Opening reception for new Shohei Katayama exhibition, April 29 at Mattress Factory.

The Mattress Factory will host an opening reception for an upcoming Shohei Katayama exhibition on April 29.

Join us for the opening of a new exhibition by artist-in-residence Shohei Katayama. Shohei Katayama is a Japanese American artist who explores the space between light and dark, life and death, beauty and danger, nature and man. Utilizing his art as a catalyst for environmental conversations, his work examines the underlying patterns and forces of nature by showcasing unseen relationships in ecology. Katayama uses materials that embodies the philosophy associated with ecological examination. Through his work, Katayama demonstrates the entanglements that are present between such systems and illustrates the disruptions that can occur when individual components are manipulated.

The Opening Reception is a free event that will feature a walk-through of the new exhibition and an opportunity to meet the artist. Drinks and non-alcoholic refreshments will be available.

Registration for the Opening Reception is strongly encouraged here.

Please check in at the Museum’s Main Building at 505 Jacksonia Street, Pittsburgh, PA 15212.

It runs from 6:00 to 8:00 pm in the Main Building, located at 505 Jacksonia Street in the Mexican War Streets section of the North Side (map).

Lauren Yee's Young Americans at O'Reilly Theater, from April 26.

Pittsburgh Public Theater will present Lauren Yee's play Young Americans the O'Reilly Theater from April 26 through May 14.

WORLD PREMIERE BY ONE OF AMERICA’S MOST EXCITING NEW VOICES Journey between two eras and two generations as celebrated playwright Lauren Yee sets the stage for us to road trip there and back in her hilarious, heartfelt new play. On parallel treks, Joe drives from D.C. to Portland trying to win the heart of his unfamiliar new fiancé Jenny and, twenty years later, drives the same roads back to have one last adventure with their adopted daughter Lucy before delivering her to college. With some unexpected detours along the way, immigrants Jenny and Joe traverse the strange territory of their new country while their daughter Lucy pieces together their bittersweet family history in this beautiful new comedy about the lengths we will go for the people we love. A world premiere co-production with Portland Center Stage.

Tickets are now available online. The O'Reilly Theater is located at 621 Penn Ave. in downtown's Cultural District (map).

1985 Japanese film Tampopo (タンポポ) at Row House Cinema, April 21 - 27.

The 1985 Japanese film Tampopo (タンポポ) will play at Row House Cinema from April 21 - 27, part of its Chef film series.

This humorous and endearing ‘Japanese Noodle Western’ is and ode to the joys of food. When a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles, the widowed owner begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the “art of noodle-soup making.”

Tickets are now available. The single-screen theater is located at 4115 Butler Street in Lawrenceville (map).

Chatime in Ross Park Mall rebrands as "Bubble Bee."

Ross Park Mall's Chatime (日出茶太), a Taiwanese bubble tea chain that opened its lone Pittsburgh location in 2018, has recently rebranded as Bubble Bee.

Delicious range of customizable teas. Choose milky, fruity, frozen or fresh, with your choice of ice and sugar levels, then add your favorite mix-ins.

The owner also operates Look Eye Care, which is working on a Squirrel Hill location in the Forbes Ave. spot briefly and most recently occupied by Wonder Beauty (首你亚美).

2005 Chinese film Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (千里走单骑) at Northland Public Library, April 19.

The 2005 Chinese film em>Riding Alone for Thousands of Miles (千里走单骑) will play at the Northland Public Library on April 19 as the next installment of the monthly Movie Matinee series.

An aging fisherman learns that his estranged son is gravely ill. When he goes to see his son, the son does not want to see him. The father learns from his daughter-in-law that his son has left a project he was doing in China unfinished. As a token of his love, the father goes to China to finish the project for him.

The scenery and the cinematography of the film is beautiful. Bring your hankies.

So come join us. No registration required.

The movie runs from 1:30 to 3:30 pm. Northland Public Library is located off of McKnight Road and Rt. 19 in McCandless Township (map).

2022 film Return to Seoul stays in Pittsburgh through April 2.

The 2022 film Return to Seoul, which premiered in Pittsburghon March 23 as part of this year's Carnegie Mellon International Film Festival and stayed here for another six days, will remain in Pittsburgh through April 2.

