‘Slasher’ satirizes scary movies stereotypes

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/slasher-satirizes-scary-movies-stereotypes/

‘Slasher’ satirizes scary movies stereotypes

“Slasher”

Oct. 29 – Nov. 7

Directed By Holly Thuma

Charity Randall Theatre (Stephen Foster Memorial)

$20-$25, $10 for students

www.play.pitt.edu or call 412-624-PLAY

30 tickets available for opening night through Pitt Arts, available first come, first serve

If you go to a movie theater, you’ll get one horror film. If you go to Pitt Repertory Theatre’s play “Slasher” you’ll see the guts of many of horror films splattered onto the stage.

“Slasher” takes a satirical twist on scary movie clichés. The stereotypical last girl standing has to face her fears after meeting with a cast of archetypes along the way, the villain is overplayed and melodramatic and there is enough fake blood to satisfy any horror flick’s gore quota.

The show by Allison Moore will take over the Charity Randall Theater in the Stephen Foster Memorial and literally bring the audience on stage, up close and personal with the bloody effects and the story, according to director Holly Thuma.

The play is not meant to parody specific movies so much as the genre as a whole, even though it specifically references a couple of films, including “Scream.”

“Basically, it’s about a young woman living in a single-mother home,” Thuma said about the show. “The mother is a raging feminist, furiously angry. The young woman is cast into a grade-B horror film by a director in town trying to make the film. He puts the ‘low’ in low budget, and is a recovering sexaholic and alcoholic. As she begins to work on the film her life becomes a horror film.”

When making the stage for “Slasher,” Thuma opted to make the theater represent a film set. The crew uses the set-up and lighting to give the entire theater a haunted house feeling in addition to making the audience feel as if they’re on a movie set with the main character.

The fake blood is rampant, but is supposed to play into the humor, Thuma said. This show is meant to be a satire, which means “Slasher” is a commentary as well as entertainment.

“Plays may just be entertaining, but some plays have meaning and are relevant to our lives,” Thuma said. “We usually try to pick a play with social, political or spiritual meaning and value. So this one has entertainment and is funny, but it bites.”

Deirdre O’Rourke, a Pitt graduate student and dramaturg for “Slasher,” assists in the look and feel of the show. She’s also examined the cultural implications the show has.

“There’s a lot of talk in this about the Texas Chainsaw Massacre, the slasher film stereotype and [the playwright] noticed an eroticization of females in culture,” O’Rourke said. “She wanted to explore these issues and how women are supposed to have autonomy in this culture. She wanted to tackle the issues in a fun, theatrical way.”

O’Rourke set up a discussion set to take place after the Nov. 7 show at 2 p.m. The audience will have a chance to join in a panel discussion put on by Pitt professors. The discussion brings people in from women’s studies and sociology, with the intention of discussing questions about feminism in history and today, especially within the context of the play.

“I think the play itself is in-depth, and we didn’t want that lost,” O’Rourke said. “It’s not to compliment the fun with something educational. The questions are there and it’s part of the fun. It’s purposely left the questions in the open because we all have a stake in the answer to them.”

The play itself is “high energy, fast paced, and theatrical” but doesn’t offer any definitive answers, O’Rourke said.

“I think it’s right after we have the experience we should think about what’s going on,” she said of the panel discussion. “It’s not as though we are placing these things on top of the play. They’re the heart of the play. Anyone who watches it will identify the connections.”

The aim overall is to speak to younger women specifically and urge them to examine themselves in another way.

“It’s our culture, right?” O’Rourke said.

Prime Stage Theatre puts twist on classic tale

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/prime-stage-theater-puts-twist-on-classic-tale/

Prime Stage Theatre puts twist on classic tale

“The Legend of Sleepy Hollow”

Oct. 30 through Nov. 7

Directed by Mark A. Calla

New Hazlett Theater, Allegheny Square E.

$20; $10 for college students with ID

Purchase at proartstickets.org or call 412-394-3353

Director Mark Calla wasn’t a fan of Washington Irving’s novel “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” but after some urging, he took on the job of directing an adaptation.

Under Calla’s direction, Prime Stage Theatre will put on its own version of “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.”

In its show, the story starts out in the present with children telling ghost stories, using flashbacks to tell Ichabod Crane’s story. After overlooking the material for the play, Calla was pleasantly surprised.

“The script is fairly true to the original,” he said. “The way we made [the play] is expanding on it. To make it playable on the stage as a play, not a retelling, was to try to create some greater depth to the main character.”

Calla and the playwright, F.J. Hartland, worked together to make Crane a history not found in the original material, explaining why the “goofy, oddball and quirky teacher” is the way he is, giving him reasons for his behavior.

Brian Czarniecki, who plays Crane, joined the talks to learn more about the expanded character.

