In Pittsburgh last year to make a movie, British actress Sienna Miller made flip remarks about the city's dull nightlife.

Miller couldn't see beyond all of the comedians' jokes that have perpetuated the image of Pittsburgh as a "shot and a beer" kind of town.

		"PITTSBURGH IN STAGES: TWO HUNDRED YEARS OF THEATER" By Lynne Conner. University of Pittsburgh Press ($32)

Too bad that she didn't have a chance (I assume) to read Lynne Conner's enlightening book, a definitive history of "Two Hundred Years of (Pittsburgh) Theater."

Miller might have learned that Pittsburgh has a rich cultural and theatrical history that, ironically, has outlasted the steel industry, once the city's trademark.

Theater in Pittsburgh, though, long predates the Industrial Revolution. The first performance space in Pittsburgh was an assembly room inside Fort Pitt in 1763. British officers helped establish theatricals that were offered to the local community.

So you see, Sienna Miller, Pittsburgh has been brewing a cultural and theatrical scene for many years.

Conner has focused each chapter of her book on a different aspect of the growth of the Pittsburgh theater "industry."

In 1840, "Pittsburgh transformed from a trading site to a production center," she writes, and along with this economic transformation came the change in the "city's theatrical economy."

As a result, the population grew, as did the need for recreation, and there was a playhouse boom. During this time, a young telegraph messenger boy often sat in the cheaper gallery seats of the Pittsburgh Theater (razed in 1870). His name was Andrew Carnegie.

I liked anecdotes like this one that are sprinkled throughout the book. Something tells me that Carnegie knew, even while sitting in the Pittsburgh Theater, that some day he would be leaving a huge cultural legacy to the city and beyond.

In fact, in 1900 he gave the money to establish Carnegie Tech (now Carnegie Mellon University), the first American college to offer a bachelor's degree in theater.

One would be surprised to learn that Pittsburgh has had many firsts related to theater and the arts. It seems as if Conner has included a Pittsburgh first in almost every chapter. Here are some of them:

Duquesne University was the first to offer theater arts study but the school did not offer a degree.

Walter Worthington was the "first Pittsburgh-based African-American playwright of record."

August Wilson saw his first play when he was 21.

The Kuntu Repertory Theatre was the "first black theater company in residence at a Pittsburgh area university."

The Nickelodeon was "the city's first stand-alone movie house."

The Pittsburgh Playhouse Junior "claims to be the oldest continuing children's theater in the United States."

Conner does a superb job of describing the evolution of Pittsburgh theater. As a matter of fact, almost every theater company, actor or producer mentioned in the book could be a subject of a separate book.

Two sections are favorites because of a personal attachment. The first is the Pittsburgh Playhouse, where I spent many years attending Saturday classes and then later attending the Playhouse School.

The training was invaluable -- hours spent in class, working backstage, onstage and hosting the Playhouse Junior as Bimbo the Clown.

The description of the development of the playhouse is fascinating, and it remains today one of the best theaters in Pittsburgh. The Rauh family, especially actress Helen Wayne Rauh, the first lady of Pittsburgh theater, is owed a special thank-you for all it did to establish and nurture the playhouse.

Thanks to my grandfather, I spent my formative years attending plays, movies, rodeos, concerts and even the Ice Capades.

Conner's description of the "old Nixon Theater" brought back a flood of memories not just of the plays ("Harvey" with Joe E. Brown was my first) but more importantly of the precious time I had with my grandfather.

As Fred Rogers often said when referring to education and learning, "attitudes are caught not taught." My grandfather helped me catch the love of the theater and performing arts.

Now Conner's book arrives to help me relive some of those memories, not as far back as Fort Pitt, but back far enough to remember some of those theaters that are no longer here.