Transcript
Tom Heath
Good morning. It’s a beautiful Sunday in the Old Pueblo, and you’re listening to Katy DT Tucson. Thank you for spending a part of your brunch, our with us on your downtown, Tucson Community sponsored a rock and roll radio station.
Tom Heath
This week, we’re going to speak with David Pike, the owner of The Screening Room. We talked about the importance of this community-focused theater and get a little insight into some Coming Attractions.
Tom Heath
Today is September 19th My name is Tom Heath, and you’re listening to Life along the streetcar
Tom Heath
Each and every Sunday. Our focus is on social, cultural and economic impacts. In Tucson’s Urban core. We shed light on hidden gems Everyone should know about from a mountain to you, Arizona and all stops in between. You get the inside track right here on 991 FM Streaming on Downtown Radio dot-org, Also available on your iPhone or your Android by getting our very own Downtown Radio Tucson app. And if you want to get us here on the show where it contact at Life along the streetcar dot-org, you can follow us on Facebook and Instagram. Our podcast is available just about anywhere Podcast can be found in concluding our website. Life along the streetcar dot-org. Well, today’s show is about the theater, And we’re going to start with the reopening of a theater in the urban District here. And it is the scoundrel and Scamp Theater, which is located at the Historic Y just off of Fourth Avenue. The dress is actually on Fifth Avenue. It’s right there on Fourth and University, and it’s and the Historic
Tom Heath
Y, the scoundrel and Scamp theater, its traditional theater facing the stage. It’s in the same building as the Rogue theater, Scoundrel and Scamp just opened up their first play of their 2122 season this week. And it is a Sci-Fi, a dark sci-fi comedy called Babel. It’s written by Jacqueline Goldfinger. And it tells the story of a couple having trouble getting pregnant in the lengths They go to in order to have a baby. And it raises the Specter of eugenics, Explores the societal value of a baby and asks us what we’re willing to risk for security and love that’s at That scoundrel and Scamp. Nice to see them back open. You can head over to the website for more information, ticket details, and they are covid Protocols and safety measures. Well, the theater is back, and there’s a downtown theater that really hasn’t gone away. It’s the screening room. It is on Congress. It has a long history with the Arizona International Film Festival. We’ve had members, and we’ve had some artists and a director
Tom Heath
who had a film at the Arizona International Film Festival, and talked about the importance of these events and having a theater like the screening room. So we reached out to David Pike a couple of weeks ago and had a phone conversation with him about his role in the theater and how he became the owner, And also wanted to talk about his underground Film Festival, which has just launched. So We did the interview. It hadn’t quite kicked off yet, but it did now. So we’ll talk to David about the the festival. Then you can head over the website for more details.
Tom Heath
David Pike are the owner of the screening room here in downtown Tucson and David welcome to to our show. Thanks for taking some time.
David Pike
Oh yeah, Thanks. Thanks for having me.
Tom Heath
So tell us a little bit about you. How does someone end up becoming the owner of a theater in a downtown
David Pike
area? Well, I mean, I honestly, I mean, basically, I have worked here at the theater since, like 2008 doing my film festival started doing years an underground film, People there. And then I got to know giulio, who is the He’s actually the he’s the landlord of building. And so basically, he he brought me into program for the theater between 2010 to 2013. I was head programmer here as programming. All the films that come curio is bringing many movies in I was doing certain things. So I got to do this Peter, pretty much inside now and then some He came in and took it over for a little while. And then, when the opportunity came again to basically, to come back to the theater and to actually run my business inside of it to, you know, open it up back to the public, you know, was shut down for a little while. I jumped on that opportunity very, very quickly. And yeah, and now I’m here several years later. So. So, yeah,
Tom Heath
well, in Julia, we should probably talk about him and his impact, because he’s been like, he’s been involved with like the Arizona National film festival. And so many things are in You son. Would you mind? Kind of just talking about the history of the screening room, and how that’s how that’s impacted. Our community?
David Pike
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. So Julia opened it and screw up in 1989 So yeah, I’d November 1989 was. He showed a short that I still have here. We played it for the 30th anniversary of the screening room in November, 20 19 So, yeah, he’s, he’s been doing the screening room for a very, very long time. It’s he opened it up. He, Yeah, he ran it. And then, yeah, He’s looking to pass the Baton more or less. So, yeah. So now I’m in here, and I’m running it. So, yeah. So
Tom Heath
it’s a quite the quite the Legacy in downtown. I think If you think everybody kind of knows right Where you
David Pike
are. Oh yeah. Oh, yeah, he and with this Festival, the Arizona National Film Festival is the longest-running film festival in Arizona. So yeah, his Festival is longest-running film festival in Arizona. So yeah, that’s that’s quite the feat. It’s quite the thing, and they’re celebrating Their 30th Anniversary next year. Wow. So yeah, 30 years of there’s International Film festival’s? Yeah. So we did interview one
Tom Heath
of the directors. I can’t remember his name, but I’ll look it up. He was from Dublin, and he had been coming to Tucson for years. And this was one of his favorite film festivals. And I’ve, oh yeah, I’ve gotten that from others. I don’t. I don’t think people fully realize how how broad and diverse the International Film Festival Is that that typically runs for what, like a week?
