NEW DOCUMENTARIES NOW PLAYING AT THE RANGOS GIANT CINEMA AND ONLINE VIA RANGOS AT HOME

Whether you're a moviegoer itching to get out of the house or one looking to add more titles to your at-home watch list, Carnegie Science Center's Rangos Giant Cinema has two amazing documentaries now showing that will immerse you in the action on its Certified Giant Screen, as well as new virtual offerings spanning the topics of music, education, and superheroes.

Now showing daily on-site at The Rangos Giant Cinema:

Humpback Whales
In a splashing, musical mix of stunning imagery, underwater splendor and scientific exploration, Humpback Whales asks the compelling question: What might life be like from a humpback’s point of view? Once feared as monsters, humpbacks were nearly driven to extinction 50 years ago, but today are making a slow but remarkable recovery. The film allows viewers to join a team of researchers as they unlock the secrets of the humpback and find out why humpbacks are the most acrobatic of all whales, why they sing their haunting songs, and why these intelligent, animals migrate up to 10,000 miles round-trip every year.

National Parks Adventure
National Parks Adventure is the ultimate off-trail adventure into the nation’s natural treasures. Soar over red rock canyons, hurtle down steep mountain peaks, and explore other-worldly realms found within America’s most legendary outdoor places. Filmed in more than 30 national parks across the country, this immersive film follows world-class mountaineer Conrad Anker, adventure photographer Max Lowe, and artist Rachel Pohl as they hike, climb, and explore their way across America’s spectacularly wild and beautiful places – including Yellowstone, Glacier National Park, Yosemite, and Arches – revealing a tapestry of natural wonders that will inspire the adventurer in all of us.

For your safety:
All shows are in 2D, to avoid the use of 3D glasses.
Seating is limited to a maximum of 24 people per show. It is almost like you are getting your own private screening in a 250-seat theater!
Seats and armrests are cleaned and sanitized between each show.
Tickets may be purchased online at the newly lowered educational film ticket price of $6 for Carnegie Museums of Pittsburgh Members and $7 for nonmembers.

For families looking to have a stay-at-home movie night, our Rangos at Home offerings include a variety of flicks available to rent online:

MARLEY
Available to rent online now
$12
Born into poverty in rural Jamaica, Bob Marley became a prophet for the world’s oppressed, preaching peace, love, and understanding with a universal language – song. On what would have been Marley’s seventy-fifth birthday, Oscar-winning filmmaker Kevin Macdonald combines unheard tracks, unseen footage, and intimate interviews to paint a definitive portrait of the legendary artist.

SamSam
Available to rent online now
$12
SamSam seems like he has it all: great family, great friends, and even his own flying saucer. But he’s still trying to find one thing that will make his life even better – actual superpowers. Thanks to Mega, a mysterious new student in school, SamSam’s about to find them – and learn what it really takes to fight monsters, and how many ways there are to be a hero.

Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind
Available to rent online
$9.99
Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind is an exploration of the career, music and influence of legendary Canadian musical icon, Gordon Lightfoot. With unprecedented access to the artist, the film takes audiences from high school auditoriums in straight-laced, small town Ontario in the 50s to the coffee houses of Yorkville and Greenwich Village in the ’60s, through Lightfoot’s turbulent, substance-fueled arena shows of the ’70s, and finally to the artist in present day.

Jazz on a Summer’s Day
Available to rent online beginning Fri., Aug. 14
$10
The 1959 classic Jazz on a Summer’s Day is considered one of the most extraordinary and possibly the first concert film ever made. Its sparkling new 4K restoration by IndieCollect, with color correction by Oskar Miarka, recently premiered at the 57th New York Film Festival with sold out shows. The film was named to the National Film Registry in 1999, and its restoration was funded by the National Film Preservation Board of the Library of Congress in time to celebrate the film’s 60th Anniversary. Filmed at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island and directed by world-renowned photographer, Bert Stern. Jazz on a Summer’s Day features intimate performances by an all-star line-up of musical legends including Louis Armstrong, Thelonius Monk, Gerry Mulligan, Anita O’Day, Chuck Berry, Dinah Washington, and closes with a beautiful rendition or The Lord’s Prayer by Mahalia Jackson at midnight to usher in Sunday morning.


Starting at Zero
Available to rent online beginning Fri., Aug. 14
$12
Starting at Zero explores the power of investing in high-quality early childhood education so that all children and families have the opportunity to attain the American Dream. It examines the latest developmental brain science to demonstrate how essential the earliest years of learning are to maximize human potential. The film brings together the voices of policymakers, educators, academics, business leaders, pediatricians, parents, and children. It features five current and past governors who are champions of early childhood education: Governors Steve Bullock of Montana, Kay Ivey of Alabama, and Ralph Northam of Virginia, as well as former Governors Jim Hunt of North Carolina, and Phil Bryant of Mississippi.

