Squonk Opera is, from left, David Wallace, Kevin Kornicki, Christina Acosta, Steve O'Hearn, Jackie Dempsey and Nathan Wilson. Click photo for larger image. 'Squonk Opera's 'Pittsburgh: The Opera' Where: Kelly-Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Ave., East Liberty. When: 8 p.m. today through Saturday, 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets: Free for Pittsburgh Roars pass holders, $5 for the people from Pittsburgh, $30 for the people from Cleveland, $50 for the people from Seattle. 412-372-4263.

Squonk Opera is back on Broadway. Sort of.

Six years after the Pittsburgh performance group "squonked" at a short but groundbreaking and award-winning run at New York's Helen Hayes Theatre, it has set up a new storefront office-workshop-warehouse on the main drag of sleepy, post-industrial Pitcairn. The legionnaires from a few doors up Broadway street must wonder about their new neighbors and the crooked page taped to the glass door reading "Squonk Opera."

Inside, giant hands and heads -- props from past shows -- await recycling, and a circular saw screams through new set pieces under construction. Hanging on the wall are the bogus autographed celebrity portraits that lined the lobby during the Broadway run: "You don't bring me egg salad anymore -- Neil Diamond."

But the performance art troupe that thinks it's a band (or is it the other way around?) is now three major works and several smaller projects beyond the New York City hubbub. Its new piece, "Pittsburgh: The Opera," attempts to illustrate the unique characteristics of yinz guys n'at, while suggesting that despite five -- count 'em, five! -- Super Bowl rings, Pittsburghers aren't so different from everyone else. The tongue-in-cheek press release refers to "that gray area between patriotism and xenophobia" and promises "tawdry aural and visual trickery." More importantly, perhaps, the new show is specifically designed to adapt on the road to the cultural anomalies of each city it plays.

Interviewing head Squonkers Jackie Dempsey and Steve O'Hearn is a fun mix of cultural anthropology, expressive creativity, market analysis, cautious optimism, blanket insecurity and sandbox playfulness. They slump at two computers that identify the office portion of the room, and the tape recorder clicks on ...

"Pittsburgh: The Opera." Of course you mean "opera" in the Squonk sense of the word, but what's the show about?

O'Hearn: It's about being a Pittsburgher and dealing with the issue of civic pride and making fun of those kind of events, like Steeler Fever -- that we need a sports event to unite us as a people. But it's also about the truth that, of course, Pittsburghers aren't that different than Clevelanders.

Dempsey: But Clevelanders have to pay $30 to get in. It's $5 for Pittsburghers.

O'Hearn: If you're from Seattle, it's $50 [laughs].

Dempsey: We won't really, but we'll give them a hard time [laughs].

O'Hearn: So we're having fun with that notion, which seems crucial in this time of asking who's the enemy and why.

What's the concept?

O'Hearn: [Pause] I think I just told you. Jackie, you tell him the concept.

Dempsey: No, you tell him.

O'Hearn: No, you.

Dempsey: You.

It's about what are we as Pittsburghers?

O'Hearn: No, it's about us and them, and the way we talk about that is [to ask] what it feels like to be a Pittsburgher.

Dempsey: There will be video clips of all kinds of Pittsburghers talking about living here. Some people talk specifically about Pittsburgh -- something they love about living here or about the town. But other times, it really could be anybody talking about anyplace they live. So it's also about how it feels to be part of a community.

O'Hearn: ... Making fun of that whole thing. Why do we cheer when we see Penn Avenue up on the video screen? When I'm getting gas, it's like I'm getting gas anywhere -- my interaction with the attendant is the same. However, if I were to meet that same guy when we're touring in Germany, I would say, "Oh, you're from Pittsburgh," and we'd feel very brotherly and attached, mostly because in contrast to our surroundings we are connected in a more intimate way.

What have you found that's unique about Pittsburgh?

Dempsey: We'll know better when we start to do the other versions of the show and compare. Next year, we're doing [this show in] four different cities: "College Park: The Opera" [University of Maryland], "Albany: The Opera" [New York], "Chester County: The Opera" [near Philadelphia] and "South Orange: The Opera" [New Jersey]. And in August, we'll perform a festival version at a conference in Germany, sort of more general about contemporary life in America.

O'Hearn: It's "Put Your Hometown's Name Here: The Opera" [laughs]. It's booked very easily but costs twice as much to do it because me and Jackie and our video guy have to spend a week or two in each city. We'll be doing interviews with people and getting information about their history.