David Pike
Yeah, For the I think about a week And a half, maybe almost pretty much almost two weeks. It runs. So Yeah, and it’s just that Festival has like so much energy. And I think that’s what people really kind of like. Filmmakers, A come to cat town. They, they grasped onto that that there’s so much energy and excitement, and they offer a lot to the filmmakers as far as like, you know, when they they come out and they travel, there’s not just like, oh, we’re playing the movie area, Whatever. See you later, Bye, They immerse themselves board the filmmakers, and then make the filmmakers really, really just, you know, comfortable here And want to come back, you know, so, so I think it’s a great Film Festival. So, yeah,
Tom Heath
let’s talk a little bit about the physical structure of the building, because it’s got undergone, I think, some Renovations. And I know you’re very proud of your neon sign That was that was done. Oh, yeah, but tell us a lot about the theater. It’s not you’re not. You’re stepping into a community theater. It’s a little bit different than when you go to some of these chain places. It’s not. That’s much more intimate at the screening room.
David Pike
It Is. It is I mean, the screaming room doesn’t just offer movies that offers much more from Comedy to even sketch comedy, where sketch comedy people utilize our screen to play their shorts During a lot of certain things. It does performances. People will just do a performance here. Sometimes it’s just, you know, it really kind of brings you together As far as like what this theater can do. It’s not just a movie theater, It’s a lot Or. And. And so, yeah, so film festivals come through here and tons and tons of different things always come through. People read it for private screenings and have fun and do birthday parties and marriage proposals. I even had a wedding here before, like covid kicked in. And so yeah, as people use the theater for many, many, many things. So yeah, I love it. I love
Tom Heath
it. And you have a you have a stage which is somewhat unique to, to the to the movie theater experience. Yes, I’ve seen music Events there. People have Gap music with really cool Graphics going on behind them on the screen.
David Pike
Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, We have a couple of ends up coming with that as well. Some he’s having a band play for their little mixer here in a few weeks. So, yeah. So, I mean, there’s there’s a lot. Yeah, This stage is something that, you know, people really kind of, you know, they like to be on. And the Acoustics in here are great. They can get on the stage, and you can just you don’t even need a microphone at the time. You could just literally kind of just Raise Your Voice up a little bit. And while everybody can hear you. So yeah. So it’s got great Six and bands of informed her without even having like microphones and speakers plugged in, you know. So yeah. So it’s yeah,
Tom Heath
Definitely what about local artists? I’ve seen two films there One recently, I believe it’s called the last kiss. My hand. And then I saw one that Frank powers and Joe Foster created as a Christmas movie, but they they chose your theater to do their screening. Their initials Scanning is that, do you see a lot of our First of all? What is our local movie scene? Like? Do we have good movie directors? Good movie creators here? And are they using your space to get their word
David Pike
out? Yeah, Yeah, I mean, we, we have times we have great. I, like a lot of really great directors are here, and they’re always shooting. They’re always making new shorts making new features that going out and a lot of them Premier here Like. So yeah, they Premier, their films here Have real Tucson That happens. The second Friday of every month where we play shorts, people come in with their short films, and we’ll put them on the screen. The can’t be longer than I think. We kind of cut it off at 10 minutes. And so basically we will play or short for you, You can get on the stage and talk about it as well. Certain things like that. Then we also have certain people who will book a local shorts time. You had that. I think the end of July Somebody came in and booked about six local short Eames the play back to back with filmmakers presents. So it’s, yeah, I mean, this is a good, a good space for filmmakers to see their films on the big screen to kind of see the audience reactions as far as like,
David Pike
how, you know, they’re their movies are doing to an audience and how, you know, cetera cetera. So yeah. So
Tom Heath
yeah, it’s kind of weird, but I really thought about that. Of course, you can see how it looks on your on your computer. But how transpose it to the big screen is a little bit challenging. And with a theater like yours. Many do you see in there
David Pike
94 seats
Tom Heath
sensation? So you can have an intimate showing and get a good sense of what that audience reaction would be. That’s that’s that’s really
David Pike
cool. Oh yeah, it’s definitely good Place. A lot of lot of times, people will come in and they’ll make it Third change their short films and will come in and play it for the real Tucson crowd. And, you know, you know, kind of see the reaction from that, you know. And so it’s kind of a good place to kind of hone your skills a little bit. So. So,
Tom Heath
yeah. And of course, you got that fabulous popcorn, but you also Also you serve beer at your theater. Correct? Yes, you
David Pike
