Prime Stage actors bring history to life in Pittsburgh cemetery walk

Nabisco founder Sylvester Stephen Marvin. A Civil War nurse. A survivor of the Great Fire of Pittsburgh in 1845.

Those are just a few of the historical figures whose stories will be told during the second annual Cemetery Walk in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze neighborhood.

Hosted by Prime Stage Theatre in Greensburg, it was created by Prime Stage board member and Greensburg native Sueann Zoratto.

“Actually I have to give credit to my sister in Latrobe and her husband,” Zoratto said. “He’s from Chicago, and they’d been going to a historical cemetery tour in Elgin, Ill., for a lot of years. She suggested we look into it, and I did some research and pitched it to our board.”

The first walk took place last year at the Homewood Cemetery, home to a host of famous Pittsburgh names. It was established in 1878 from the estate of William Wilkins, a 19th-century Pittsburgh judge who served as U.S. Minister to Russia and Secretary of War under President John Tyler. Nearly 79,000 graves lie within its 200 acres.

“We started with Section 14 because that’s where so many well-known people are buried — the Heinzes, the Mellons — and we worked with a local historian, Jennie Bedford, who had been doing cemetery tours, just without actors,” Zoratto said.

Enter Prime Stage, which brought aboard actors to take on historical identities and swap the typical spooky cemetery tour for one that shines a light on local history.

“Many of our main-stage plays have history as a central focus,” said Prime Stage Theatre artistic director Wayne Brinda. “The Cemetery Walk is a chance for us to present audiences with a personal look at historic Pittsburghers and the impact they had on shaping our community.”

“Last year the actor monologues were very informational,” Zoratto said. “This year our board vice president Lawrence McCullough, who’s a playwright, did more of the writing, to make each person a little more of a full character.”

Members of the Homewood Cemetery’s board of directors must approve all of the choices for the tour.

“Last year we were asked to take Heinz off the list,” Zoratto said. “I don’t know if they reached out to the family or maybe they felt there were too many Heinz family members still around.”

This year’s tours will take place at 40-minute intervals from 12-4 p.m. Saturday at the cemetery, 1599 S. Dallas Ave. in Pittsburgh. Tickets are $20 per person and are available only online at PrimeStage.com/events.