Boos led the cast as Madame Ranevskaya. Brook will direct the world premiere of radio island, written by Liza Birkenmeier (MFA Dramatic Writing, CMU School of Drama), for Quantum, opening October 23, 2026.
3 comments:
I really liked this article! It’s super interesting to hear about the evolution of Quantum Theatre, especially considering its connections and proximity to CMU! Additionally, it’s always cool to see what CMU alums are doing now, and it’s heartening to see one be so successful. I think it’s great that Quantum is allowing itself to grow and change; Karla Boos was both the founder and original artistic director, and while she did amazing things in that role, I think it’s great that she’s able to step down and allow the theatre to grow, while still preserving the original values of the organization. I also like how she was able to look for her own replacement, and her excitement at letting Katie Brooks take over is truly admirable. As a whole, I think this change will be really good for Quantum, and I can’t wait to see what they do next!
I think it's really cool that Quantum chose someone local and familiar with Pittsburgh to be an artistic director. I spent a lot of time assisting the artistic director at the theatre in my home town, and one think I learned is that a lot of people think that being an artistic director is doing the glamorous things like choosing the season and picking the designers, and that sort of things. What they don’t realize is that it’s a lot of community engagement and service. You’re volunteering a lot of time to spend with people, and picking up the chairs at the end of an event. I think a lot of times, an artistic director can flounder if they don’t fit in with the community they’re joining, and as a result, the theatre will flounder. Picking someone from Pittsburgh was definitely the right decision. I hope it works out and that the mission of Quantum is achieved.
Quantum is a really cool theater company that I think is a really valuable piece of the Pittsburgh theater ecosystem. It is fun how many ties the company has to CMU, and it is pretty exciting that a CMU alum is now taking charge as the artistic director of the company. I thought the tidbit about Brook directing Quantum’s production of The Cherry Orchard was interesting, as I actually saw that production as my introduction to Quantum, and really enjoyed the show and it’s usage of the space it was set in. Becoming the next artistic director after the previous artistic director was the founder of the company seems even more intimidating than becoming an artistic director in the first place. There is definitely an added level of pressure to fill the shoes and keep the company going. However, based on this article, Brook definitely seems like a great choice for this position, and it is fantastic to see someone with such strong ties to Pittsburgh and Quantum be chosen for this position.
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