“There are scenes with his parents and flashbacks to his childhood,” Czarniecki said. “It’s interesting to see the flashbacks ... There’s his childhood and his adult life in Sleepy Hollow. It’s a coddling mother and dominating father and how they formed who he is. When he’s the schoolmaster, he’s confident and educated. In real life, he might not have common sense and can be bullied still, especially when vying for the attention of Katrina.”

Of course, the Headless Horseman plays a key role, as well.

“Even in the story, he might exist or might not, yet he is a legendary figure, even to the people of the time,” Calla said. “He is the archetype of boogeyman stories. He is the thing in the dark that will grab you if you’re not careful. More than Crane, the Horseman made this story last.”

Calla made some adjustments for this adaptation of the show but wouldn’t reveal his tricks for bringing the Headless Horseman to life on stage.

“There is no way to describe what we do without giving something away,” Calla said. “I think what the script did is unique. I want people to experience it by seeing it and hearing it.”

Calla also put effort into giving the play an atmosphere rather than just a script. This is the only thing he would reveal about his method of dealing with the spooky character.

“One of the things that has always bothered me about stage versions is they become very talky,” Calla said. “There is almost no story to use to drive it in the original story. The original is about atmosphere. Putting a literal actor on stage has always fallen short. So I think something that we did was to create a Horseman in people’s minds instead of seeing a literal figure who we know is a costume.”

Not all the challenges in the play are character-related — some are purely physical.

“I think the biggest challenge for all of us is performing on a multi-level set,” Czarniecki said. “The set has platforms, and the set is going to be a cemetery, in different levels. We rehearse on a flat space, though, trying to imagine the different levels. We try to keep this in mind. There will be different obstacles on the real set.”

The people involved are excited to bring what they consider a seasonal folktale to the stage with the twist of their own additions.

“It’s a classic,” Czarniecki said. “It’s an American classic folktale. So many people know a version of this story. My mother reminded me that I saw an animated Disney film based on this years ago. A lot of kids have heard this story, just like the kids in the play. Going back to these folktales is always fun.”

Quantum takes leap with dream time

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/quantum-takes-leap-with-dream-time/

Quantum takes leap with dream time

“When The Rain Stops Falling”

Oct. 28 to Nov. 21

Directed by Martin Giles

Iron City Brewery, down Sassafras Street; map available on the brewery’s website

$30-$45

A limited number of $16 student tickets are available for select performances with valid ID.

http://www.quantumtheatre.com/season/rain/

In 90 minutes, Quantum Theater will take its audience through 90 years of two fictional families’ histories.

Known for taking theatrical shows out of a normal theater setting, Quantum Theater will present “When the Rain Stops Falling” by Andrew Bovell in a warehouse near the Iron City Brewery. It’s located in what director Martin Giles jokingly described as “some weird place down in the bowels of Bloomfield.”

Though he has acted with various groups in Pittsburgh, Giles came onto the project as a director because of the way he could visualize the show while reading the play’s script.

“I was reading it, and I was seeing it,” he said.

The show follows seven people and several generations from the 1950s through to the future of 2039. Two families pass down “the follies and pain of the previous generation to the next,” and they go through their lives, Giles said.

Even though the approach goes beyond ordinary theater, “When The Rain Stops Falling” itself is a very typical, beautiful play, he said.

“It’s not a bizarre, radical thing,” he said. “It’s beautiful and sad, and the ending is slightly uplifting because it says we can change if we become aware enough, and we’re kind enough.”

“The interesting thing is [the writer] makes everything happen at the same time,” Giles said. “He’s Australian and knows about dream time, the idea of how the past is always present. The generations of the family, you see their stories and how they overlap.”

This means that there are moments where the audience can see two moments in time at once and how one affects the other. The show also examines how the actions of the people affect the world overall.

“The other part of the idea is that what you do makes the world,” Giles said. “If we continue to behave badly and not treat each other well, we’re destroying the world. Every interpersonal reaction affects the world and its stability.”

The show is an interpersonal and global commentary rather than a political one, according to artistic director and Quantum Theater founder Karla Boos.

“The play is interesting for younger people,” Boos said. “There are amazing young characters who are at moments in their life where things could go one way or another. They can’t completely control their destiny since things with their ancestors come into play in their lives. It’s an interesting aspect: It’s community.

“You see how they are eventually able to move forward from a chain that seems present in their lives. Somebody in 2039 changes this course. The play ends on a wonderful note that’s about change.”

Giles has overseen construction of the set and taken part in the evolving vision of the show from the beginning. With Quantum Theater, the set of the play is as important as the show itself, Boos said.