Us and them, how we're different, how we're the same -- that's quite a leap from [your last show] "Rodeo Smackdown."

O'Hearn: We're probably going to stop touring that show this year, very simply because it isn't selling.

Dempsey: That's something we discovered. In talking to performing arts presenters, we found that no one was interested in the fact that we did a show about Theseus and the Minotaur with current political implications, but they loved looking at the funny props and the music. Most of the time, they didn't really care what the show was about. They just wanted to book Squonk Opera. That's when we realized, why not just do a show about wherever we are? It makes sense. It helps them to sell the show, and it's just a fun thing for us to do.

If people just want to see wacky, goofy Squonk, why not just keep doing [the Broadway show] "Bigsmorgasbordwunderworks"?

Dempsey: 'Cause we're so tired of it [laughs].

Isn't that showbiz, though? Neil Diamond is still singing "Cracklin' Rosie."

Dempsey: Yeah, but he makes a lot more money [laughs]. We still do "Bigsmorgasbord." We're doing it a couple times in the coming year and we'll market it when we go to Germany.

O'Hearn: For a long time, we operated as a for-profit entity. One of the reasons we went nonprofit was because we realized, if you're successful in the commercial world, like Blue Man Group, you have to do the same show for 25 years. Blue Man, they just change it a little each time they franchise it. And that was of no interest at all to us. We want to make new work. Creatively, it's so draining to make a new show that I don't think we'd want to make more than one every year or two. It's a pretty good balance for us right now.

You used more narrative in the last show. Does "Pittsburgh" continue with that?

O'Hearn: Not really. I think this show is more like "Bigsmorgasbord."

Dempsey: There's talking, but it's by people who aren't us. It's interviews of people about their towns ... and we're exploring all the different aspects of it: the history, people, landscape, geography, statistics.

O'Hearn: The history of the city is going to be overwhelmed with Jackie's interior monologue of how boring this is and her self-indulgent diatribes, including a reference to an old review that [Post-Gazette drama critic] Chris Rawson gave her. I think this is sort of a reaction against [the narrative of previous shows]. In a sense, we did that pretty thoroughly in "Rodeo Smackdown." We kind of try to throw ourselves new creative challenges. This is another chance to just have fun doing a fake concert variety burlesque show.

Dempsey: We did something like this in Baltimore last year with the American Visionary Art Museum. It was interesting for us to work with other people, these outside forces, instead of just us and our group.

Who are some of the outside forces in the new show?

O'Hearn: Rick Kemp is the director, and he wrote some scenes with us. Buzz Miller is the video designer. Three-fourths of the show is video-driven.

Dempsey: Bob Steineck has been our lighting guy since "Rodeo Smackdown." Beth Corning from the Dance Alloy did choreography and worked on some scenes with us. April Gruber, also from the Dance Alloy, is choreographing the little kids. Ebony Wallace is choreographing members of the Pittsburgh Dance Ensemble, and Leslie Clark and Amanda Newton are gathering some swing dancers for us.

Tell me about the music.

Dempsey: I was able to use technology, which I've never used before, for composing. I got a laptop and all the software to record and was able to work with each member in a different way. We could try things, and days later I could listen to it and figure things out.

You've always foresworn guitars, yet you've added a guitarist to the band. What changed?

Dempsey: I forget how it started, but I had played in bands with David Wallace -- Boxstep and Hearts & Science. I've always loved what he did melodically but also texturally. He has a lot of fun with all his effects pedals. He can add sort of an atmosphere to the music that we didn't really have before. I wasn't sure if it would work, at first.

O'Hearn: It was a tough decision for us because we have to deal with economics on tour that make it very hard to add extra people. But he really did add enough to justify adding another member.

Squonk Opera is essentially a band with a very distinct sound and an element of movement and spectacle. Were you worried that adding a familiar pop instrument might make it sound too familiar?

O'Hearn: One of our concerns always was not to be viewed as a rock band, which we're pretty close to in many ways.

Dempsey: But I think as long as Steve's in the band, we will always have the goofy, wacky Squonk sound [laughs]. Each person in the group has a very idiosyncratic style. I don't think the sound of an acoustic and electric guitar could dilute that when you've got wind synthesizer, Tyrolean trumpet, saxophone and wooden flute. Our bass player, Nathan Wilson, also uses a lot of effects on electric bass, as well as double bass. I'm playing piano and keyboard, and Kevin Kornicki is all over the place on varied percussion instruments and electronic drum pads. And our singer, Christina Acosta, has a unique vocal style. So I don't think we're going to get buried in guitar. We're still pretty Squonky.