Pittsburgh City Paper: From April 7-17, City Theatre will present The Alchemist of Sharpsburg, described in a press release as a “live, interactive exploration of Candra, a Hindu-practicing, black metal-listening game enthusiast with multigenerational roots" in the community of Sharpsburg. The show is part of the People of Pittsburgh series created by RealTime Interventions artistic directors Molly Rice and Rusty Thelin, with Rice describing it as "theatrical portraits of extraordinary ordinary Pittsburghers."
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As a kid, I honestly did not really enjoy those pick-your-own-adventure books; I found the whole flipping to random pages to be a bit laborious and disruptive in my flow state when comprehending my reading. But I have a totally different perspective now. Interactive media has become more and more popular in recent times, whether that be in video games, film, or television. I am so fascinated by this element of control, especially in things that traditionally are not meant to bestow such a power upon the audience. Theater, in particular, definitely does not usually allow the audience to interfere or have any influential role in how the content or story plays out. But The Alchemist of Sharpsburg is exploring just that, which is so very interesting to me. It must be such a fun process for the cast and crew of the show to design a production that is always changing and unpredictable in how it plays out; I am very interested in seeing this play.
Reading this article of the show “the alchemist of Sharpsburg“ at the City Theatre really informed me of the story of an extraordinary ordinary Pittsburgher. As opposed to Iris, I always was a fan of this pick your own ending books because I lived the amount of autonomy that the viewer had in their own experience that as a result made them immersed into the work that they were consuming. The show centers around the story of “Candra, a Hindu-practicing, black metal listening game enthusiast with multigenerational roots” in the community of Sharpsburg, PA, not too far from where I live myself. I am interested to see how it specifically works to have the Audience members decide which way the show will go and which information will be shared about the subject. I wonder if they will do it with live voting. It is very interesting that the genre of this piece is the combination of a bio pic with a video game and I feel that it is a fun opportunity to meld mediums in a Theatrical space.
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