“In general, we feel there’s something about how an audience experiences the play that is an active contributor to what they get from it,” Boos said. “So we choose the site that lets us use something specific for that experience. This play has two things. It has a personal story of a family over generations, and that’s huge the way any personal story is huge. And the play has ideas that have to do with the environment and how people relate to the planet. We wanted this play in a giant place so we could reference these issues.”

The facility offers the chance for large props and backgrounds as well as massive projections of night skies over the audience.

Running the show outside of a theater is not simple. The directors are in charge of simple things like heating, and as Pittsburgh gets chillier, it’s just one more thing to keep an eye on, Boos said.

“We wouldn’t do this if we didn’t believe in the art,” Boos said. “It is much more difficult and expensive than normal theater.”

On the other hand, after 20 years in this business, Boos describes the crew as veterans and experts in the craft.

“Now we know what the questions to ask are,” Boos said about setting up. “The first shows weren’t so ambitious. We once wouldn’t have dreamed of putting things like this on. But that’s the evolution of good artists.”

Anderson: a fortunate flutist

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/anderson-a-fortunate-flutist/

Anderson: a fortunate flutist

Ian Anderson

Carnegie Library of Homestead

Tuesday, 7 p.m.

510 East 10th Ave., Munhall, Pa.

$45-$55

412-462-3444

One of the things that separated Jethro Tull from other bands was its flutist, Ian Anderson.

Anderson’s North American tour will bring him to the Carnegie Library of Homestead’s Music Hall Tuesday evening.

The British singer and songwriter has played music for more than 40 years and has lived and performed through evolutionary periods of rock history, such as progressive, folk, electronic, hard and world. He played the flute in his own rock band, the groundbreaking Jethro Tull.

Today, Anderson continues to share his music — both his work as a frontman for Jethro Tull as well as acoustic and electronic pieces of his own.

Anderson can recall the “rhythmic pulse of syncopated swing music” from his childhood that impacted him and stayed with him throughout his career. While he went through a period of life when he played an electric guitar because it was “the sexy thing to do,” he was raised primarily on acoustic music and soon went back to his roots.

“I was 18 or 19 when I realized I wasn’t good at playing [the electric guitar], and Eric Clapton was,” Anderson said. “I started on the flute, and it happened to be the lucky choice of something good to play, and it got me noticed.”

Jethro Tull gained popularity as Anderson taught himself to play the flute. It was a different instrument from the norm, and as a result the band’s rock music was “not genre rock music” and still isn’t today. Anderson became the man who introduced the flute to rock music, as well as a self-described “unplugged musician in the rock band.”

“A part of me still reacts to electronic rock, but not to the point I want to play it for two hours,” Anderson said. “You can’t escape the fact that you have to keep moving into the current realism of technology in music. But there are acoustic values I’d hate to leave behind me. It’s my musical culture.”

Florian Opahle, who is playing electric and acoustic guitar with Anderson on this tour, met Anderson when he played in Germany in 2003 as an opening act for Jethro Tull. The two then coordinated and played together at two shows.

“From then on everything happened very quickly and, on the next Ian Anderson tour, I found myself on the roads of Italy touring with Ian. A dream had come true,” Opahle wrote in an e-mail.

Opahle never wanted to do anything except play music, and playing with Anderson is an enjoyable way for him to pursue what he loves.

“There are so many fantastic songs which I really enjoy [playing],” Opahle said. “I really like the arrangement, composition and mood of the tunes. I love playing these massive songs like ‘Thick As A Brick’ or ‘Budapest’ that keep you busy regarding the individual parts, switching from a quiet section to a rock one, from a folksy to a classical one. I think that is one of the major things. It is this beautiful variety of different musical styles.”

Opahle occasionally plays solo or collaborates with blues bands in Germany. Even though Anderson has released four solo albums, he’s never gone for a completely solo career — he enjoys the group performances more.

“Being [by] myself would be limiting,” Anderson said. “I’m used to having more colors on my musical palette and working with and bouncing off other music and personalities of musicians. I think that’s part of what makes music more fun to do. It’s the human contact that gives it another dimension or two or three.”

Technology today also allows Anderson to incorporate more influences into his ever-evolving style. He takes what he likes from anything from jazz to Indian flute players to classical violinists.

“I’m all ears, really, to enjoy what’s out there,” Anderson said. “It’s a big world we live in, and we have more access to do it these days.”

Just as with workers in any other career, after 40 years on the job, there are days when he wants to quit music.

“Usually on Mondays,” Anderson said. “But of course you get those feelings. Some days you’d rather be doing something else, like fishing or training to be an astronaut. It’s doing something else for the sake of it or a new challenge. But 24 hours later I wake up with renewed vigor and determination to achieve the things that are immediately in front of me.”

