Tag: Film

“Bizarre tale of extreme disfunction in the backwoods with a Breaking Bad sense of dark humor…these women, while not dogs, do bite back.” – Adrian McCoy, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

“Riveting” – Bill O’Driscoll, Pittsburgh City Paper

On Friday May 27 at 7:30pm, enjoy a rare theatre screening of the first 5 episodes of the acclaimed web series DOG BYTES along with live performances by musicians featured in the series at The Oaks Theater.

DOG BYTES, produced entirely in the Pittsburgh region by Pittsburgh artists, has garnered a host of international/domestic awards and recognition.

Producers/actors Tammy Tsai and Adrienne Wehr, along with director/writer Melissa Martin will be on hand along with actor/musician John Gresh, and musicians Scotty Grill and Lonesome Bob at this special screening/concert that supports the production of the next season of DOG BYTES.

Be part of the crowd stirring to help fund this homegrown effort gone global! Advance tickets for this event are just $12 for auditorium seats and $15 for table seats. All tickets at the door the night of the event are $15. Doors open at 630pm and the show starts at 730pm. – See more at: here.

For more info on the series: click here.

For a Sneak Peek of the first season: click here.

Serpentine: an Alternate Reality Game Blurs Barrier Between Fantasy and Reality

Pittsburgh, PA – April 26th, 2016 – What if a theater experience did not have to end just because you left the venue? Beginning this May, Uncumber Theatrics’ latest creation Serpentine invites participants to become part of a five week story that will take them across Pittsburgh and down the proverbial rabbit hole.

Serpentine blends Pittsburgh’s real history with a touch of film noir magical realism to create a playground that is the city itself. Inspired by a true Pittsburgh cold case, patrons will begin their adventure in true film noir fashion — in the office of a private investigator.  What patrons discover within this office will launch them into a multi-week excursion that will have them chasing down informants, attending strange events, and searching both public spaces and internet sites for clues.

This character-driven Alternate Reality Game is part immersive theater and part scavenger hunt. Participants may delve as deeply or tread as lightly in the game as they see fit. Because the world of Serpentine is too complex for any one person to explore, collaboration becomes key. Each participant will be invited to join an online forum where they can compare notes and share information. But chose your allies carefully. Factions may emerge as this story heads towards an unknown conclusion. In the end, how this story plays out is entirely in the hands of its participants.  

“If you ever thought Pittsburgh might be a magical place, you don’t know how right you are,” says Creative Director and Story Creator Ayne Terceira, whose other immersive work includes serving as a cast member of immersive experience STRATA (Bricolage) and artistic director of fear experience The Basement (ScareHouse), as well as Uncumber’s previous fully sold-out runs Her Things, Prof. Eldritch’s Asylum for Uncanny & Extraordinary Women, and Mingled. “We have fused the living world of Serpentine with our own in order to highlight a few of Pittsburgh’s strange features. In the end, you may discover there was never really a difference between the two worlds at all.”

Serpentine’s five week story begins on May 19th. Participants can enter the game at any point during the first four weeks. For each participant, the experience begins with an appointment at Maat Investigations, located at an undisclosed office space in Pittsburgh’s Bloomfield neighborhood. Up to four participants can attend the initial office appointment at a time. Each initial office appointment lasts approximately 40 minutes, but the time spent in the game thereafter is up to each participant. Tickets can be purchased online at the Uncumber Theatrics website (www.uncumbertheatrics.com). This experience will be open to the public and is suitable for adults ages 21+.

Serpentine is the fifth production of Uncumber Theatrics, under the creative direction of Ayne Terceira and the technical direction of Aaron Tarnow (whose experience in innovative, site-specific theatre includes two seasons as the Technical Director of Quantum Theatre). Uncumber Theatrics’ mission is to push the limits of improvisational actors and improvisational techniques to create new and innovative theatrical work. The cast therefore is drawn heavily from Pittsburgh’s booming improvisational community.

