Loti Falk Gaffney

The Pittsburgh Civic Playhouse was founded in 1933. A committee of Richard S. Rauh, Helen Wayne, Leon Falk Jr. and Charles Rosenbloom re-organized the group into the non-profit Pittsburgh Playhouse in late 1934.[6][7] The Pittsburgh Playhouse became a successful community theater for many years.

By the mid 1960s the Pittsburgh Playhouse was in crisis. After a failed move to a professional theater company with the American Conservatory Theater, attendance and subscriptions had dropped off significantly and the ambitious seasons had increased expenses and driven away corporate support, leaving the Playhouse in a tenuous financial position by December 1966.[8] Loti Falk and Theodore Hazlett Jr. led a successful emergency effort to raise $300,000 in order for the 1966-1967 Playhouse season to continue.[9][8]

Mrs. Falk Gaffney is best known for elevating Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre from its beginnings in 1969 as an affiliate of Point Park College, where Nicolas Petrov had started the dance department the previous year.[10][11]

As a part of the Playhouse fundraising efforts, Falk Gaffney lead a group of community leaders in planning a week of events to call attention to the crisis. She asked Nicholas Petrov, who taught ballet at the Playhouse, to assemble a performing group to take part in the events.[11] Petrov founded the dance department at Point Park College in 1968 and launched the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Petrov recruited Falk Gaffney to be president of the Board.[11]

Several times in the early 1970s, the Falk Family Trust and other connections of her husband Leon Falk Jr. made contributions to eliminate deficits and debts of the Ballet Theatre. By 1979 the company had over 5,000 subscribers and had significant corporate and foundation support.[11] Falk Gaffney resigned from the ballet company in 1987 after being a board member, chairwoman, president of the board and eventually executive director.[3]