Squonk Opera Celebrates 20 Years with 20 Free Shows

One of Pittsburgh’s most creative groups of artists will be kicking off its summer season this week.

Squonk Opera is now celebrating its 20th anniversary with 20 free shows that kick off with the Three Rivers Arts Festival June 8 and extend throughout the summer.

Known for its outrageous, outlandish performances and extensive sets packed with color and creativity, Squonk Opera is taking the show on the road with “Go Roadshow,” a performance that can fit everything into a flatbed truck that unfolds into a stage.

“We love to do outdoor shows because anyone can come, and we kind of like the idea of random people showing up—it’s not always that they came to see Squonk Opera—they might be at the park walking the dog or with their kids and just see this wacky thing off in the distance and want to check it out,” said Jackie Dempsey, Squonk Opera's co-artistic director, pianist and composer. “It gets rid of the barriers of buying a ticket, what should I wear—it’s nice to mix it up with the outdoor shows.”

Dempsey is a 1984 graduate and has been honored as a Distringuished Alumni. She and her partner and band mate, David Wallace, currently live in Forest Hills.

The current production’s truck will be retrofitted with truck-horn calliope, a wall made of rotors and a spinning grand piano that is played while it wheels around. Each show will start with a shameless parade of peacock trumpets, spinning drums, accordion, sousaphone and glockenspiel.  

The outdoor show allows the crew to unpack and set up quickly. In past performances that Squonk Opera has toured with, the set up alone could take three days.

“We have never done this many shows in Pittsburgh in a season,” Dempsey said. “It really will have the feel that we pull up, unfold and just Squonk it out.”

She also said she is excited to celebrate the group’s anniversary here at home in Pittsburgh.

“When we first started we played bars and nightclubs so it sort of feels like going back to the beginning where you have several gigs in a month, show up, set up and play,” she said. “It has that kind of homey band feel for us as opposed to our other shows that are a little more formal.”

Throughout the last two decades, the band has grown, changed and evolved in many ways. A new singer will make her debut at the Go Roadshow premier. One constant has been the fact that Dempsey has worked with her co-artistic director, Steve O’Hearn, for 20 years.

“We’ve had people come and go over the years,” Dempsey said. “Band members and tech people have come and gone but we have a solid group right now and we have people who have been with us for 10 or 12 years.”

For Dempsey, the time has flown by.

“It’s hard to believe we have been working together for 20 years. It’s just what we do—we make work together—and we are just so grateful to have a great batch of people to make these shows with us.”

For more information, visit http://www.squonkopera.org/.

Squonk Opera’s GO Roadshow Summer 2012 Schedule

Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival
Presented by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust and sponsored by EQT Corporation
Downtown Pittsburgh, PA
June 8 – Evening show at 9:45 p.m.
June 9 – Daytime shows at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m., evening show at 9:45 p.m.
June 10 – Daytime time show at noon (parade starts in family area), evening show at 7:45 p.m.

Arsenal Park
Presented by Citiparks
Lawrenceville, PA
July 12 – Shows are between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Highland Park
Presented by Citiparks
Highland Park, PA
July 13 - Shows are between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Schenley Plaza
Presented by Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and sponsored by EQT Corporation
Oakland, PA
July 14  - Evening show at 8:45 p.m., daytime events TBD

Pittsburgh Public Schools Summer Dreamers Academy
Pittsburgh, PA
July 31, August 1, August 2 – Shows at noon & 12:30 p.m.

Mon County Fair
Sponsored by EQT Corporation
Morgantown, WV
August 11 – Times TBD

Schenley Plaza
Presented by Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy and sponsored by EQT Corporation
Oakland, PA
August 25 - Evening show at 8 p.m., daytime events TBD

Hays Recreational Area
Presented by the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation
Wilkinsburg, PA
August 26 – Show and tree planting at 1 p.m.

Community Food Bank Garden
Presented by the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation
Bellevue, PA
August 26 – Show and tree planting at 7 p.m.

A Fair in the Park
Presented by Citiparks
Mellon Park, Shadyside, PA
September 7 – Show time TBD

Storybook & Alphabet Trails
Presented by Citiparks
Frick Park, Regent Square, PA
September 8 – Show time TBD

A Fair in the Park
Presented by Citiparks
Mellon Park, Shadyside, PA
September 9 – Show time TBD

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