Thursday, May 8, 2014

Former Buhl Planetarium Staffer Creates Fringe Festival


(Image Source: http://www.pghfringe.org/ )

By Glenn A. Walsh
Reporting for SpaceWatchtower

Dan Stiker, a former employee of Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science (a.k.a. Buhl Science Center), has founded the first Pittsburgh Fringe Festival, which starts its second and last weekend May 8.

Like Fringe Festivals in other cities, the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival is an unjuried performing arts festival, with performances throughout the coming weekend in multiple venues in Shadyside and Oakland, generally along the Ellsworth Avenue corridor. According to their web site, "Fringe shows are on the fringe (pun intended) of mainstream theatre."

Twenty-two performances, from artists throughout the nation although many are local, are slated for the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival, supported in part by the Sprout Fund, which began May 2 and continues through Mothers' Day. Fringe works, which usually last less than an hour, consist of edgy, self-contained shows including one-person shows, storytelling, and puppetry, as well as traditional plays such as one inspired by Shakespeare.

Other American cities with Fringe Festivals include San Francisco, Philadelphia, New Orleans, and Washington, DC. The first Fringe Festival occurred in 1947 in Edinburgh, Scotland.

In addition to being Founder of the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival, Mr. Stiker serves as the Executive Artistic Director of the event. After graduating from North Hills High School and studying theater at Point Park University, Mr. Stiker worked as a performer, stage manager, and director with the popular The Beggars Group theater company, which played mainly "off-off Broadway houses" in New York City.

After returning to Pittsburgh, he co-founded Blankspace Arts, as well as working as an actor, director, and light designer for the Stage 62 theatrical troupe, which performs in the Music Hall of the Andrew Carnegie Free Library and Music Hall located at the corner of Broadway and Beechwood Avenue in Carnegie, Pennsylvania.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Mr. Stiker served as a Floor Aide at Buhl Science Center, where he presented science demonstrations to the public, as well as assisting in Buhl's Astronomical Observatory.

More on the Pittsburgh Fringe Festival ---

Official Web Site: Link >>> http://www.pghfringe.org/

Pittsburgh City Paper article:
Link >>> http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/dan-stiker-gives-pittsburgh-its-first-fringe-festival/Content?oid=1748005

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette article:
Link >>> http://www.post-gazette.com/ae/theater-dance/2014/04/30/Fringe-festival-adds-to-local-theater-options/stories/201404300040

WESA-FM 90.5 "Essential Pittsburgh" Radio Interview with Dan Stiker on 2014 May 7:
Link >>> http://wesa.fm/post/why-pittsburghs-theater-scene-ideal-fringe-festival

Source: Glenn A. Walsh, Reporting for SpaceWatchtower, a project of Friends of the Zeiss.

2014: 75th Year of Pittsburgh's Buhl Planetarium Historic Zeiss II Planetarium Projector at Pittsburgh's original Buhl Planetarium and Institute of Popular Science.


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gaw

Glenn A. Walsh, Project Director,
Friends of the Zeiss < http://buhlplanetarium.tripod.com/fotz/ >
Electronic Mail - < gawalsh@planetarium.cc >
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Author of History Web Sites on the Internet --
* Buhl Planetarium, Pittsburgh:
  < http://www.planetarium.cc >
* Adler Planetarium, Chicago:
  < http://adlerplanetarium.tripod.com >
* Astronomer, Educator, Optician John A. Brashear:
  < http://johnbrashear.tripod.com >
* Andrew Carnegie & Carnegie Libraries:
  < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >
* Civil War Museum of Andrew Carnegie Free Library:
  < http://garespypost.tripod.com >
* Duquesne Incline cable-car railway, Pittsburgh:
  < http://inclinedplane.tripod.com >
* Public Transit:
  < http://andrewcarnegie2.tripod.com/transit >

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