BETH CORNING | PHOTO COURTESY OF CORNINGWORKS / FRANK WALSH

At age 3, Beth Corning crashed an adult soirée sans pajamas (but with an upside-down wastebasket on her head) and garnered tremendous response as she wandered among the crowd.

She’s been performing — and creating — ever since. “I love performing for the sense of community it provides and the sense of interacting with people that I can’t get anywhere else in my life,” says Corning, the artistic director of CORNINGWORKS.

This month, the world premiere of “Stand By – an allegory,” a multidisciplinary exploration of life, mortality and never having to say you’re dead, lands at Carnegie Stage. The production is part of The Glue Factory Projects, CORNINGWORKS’ award-winning and best-known initiative. (It’s among the very few national and international organizations dedicated to harnessing the talents of artists over age 40.)

“What are we here for? If we treat death differently, would we live our lives differently?” ponders Corning, who is known for raising provocative questions that generate ruminations on topics steeped in the human condition — without offering answers.

CORNINGWORKS also “umbrellas” the site-specific Unexpected Exposure Series, launched in 2022, and national and international tours, including Corning’s solo performances; Corning also performs in The Glue Factory Projects.

“I’m honored by the people wanting to work with me — that’s huge,” says Corning, who has welcomed more than 90 artists to perform and/or collaborate. Among them: choreographer Donald Byrd, actress Françoise Fournier and director Dominique Serrand.

Corning chooses her artists based on individuality, attention to detail and the vibe they emit. Time constraints impact the rehearsal process, necessitating participants to understand, as she says, “this is how I work. No divas allowed. I used to actually have that in the contract, but stopped [including it] — and then I ran into a few,” she says.

Many recruits are longtime acquaintances or are recommended by them. Others, she spies in performance, including current “Stand By” collaborator and puppeteer Tom Lee, a master of Japanese Kuruma Ningyō (cart puppetry).

“After the show [in which Lee participated in 2023 at Point Park University], I ran down to the stage like a crazed fan and said, ‘Here’s my card,’” recalls Corning, who loves puppets and has incorporated puppetry into several previous works.

FROM CORNINGWORKS’ “STAND BY — AN ALLEGORY.” | PHOTO COURTESY OF CORNINGWORKS / FRANK WALSH

“This work is a real stretch for all the artists involved,” she says, noting Lee designed a 4-foot, hand-built puppet for “Stand By” and will perform with it. “The mix of disciplines really pushes each artist into a new area.”

For Corning, formal dance training led to university degrees, followed by solo tours stateside and abroad. In 1981, she established corning dances & company in Sweden and later relaunched it in Minneapolis, where it ran until 2003. Its rechristening as CORNINGWORKS in 2010 succeeded her 2003-2010 tenure as artistic director of Pittsburgh’s now-shuttered Dance Alloy Theater.

More than 20 Glue Factory Projects later, “It doesn’t get any easier. Every work is challenging. Just when you understand the game, the rules change — that’s part of this game.”

Multi-year funding has taken the edge off, but money is always a question mark.

“Innovative arts take time. It takes money to engage visionary artists to make it. You don’t just throw together stuff in a month,” she says.

Her penchant for “small” keeps CORNINGWORKS spare on overhead and accommodates her preference for intimate venues with limited seating. (“I like to hear the audience breathe,” she says.)

The memories are many, from an onstage cooking disaster during 2013’s “Remains” that necessitated impromptu improvisation to a hasty 2014 rehearsal for “Parallel Lives” during which a sofa’s wooden frame collapsed under the weight of choreography.

A slow-motion scene in 2023’s “The Fisherman, The Butterfly, Eve & Her Lover — A Parable” brought Corning to tears because of dancer/actor Evan Fisk’s unfaltering focus, precision and elegance while donning a pair of pants. “It was a stunning, humbling moment,” recalls Corning, who observed his performance before making her entrance in a blue trash bin.

While plans are in the works to tour with “Stand By,” details are under wraps for the Unexpected Exposure Series’ next pop-up event.

“My goal is to keep creating new work with extraordinary people,” and “for the audience to walk out of the theater thinking and feeling,” says Corning, who is waiting for the next topic to trigger her imagination.

Please stand by.