Pomegranates chart growth

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/pomegranates-chart-growth/

Pomegranates chart growth

Pomegranates, with supporting act Hot Garbage

Garfield Artworks

4931 Penn Ave.

Oct. 20, 8 p.m.

Tickets: $6

412-361-2262

Smashing Pumpkins, take note: At least one other band is bold enough to claim a fruit as its title.

Pomegranates, a Cincinnati-based act of college-aged men, adapted the name because it was “the idea that was least embarrassing” at the time, according to drummer Jacob Merritt.

“Pomegranates have a mythology and a cleansing process. The imagery fit our music,” Merritt said.

Pomegranates’ music, which Merritt described as dreamy pop, reflects the tastes of the individual band members, with heavy influence from groups like Pink Floyd and the Talking Heads.

Merritt and vocalist, guitarist and keyboard player Isaac Karns formed Pomegranates in 2007. As their old band separated, Merritt and Karns continued playing together, recruiting another vocalist and guitar player, Joey Cook. The group’s first recorded work, the EP Two Eyes came out four months later. Soon, the band was signed to Lujo Records.

By the time their first album, Everything is Alive, debuted in 2008, the members had settled into a new lifestyle, and a lineup change had brought vocalist and guitar player Daniel Lyon to the band. Lyon said he’d been involved in several other groups at the time, but the Pomegranates were refreshingly dedicated.

“In January I decided to come down again and start writing with them after a falling out with the other players [in other bands],” Lyon said. “This is definitely a lot more serious than any other project.”

Merritt has been involved with the music scene since he began playing in high school, finding pleasure in music composition.

“I like the idea of creating something that other people appreciate and somehow makes their lives better one way or another,” Merritt said.

Currently on the road, the band are releasing a third album, One of Us, at the end of October. The album makes frequent references to relationships back home.

“I think with this last album, everyone felt like it was mostly personal experience,” Lyon said. “I think a lot of beliefs come into this. I think there’s quite a number of love songs as a result of us having serious girlfriends.”

Karns, a member of the Pomegranates since its inception, noted that the band’s albums have become less story-based.

“On our last album [Everybody Come Out], we had a few songs we released we could tie together with a narrative,” he said. “In some ways it was easier to write because it was plotted out. Lyrically, we’d fit songs to the narrative.”

The Pomegranates’ third album, however, was not conceived with a blueprint of any sort. Though Karns sees the album as painting a clear portrait, any narrative listeners might infer is unintentional.

“As far as writing, that was a big difference,” he said. “We didn’t have a destination point with the new one. We just wrote. Last time we had a start and a finish and we filled in the blanks.”

Ever industrious, the band is already thinking about producing another album.

“We’ve written a song that we have yet to record and release, but we play at shows, that we’re happy with,” Karns said. “I think we’re all excited to write again. I think we’re always trying to write songs and not take long of a break. We may not use all the songs, but it keeps us going.”

When their tour ends, the members of Pomegranates will all return to day jobs in cafés and restaurants. Most of the members live in Ohio, with the exception of guitarist Joey Cook, who lives in Northern Kentucky.

“When we’re home between extended touring we have to work really hard,” Karns said. “When on the road it’s fun and rewarding, but it’s still hard work.”

Band life for Karns is “halfway between a career and a hobby” — it doesn’t pay the bills by itself. Karns has envisioned working on a farm or in a bookstore but doesn’t see these as “lucrative choices” that could ever replace music.

“I’m happy to do something that I love and share it with people even if it is hard work and not the best money,” Karns said. “I think we all agree it’s worth it.”

Oakland ‘most haunted’ ‘hood

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/oakland-most-haunted-hood/

Oakland ‘most haunted’ ‘hood

Haunted Pittsburgh: Haunted Tour Oakland

Sunday, Oct. 24

Tickets: $15 online at www.hauntedpittsburghtours.com or in person if not sold out.

Meet at: Hillman Library, 6 p.m.

Haunted Pittsburgh makes a bone-chilling claim: Oakland is the most haunted neighborhood in Pittsburgh.

“If you ask someone what is considered the most haunted [neighborhood], people think North Side,” said Michelle Smith, co-founder of Haunted Pittsburgh. “It has the big ghost stories. But we did research and Oakland seemed to have the most ghost stories in a small area. Almost every building or neighborhood seems to have a story attached to it, especially around Pitt.”

Haunted Pittsburgh is a local historical group with the aim of sharing local spirit lore by offering ghost walks, something the city previously lacked. The organization offers spooky tales through ghost walks, dinners and pub-crawls in various parts of the city. It usually offers tours primarily in areas such as Mt. Washington and South Side, but their discovery of Oakland and Pitt’s ghoul-filled buildings have brought them to this neighborhood.

