Performance arts festivals can sometimes resemble a trip on the Starship Enterprise, leading viewers on a journey where no one has gone before. That's half the fun of it all -- finding a lighting installation in the Strip District or a transformative theatrical experience at the Ellis Armory in Shadyside, seeing Shakespeare danced to Radiohead or the William Penn Hotel ablaze with a new version of night lights.

Maybe some audiences in other parts of the world have seen the performances that the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts will present from Oct. 10-23, but no one in North America has, adding another dimension to this journey. All eight events will be premieres that will be seen only in Pittsburgh, even though New York, Washington, D.C., Toronto and Cleveland are international markets that are close at hand.

Two will be world premieres as well. Rising alto sax player Rudresh Mahanthappa will offer an edgy jazz, technology and Indian music combination in "Samdhi: Diasporic Connections." Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips of indie-pop group Luna have designed an original musical score for 13 of Andy Warhol's famed screen tests, including Baby Jane Holzer brushing her teeth and a young Dennis Hopper, and will play their songs in front of a giant movie screen at the Byham Theater.

One will be tailored to Pittsburgh as British performance artist Paul Reder plumbs the depths behind the scenes at the Carnegie Museums of Art and Natural History.

Pittsburgh Cultural Trust vice president of programming and PIFOF curator Paul Organisak has viewed hundreds of performances over the past several years in various festivals, but only two percent of the pieces, the proverbial best of the best, will make it to Pittsburgh.

His journey took him to Pittsburgh's sister city in Israel and the Karmiel Dance Festival featuring "four days with 24-hour, packed-to-the-walls, non-stop public dancing," where dancers perform on basketball courts and in swimming pools, and, like the condensed Three Rivers Arts Festival, offer funnel cake and other foods.

Ballet Maribor, which will open the festival this week with "Radio and Juliet," an atmospheric retelling of the familiar Shakespeare story featuring the experimental alternative rock music of the English group Radiohead, came from Organisak's connections there.

In another instance, Organisak almost missed a selection. While in Barcelona at the Catalan Festival, he was looking to leave the next morning, but a professional acquaintance said, "You cannot leave without seeing Theater of the Senses."

Worn out after seeing a series of lackluster performances, Organisak gave it a try. Despite the late hour, he climbed into a cab, but the driver got lost trying to find a small nondescript theater.

When Organisak finally arrived, no one seemed to be at the theater, but a guard told him to take the elevator. The doors opened on five empty chairs. Suddenly a woman appeared and asked, "Are you ready?"

She led him down a hallway. What followed in the ensuing theatrical experience was "life-changing," according to Organisak, who doesn't want to spoil the surprise elements by giving more of an explanation. The company, Teatro de Los Sentidos, will perform "El Eco de la Sombra" at a converted Ellis Armory in Shadyside, where each patron gets an admission time, 15 minutes apart, and has a personal performance encounter.

During his travels, Organisak also discovered Kassys and Jo Stromgren Kompani, who will offer alternate universes of theater and movement. The Dutch-based Kassys puts its priority on text, but stylistically tells the story of "Liga" and its premise of acting as pretending through movement, non-verbal communication and film. Norway's Jo Stromgren uses dance to explore "The Department," located in the innermost office of a secret government.

All the effort has been worth it according to Organisak, who says this will be the Trust's birthday present to the city during its 250th celebration.

"It's a snapshot of what's out there in the performance world," notes Organisak, who has also initiated the Australian and Quebec Festivals, both successful presentations of the Cultural Trust. "Although a large percentage of our population is traditional, this will put Pittsburgh on the contemporary map. Hopefully these events will create an excitement that energizes the city throughout the year."