History & local legend
The former Pittsburgh Playhouse on Craft Avenue in Oakland had a collection of ghost stories long before its demolition in 2019. Two of them were recounted by the theater’s directors in an October 2017 Point Park University feature.
Technical director James Dworek described an apparition identified as John Johns, an actor said to have suffered a heart attack onstage and died in his dressing room. Later visitors reportedly saw him sitting among the audience seats in a tuxedo.
Producing director Kim Martin told a different story about the Rauh Theatre’s balcony. A woman in white was said to pace there at night, calling for her dead husband. These accounts belong to the old Oakland complex; Point Park’s later downtown Playhouse is a different venue.
