In tragedy, you see death coming. Not so in life.

Pittsburgh native actress Caitlin Clarke, who died Thursday, just 52, was apparently already fighting cancer when she returned to Pittsburgh from her active career on film and the national stage. But you could never tell it from her 2002 performances for Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre. In Brian Friel's "Aristocrats," she was one of the three central sisters, natural and unhistrionic, and she was especially vivid as a lushly sexual Mona in Tom Murphy's "The Gigli Concert."

Her vivacity comes through clearly in Bob Batz's Monday obituary, especially in the reminiscences of Robert Brustein, the great critic, who was her teacher and director at Yale. Her impact on students is clear in her teaching legacy at Pittsburgh Musical Theater's Rauh Conservatory and the University of Pittsburgh. I wish I'd gotten to know her and that we'd had longer to see her perform in Pittsburgh, which now has enough of a theater scene to provide satisfying work for talents such as hers.

Fred Ebb, who died Saturday at 76, was of course the longtime partner of John Kander in one of the great American musical theater teams. "Chicago" and "Cabaret" are just the best of their works, which include "The Happy Time," "Zorba," "Woman of the Year," "The Rink," "Kiss of the Spider Woman" and "Steel Pier," not to mention their enormously popular off-Broadway revue, "The World Goes 'Round," and the anthems like "New York, New York" they wrote for Liza Minnelli and other divas. They stayed fertile, revising their most recent show, "The Visit," and working on a musical version of "The Skin of Our Teeth" and a murder-mystery musical called "Curtains."

Both members of the Theater Hall of Fame, the pair were frequent presenters at its annual inductions -- for example, for actor Jack Gilford in 1994, when Ebb sang (to Kander's accompaniment) "Meskite," the song they wrote for Gilford in "Cabaret." Presenting their frequent collaborator Terrence McNally in 1996, Kander joked that "it's weird to be up here without Fred, who usually does the talking."

The team has been especially important to the career of Pittsburgher Rob Marshall, who was dance captain on "The Rink," then (assisted by sister Kathleen) choreographed "Kiss" and co-directed and choreographed "Cabaret," all on Broadway, and had a small success with the movie of "Chicago." Marshall cut his teeth choreographing and directing Kander and Ebb shows regionally; they were very supportive of both Marshalls' careers.

The theater will miss him, but his legacy is huge.

Play in a day

That's the name of the project that kept a couple of dozen people busy at Open Stage in the Strip for 24 hours last weekend, resulting in a 70-minute clutch of five plays performed Sunday evening. Though the writing was uneven, the enthusiasm was palpable; as an exercise it has clear value, and for an audience, potluck charm.

That sort of describes the first week of the Pittsburgh New Works Festival, newly ensconced in the studio theater at CAPA -- an improvement on the Hamburg Studio at City Theatre from the audience's point of view. "The overwhelming response is that the move has raised the level of professionalism," says New Works' Jeff Leonard.

The opening week scored 70 percent attendance, "not bad [says Jeff] for a new space, two Pirates games, one Pitt game, one Steelers game and too many 'Cats' scaring people away from Downtown. ... There was plenty of parking available right in the garage on Ninth." The Thursday "Mingles" parties are after the show next door at Dowe's. And this weekend, the children's shows start.

The Bottom Line

Paid admissions at city's pro theaters, week ending Sept. 12:

  View/PlayhseRep (46%) ....... 550
  TheeSing/Th.Factory (64%) ... 244