Pittsburgh Playback Theatre
2770 Fernwald RoadPittsburghPA15217
412-521-0444

Program: Pittsburgh Playback Theatre: Hosanna House Year Started: 1992 Focus: Theater Youth Served: 60 Ages: 12-17 Budget: $45,000 In Pittsburgh Playback Theatre productions, "There is not just a script but a sharing of lives," says Executive Director Roni Ostfield about her improvisational performance company. The roving theater troupe, in operation since 1988, visits various sites, including Hosanna House in Wilkensburg, Pennsylvania, where professional actors are in their fourth year of engaging neighborhood teenagers as playwrights and actors. The interactive theater process has a therapeutic and entertaining format that allows participants to dramatize issues such as peer pressure, drug and alcohol abuse, dysfunctional families and sexuality. "ParticipantsĖ sensitivities and perceptions are heightened, enabling them to gain insights into the causes of, and solutions to, the problems dramatized," explains Ostfield. Wilkensburg youth, meeting once a week for 2 to 3 hours, become storytellers and learn to do "playback" by acting out each otherĖs stories. Training is followed by preparation of a performance for schools and community groups. "This gives the kids something to give back to others and helps improve communication skills," notes Ostfield.