Sean Collier of WDVE Morning Show and Pittsburgh Magazine will host the Oakland tours. The radio personality says he’s not surprised by the amount of ghost stories in Oakland.

“You’ll find a lot of stories associated with most colleges, especially those set in big buildings or dorms, just because there are so many people moving in and out frequently,” Collier said. “Stories are bound to shovel up.”

The Oakland tour will begin at Hillman Library and go to the Quad, the William Pitt Union, the Cathedral, the Carnegie Library, and the Frick Fine Arts building. Many Pitt students and staff use these buildings on a daily basis.

One of the more creepy stories involves the Carnegie Library. A city judge became fond of the building after it opened in 1895. But in the early 1900s, he went to the building to hang himself rather than to complete his work.

“No one knows why he did so,” Collier said. “Soon after he was found and removed, the staff reported seeing writing on the walls. But not at ground level. It was on the ceiling near the level of a hung man.”

The words were written in Latin, and when translated to English they read, “The judge is here.”

“Any library stack is creepy anyway,” Collier said. “It’s isolated. Now you worry you’ll run into a judge.”

Smith feels that people will want to know the creepy lore of buildings they go to everyday because they enjoy the adrenaline rush that comes from feeling scared. Ghost walks offer a safe environment to feel chills up the spine.

“It’s places people are at every day,” Collier said. “You’re in the Cathedral every day for class and it’s commonplace, but to look at it through these stories, it adds intrigue and mystery to what would be a normal place.”

Haunted Pittsburgh is not the same as a haunted house or other Halloween attraction because of its use of historical research and local testimony, according to Collier.

“On all of our tours, we have shorter stories and those from people in the area, as well as Pittsburgh history,” Collier said. “There’s also just a certain sense of reality. I love Halloween attractions, but this is a chance to hear a reportedly true ghost story and be at the place and in its presence. I think a tour like this is so much more real than Halloween attractions.”

Ghost stories might be set any time from the 1700s to as recently as the 1900s, depending on what the tour guides decide to use.

“A lot of our stories are very historic, but we have some new accounts as well,” Smith said. “We are careful using new stories because if there are recent deaths or hauntings, we don’t feel it’s appropriate to tell that story.”

At the end of the tour, though, Smith reminds everyone, believers and skeptics alike, that their job is to research and entertain, not investigate. Collier himself is skeptical of whether or not every element in a ghost story ever actually happened.

“We are not here to make you believe or disbelieve,” Smith said. “You’ll find the stories interesting and learn a bit of history.”

“These stories have survived and it’s an interesting folk tradition all on its own,” Collier said.

Cuban art speaks about taboo topics

Cuban art speaks about taboo topics

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/cuban-art-speaks-about-taboo-topics/

“Queloides: Race and Racism in Cuban Contemporary Art”

Curators: Alejandro de la Fuente and Elio Rodríguez Valdés

A collaboration of artists

The Mattress Factory

500 Sampsonia Way

(412) 231-3169

Alejandro de la Fuente wasn’t able to see the exhibition he curated, “Queloides: Race and Racism is Cuban Contemporary Art,” when it appeared in Havana earlier this year because he was banned from the country for using the word “racism” in the title.

“This is the first time in post-revolutionary Cuba the word ‘racism’ has appeared in the title of an exhibition,” Fuente explained. “I was banned from Cuba and from going to this exhibit because this is an uncomfortable issue in Cuba. It has been treated like a taboo. People have claimed there are no racial problems, so when you do an exhibit like this, you go against decades of official silence. That made some people unhappy. But they didn’t dare censor the exhibit, so it was shown.”

Fuente stayed informed through reports and was pleased that the exhibit in Havana was well attended despite a lack of press. News got out by word-of-mouth instead. For now, though, his ban remains in place.

Fortunately, Fuente will now have the opportunity to see the exhibit featuring the work of 12 Cuban artists. Currently in the Mattress Factory, it addresses the issues of racism and prejudice that the Cuban government denies exist.

Fuente, a University Center for International Studies research professor of history and Latin American Studies, and his co-curator, Cuban artist Elio Rodríguez Valdés, organized the exhibit together.

The title alone brings perspective to this exhibit, according to Fuente, who is a Cuban-American with family in both countries. “Queloides” are wound-induced scars. The title is meant to raise discussion of racial stereotypes within the Cuban culture, as well as the process of healing from traumatic racism and discrimination.

“Most people don’t know this word because it’s a medical term,” Fuente said. “It’s pathological scars created by wounds. In a sense the exhibit refers to social, cultural and personal scars racism creates.”

Fuente and his co-curator met in 2007, when Valdés was showing his own artwork at Frick Fine Arts. Fuente offered to help bring the already existing “Queloides” to America, enlisting the help of the Latin American Studies department at Pitt and contacting the Mattress Factory.