PEACHES CHRIST AT THE 2015 REEL Q FILM FESTIVAL

by Mike “Buzz” Buzzelli, ‘Burgh Vivant.

Joshua Grannell is returning to Pittsburgh. Grannell who wrote and directed the horror/comedy, “All About Evil,” is flying in for a screening of the film for Reel Q’s 30^th Anniversary fundraiser on October 8 at the Harris Theater. Grannell was a film student at Penn State University almost twenty years ago. His senior thesis film, “Jizzmopper: A Love Story,” won the audience award at the annual Penn State Film Festival in 1996.

Grannell said, “I used to hang out in Pittsburgh. I used to watch screenings at the Beehive and I used to go to Pegasus. The Andy Warhol Museum was just opening when I left [May 15, 1994].”

The filmmaker is more commonly known by his on-stage persona, Peaches Christ, a character he first developed back in “Jizzmopper: A Love Story.”

Grannell said, “I was queer at a young age. I didn’t know I was gay, but I wasn’t interested in sports. I liked drama, theater and movies. I was always attracted to horror. I was obsessed with ‘Psycho.’” He added, “I was a sensitive boy, but I liked movies with dark subject matter.”

After graduating at Penn State, Grannell moved to San Francisco where Peaches Christ flourished. He began producing Midnight Mass, a midnight movie series. At Midnight Mass at the Bridge Theater in San Francisco, Peaches attracted a slew of special guest stars like Cassandra Peterson (“Elvira, Mistress of the Dark”), Mink Stole (“Desperate Living”), Tura Satana (“Faster Pussycat Kill Kill”) and John Waters (“Hairspray,” “Cry Baby,” “Pink Flamingos,” “Serial Mom” and more).

Mark Cuban (“Shark Tank”) took an interest in Peaches. In Midnight Mass’s tenth annual season, a six-part series, “Midnight Mass with your Hostess Peaches Christ” was filmed and televised on the HDnet Movie Channel produced by Cuban. Peaches went on to make appearances on VH1, AMC and IFC.

In 2007, the de Young Museum hosted a retrospective of Peaches Christ called, “Cattychism.” The exhibition featured artistic contributions inspired by Peaches, including ten years of iconic costumes.

But it was the connections that help launch “All About Evil.” Grannell said, “I became friends with people who were big inspirations to me.” The writer/director formed long-lasting friendships with Cassandra Peterson and Mink Stole.

He added, “We did a Midnight Mass with Mink Stole and screened ‘Desperate Living’ and she told me later that it was really important to her. She was always regarded as a member of the John Waters family, but at that screening she said, ‘I never received accolades without the others around.’ It was really special to her.”

Grannell said, “I was inspired by people like Cassandra Peterson.” There is a resemblance. Grannell hosts midnight movies, and Peterson hosted midnight movies as Elvira. Neither Grannell nor Peterson look like their personas without the hair and makeup.

The filmmaker was able to entice both Mink Stole and Cassandra Peterson to appear in “All About Evil.” The film winks at Bette Davis, Mae West and other movie stars. The movie stars Natasha Lyonne (“Orange is the New Black,” “But I’m a Cheerleader”) as a mousy librarian who inherits her father’s Movie Theater, but when she commits a grisly murder (inside a Bed, Bath and Beyond of all places) she becomes a horror genre sensation. Although the audience is unaware that the on screen murders are real.

At the Pittsburgh screening at the Harris Theater, 809 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh, the San Francisco filmmaker will host special performances by Vinsantos, Janet Granite and Bambi Deerest. Local drag diva Sharon Needles will introduce the event. After the movie, the celebration will continue down the block at There Ultra Lounge, 931 Liberty Avenue, Downtown Pittsburgh.

Grannell will spend a few days in Pittsburgh before heading to a special screening at his alma mater, Penn State.

Grannell added, “I’ve got a couple of days in Pittsburgh, and Sharon Needles has offered to take me around.”

Picture it, Peaches Christ and Sharon Needles out on the town. It’s going to be a wild weekend in the ‘Burgh.

For more information about the event, please click here.

-MB.