We designed the O’Reilly primarily for the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s spoken drama and comedy productions but also for occasional music, dance and film. By surrounding the flat-floor thrust stage with steep semicircular banks of seating, we created an intimate relationship between audience and performer. The materials, shape and details of the room create an acoustic environment that does not require amplified sound.
From walking along the street to being seated in the auditorium, theater-goers experience the exhilaration of attending performances, enhanced by the dynamic curving forms of the building. A vaulted copper roof overhanging the sidewalk defines the circular two-story lobby and prefunction balcony and reflects the shape of the rehearsal hall above. The curves also foreshadow the horseshoe shape of the auditorium where the audience surrounds the stage on three sides.
Our master plan for a block along Penn Avenue revitalized Pittsburgh’s Cultural District. The O’Reilly Theater anchors one end and Agnes R. Katz Plaza the other end. We designed the Plaza in collaboration with artist Louise Bourgeois and landscape architect Daniel Kiley. A later phase, Theater Square, filled the lot in between with a service center containing retail, a 250-seat cabaret theater, radio station, Cultural District ticket office, and 791-car parking deck.