“Queloides” features multiple instillations from paintings to photographs to sculptures, as well as media-based artworks. Each artist brings a different perspective to the exhibit. For example, Valdés created one piece presenting a series of monstrous-looking beings.. Another piece portrays people as faceless and lacking in identity.

The Pittsburgh exhibit is larger than the exhibition which took place in Havana earlier this year.

“What brings the exhibit together is a common theme — the persistence of racism in Cuban society and by extension racism in the rest of the world,” Fuente said. “It invites people to think about racial stereotypes and prejudice.”

The racial problems in Cuba cannot be pinned down any more easily than a lot of racial problems in America, said Lindsay O’Leary, public relations and marketing manager at the Mattress Factory. The most noticeable sign of trouble is a lack of high-placed job positions for minorities in the tourism business. The difference, however, is that Americans talk about the problem. In Cuba, the government suppresses discussion of racism while claiming the existence of equality.

Since the 1990s, Cuban artists in particular have made it a goal to speak up, using their talent to deliver their messages.

“Art can evoke visceral reactions without words,” O’Leary said. “Even the image of the ... samurai with the sword, that was chosen by the entire group of artists to represent themselves. It’s an image off of a sculpture from 1440. It’s the whole picture is worth 1,000 words saying, without using words.””

The Mattress Factory staff has also treated this exhibit differently due to its controversial nature.

“We treat the artists exactly the same as far as the process, but there is a big story here about a bigger issue,” O’Leary said. “In the little world of the Mattress Factory, nothing has changed. But the fact that the curator used ‘race’ [in the title] and it’s stopping him from going home, is pretty ridiculous.”

“Queloides” actually follows a previous exhibit at the Mattress Factory featuring Cuban artwork in 2004, O’Leary said.

“At that time none of the artists could come up because of U.S. and Cuban relations,” she said. “It was difficult because we had to do everything by phone and fax to get the exhibit set up.”

Fuente knew about this and proposed that “Queloides” come to the Mattress Factory next, since it fits within the Mattress Factory’s progressive and controversial themes.

This time, all of the Cuban artists have been allowed into the States.

Pittsburgh Public Market offers eclectic selection

Pittsburgh Public Market offers eclectic selection

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/pittsburgh-public-market-offers-eclectic-selection/

Pittsburgh Public Market

Produce Terminal on 1212 Smallman St., between 16th and 17th streets

Friday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.; Saturday 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

pittsburghpublicmarket.org

Pittsburgh might have professional sports teams, great universities and vibrant neighborhoods, but until recently, it lacked one ingredient: a public market.

The new Pittsburgh Public Market attempts to fill this niche. Located within an old warehouse, it’s the first market of its kind in Pittsburgh since 1965, according to manager Cindy Cassell.

“This is Pittsburgh’s historic market district. We thought this was a nice complement to what the Strip offers,” Cassell said. “Most major cities have public markets. Other markets are found in old terminal-type buildings. The buildings lend themselves to the historic market concept.”

The team studied other public markets to see what amenities were often included. Cassell discovered that other markets were “often the hearts and souls of the community.”

“They were gathering places,” she said. “People enjoy that. There are great products. They’re supporting the local economy and agriculture. Markets are a wonderful way to showcase the best of what the region offers, because they do offer local products and local farms.”

The businesses featured in the market are locally owned and operated, although they sometimes include vendors from outside of Pittsburgh who have teamed up with local businesses, offering what Cassell deemed the “best [products] in the region.”

The Produce Terminal, where the market is located, is an old warehouse-like structure with plastered walls, an overhead roof and doors that are open or shut depending on the weather outside.

Visitors can stroll down aisle after aisle and from vendor to vendor. Cooking demonstrations or band performances take place in a corner near chairs and tables, keeping the energy and noise levels high.

The whole building is a collage of smells, from fresh fruits and baked bread to juicy ribs and greasy potatoes. People chit-chat between stands, and it isn’t uncommon to hear excited conversation about how a sample tastes.

The market features organic produce, a bakery, jewelry and a pet food and toy stand. There are also two Indian food vendors, which the Strip District formerly lacked, Cassell said.

“We approve things based on how the product adds diversity to the market as well as the entire Strip,” Cassell said.

Several featured vendors are new or had originally been based at home before coming to the market. Cassell said she hopes other businesses will follow suit.

One new business is Christopher’s Collages. Christopher Nix has set up a table and a backdrop displaying his artwork at the market.

He creates collages in which he turns a simple image outline, like the Steelers’ logo, into a collage of hundreds of small images that fill the main outline. He spends as long as a month coming up with a list of what he wants in the collage, based on what people think he should include.

“The goal of the drawing is to find something for everyone to kind of relate to,” he said. “People ask if something is in there, and no one has stumped me yet.”

