Hello, Sunday.

This is a continuation of my "On Stage" column that's been running Wednesdays in the Post-Gazette since 1993. I talk theater here -- live theater, that is, a commodity of which Pittsburgh has more right now, at a higher professional level, than at any other time in the 37 years I've been in town. And maybe even before that, as well -- though for a definitive judgment, we'll have to wait for the scholarly history of Pittsburgh theater that professor/critic/playwright Lynne Conner is now writing for the University of Pittsburgh Press.

When this column ran on Wednesdays, my frequent practice was to focus on something from the weekend before and perhaps anticipate something about the weekend ahead. Now, for Sunday, I may stand further back and discuss issues. What remains the same is that I'll still depend on information, ideas, issues and complaints from readers, so keep those e-mails coming.

Patrick Wilson at CMU

Ten years out of Carnegie Mellon University, Patrick Wilson was back, talking with this year's crop about the pitfalls ahead and taking some master classes. He has done this before, most recently in November 2001. Then, he had just left the lead in "The Full Monty" and was about to start rehearsals for "Oklahoma!," both on Broadway.

He went on to play Joe Pitt in HBO's "Angels in America" (Frank Rich called it "a career-making performance"). Then came two big movies, playing Col. William Barrett Travis in "The Alamo" and Raoul in "The Phantom of the Opera" -- six months shooting in Texas, then six months in London, living in South Kensington across from the Bombay Brasserie while shooting at Pinewood Studios (along with three A's, "Alexander," "[King] Arthur" and "Alfie").

Movies hours were new for Wilson. Before, "I don't think I ever saw 6 or 7 a.m. unless Matt Stocke and I were playing golf."

Recently, there have been two indy films, "Hard Candy," which has been bought by Lion's Gate and will come out in the fall, and "American Gothic," which just wrapped.

All that steady, nice-work-if-you-can-get-it kept Wilson away from CMU for three years, so he was happy to be back. I caught up with him for breakfast at his handsome Shadyside B&B, just before he left for the airport.

Wilson is 31 now, looking relaxed and fit. "I'm very content with where I am," he said. "I'm not auditioning for the kid roles. I feel much more comfortable with my looks than at 25."

He had worked all the day before with CMU juniors and seniors. "Don't make it about yourself," he told them of movie scenes, "make it about the other person. I don't want to see you 'acting'!" He told them, "You can use all those tools you learned for Chekhov and Shakespeare and apply them to 'Law and Order.' " And he told them "the nervousness and frustration never go away -- I'm sure even Brad Pitt says, 'Why'd they go to Tom Cruise first?' "

He will keep coming back to CMU, Wilson says, "because I love it. I love directing. I love people who love to work." For the students, "I'm still young and connected enough. I think it's important for them to see someone who's an optimist. I loved it when Holly Hunter came back."

Ahead, there's "The Good Shepherd" with Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, directed by Robert De Niro, which begins shooting in late summer. And beyond is a Broadway revival of "Barefoot in the Park." But for now, "I'm just being domestic and planning our wedding."

The other half of "our" is Dagmara Dominczyk, CMU '98. They live together in what Wilson calls the Polish section of Brooklyn. He moved back east last summer, when the relationship became serious. "I actually like having my entire business team in L.A., but I live in New York," he says.

They will have cameos together in "Running With Scissors." The director approached Wilson by saying he had been "looking for a Patrick Wilson type" and decided to try the real thing.

"That's the first time I'd heard that," said Wilson.

Maybe it won't be the last.

The call board

Pam Klinger, now playing Babette in "Beauty and the Beast" on Broadway, is home visiting her mother this week.

Tonight at 7, the play reading at Sunday Night Live is "We Can Still Be Friends," adapted from Kelly Cherry's novel by Bob Scott and Ken Levarse. That's at 937 Liberty Ave.

The Bottom Line

The week's box-office figures for pro theaters now accompany "In the Wings" in the Weekend Mag, now on Thursdays.