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Using nothing but magic, PianoFight has combined the four basic food groups of life – oyster farms, liquor, live performance and fire – to create Roughin’ It: Theater. Oysters. Campfire. Booze. This one-night-only event happening Saturday, August 27^th, 2011, features all-new, original material from local playwrights specifically penned for performance at the Tomales Bay Oyster Company in Point Reyes Station. Tickets include a round-trip shuttle ride (21+) from San Francisco to the serene water-side setting where audiences, who are encouraged to pack a picnic and to BYO-Libations, will enjoy dollar oysters, cold beer and award winning theater around a roaring campfire. Shuttles for PianoFight’s Roughin’ It depart San Francisco at 4:00pm for the 6:00pm show time. Tickets are $40 with the shuttle-ride – $20 tickets are also available for those who prefer to drive themselves or are under 21-years-old – and can be purchased here.

Capitalizing on its time without a home theater, Roughin’ It marks a new chapter in developing PianoFight’s cutting-edge, audience-interactive brand of theater, with site-tailored material in a novel location.  After completing a tour of California in May, the company makes its full-length Bay Area return with an elegantly rugged affair to remember. Whether it’s a boat dock, a hidden shack or a roaring campfire, the audience will be treated to a crass mermaid, techno-idiot Neanderthals, a ghostly love scene, a revelation-laden wedding ceremony and more as they move from one unique playing space to the next throughout the beachfront property.

The concept for Roughin’ It came about simply enough: during a boozey evening on a creative retreat to a Santa Cruz beach house, PianoFight company member Gabi Patacsil and co-founder Dan Williams treated the crew to an impromptu performance of William Bivins’ Grunion Run on the beach. With waves lapping at their feet and an appreciative audience of artists seated in the sand, the performance under the stars was lit only by cell phones and sparked the idea of staging work in the actual setting for which it was written.

Roughin’ It premieres new plays by locals William Bivins, Megan Cohen, Emily Meade and Christian Simonsen, and PianoFight company members Jed Goldstein, Nicole Hammersla and Emma Shelton – PianoFight’s riotous sketch-comedy crew Mission Control rounds out the writing team.  Directors for the project include PianoFight company members Christy Crowley, Gabi Patacsil, Andy Strong and Clint Winder.  Devin McNulty, Shelton and Rob Ready also direct and join Rachel Ferensowicz, Gray Roberge, and Meredith Terry on the production team.

The Tomales Bay Oyster Company, est. 1909, is located an hour north of the Golden Gate Bridge and has the unique distinction of being California’s oldest continuously run shellfish farm. TBOC specializes in fresh, farmed oysters as well as mussels and clams from the cool, clean waters of beautiful Tomales Bay. Picnic tables and BBQ’s are available on site for audience members to sit and enjoy the great oysters.

PiANOFiGHT LLC is an SF-based production and venue management company founded by Rob Ready and Dan Williams in the summer of 2007. Joined by Kevin Fink in 2009, PianoFight was a managing partner of the Off-Market Theaters until their close in 2011 and is now building a state of the art theater complex with a restaurant and bar in downtown San Francisco. In addition, PianoFight has developed an operation based out of Theater Asylum in Los Angeles headed up by Nina Harada and Jeremy Mascia. In four years, PianoFight has produced over 200 original short and full-length plays, created the largest audience-judged playwriting competition in the country, tackled a choose-your-own-adventure play series, recklessly invited audiences to Throw Rotten Veggies at the Actors Night, and garnered international critical acclaim all while staying true to its goal of producing New Work by New Artists.

Rob Ready and Meridith Terry in a still from "Kehoe Lake" by Emma Rose Shelton.

Rachel Ferensowicz and Devin McNulty in a play full of nasty business about killing folks off near lakes which will not actually be in the show.

Aerial view of the Tomales Bay Oyster Company

Posted August 10, 2011 at 1:38 pm