Written by Alice T. Carter
Maggie Forbes is the executive director and campaign manager for the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie, unofficially known as the Carnegie Carnegie.
She’s also its biggest fan.
“The Library & Music Hall is a magical place — lovely library, acoustically superb music hall with great historic character, national treasure of a Civil War room — in an increasingly cool town,” Forbes says. I live and breathe the Carnegie Carnegie and the town.”
Forbes is serving her second stint as executive director. She held the position from 2003 to ’11 before retiring. In August 2013, she returned to once again raise money and market the music hall as a venue for events as varied as opera, belly-dancing, chamber music and celebrity speakers.
Stage 62 and the Pittsburgh Savoyards are among the performing groups that call it home.
During her tenure, she has developed poetry readings, an annual Civil War event, Honus Wagner Day and other programs to attract new and returning audiences, and she facilitated the reopening of the building’s meticulously restored Civil War room.
A resident of Squirrel Hill, Forbes used her grant-writing expertise to assist nonprofit clients, including Fort Necessity National Battlefield, the YWCA of Greater Pittsburgh, Fay-Penn Economic Development Council and Sojourner House, while she was a senior counsel at A.L. Brourman associates. She also worked at the Pittsburgh Children’s Museum, first as its education and program director (1983-90), then as its executive director (1990-99).
The star who would play me in the movie version of my life:
Diane Keaton — someone who critiqued my speaking style — in front of a large audience — told me to “lose the Annie Hall mannerisms.”
The superpower I wish I had in real life:
Who doesn’t want to fly?
The first stage play or musical I saw:
“Julius Caesar” at Joseph Papp’s Shakespeare in the Park (Central Park, New York City) — when I was 5. I did not like it, but it was free, and my mother wanted to see it. I’m sure she took us to more age-appropriate things earlier, but I don’t remember.
I can’t live without my iPod, cellphone, DVR or laptop:
I think I could do fine without any of them.
Childhood hero:
Abraham Lincoln and Disney’s “Davy Crockett.” Lincoln still sits on the pedestal, and I probably had a crush on Fess Parker.
The best stage play or musical I’ve ever seen:
Not fair. Theater is so much about context and who you are at the time. But I saw the original production of “Equus” in London in 1974 with my theater-loving mother. Was so engrossed that it didn’t bother me to share a nude scene with my mother when nude scenes were still very novel. Closer to home, so many Pittsburgh Playwrights’ productions of August Wilson, and I was wowed by Point Park’s 2007 “Ragtime.”
Something I would do over if I could:
My farewell remarks at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh. I didn’t mention a beloved friend and colleague who was dying. I didn’t want to cry. Why did that matter?
Pick one: Pirates, Penguins, Steelers or other:
Pirates. When I was very young in NYC, there were Giants, Dodgers and Yankees. Must have made an impression! Plus, baseball lends itself to great writing and movies — and doesn’t shut down the cultural world the way football does.
My favorite Pittsburgh athlete:
Recently, Cutch or J-Hay. In the Killer B’s days: Doug Drabek, Bobby Bonilla and Andy Van Slyke — all of them!
Favorite lunchtime spot:
Carnegie’s where I lunch. In alpha order as I work here: Bob’s Diner, Cafe Delhi, Carnegie Coffee Company, Kasai, Papa J’s, Riley’s Pour House, Sunset Pizza. (And that leaves out some good ones.)
Top thing on my bucket list:
Not bucket list, but I’d just like to find time for a week of New York theater, with all the trimmings: restaurants, museums and shopping!
My favorite thing about Pittsburgh:
The terrain. I grew up on Long Island — flat. But I was born in Yonkers. Hills and rivers must be “womb topography.” I never tire of the view coming through the Fort Pitt Tunnel every night, and I love the old housing stock. And Pittsburgh has more cultural events and restaurants than I could ever get to. After 30-plus years, I feel very much at home, but still as though I’ve discovered something most people don’t know about.
