Get stranded on radio island as Quantum Theatre enters a new era

Against a backdrop of concrete walls and exposed rebar, Quantum Theatre is entering a new era with Liza Birkenmeier’s radio island . This 120-minute gothic suspense story follows a hostage negotiator as she adjusts to life as a caregiver in her childhood home. “I wrote the play in isolation with the feeling of starved space,” Birkenmeier tells Pittsburgh City Paper . “I’m excited to see it come to life in a way that is actually scary and encourages the audience to feel that threat of violence.” “ radio island is asking us where reality stands and how perspective — literally and figuratively — causes it to shift. It feels slippery and destabilizing at times as our characters try to understand each other and themselves,” says Katie Brook, the show’s director and incoming artistic director of Quantum. Brook was chosen to direct radio island long before being named as the immersive theater company’s new artistic director, according to a statement from Quantum. Karla Boos, Quantum’s longtime current artistic director who announced her retirement , will still oversee the company through the end of the year. Quantum states that, “While the production remains a Karla Boos-led Quantum Theatre show, the overlap was pure serendipity.” Quantum, an experimental, found-space theater company, has called Pittsburgh home for the past 36 years, all under Boos’ leadership since its founding. In September, Quantum’s board announced that Brook, a longtime Quantum collaborator, would take over the role in 2027. “For me, being an artistic director means setting a vision and creating the conditions for great artists to do their best work. I want to build creative teams, support bold projects, and develop work that keeps Quantum relevant and essential to Pittsburgh and beyond,” Brook says. Treasure Treasure in Quantum Theatre’s radio island Credit: Beth Barbis Quantum’s board initiated the global search for a