Precious Little and Circle Mirror Transformation

There are two great Pittsburgh premiere productions of new plays going on this month and I'm planning to see both of them, though I'm not sure when.

The first is Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation at Pittsburgh Public Theatre.  Aside from the fact that I love Jesse Berger's directing (from seeing his work with the Red Bull Theater in NY), the play is written by a young woman playwright who has been hailed by critics to be a voice of a new generation.  The play is set in a small Vermont town's community center and we watch six characters go through acting exercises.  This doesn't sound like the stuff of drama, but from what I hear Baker explores the minutiae of daily life in a quirky way.

Then there's Precious Little by Madeleine George (another exciting young female playwright) at City Theatre in the South Side.  All I know about this play is its about motherhood, language and a talking gorilla.  Sounds good to me.

And there's a "trailer" for it.  See below.

It seems to me that video trailers of play productions are popping up more and more as a marketing tool.  This one is actually the most interesting and cinematic I've seen of the bunch.  I remember that Theatre Schmeater in Seattle used to do these types of trailers and I know I've seen them done by other companies as well.

As far as marketing goes, it's pretty savvy.  We are a YouTube and Facebook generation.

And yet...I shudder when I see theater squeezed into that box frame.  I don't know why.

Will the trailer phenomena go away or will we see more theaters do this kind of marketing?

Pittsburgh is the new hollywood?

Well, not quite...

Despite Pittsburgh magazine's article this month (which is where that fun pic comes from), the sad truth is that only Hollywood is Hollywood.  

Let's face it, you do have a much higher chance of working in the movie biz if you live in L.A., just as if you really wanted to work as a country singer-songwriter, you go to Nashville.  

Or as I like to think of it, its hard to be an Alaskan crab fisherman in Utah. 

BUT...

It doesn't mean there aren't any opportunities outside of L.A.  In fact, there are many.  

I do believe that talent is rare and if they want you, really want you, it won't matter what zip code you call home.  Everyone in Hollywood is clamoring for a great script, so write a great script (assuming you can do that, which is probably one of the hardest things you really can do).

But speaking of opportunities...I was happy to discover that Pittsburgh has a growing film industry, due in no small part to the incentives instated a few years ago.  Last year, 2010, I think six major movies were shot in the area and in 2009, there were at least three shot here.  

There are also organizations that help promote Pittsburgh as a place to live and work in film and TV. Steeltown Entertainment Project exists to promote the film and media industry in Western PA, and there is also Pittsburgh Filmmakers.

(FYI, one really cool thing at the Steeltown site is their "list" which shows all the entertainment folks who came out of da burgh, including the well known Jeff Goldblum and Michael Keaton but also others ranging from Gene Kelly to Christina Aguilera.  I didn't know theatre performer Sutton Foster, or composer Stephen Flaherty were from here...take a look and be surprised.)

Last year, Steeltown started its Film Factory competition, where they offered $25,000 for a short screenplay that could be shot in Western PA. The deadline for the 2011 Film Factory Competition is tomorrow.  This time they're offering $30,000 to the winning 12 minute script.  There are a bunch of other events happening, as well, including workshops and panels with professionals in the industry.

For more info, check out this video:


Win Up To $30,000 To Make Your Short Film from Film Factory on Vimeo.


In December, I finished up my short screenplay and sent it off right before the end of the year.  I hadn't written anything for film in over a year, so I felt a little rusty, but after a few rewrites, the story and script seemed to come together.

What's really great is you can watch the short movies that were made last year.  They split the award between two films, one a comedy named Roll the Dice by Hustlebot and the other a dramatic piece called Anywhere but Here by Ross Thomas.  

The movies are definitely showing the city and people of the region in two totally different types of stories, which I'll write more about next time.

What I'm reading: Out of this Furnace & Pittsburgh in Stages

This past couple of weeks has been like “History Month” for me as far as reading goes. 

As some of you might already know, I moved to Pittsburgh from Seattle just over a month ago.  While it was sad to say goodbye to some of the amazing and talented people we met in the pacific northwest, it is nice to be back on the east coast, and a little bit closer to family.

(I've never lived in Pittsburgh before, or any place like it so now I'm going to chronicle that newcomer experience in a new blog called “I Speak Yinz Now”.  Check it out).

Having no knowledge or lay of the land is quite disorienting and so I’ve started reading some books that might help me get my bearing.  

First up, I read Thomas Bell’s book Out of this Furnace, which chronicles three different generations of immigrants who come to Braddock and end up working in the steel mills.  (Braddock is only a couple of miles from Pittsburgh proper and literally only a few miles from where I'm living now). Although the prose isn’t poetic and at times the reading can be dry and slow-going, this book does give you a feel for what it was like to come to this area a hundred years ago and try to survive.

What's also interesting is that some of the characters live in Homestead, just across the river, where there used to be a ton of steel mills.  Now there is the Waterfront, home to a huge shopping center which has all your standard stores like the Gap, Target, etc.  Some of the towering smoke stacks are still there, casting their shadows over the parking lots.

By the way, Braddock is now the focus of some infamous, and inspiring Levi’s commercials—check it out.

The other educational and helpful book I’ve read lately is Pittsburgh in Stages by Lynn Conner.  This takes the past hundred years and looks at theater and performances from the early days of Fort Pitt, to the burlesque shows of the 1920s on up to the more legit stages like the birth of the Pittsburgh Playhouse and the Pittsburgh Public Theater.  

Although at some points it definitely reads like a history book, it's chock full of great stories about theatre luminaries like Eleanora Duse and Lilly Langtry, as well as focusing on some of the well-known Pittsburghers, like renowned playwright August Wilson.

It’s essential reading for anyone wanting to know the theatrical context of this region.