On an impulse to reconnect with her origins, Freddie, 25, returns to South Korea for the first time, where she was born before being adopted and raised in France. The headstrong young woman starts looking for her biological parents in a country she knows so little about, taking her life in new and unexpected directions.

It plays at the Harris Theater and AMC Loews Waterfront through the 29th, and at the AMC Loews Waterfront through April 2.

2022 Japanese animated film Suzume (すずめの戸締まり) in Pittsburgh, from April 13.

The 2022 Japanese animated film Suzume (すずめの戸締まり) will play in Pittsburgh from April 13.

On the other side of the door, was time in its entirety— “Suzume” is a coming-of-age story for the 17-year-old protagonist, Suzume, set in various disaster-stricken locations across Japan, where she must close the doors causing devastation. Suzume’s journey begins in a quiet town in Kyushu (located in southwestern Japan) when she encounters a young man who tells her, “I’m looking for a door.” What Suzume finds is a single weathered door standing upright in the midst of ruins as though it was shielded from whatever catastrophe struck. Seemingly drawn by its power, Suzume reaches for the knob… Doors begin to open one after another all across Japan, unleashing destruction upon any who are near. Suzume must close these portals to prevent further disaster.

It is scheduled to play, so far, at the AMC Loews Waterfront and the AMC Classic Westmoreland, though more theaters are likely to be announced later. Tickets are available online.

"We Learn" Beginner and Intermediate Korean classes resume at Carnegie Library in Oakland, Saturdays from April 8.

via the Republic of Korea's Flickr page.

The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh branch in Oakland will resume its free "We Learn" Beginner and Intermediate Korean classes Saturdays from April 8. The beginner classes run from 10:30 am to 12:00 pm online; a summary:

In this beginner-level class, we will use the textbook published by the Korean government for foreigners who learn Korean as a secondary language.

We will start from write/reading Korean characters, 'Hangul', and learning how to organize sentence structures.

The intermediate classes start at 12:00 pm, in Classroom A.

In this intermediate-level class, we will cover the textbook published by the Korean government for foreigners who learn Korean as a secondary language. We will cover basic Korean grammar and vocabulary, and practice how to speak and write using what we've covered in each lecture.

Registration is required to participate. The classes run through June 10. The Oakland branch of the Carneige Library of Pittsburgh is located at 4400 Forbes Ave. (map), accessible by numerous city bus lines.

University Gamelan: Gamelan Sunda—The Sound of Celebration, April 1 at Pitt.

The University of Pittsburgh's Department of Music will present "University Gamelan: Gamelan Sunda—The Sound of Celebration" on April 1.

The University Gamelan Ensemble, directed by Andrew Weintraub and Jay Arms, plays the gamelan music of the Sundanese people, an ethnic group that inhabits roughly the western third of the island of Java. Gamelan refers to a set of predominantly percussion instruments including tuned gongs, metal-keyed instruments, and drums (as well as bowed lute and voice).

Featuring guest artists Endang Rukandi and Henry Spiller.

FREE and open to the general public

Livestream available on the Music at Pitt YouTube channel

The event will be held from 8:00 pm in the Bellefield Hall Auditorium in Oakland (map).

Work in Progress Series: "Reading at the Crossroads: Literary Landscapes in Okinawa’s Black Pacific” by Nozomi Saito, April 3 at Pitt.

"Kyoto University possesses remains taken from the Momojyana tomb in Okinawa, Japan, where members of the royal family of the Ryukyu Kingdom are believed to be buried." Photo by Dr. Yasukatsu Matushima, in Science

Nozomi Saito, a Ph.D. Candidate in Critical & Cultural Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, will present "Reading at the Crossroads: Literary Landscapes in Okinawa’s Black Pacific” on April 3, part of the Department of English's Work in Progress Series.

Nozomi (Nakaganeku) Saito is a PhD Candidate in Critical & Cultural Studies at Pitt with a concentration in Literature. She is currently completing her dissertation “Aftermaths of Empires: Cold War Narratives in the Black Pacific.” In 2024 she will join the faculty of Amherst College as an Assistant Professor of Asian American and Pacific Islander Literature

The talk runs from 9:30 to 10:30 am in 501 Catheral of Learning.