Oct 30, 2012 4 min read

The new production of the musical “The Last Five Years” at Off the Wall Theater in Carnegie began, as many arrangements do, with a handshake.John Allen Biles met Off the Wall’s Ginny and Hans Gruenert last spring during the company’s staging of “Shaken & Stirred” in New York, where Biles lived at the time. A few months later, after he had moved back to Pittsburgh, the actor and producer met the couple again when he attended a performance of the company’s last production in Washington, “Death and the Maiden.””Hans has a remarkable memory, and the minute I walked up to the box office, he recognized me,” Biles said. “He asked about my work, and when I told him that I was looking for a place to stage ‘The Last Five Years,’ he said, ‘We’re moving to Carnegie … why don’t you come to our theater and do the show there?’ Soon after that, we shook hands on it.”Biles, a teacher in Pittsburgh Musical Theater’s education program, grew up in Shaler Township and studied theater arts at Point Park University. He co-stars with Holly Bryan Scott in “The Last Five Years,” Jason Robert Brown’s musical about a relationship told from two different points of view: the man’s in chronological order, the woman’s in reverse chronological order.It opens tomorrow night and runs through Nov. 8.”Two people are moving in opposite directions,” said Biles, who chose the show because it exemplifies what he most appreciates in musical theater: simplicity, intimacy, a lack of pomp and grandeur. He hopes to eventually produce a deconstructed, down-to-the-essentials version of the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic “Carousel.”Musical theater companies come and go, but Biles promises that “The Last Five Years” marks a beginning for him as a local producer. It’s “a grand experiment, a way of bringing a new voice, my voice, to the theater community in Pittsburgh,” he said. “It’s not a one-shot deal. I’m serious about doing musicals the way I think they should be done.”Coincidentally, the Gruenerts oversaw a successful production of “The Last Five Years” at Off the Wall four years ago, during the company’s freshman season.”Ginny and Hans are curious to see if I bring something different to the show, and they’ve been completely supportive, generous and helpful,” Biles said.To make reservations, email thecompanyofpgh@gmail.com. All seats are free of charge, though cash donations of $20 per person are suggested.

Attendance for the drama “Time Stands Still” at Little Lake has been better than expected, and on Friday night, the theater plans to host a talk-back following the performance.Actors Mary Liz Meyer, Mark Cox, Art DeConciliis and Laura Barletta will answer questions from the audience, and so will guest consultant Justin Merriman, a photojournalist who, like Meyer’s character in the play, has covered war zones in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq. During rehearsals, the cast and creative team “had the good fortune to sit with Justin and speak with him about his experiences in the Middle East,” Sunny Disney Fitchett said. “Let’s face it, as the director of a play about covering war atrocities in the Middle East, I will always be limited in my true understanding of the real-life impact.”However, Justin was so very forthcoming about the emotional impact of the work he does, and what we discovered was that the playwright, Donald Margulies, gives us a wealth of very truthful, accurate insight in the play. Our conversation with Justin was both informative and validating.”Merriman works for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review and has seen his photos published in national and international publications. He’s also received major journalism awards and several prestigious local honors, including an Alumnus of Distinction Award from the University of Pittsburgh.”Listening to Justin helped ground the role of Sarah for me,” said Meyer, cast as Sarah Goodwin, a photographer who gets injured while on assignment in Iraq. “It gave me that extra piece of the puzzle, allowing me to move from seeing Sarah as a fascinating character in a play to a very real, extraordinary person who puts herself in the middle of dangerous and tragic situations in order to bring awareness to the rest of us.”Merriman’s reminiscences included many details the actress used to authenticate her performance, including, she said, “the danger, thrill, sorrow, physical discomfort, hope, kindness and shocking ability to feel safe behind the lens while literally dodging bullets. “While my character is quite different from Justin, there are similarities in the way they see their work and in the issues that bleed into their personal lives.””Time Stands Still” closes Saturday.