Period Piece, as you may have read across all of our marketing material, is a “salacious musical for a salacious sense of humor”--and might I add, built to shock you, just a little, if not a lot. Yes, if your sensibilities are easily ill-rubbed, one might tell you that this is not the show for you; however I’m here to tell you it might just be the perfect show for you. Stick around and find out what it’s all really about…
Our little firecracker of a show started as a 2-act play and over the course of 3 months, we have–as a collaborative team–transformed it into the 90-ish-minute musical you are about to witness today. Every student you see in this performance contributed to the process, both on and off stage and this piece in its entirety, is a reflection of the hard work that was poured into it. It is also a reflection of the kind of potential found in a creative space like Point Park University’s Conservatory and the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Fortuitously, it was in the old Oakland Pittsburgh Playhouse (and later in these very walls, in this very Rauh Theater) that the idea and beginnings of Period Piece began. While performing Kiss Me Kate at the old Rockwell Theater, a castmate and friend of mine laughed at the idea of having a show with the “olde” vibe of period plays centered around a character named Master Bates…and later, the idea popped up that the show should be a play on words: Period Piece, a piece about periods…set in a different time period.
As corny (and dare I say another word rhyming with it) as the whole project and idea was–it was a fun thought that I sat on for 3 years, having only written three scenes, while I had decided to give up the hobby of writing altogether. The more I read those three scenes, the more convinced I was that I wasn’t cut out for what it took to finish it and make it something actually good. This was my first comedy, after all, and I had no formal training in playwriting. Who’d want to produce something so vile and dirty for the sake of being dirty? Suddenly, the COVID-19 pandemic hit and we were all doing nothing–I began to write. Period Piece found its footing and its first draft in 2020. Every character (sans Antonio, sad face) had a name that told you a little about them or just made you laugh at the double entendre. P-Hugh Birdie (sounds like puberty) going through puberty late in life, much like Poppy, a budding flower; “Dame” Vex with her self-anointed power; T. H. Edmund Norm with his conservative nature; Aunt Fanny with her large bustle; and Penta with her–well, you get the jist. Each character was built for a specific actor or specific type of actor that I had worked with during my time at Point Park…and with its large cast, as a play, I knew it would only be good for educational theatre. I was half right.
Period Piece was always meant to be a musical, for it's musicals that can handle such a large cast and such a high styled subject matter. Thanks to the talents and kindness/dedication (and let’s be honest, class obligation) of Alex Davis, AJ DePetris, and Dr. Thanakarn Limtham (aka Bank!), we were able to bring it to a place of fulfillment in its potential. I think there are still more heights to reach in its development, but what we have put together here, as a team, despite obstacles and exhaustion, is a labor of love–about love. Returning to its place of origin, Period Piece has its first staged production in the Pittsburgh Playhouse, in the Rauh Theater, performed by Musical Theatre students…and it just feels right. You may wonder about the value of a show with too much cleverness and not enough intellect, but if you are the person with the ill-rubbed sensitivities, this show is for you. This show, at the heart, is about love and its variety and the acceptance of the different flavors it comes with. It’s also about the dirty jokes, the serious themes being poked at and/or promoted (battles of classes, sexes, and political standings; feminism; tolerance; the simple freedoms of self love and sexual fulfillment)--but above all, it’s about love. All kinds of it…weird or not, likely or not, you or not…and like Poppy, learning to say okay. That’s love.
And since I have you…I just want to throw out some names that will always mean love to me, when I think of this show and how they inspired it and the characters through their immediate input or acting chops: Riley, Will B., Will C., Beau, Sara, Halle, AJ, Des, Drew, Kevin, Presley, Amanda, Libby, Saige, Bella, Zach, David, Tommy, Gabriel, Sophie, Eliana, Connor, Wes, Reese, Krystal, Kaley, Kyley, Jackson, Nora, Alex, Lexi, Ian & Robert (RIP Haberdasher), Erin, Eden, Madison, Sam, Bank, Mike, Nick, Zeva, and especially me, Mel, because self love, right?
