Firebugs

Firebugs takes place in a town victimized by arsonists. In the middle of the neighborhood panic, local businessman Gottleib Biedermann houses two menacing strangers in his attic, thus allowing his active denial to become an accomplice to a town disaster. Though this dark, hilarious political parable is over 50 years old, its commentary on humankind’s moral flaccidity and capacity for self-deception strikes at the heart of our time as well. The company installed the production at Engine House 25 a turn-of-the-century firehouse in the Strip District, now the photography studio of board member Duane Rieder. Artistic Director Jeffrey Carpenter staged the play as a 1950’s radio drama, complete with honey-voiced announcer, commercial breaks, vintage vinyl sound effects and a myriad of period sound props gathered from various sources throughout Pittsburgh. Actors moved about the stage as in a standard theatre performance, but also worked as "foley artists," speaking into microphones, operating wind machines and ultimately creating a second layer to the play that could be listened to with one’s eyes closed.