For Nix, the work has therapeutic qualities.

“This is something I do at night as a creative outlet after being at work all day,” Nix, a civil engineer, said. “It started when I made a Steelers picture for my dad. People saw it and loved it.”

He opened the stand at the suggestion of some of his family members.

“I’m just seeing how this will work out, but I think this will be the incubator for a small business,” he said.

In addition to arts and crafts, there are produce stands, like the one hosted by Nathan Holmes from Clarion River Organics. His stall was filled with brightly colored fruits and vegetables, as well as meats, including goat and rabbit, and cheeses. Employees offered samples from a table covered with fruit seeds.

“We raise and make food in a way that’s better for the earth and healthier for people and makes them feel better after eating it,” Holmes said as he offered a cup of tomato and watermelon slices to a customer.

This is Clarion River Organics’ first stand in Pittsburgh. The company usually sells to places like Whole Foods but wants to have more direct interaction with customers, Holmes said. Moving to the market allows other benefits as well.

Cassell summed up the new market as an intriguing option for students and residents alike.

“There’s affordable fresh food,” Cassell said, mentioning that seasonal vendors will be available during the holidays. “We have music playing. We hope to have cultural dances and demos. We want to become part of this community. It’ll just be fun.”

‘Secretariat’ gallops to success

‘Secretariat’ gallops to success

http://pittnews.com/newsstory/secretariat-gallops-to-success/

“Secretariat”

Starring: Diane Lane, John Malkovich, Amanda Michalka

Director: Randall Wallace

Walt Disney Pictures/Mayhem Pictures

Grade: B

Horseracing fans, take heed: “Secretariat” is more than just a day at the races.

Disney’s newest film is a surprising tour-de-force, with an impressive combination of good acting and deft cinematography that brings a horse galloping down the track to life.

The film is based on the true story of Secretariat, a thoroughbred racehorse who in 1973 became the first Triple Crown champion in 25 years and set track records that still stand today.

The story begins before the racehorse’s birth, when its owner-to-be, Penny Chenery (Diane Lane), takes over her parents’ failing breeding farm upon the death of her mother. She tells her husband and children she’ll return home in a few days. Days, however, turn into weeks as she grows attached to the farm and feels obligated to solve its problems — despite her brother’s insistence to sell the entire property.

Soon, Chenery finds herself with a young colt the stable hands call Big Red, who has fostered a love for running early in life. A trainer named Lucien Laurin (John Malkovich), who has a fondness for odd clothing styles and just can’t retire, accompanies the horse.

At the same time her family is growing up and joining war protests without her, Chenery works hard to give Big Red, whose race name becomes Secretariat, a fighting chance to run his race.

The actors’ performances are quite strong throughout. For a film about a racehorse, the audience will be just as invested in the characters as the film’s myriad conflicts — conflicts which include keeping control of a breeding farm and letting go of past mistakes.

Lane presents Chenery as a powerful, free-willed housewife fighting for what she wants in both worlds — a compelling oddity given the male-dominated society she lives in. Malkovich brings most of the humor to the screen in his portrayal of an aging man with a curmudgeon attitude and an unusual sense of style.

The animals give their own laudable performances. Apparently a horse wrangler from “Seabiscuit” worked on this film, and he clearly has a talent for working with animals who seem to enjoy, in addition to racing down the track, prancing and posing for the camera.

The camerawork isn’t half bad, either. It’s impressive just how close the cameras get to these animals, especially considering horseracing has never been considered a safe sport. And if audiences don’t smile at a clumsy foal bumping into the camera — well, they just don’t know cute.

It’s actually hard to tell how many shots are of a real horse and how many required a prop for safety, so it’s safe to say the effects are decent, as well. Similarly, the clothing and sets create the sensation of fully inhabiting a different time and place.

The ending itself is perfect, as expected from a Disney film — but not just in terms of plot resolution. Watch the credits — the photos of real people and the surprise cameo ensure that this film sprints to the finish line.

Activism in Pittsburgh and the Movies

Something I have come to realize recently is that if I’m complaining that I’m bored, it’s not from a lack of things to do in my city as much as it is a lack of motivation in finding things to do on my part.

I say this because thanks to the efforts of a friend who wanted to provide volunteer opportunities every weekend to students here at Pitt, I’ve managed to get the names of some very cool volunteer organizations.

Last weekend in particular was exciting for me – a group of students and I took several busses to head to the North Side of Pittsburgh. Our task for the day? Volunteer with the Pittsburgh Project. Now, this non-profit is a pretty cool one with multiple volunteer opportunities throughout the year. You can do anything from tutoring to fixing houses.

Our job for the day would be urban farming. If you’re like me, you’re going, What?

