Paul Organisak
Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts

Paul Organisak has the enviable task of programming the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts. This groundbreaking, genre-bending festival, which runs Fri 10/10 thru 10/25 in various Pittsburgh venues, showcases world premieres and U.S. premieres of dance, music, theatre, movement and performance art work from Slovenia, The Netherlands, Spain, Norway, not to mention the United States.

In this exclusive interview, Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready discusses with Organisak the challenges of producing all new international work in established and non-traditional spaces, and they talk about some of the coolest performances: indy songsters Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips' (USA) soundtracks for Andy Warhol's rarely-seen Screen Tests; Peter Reder's (UK) non-conventional Guided Tour through Pittsburgh museums after closing hours; and Ballet Maribor (Slovenia) modern ballet Radio and Juliet, set to music by Radiohead. Plus 5 other major firsts, all surrounded by the 55th Carnegie International Exhibition and a nightly Festival of Lights in Downtown Pittsburgh. Seriously cool stuff. http://www.PIFOF.org.

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