Harris Theater

By Stephanie Smoker

The Harris Theater is located in downtown Pittsburgh at 809 Liberty Ave. It is a nonprofit media art center operated by Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

The building contains one spectacular screen and seats approximately 194 people for films. It also can seat up to 178 people for live performances.

The Theater features contemporary, foreign, and classic films. Throughout their history, the Harris theater has been known for showing “Unusual and artistic films from other lands” They still show movies made from all over the world.

The Harris Theater has an interesting history in several aspects. Not only in the way that it was named but also in the way that it developed into the establishment it is now.

It was first opened to the public on September 14, 1931, as the Avenue Cinema. The theater began showing foreign movies and operetta. It then developed into an Art Cinema showing pornographic films in the 1960s. Then later became the theater that it is in Pittsburgh today.

This historic building found its name through Harry Davis and John P. Harris, co-founder of Nickelodeon. It was a present from the Buhl Foundation, honoring John P. Harris.

The Harris theater does not have its own website, however, there is a website that has information about shows or tickets at https://cinema.pfpca.org/.

For a deeper look into Harris theater history please look at cultural trusts web article at https://trustarts.org/pct_home/visit/facilities/harris-theater.