When it comes to arts organizations, as a city, Pittsburgh punches well above its weight class.From the big names like the Carnegie and Andy Warhol museums, to the small Downtown galleries, to hidden gems like Randyland, Pittsburgh tills and cultivates our artistic landscape well. However, none of the many creative groups in the city works quite like Bricolage.Headed by Jeffrey Carpenter and Tami Dixon, Bricolage has been creating ephemeral, unorthodox and immersive theater projects for the better part of the last 25 years. Among their most well-known projects is the 2019 interactive theater experience “Project Amelia” and their “Midnight Radio” series — an old-school radio show using the classic Foley techniques of that era to create stories through sound alone. As it did in many other organizations, Covid-19 threw a major wrench into Bricolage’s future plans, forcing a shutdown of everything except for their education program. In addition, they found one of the drawbacks of stewarding a historic Downtown location — renovations.“During the pandemic, the (Pittsburgh Cultural) Trust wanted to do renovations on our space,” says Dixon. Bricolage was located in a Trust-owned building on Liberty Avenue, Downtown. “We were considering all that was happening with Covid, and we looked at each other and asked, ‘Do we want to evolve or do we want to continue down the same road that we’re going?’” Dixon says.They decided to leave Downtown Pittsburgh after nearly 20 years. Looking for a new space to call home, they reconnected with colleague Dr. Michael Skirpan, whom they had worked with to create “Project Amelia,” their last major immersive event before Covid. Skirpan is one of the eight co-founders of Community Forge, a nonprofit working to create space and opportunities for local artists, as well as to supplement education through their youth programming. Community Forge is renovating the former Johnston Elementary School in Wilkinsburg, transforming it into a creative workshop that will include, among other things, a community event space and black box theater. That emphasis on community proved important to Carpenter and Dixon.Bricolage has relocated the company’s base to Community Forge, a community center in Wilkinsburg inside the former Johnston Elementary School. Photo courtesy of Bricolage. “A lot of that had to do with wanting a community, to be deeply connected with people,” says Dixon. “Although Downtown has changed so much in the time we were there, it still had a transient nature to it that made it hard to plug into our surroundings in a deep way.”And so Bricolage made the leap from Downtown to Wilkinsburg. Their crew will help assist in the renovation, as well as provide their equipment and expertise toward their future endeavors for the space.“In exchange, we get to have the theater a couple weeks out of the year, and in the meantime, we’re going to help plan programming and shepherd the development of a theater manager, an event space manager, take our lived experience and knowledge and impart it to someone else,” says Dixon.Kinselland is husband and wife team Anqwenique and DS Kinsel. Photo by huny youngBricolage is also working with longstanding artistic comrades Kinselland, the brainchild of husband-wife duo DS and Anqwenique Kinsel. Leaning into their mutual love of storytelling, they plan for the new venue to host local speakers who want to share their stories.“We were thinking about how neighborhoods are changing so rapidly in terms of new construction and development,” says Anqwenique Kinsel. “How does that affect the people in these neighborhoods? Our elders, who remember the different phases of these places we call home?”Whether it’s longtime residents with fond memories, people displaced by new building projects, or those new to the area looking to share in community, Kinselland and Bricolage hope to create a space for these individuals.In the interim, Kinselland and Community Forge open their space for open mic nights on the third Friday of every month. Performers of all stripes are encouraged to participate, including those not traditionally represented at open stage events.While the renovation is still in the early stages, Carpenter and Dixon have turned their focus to Bricolage’s education program, exploring innovative and entertaining ways to turn their theater work into learning experiences for kids.“In the absence of a creative space to work in, we decided to take an additional classroom and turn it into a studio for ‘Midnight Radio.’ We call it The Noise Factory,” says Carpenter. “We’ve been using that as a creative playground to experiment with new forms of teaching, new ways of working with after-school programs.”In searching for places to provide their services, Carpenter and Dixon made an unlikely partnership with the Intermediate Unit 1 Education Campus in McMurray. They’ve been able to bring “Midnight Radio” to children with disabilities and special needs, and they’ve seen the creativity of these students blossom in real time.An educational Bricolage performance in the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. Photo by Elisa Cevallos.“It’s allowed us to work with a population of alternative education students that don’t thrive in the more formatted classroom style, and it’s just taken off in such a beautiful way,” says Carpenter. “They are some of the most creative students we’ve ever worked with.”“We’re really blessed we’ve had the time over these last couple years to get back to that, and make that the ground from which we spring forth,” says Dixon.In addition, Bricolage reopened their acclaimed escape room, Enter the Imaginarium, in a new location in Etna in May. Carpenter and Dixon realized they had space for not just one escape room, but five. This got them thinking about thematically expanding their original concept. The library room inside the Enter the Imaginarium escape room in Shaler. Photo courtesy of Bricolage.Called The Inventor’s Paradox, their first foray into escape rooms won a Golden Lock Award in 2022, and its success made it a natural choice to be the foundational text for a suite of four new escape rooms. The sequel to Inventor’s Paradox, The Mind’s Eye opens on Nov. 13 at the Etna location. It will integrate levels of technology seldom seen in escape rooms.“It’s unlike anything we’ve ever seen, and we’ve done hundreds of escape rooms, so we’re really excited about it,” says Carpenter.Despite seemingly insurmountable challenges and the chaos of relocation, Bricolage has come through it all with more ideas and happiness to spread than ever before. And that’s the most important part.“If we don’t have joy, then what are we doing?” says Dixon.The post Pittsburgh’s Bricolage theater finds new home and mission in Wilkinsburg appeared first on NEXTpittsburgh.