Star I’d like to dance with on “Dancing With the Stars”:
Hugh Jackman. So tall, so charming. I bet he could make me feel graceful.
Three people I’d love to have dinner with:
Meryl Streep, Ann Patchett and Sonia Sotomayor
My most embarrassing junk food:
No matter how fancy the spread, if there are potato chips, I cannot resist.
When I was 10, I wanted to be:
A ballerina
Celebrity crush:
David Conrad. He delivered an impromptu and impassioned ode to the value of libraries — in the context of the “Carnegie Carnegie” — when he narrated Aaron Copland’s “A Lincoln Portrait” in 2010. And he’s talented, tall, a little gorgeous and somewhere between my daughter’s age and mine.
I’m deathly afraid of:
Claustrophobic situations give me the jitters.
The last book I read:
“Mr. Tiger Goes Wild,” “Little Elliot Big City” and “It’s Time for Bed Fred.” Guess who was visiting?
The first band I saw in concert:
Cat Stevens at Carnegie Hall (NYC). Carly Simon was the opening act.
Favorite Pittsburgh-area landmark:
Other than the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall, a designated landmark, I might say Allegheny Cemetery. It’s pastoral, full of historic monuments and located in the heart of hipster Lawrenceville.
Saturday mornings, you’ll find me:
At the JCC pool in Squirrel Hill, if I do what I intended the night before.
In high school, I was:
Totally a wallflower
The most famous person I ever became friends with:
I have wonderful friends, but none I would call famous. I did kiss Placido Domingo on his 70th birthday and once escorted Jonas Salk and his wife, Francoise Gilot, at an exhibit opening at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia.
The movie that always makes me cry:
“How Green Was My Valley”
My most treasured fashion accessory:
Earrings. I defied my parents to get my ears pierced at the advanced age of 18. They were very liberal politically, so I had to rebel against something.
What you’ll always find in my glove compartment:
Are glove compartments interesting?
My favorite Pittsburgh pizza:
Sunset Pizza in Carnegie and Mineo’s when closer to home
My quirkiest inherited trait:
No women in my family (grandmother to daughters) eat with a dinner fork. We think all food tastes better with a dessert fork.
My favorite sandwich, plus fixings:
Egg salad with bacon on whole-wheat toast. I actually think of sandwiches as comfort food and am drawn to ones that include bacon and avocado.
TV marathon I could watch all day:
Ordinarily, more than two episodes of anything make me feel like a wastrel. But I recently watched all of “Broadchurch” in one sitting, starting late and ending at 3:45 a.m.
In five years, I’d like to:
Be healthy, happy and wise
Movie I could watch every time it appears on cable:
“On the Waterfront” or “Meet Me in St. Louis”
My most memorable fashion mistake:
Leaving a gynecologist’s appointment unaware that my wrap-around skirt was “unwrapped.” Sauntering through downtown Washington, D.C., thinking people were staring because I was showing a little leg. Then discovering it was more like Hayley Mills with the back of her dress cut out in “The Parent Trap.”
If I could live my life as someone else, it would be:
I always thought it would be nice to be Natasha in St. Petersburg before the Revolution — and to look like Audrey Hepburn. I saw the movie before I read “War and Peace.”
My childhood nickname:
Mouse — go figure. I was 8 pounds, 9 ounces when I was born, so the name never fit.
My first job:
Besides baby sitting, a file clerk in the Registrar’s Office at Nassau Community College
My worst job:
File clerk at Registrar’s Office at Nassau Community College. My supervisor did not wear deodorant.
My favorite cable channel:
Turner Classic Movies
Life would be better without:
One end of the spectrum to the other: bigots and tunnel closings
I never travel without my:
Chanel No. 19 and several pairs of earrings
The oldest thing in my refrigerator:
Nail polish. Someone told me in high school that it keeps it from getting goopy.
People would be surprised to know that I:
When I was 12, I had a very serious kidney disease that was supposed to stunt my growth. Either it didn’t, or thank goodness!
Written by Alice T. Carter for TribLive