I literally spent a day with other volunteers working in a baseball field that had been converted into a miniature farm. In a Sparknotes style summary: there are crops and flowers that are sold to local businesses as well as at a local farmer’s market. During the year locals are actually encouraged to take part in activities as well, in the hopes of keeping kids in particular from joining gangs or turning to drugs.

That, actually, was one spooky part of the experience. Being told that you’re in one of the most crime-ridden areas of Pittsburgh as you’re peacefully farming and weeding, surrounded by quiet roads, chirping birds, and at least ten species of insects? Honestly, I’m not sure how to describe that sensation.

The nice thing about this project was that it gave me the chance to work in the open air and to talk to a leader who was committed to making a difference long term, and going wherever he saw a problem – not just where he saw money to get out of the problem.

(For more info, go here: http://www.pittsburghproject.org/)

On the way back to campus, I actually got to thinking about what I was told and about how media often presents problems and non-profits. In particular, movies seem to manage to butcher attempts to tell an activism type of story more often than not. So, for today, I have three movies to mention that contributed – or didn’t – to an image of activism.

Blood Diamond – This 2006 drama film was, admittedly, just that: a drama film with an actor people love to watch because he entertains them (and hey: I like DeCaprio, too!). The title alone refers to a massive issue – diamonds mined in Africa and sold to provide the money that fuels wars and conflicts throughout the continent, while providing a profit to the warlords and to global companies.

I’m not saying this is a terrible movie – its brutal depictions have to be given credit. However, two things that bother me.

One, when a father notices his son among the armies, he convinces him to come home. I can say from my own activism experience, it’s not that simple. These children are kidnapped, brutalized, threatened to be killed if they ever leave, and are brainwashed – some to the point that if they aren’t surrounded by violence and blood, they get headaches.

Two: honestly, when did this movie do anything to convince us as Americans we can do anything from where we are in our lives?

I see this movie as pure entertainment. Maybe it raised some awareness on the issue, but considering it was a violent movie, it probably only reached a certain audience – and not necessarily one that cared enough to learn from it and make a difference. In fact, to prove this point: http://www.diamondvues.com/2006/12/blood_diamond_film_has_little.html

This movie’s activism impact gets a D in my book. Kudos to anyone who went against the majority in this case.

Take The Lead – Released the same year as Blood Diamond, this movie scores a little higher in my books. This movie acknowledges another true situation – high school students in New York struggling to make a living. Some live alone; some live with single parents or with sick parents who can’t maintain a job. Antonio Banderas plays a ballroom dance instructor, Pierre Dulaine, who offers to teach the children in detention ballroom dancing.

Needless to say, one thing that stands out in this movie is the contrasts. You have a well-to-do suit wearing instructor alongside teenagers living in the cheapest housing possible. Scenes cutting from one character to another in their personal lives reminds viewers exactly what these people are dealing with. If anything, it becomes touching to see these kids bonding as they continue to dance, eventually going on to a competition.

Pierre Dulaine in real life began Dancing Classrooms to help 5^th graders, giving young children support early in life rather than later. Take The Lead did in fact raise a decent bit of awareness and accelerated the expansion process for this project, so it accomplished much more than Blood Diamond. Still, I just can’t give this a stamp of approval above a B. Somehow to me I feel that the issues these children faced were glazed over. They were acknowledged but not explored, and the ending made it feel like their lives were fixed and perfect when in fact these issues never go away. This movie was a worthy attempt, but not the best.

Freedom Writers – There is a reason this movie makes my top ten favorites. Released a year after the other two films I mentioned, Freedom Writers got much deeper into the lives of the characters and what they faced during the gang wars in the 1990s. Death for these kids became mundane. Gang life was their only life, and one that was almost impossible to escape and continuously affected their studies. It took one teacher months to begin to reach her students, and the issues they faced never ended. Yet it still created a hopeful feeling among the dread and depression.

This movie gets brownie points for bringing in original students for cameos and using testimony from the original people to construct the story as closely to real as possible. Based on a true story may mean that some things have been fictionalized, but this is one movie that did this respectfully. The main plot points in this movie really did happen, and every one of them is emotional, inspiring, and humbling.

This film’s ending explains that a book with journal entries from the students was published and a community created to help re-create this classroom scenario to help other students. That, to me, sets this movie above the others. It used real words from real people to re-create true events. It acknowledged the depth of the issues these kids faced in gang life and dealing with racism. And it credited a non-profit that continues its work today. Its original style when dealing with a topic movies often butcher gets this film an A and a link shout-out: http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/

Of course, as always, you’re not required to agree with me; only to give everything a fair chance. In this case, just remember: a movie, even the good ones, can only educate you so much. It’s always worth getting out there to do your own research and some volunteering of your own.