Friday Is International Beer Day

Beer is one of the oldest drinks the world has ever known, and international Beer Day gives fans worldwide just one more excuse to have a round on the first Friday in August.

The start of another weekend beckons us to put aside our work, set aside differences, and come together to celebrate our shared love of beer.

National Today — the internet's #1 authority on holidays — has some survey results you might find interesting.

The National Today data science team surveyed 2,000 Americans about everyone's favorite hoppy beverage and found that:

More than a third of people surveyed said that, when meeting friends at a bar, beer is the beverage of choice — this tops every other option!

67% of people surveyed claim to prefer domestic beer to its imported counterpart.

The top 5 states for beer lovers are Massachusetts, Missouri, Wisconsin, Oklahoma and Arizona.

When asked how much beer they drink per week, 34% said 2-4 bottles, 31% said one bottle, 18% said 5-9 bottles, 8% said 10-15 bottles, 5% said 21-30+ and 4% said 16-20 bottles.

Here is a link to the full survey: https://infogram.com/international-beer-day-1hxr4z9vzdv56yo

AWAACC Presents Youth Writers Camp | August 10th @11am

Are you ready for another great Youth Writer's Camp? Join Cameron Barnett for this 2 hour writing experience!

Youth Writers Camp curriculum addresses social justice issues during this current time while maintaining August Wilson’s literary legacy as a core objective. Youth Writers Camp focuses on creating a poetic monologue in the style and themes of Troy Maxson in Fences (or in imitation of other characters across Wilson’s plays). Time is allotted for discussions, readings, writing and share out! Please join us for another impactful writing experience with Cameron Barnett and the August Wilson African American Cultural Center  
Register Here 

 With your support, the August Wilson African American Cultural Center is poised to make great new strides in the ever-changing cultural landscape of our city; we can change the world locally and globally by establishing a place for all people to openly celebrate and gain greater understanding of the art of the African Diaspora. Your gift will make a difference.

Donate

CLOse Ups: Tune in Thursday at 5 pm!

Join  LIVE on Facebook or YouTube at 5 pm this Thursday for CLOse Ups, a behind-the-scenes chat show where we give you an inside look at all the CLO does!

Join Mark Fleischer for CLOse Ups: Back to School Edition as he chats with CLO alum and star of Disney's High School Musical: the Musical: the Series Joe Serafini and recent graduate of the CLO Academy Aaron Ventresca.

Joe Serafini recently graduated from the University of Michigan with a BFA in Musical Theater. He was featured as Seb in Disney's High School Musical: the Musical: the Series and you may recognize him from the Benedum Stage as Gavroche in LES MISERABLES, Michael Darling in PETER PAN, the title role in OLIVER!, Kurt in THE SOUND OF MUSIC and as Tiny Tim in A MUSICAL CHRISTMAS CAROL.

Aaron Ventresca is a recent graduate of the CLO Academy. He is planning to attend Princeton University this Fall. He appeared in the Teen Ensemble of GREASE in 2019 and performed in the CLO Academy productions of THE ADDAMS FAMILY and 9 to 5.

Can't make it for the livestream? No worries! We'll be posting all episodes to our website and YouTube page after they air.

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NEED HELP TUNING IN?

Click HERE to be directed to our Facebook page. Click HERE to be directed to YouTube.
Scroll down to find the post with a countdown until we go LIVE.
At 5 pm, click on the stream to start watching.
Have a question for one of the guests? Leave a comment and your question could be answered LIVE!
Give us a like, leave a comment and share with your friends!

Not able to watch LIVE? Click HERE to watch previous episodes.

Upcoming Episodes:
Thursday, August 20 at 5pm ET
Reunion Episode with the cast and creative team of SPAMILTON: An American Parody!

Stay tuned for more!

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Poem of the Week: "Apricot Jam" by Erin Hyatt

Apricot Jam
by Erin Hyatt

Here, it is always 1985.
There is spoiled chicken
salad on the patio furniture;
there are apricots 
rotting on the ground.
I sink my teeth into July,
and boil orange fruit to the bone
on a gasoline fire that stinks
like rust. Just down the road,
an old tractor hums back to life. 

Every few hours, a motorcycle
blows through town for whiskey 
and coke. I have met too many of 
these foreigners; these man-made
cowboys with wedding ring scars,
fumbling through a midnight ride,
thinking they’ve managed to hide
from God.

The pop machine melted
at the ice cream shop, so
we fill our mouths with
bruised apricot jam, dripping orange 
clots onto our knees. Somewhere,
a sunburned baby is playing with a 
hornet’s nest. Somewhere,
a broken bottle of Jack.
From where I sit,
I can hear the old church purr;
a single fan whirring over a 
George Strait song.

Copyright © 2020 by Erin Hyatt. Originally published in All Pittsburghers are Poets: Poem of the Week on August 4, 2020 by Sampsonia Way Magazine.

 Erin Hyatt is a recent graduate of Point Park University, in the heart of downtown Pittsburgh, earning a Bachelor's Degree in Theater Arts and English. 