do. Yeah. Oh yeah, we all on drafts are draft is entirely made of local breweries. We’re adding a couple more Taps to get six total and all be from different breweries throughout Tucson. And so, yeah, we like to, you know, help them out as much as possible, and we as well, we have beer wine, etc. Etc. So yeah. So really,
Tom Heath
cool night, I definitely want to talk about, because we were airing this here in September 19th So we’re in the midst of your First Watch. I want to talk about, but on the building itself, you talk about people renting it out. So if you’ve got an event, you’ve got something that you want to showcase. You need a space I know from the downtown Tucson partnership we held some presentations are not movies, but presentations. You can rent that space out, and and you help them with their audio visual needs to,
David Pike
oh, yeah. Oh, yeah, definitely, definitely. Yeah, we’re set up. We’re very tech Savvy here. We’re set up in many different ways here We can pretty much almost do anything. So yeah, I mean, there’s There’s really nothing We have been stumped on. So, yeah, so there’s been basically, we can do presentations. We could do many, many different things. There was, what was it called? The real Like it was called morning. Something was happening here every so often, where they have a guest speaker. A creative man. Yeah, that was happening here several times. They have guest speakers and utilize our screen. So yeah. So, basically, and that was a presentation. So yeah. So. So, yeah, we’re totally us that up for lots and lots of different things.
Tom Heath
If you want to feel like a big shot, you know, put your little home movies out there, Get your your family and friends to come downtown for an evening. And you Premiere your your Creations down there. It’s a really it’s a fun intimate experience. I’ve certainly enjoyed many different iterations of that theater, and how that helps been versatile and and used. We are talking with David pikeys, the owner of the screening room. We’ve kind of heard a little bit about the History of the theater, How David became involved in the owner and it about the importance of the theater in our community. After the break, We’re going to learn about the underground Film Festival, which has kicked off and underway right Now. First of all, I want to remind you that you’re listening to Life along the streetcar in downtown radio 981 FM and available for streaming on Downtown Radio dot-org.
Tom Heath
Now we are back to finish up our interview with David Pike of the screening room and understand a little bit more about the underground Film Festival As a reminder. When we did this recording, it was prior to the announcement of the actual line up. And we’ll talk about that lineup after this interview. But right now, your baby, the Arizona underground Film Festival that tell me about this, the history, how long it’s been going on? What? What do people expect When they come? Come See
David Pike
you? Yeah, It’s
Tom Heath
Little
David Pike
different than other film festivals. As far as like it started in. I’ve always been a big fan of movies that are just different. You know, it’s just movies that are due to either break the mold, go outside the box. If you ever seen weekend, which is a French film, It’s like it’s kinda movies like that. They’re just a little little. It can be well out there. There’s I mean, it’s it goes a little bit more on the experimental film rat a little bit. Not entirely though There’s, There’s some excellent, excellent short films this year that are playing, and I kind of sprinkle them throughout the kind of shorts and short
Tom Heath
blocks. Are they all shorts? Or are they full length?
David Pike
No, No, there’s, there’s features, their shorts. It’s a 10-day scheduled movies. So it’s Arizona grams of pretty pretty big thing. 60 shorts in general are snaps, t-shirts, 60 films and all we have for shorts, blocks and several features. What about every print, Much every day for 10 days
Tom Heath
and for novices like myself, What’s what defines a short? Obviously, it’s a shorter version, but what’s the. Genre, What is it defined by?
David Pike
So yeah, short, basically is, you know, it could be really here’s underground Film Festival could be really any sort of genre. We do animation. We have like tons of different things in there, But a short, usually under 45 minutes is considered a short. So yeah, so somebody submitted a half hour short or 20 minute, or in 40 minutes. Those are all considered short films. We don’t put them as far as like a A feature features are usually 45 minutes and up, Usually the from the most part. It’s usually 60 Minutes enough for a future. There’s always that kind of weird space between 45 minutes and an hour that you sometimes don’t know how to program. A really good movie, Like I don’t know how to program this one, but we always find room if it’s if it’s just if it needs to be seen, if it’s just something so great. But yeah, it’s going back a little bit. There’s of underground Film Fest will actually start in 2008. It’s going to be celebrating its 15th year Next year. So right now, we’re in the fourteenth
David Pike
year. It’s spread out to a few different areas. We spread out the Phoenix a little bit here and there. And we’ve, you know, always remained in Tucson. But but, yeah, it’s, it’s kind of grown is one of the bigger underground film festivals in the world. So yeah, as which you know, there is a lot of underground film festival’s out there. There’s, you know, from Boston to Chicago to like, you know, everybody’s got, you know. But yeah, we’re, yeah, we’re a little bit bigger As far as, like, how many films? Exactly? So.
