New Hazlett Center for the

When the hall was threatened by demolition in 1967, the community intervened and funds were secured to renovate the Theater space, featuring a flexible stage and intimate audience chamber with movable scaffold seating. The Hazlett Theater was re-named in 1980 in honor of Theodore L. Hazlett Jr., a prominent civic leader who worked with Mayor David Lawrence, authored much of the city’s smog legislation, and was an enthusiastic supporter of the arts. The Hazlett Theater was home to the Pittsburgh Public Theater for 24 seasons from 1974 until 1999, bringing considerable traffic to the area. But when PPT moved downtown to the Cultural District in 1999, the neighborhood business community suffered considerable losses. The Hazlett Theater was transformed in 2004 into the New Hazlett Theater with the support of the local arts community.