This week's poem was edited by grace ge gilbert, Emerging Poet Laureate Finalist of Allegheny County. 













August Poetry Offerings at The Show Must Go On(line)

MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 7:00 pm
Cave Canem presents
Robin Coste Lewis & Frank X Walker

Register now for free.

New Online Exhibition Launches at Carnegie Museum of Art

On August 19, Carnegie Museum of Art (CMOA) will launch the second installment of its online exhibition series dedicated to the museum's film and video collection, which began in May 2020 with Rachel Rose: Lake Valley. This extension of the museum's curatorial program into the digital sphere offers a new channel for local and global audiences alike to experience time-based works previously only accessible in person.

This next iteration of the exhibition series will feature migration (empire) (2008), a twenty-four-minute video work by multidisciplinary artist Doug Aitken (American, b. 1968). The film was exhibited on the Museum of Art’s façade during Life on Mars: 55th Carnegie International in 2008. 

“We were thrilled with audiences’ reactions to and enjoyment of Rachel Rose: Lake Valley, which inaugurated a new platform for our artistic program,” says Eric Crosby, the museum’s Henry J. Heinz II Director. “Our online exhibitions allow us to expand access to our moving image collection and engage audiences in new and meaningful ways, no matter where they reside.”

 

Doug Aitken, migration (empire) (detail), 2008, single-channel video (color, sound), 24:28 minutes, production still; Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, A.W. Mellon Acquisition Endowment Fund, 2009.11. Courtesy of the artist; 303 Gallery, New York; Galerie Eva Presenhuber, Zurich; Victoria Miro Gallery, London; and Regen Projects, Los Angeles

In a series of vignettes, Aitken's migration (empire) documents wild North American migratory animals relocated from their natural habitats to vacant motel rooms. Whether it is a beaver swimming in a bathtub or a deer scavenging for food in a mini fridge, the animals engage with the constructed environments according to their feral instincts. These interactions, accompanied by footage of the built-up landscape, further exacerbate the palpable tensions between the natural environment and the mythologized idea of America.

"The work was filmed in roadside motel rooms across the United States, including those in and around Pittsburgh, symbolizing human mobility, progress, and westward expansion," explains exhibition curator Ashley McNelis. "The transitory spaces are interchangeable and do not provide a clear sense of place. The viewer, transported into alien but recognizable surroundings, is subtly asked to reflect upon our own species' infringement of the natural environment."

"With migration, I wanted to create a window into the modern landscape. I traveled across the country filming inside different hotel rooms documenting the landscape that we have created. A landscape of repetition. This landscape is a vast system of arteries, and veins, but what was there before? I wanted to look at a deeper history, an ecological history, integrating animal species that existed long before the modern world," says Doug Aitken. 

Doug Aitken: migration (empire) is accompanied by free online family-friendly educational activities that explore the themes of the work. On October 6, 7–8 p.m., families are invited to join a CMOA teaching artist for a free online drawing workshop. On August 19, 5:30 p.m., Aitken will be joined by Douglas Fogle, curator of Life on Mars: 55th Carnegie International, for a free live online conversation introduced by Ashley McNelis. The exhibition will also be accompanied by a photo essay by Leah Frances for the museum's award-winning online journal Storyboard.

Doug Aitken: migration (empire) is organized by curatorial assistant Ashley McNelis.

Mythburgh is back in a new (socially distanced) format!

Ghost Hunters in Quarantine

Mythburgh is back! Our site-specific series of short plays depicting the weird, epic, spooky, and awe-inspiring myths of Pittsburgh is returning in a new online format for the social distancing era. The Yinzer Scared ghost-hunting team is gathering for digital meetups, and you're invited! Over a season of ten episodes, we'll be catching up with the Mythburgh regulars and introducing you to exciting new characters and uniquely Pittsburgh stories.

First up: the Yinzer Scared team reunites for their first virtual meeting, but things have been a little awkward in the group since Geena's brother was killed by former Pittsburgh Playhouse ghost Clara (or so Geena believes).  But a new recruit to the team and a retelling of a classic Pittsburgh ghost story might be just what the group needs to shake off the quarantine blues!

Watch the Show Now

About Mythburgh:
Join Geena, Allison, Clara, and the entire Yinzer Scared team each month as Mythburgh brings site-specific stories to you at home, exploring the myths and legends that unite us as a city and investigating what makes us “Pittsburgh.”

Mythburgh finds inspiration in creepy, epic, weird, and uniquely Pittsburgh stories. Featuring a recurring cast of characters looking for ghosts, ghouls, and connection in a time of social distancing, Mythburgh is one monthly web conference you will actually look forward to.

About the First Episode:

Directed by Vince Ventura
Featuring Christopher Collier, Sara Ashley Fisher, Elizabeth Glyptis, and Brittany Tague

This episode is free of charge, but donations are gratefully accepted. All donations go directly to our artists. Click here to support our programming.

Watch the Show Now