Tom Heath
So the Arizona underground Film Festival that is not just films from Arizona artist. That’s you’re talking about a larger community of
David Pike
submission. Yeah, This is this is from all over the world. Yeah, we have movies from Japan. We got movies, tremble, United Kingdom Australia, the Australian movies in there. So yeah, this is movies from all over the world as why we use the Arizona’s, because this is where it takes places. It takes place in Arizona. That’s so we. So basically we, that’s why we kind of expand a little bit Phoenix here in there. We might do some showings in our busy sometimes soon. And so, yeah, we were arizona-based. But yeah, but we played movies from
Tom Heath
everywhere. Okay? So the film festival itself, although you’re hosting it at the screening room, It might be playing another other places across the state.
David Pike
And kiai. Yeah, we’re in talks to kind of just basically have a screening or two here and there just kind of expand the name of it and see what happens. See if people, you know, Want to check it out. Want to support this? Yeah. So, some great independent movies
Tom Heath
like a filmmaker. Then they, they, they submit their work, right? It’s not just like there’s a selection process for how Guess that’s how a film goes through. And you have a like a committee that evaluates that. And so these artists will submit across the world to different film festivals and hope to get accepted. And they a lot of them come to the to see it play, don’t they?
David Pike
Yeah, a lot of them do come out to the phone’s off Every year. Yeah. And we are very, very happy when they do so, yeah, because we get to meet him. We get to talk to him, you know, there’s qas, but then there’s a lot of different things around with them. It’s just it’s great when they come out, See how? So we’re hoping this year that we do get a few out. We do understand, you know, covid and etc. Etc. There’s a few filmmakers that just were like, no, I wish I could. I can’t. But you know, we’re taking all the precautions. Obviously, we have masks and sanitizer, and we’re doing, You know, what We can As far as any other normal theater into songs doing, you know, but, you know, if they do want to come out and, you know, talk about their movie, whatever the filmmakers, you know, he’s got them fly out from many different places all over, you know, the country and parts of the world. So yeah. So, but yeah,
Tom Heath
we’ll see this year. Have you gone to the technology where you can like Skype them in, or zoom them in to talk to the audience Is that Yes,
David Pike
Yes, to the year’s International Film Festival has done that. We as Arizona Grand have not done that. We’re basically looking at doing intros, recorded intros For the filmmakers. And so a lot of filmmakers are going to be doing that. Some filmmakers you might end up doing the Skype, or we’re still kind of looking into that a little bit more. But but yeah, we’re going to we’re going to see what we can do. So
Tom Heath
just just for clarity, If you’re, if you’re listening to this, we recorded a couple weeks in advance of the film festival. So the fact that it’s ongoing right now, and we’re talking about what we’re going to fill, we might find out is because we we recorded before everything was finalized. So where do, where do people get information, or They find out about any of your the film festivals, or that stuff is just your website. The screening room.
David Pike
Yes, In the screening room scr to saloncom or screening Room downtowncom, and I’ll take you there. There should be a listing of what’s going on throughout September a little bit, Hopefully in October by now. And then, basically, there will be a link to go directly to find out the movies for the Arizona Ground. Some, I hope that there will be some up. And then, basically, if you Good directly, or just Google Arizona underground Film Festival Take you to the site directly. You can check out trailers, synopsis, scheduling, buy tickets. So, yeah, so definitely great place to check out and go to.
Tom Heath
Okay. Well, II know. And when I first time I went to the International Film Festival, I think it was at your recommendation, one of your staff, because I wasn’t exactly sure what I was going to like. So they said, see, the shorts get like, get go to one of the days where they’ve got a bunch of the shorts and get a feel for For that. And then you might. It might expand what you’re what you’re looking for. And it really did. There was some amazingly funny and intense features that were compiled compacted into, you know, 15 or 20 minute segment. You’re like, man, I wish I could. I wish this was a full length. I want to see what happens to these characters afterwards.
