Fire sprinkler rupture forces Pittsburgh Playhouse evacuation, shows canceled

A ruptured fire sprinkler caused an emergency alarm to go off forcing a mid-performance evacuation of the Pittsburgh Playhouse on Point Park University’s Downtown campus Friday night.

It happened in the middle of a performance of Disney’s Newsies, a musical.

“A piece of scenery fell to the stage and a fire sprinkler ruptured, which caused water to rain onto the stage and into the pit. This triggered the activation of the emergency alarm and the PNC Theatre was evacuated,” Point Park University spokesman Lou Corsaro said.

A student was taken to a hospital for treatment and later released.

The cause still has to be investigated, according to Corsaro.

The performance could not be resumed and the remaining weekend’s performances are canceled.

“The goal is to determine the cause and get the theater ready for the rest of our schedule,” Corsaro said. “All of those in attendance and who bought tickets to future shows will receive a refund.”

“Disney’s Newsies” was slated to be a major mid-winter production for Point Park. The show is based on the real-life New York newsboy strike of 1899. The musical tells the story of Jack Kelly, a rebellious newsboy who leads his fellow newsboys in a strike after publishing tycoons Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst raise newspaper prices at the boys’ expense.

The Broadway version of the show was a blockbuster which was nominated for eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical.