Contact:
Debra Bell, Director of Marketing and Communications – Pittsburgh Opera
dbell@pittsburghopera.org or (412) 281-0912 ext. 214

Rebecca Himberger, Marketing and Education Manager – Attack Theatre
rebecca@attacktheatre.com or (412) 441-8444

Pittsburgh, PA… Already frequent partners on stage, Pittsburgh Opera and Attack Theatre are now entering into a new facility-sharing arrangement that begins July 1. Attack Theatre will rent administrative and rehearsal space from Pittsburgh Opera at 2425 Liberty Avenue in the Strip District (the former George Westinghouse Jr. air brake factory).

Christopher Hahn, Pittsburgh Opera’s General Director, says, “It’s a natural fit. Both of us need a lot of space to rehearse what we put on stage, and Pittsburgh Opera bought this building intending to be a resource for the community and for other arts groups. ¬We are very happy indeed to welcome Attack Theatre to our home and to expand our artistic collaborations. We like the fact that the casual observer might think that we inhabit totally different worlds, but our needs are really very similar.”

Attack Theatre’s current facilities, located at 4805 Penn Avenue on the Penn Avenue Arts Corridor in Bloomfield/Garfield, have served as the home for the company’s artistic and administrative enterprises for the last four years. The number and size of productions has grown throughout the years, and Attack Theatre’s programs will benefit from Pittsburgh Opera’s expansive rehearsal space and state-of-the-art equipment. Attack Theatre Producing Artistic Director Peter Kope adds, “It is difficult to rehearse for our Benedum or Heinz Hall performances in the [Penn Avenue] studio with upwards of 16 dancers careening into each other. It will be great to create new work in a large open venue.”

Attack Theatre co-founders and artistic directors Peter Kope and Michele de la Reza have an established relationship with the Opera. de la Reza began teaching movement classes to the Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artists in 1995; the relationship deepened when Attack Theatre choreographed and provided dancers for 1999’s Rigoletto. Attack Theatre more recently choreographed and danced 2007’s Aida, 2008’s Samson & Dalila, and is engaged for the 2009-10 Opera productions of Eugene Onegin and Carmen. “We have always been creatively energized and influenced by our surroundings. Rehearsing next door to a group of blacksmiths resulted in the creation of Games of Steel. With Mimì, Brunnhilde and Don Jose down the hall, who knows what could happen…” adds de la Reza.

Both organizations stand to benefit not only programmatically, but also organizationally. Attack Theatre will be able to reduce occupancy expenses while providing new rental income to Pittsburgh Opera, and there will be increased potential to share other resources. “The idea of cooperating with Pittsburgh Opera beyond the artistic side of things has developed rather naturally. We consider this coming year to be one of exploration and experimentation. We plan to proceed organically and thoughtfully and it will be interesting to see what develops,” comments Donna Goyak, Attack Theatre’s General Director.

Both organizations will enliven each other’s already rich cultures and diverse audiences.
While Attack Theatre may be best known for their cutting-edge dance theater with original live music, and Pittsburgh Opera is best known for their world-class, mainstage productions with internationally-renowned musicians and vocalists, both have extensive arts education and community engagement programs.

Pittsburgh Opera and Attack Theatre are each committed to engaging and enriching the communities they serve. “It turns out we’re not such strange bedfellows after all,” says Hahn.

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Join Attack Theatre on June 5th for the final award-winning Game Night and the Seven Minute Dance Series at 4805 Penn Avenue. Help Attack Theatre bid farewell to Penn Avenue as they prepare for their Bold New Move into Pittsburgh Opera’s Strip District Headquarters. From 8 – 11pm, enjoy good old-fashioned schoolyard fun and games: Four-Square, backgammon, 3-D tic-tac-toe, vintage Atari games, darts and Connect Four.

Pittsburgh Opera will celebrate its 71st season in 2009-10 with Eugene Onegin, Falstaff, The Rape of Lucretia, Carmen and The Marriage of Figaro. In addition to its mainstage productions, Pittsburgh Opera produces a range of programs to engage and enrich the community with more than 20,000 students, families and educators participating in its educational events annually. The internationally renowned Pittsburgh Opera Resident Artist Program is among the country’s top five training centers for rising opera stars and the company’s newly designed administrative and rehearsal space, housed in a 140-year-old air brake factory in the city’s Strip District, provides space for events ranging from free community Brown Bag concerts to concert recitals by world-class opera singers.

Attack Theatre has been making personal, accessible and collaborative dance-based performances with "ninja-like intensity" for more than a decade. Combining modern dance, original live music, multimedia and interdisciplinary art forms to present work in traditional and nontraditional spaces both nationally and internationally. Attack Theatre has collaborated with major regional theaters, NYC Broadway productions, museums, symphonies, operas and international dance companies, thereby presenting nearly 100 original works in theatrical and site specific settings.

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