Join PYP for its 3rd Annual Night at the Opera at the Byham Theater

In 1943, the National Negro Opera Company is set to perform on a floating barge to evade racially-segregated venues. But when bad weather threatens—pushing the performance to a segregated performance hall—visionary impressaria Mary Cardwell Dawson must find a way forward.

Click to buy tickets.

Use the promo code POPYP to get exclusive $18 tickets. Our group will be seated together.

Meet at the Renaissance Hotel for free appetizers before the performance! You must have a ticket to attend the pre-show happy hour.

About the Performance

Mary Cardwell Dawson’s dream to provide access for African Americans to perform on stages for all audiences changed the future of opera. Having founded the longest-running, all-Black opera company here in Pittsburgh and organizing opera guilds in the country’s biggest cities, Mary Cardwell Dawson would go on to train hundreds of African American youth to sing.

Written by Mark Twain Award-winning playwright and librettist Sandra Seaton, The Passion of Mary Cardwell Dawson celebrates the remarkable founder of Pittsburgh’s historic and groundbreaking National Negro Opera Company. This play with music includes selections from Carmen (some of you may remember when we attended a production of Carmen in 2022!) as well as original music by award-winning Kennedy Center Composer-in-Residence Carlos Simon.

We will start the evening with a Happy Hour at the Renaissance Hotel lobby from 5 to 6:30pm before moving next door to the Byham Theater for the performance at 7pm. We'll also be sure to spend some time in the lobby taking in the educational displays about Pittsburgh's National Negro Opera Company prior to the show.

Order of events

• 5 p.m. — Meet at the Renaissance Hotel, 107 6th St., Pittsburgh, PA 15222, for free appetizers and networking with your PYP peers. Don't forget your ticket! 
• 6:30 p.m.-ish — Walk to the Byham Theater, 101 6th St., Pittsburgh, to find our seats.
• 7 p.m. — Performance begins.