David Pike
Oh, yeah, Oh, yeah, sure, to the best, Like one of the shirts Like I Thursday, the the 23rd at 7:30 is we have several shorts blocks, but this is one of the shorts blocks that I just I just love. And I think everybody needs to come out and check out this short blocks on Thursday, the 23rd. And just, yeah, and it’ll kind of give you an understanding Exactly As far as the underground film festival in kind of what we are. And what we do it. A lot of their stuff is not all ages. So if you’re going to, you know, you know, make it a date night, cetera, et cetera. But yeah, I’ll leave the kids at home. A lot of the movies. The Arizona grounds a little is very adult. It doesn’t mean that there are you. No, you said of cetera, but they’re just they’re just not for kids. But yeah, and the, you know, people have funny, Love it. It’s always it’s some great films. So yeah. So,
Tom Heath
David, I appreciate what you’re doing. I think a theater like the screening room is so critical to a community. You give an outlet to people that might not find its otherwise and then not just from a filmmaking standpoint, but from a viewing standpoint. You know, we have a few theaters in Tucson that offer that Indie experience, but I don’t think there’s anything that offers The length that you know, the intention that the screening room does. So really appreciate that It’s a it’s here, And it’s in downtown, surrounded by all these fabulous restaurants, and you can probably make an evening of it, Grab a beer, some delicious popcorn, if I may say so. And yeah, yeah, definitely. And watch that will get people on our Instagram page and our Facebook page over to the screening rooms information. So you can check that out and write in the midst of the underground Film Festival. So this would be a great time if you are Thinking about going to the screening room to check it out. David, Any last
Tom Heath
thoughts before we wrap up?
David Pike
No, no, No, I’m just, yeah, it’s come out and support totally found. Definitely. Thank
Tom Heath
you. Absolutely. Well, thank you for your time, sir. Good luck. And I’m sure we’ll be talking to you soon. Thank you. That was a David Pike of the screening room. Nice to have him trying to get on the show a few times, But he is a busy busy guy. So it’s nice to have him on. And, you know, as we talked about a couple times in their, the underground Film Festival was still forthcoming when he and I were chatting, but the full schedule is up. It started on Friday, The full schedules Up On A-Z uff dot. O– R– g– Arizona underground Film Festival, A Zu f F dot o– R– g– just to An idea later on today, They’ve got a VHS bizarre some trading going on there. That’s a free event. And then there are movies at 4:00 and 6:00 pm. And then there’s stuff throughout the week, Usually a feature followed by a short again will link to that on Facebook. But of course, you can find all of the information at a z UF F dot org, or just head over to the screening room. You can also get information there. Well,
Tom Heath
I would like to remind you that right now, you are listening to Life along the streetcar on Downtown Radio 991 FM and were available for streaming on Downtown Radio dot org. This podcast is sponsored by the mortgage guidance group and Nova Home Loans. If you enjoyed this podcast, keep listening or head over the Life along the streetcar dot-org for all of our past episodes, current events and things to do While visiting Tucson, Tom Heath and Among Us number 182 420 Nova Animal S number 308 7bk number 0 9 0 2 4 2 9 Equal Housing
David Pike
Opportunity.
Tom Heath
And I do encourage you to head over to our website, Downtown Radio dot-org, get your swag on. We talked about this many times on the show, But everyone here is a volunteer. Our show host, or DJ’s All the technical support is done by people that donate their time, the board of directors. Everyone is just doing this of a labor of love. So in money is made or donated. It really goes into the station to equipment, to the facility, to make the experience better for the listeners, Just celebrated Years of being a independently run Community rock and roll radio station here in Tucson Encourage you to support through your wallets that effort, because that’s really What keeps the programming on the air, the time from our DJ’s and our board and the money from our listeners. And if you have a business, consider underwriting. It is a way to get your word out to a very specific audience here in Tucson, Arizona. And if you’re listening, Being on the app, and, you know, we are broadcast around the globe.
Tom Heath
And Son of our DJ’s actually have a world wide audience. Well, coming up Next, we’ve got tense keywords and work. He is talks to writers and individuals of the labor movement. And you can hear him every week at the bottom of the hour to 11:30. And next week on our show, We got Zach you answer, who is a familiar voice on our show, had him on a range of topics, as he has a range of roles in our community. Next week, We’re going to come out Housing, affordable housing, what That means for a broad spectrum of folks. And what is some of the challenges to that? And some actual opportunities that the city is considering? So that’ll be next week with as a cancer right here on down town. A radio. Well, in honor of Our Guest today from the screening room, I’m going to leave you with a some music from 1973 It’s an album called the plan. The group is the Osmonds, and the song is movie. Man. I hope you have a great week and put it next Sunday for more Life along the streetcar.
