Sunday, July 27, 2025, 8:24AM | 
MENU
Advertisement
Squonk's new outdoor work, "Pneumatica," will be unveiled at Point State Park as part of the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival.
1
MORE

Squonk inflates its new show at Arts Festival

Squonk inflates its new show at Arts Festival

Squonk inflates its new show 'Pneumatica' at the Arts Festival

Back in 1958, a giant in lingerie rampaged through California in the cult classic "Attack of the 50 Foot Woman."

This weekend, the Three Rivers Arts Festival is party to an attack of a 40-foot woman, this one more benign.

Unless you're horrified by the sound of accordion.

Advertisement

The mad geniuses behind the inflatable blue Lady Pneumatica are the members of Pittsburgh-based performance troupe Squonk, which follows 2012's "GO Roadhouse" with its second premiere at TRAF.

The sun cooperated on Saturday, providing energy for Squonk Opera’s giant 
“Lady Pneumatica” piece at the Three Rivers Arts Festival in Point State Park.
Diana Nelson Jones
Squonk's arts festival gig powered by solar rays

"Pneumatica," running Friday through Sunday for seven performances, is a street theater piece "made of air, powered by air, and about air."

"Essentially," says Squonker Steve O'Hearn, " 'Pneumatica' was a work written by Heron of Alexandria 2,000 years ago, and he was the first guy who invented automata and he steam-powered to power them with different kinds of air power, which is all fluid dynamics ... tell me if I'm getting tedious."

Why, never. That's a job best left to Jackie Dempsey, his partner in crime for the past 20-plus years in Squonk (formerly Squonk Opera). When they sat down to devise a concept for the latest Squonk production, air came right to the surface.

Advertisement

"Our instinct when we go to create a new show is very zen: 'We're outside, what can be the theme or concept?' " Mr. O'Hearn says. "For us, it seems like a crucial time to think about our atmosphere and the air, and there's also all the wonderful poetic meanings of air. Because to us, it's generally 'nothing.' It's the 'nothing' between things. In fact, we now learn as a planet that it's a very important something."

Lady Pneumatica is the icon and set piece for a show without lyrics. ("We've always treated lyrics loosely and probably without a whole lot of respect," Mr. O'Hearn says.) Backed by guitarist David Wallace, bassist Nathan Wilson and drummer Kevin Kornicki, Ms. Dempsey will play "lungcordion," which will be the Lady's lungs, while Mr. O'Hearn works the electronic bagpipes, which he imported from Spain and believes to be the only set in America. Both, of course, are air-powered.

"We've always been intrigued by inflatables and air-driven things," he says. "Because we're primarily a touring group, inflation does give you a great way to do big things. And I'm not going to name any names, but there are a lot of big one-line jokes that are an inflatable thing."

(Take that, DUCK!)

"You see it and 10 seconds later, you take a photo and that's it, there's no interest. This entire show is based on things inflating and deflating. It is the act of air moving and air powering both volume and movement."

The show is not without technical challenges, says Mr. O'Hearn, as "there are combinations of things that cost thousands of dollars and a few cents each."

Squonk will take the show to Johnstown and Wheeling the following week and present it at about a dozen sites around Pittsburgh this summer, for free, along with workshops for kids on pneumatics. As is the business model, next summer Squonk will take it on tour, like "GO Roadhouse," which has been performed 100 times in 15 states.

In keeping with its festival format, "Pneumatica" is a fast-moving half-hour show.

"What we find at festivals is because of people's attention spans, and the nature of wanting people to move, short repeated shows are much more effective."

Performances are at Point State Park at 7 p.m. Friday; and noon, 2:30 and 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

Scott Mervis: smervis@post-gazette.com.

First Published: June 12, 2014, 4:00 a.m.

RELATED
SHOW COMMENTS (0)  
Join the Conversation
Commenting policy | How to Report Abuse
If you would like your comment to be considered for a published letter to the editor, please send it to letters@post-gazette.com. Letters must be under 250 words and may be edited for length and clarity.
Partners
Advertisement
A huge Canadian flag carried by a crowd in Montreal in 1995, before a referendum on Quecec’s independence. Dennis Jett suggests Pennsylvania do the same in reverse.
1
opinion
Dennis Jett: Pennsylvania should become part of Canada
New cornerback Jalen Ramsey (5) gets into position prior to a play during practice on the first day of Steelers Training Camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe Thursday, July 24, 2025.
2
sports
Steelers training camp observations: Jalen Ramsey-led defense comes out 'aggressive and angry'
Several houses are shown along N. Dallas Avenue near Penn Avenue in Point Breeze with “For Sale” signs in the front yard, Friday, March 21, 2025.
3
business
A cooling market and patient buyers are causing many Pittsburgh home sellers to cut their prices
4
news
Person dies after traffic stop in Westmoreland County
5
news
Flash flooding reported in Washington County
Squonk's new outdoor work, "Pneumatica," will be unveiled at Point State Park as part of the Dollar Bank Three Rivers Arts Festival.
Advertisement
LATEST ae
Advertisement
TOP
Email a Story