Porch Room News

Updated 7/23/07

"an evening on the porch" earns $2,000 for Circle Players

The Porch Room's benefit production "an evening on the porch", a compilation of eight one-acts written by John P. Dowgin and Pete Barry, earned $2,000 for Piscataway's Circle Playhouse during its limitied July engagement. The show's four performances included a full-house closing performance.

Watch "an evening on the porch" online! Click here!

"an evening on the porch" opens

The Porch Room's latest stage production, "an evening on the porch", opens tonight at Circle Players in Piscataway, New Jersey. Eight original plays by John P. Dowgin and Pete Barry will run this weekend and next to raise money for Circle Players, one of, if not the, oldest operating community theaters in Central New Jersey. The evening's cast includes John, Pete, J. Michael DeAnagelis, and a special appearance by Faith Dowgin in the Saturday, 7/14 performance. Show dates are 7/13, 14, 20, and 21, at curtain is at 8. For information and tickets, visit www.circleplayers.com.

"Baja Alajúan" an Triggerstreet Selection

The Porch Room has its second official selection in a Triggerstreet film festival. Porch Room founder Pete Barry's "The Adventures of Baja Alajuan" has made the cut of fifty to participate in Triggerstreet's second screenplay competition of the season. Should "Baja" make the next cut, it will compete against ten finalists in the competition's final round of judging.

"Firesteel" up for Screenplay of the Month

Porch Room founder John P. Dowgin's first feature-length script, "Firesteel", has been nominated for Screenplay of the Month on Triggerstreet. A recent addition to Triggerstreet's coterie of competitions, Screenplay of the Month takes three of the highest-ranked screenplays on the site ("Firesteel" was ranked twelfth of approximately 1,700 scripts at the time of its selection) and sends each to Scriptshark, a professional script coverage service based in LA. Whichever script receives the best feedback from scriptshark is named the winner. The results of the October competition will be made public soon; keep your eyes on this page for details of the outcome, win or lose.

Baja Alajúan is here!

Twelve years from conception to completion, the Porch Room is proud to present our cylindrical hero in his journey to self-discovery. Check him out right here on the site, or over at our favorite internet short film stomping ground, Triggerstreet. Baja loves to get around, and so we anticipate that he’ll be running off to various screenings in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania as soon as he can hop the next garbage truck. Keep checking the site for the latest info on Baja’s whereabouts.

Adam B. Kaufman... columnist

The Porch Room's own Adam B. Kaufman, resident Kevin Smith and "View Askew" expert/stalker, has recently received the honor of being asked to write a monthly column for a new website, www.theaskewview.com. His first article appeared in its most recent issue and can be read here: http://theaskewview.com/article/adam1.html. Much mazel to Adam from the Roomies.

"The White Knight" On the Big Screen - April 27th, 2004!

"The White Knight"'s whirlwind tri-state tour continues. North Third bar in Philly will screen the short film on April 27th, 2004, at 9:00 PM. Visit www.norththird.com for details. A Q&A is scheduled following the screening. This follows a great reception for the film at SUNY Stony Brook's Icon Festival. In addition, writer/director Pete Barry has in the works even more shocking plans for the vengeant ghost. Keep checking the Porch Room site in the coming weeks for more information on where you can catch the White Knight - before the White Knight catches you.

"Early Morning in the Tenement", the Porch Room's first short film, failed to make the final round of 10 films to compete in triggerstreet.com's 3rd Short Film Festival finals. Had the film made the cut, it would've been screened at this year's Sundance film festival and reviewed by such cinematic luminaries as Andrew Stanton (Director of "Finding Nemo") and Billy Bob Thornton. Despite the news, The Porch Room thanks Triggerstreet and its members for the honor of selecting "Tenement" as one of fifty festival semifinalists. Triggerstreet was launched by Kevin Spacey and partners in November of 2002 and is one of the most famous and visible online short film festivals in existence.

"Some Colors on a Wall" Receives Premiere

"Some Colors on a Wall", a short play by Porch Room veteran John P. Dowgin, received its premiere in an evening of one-act plays at the Villagers Theater in Franklin, NJ, on February 2. It was directed by co-founder of the ACT Theater company, Irwin Hahn, and was well received by audience members, fellow playwrights, and actors alike. John is working on the nest revision of the play, as well as a screenplay based on the story, which he plans to film later this spring as an official Porch Room production.

"Firesteel" makes the Hall of Fame

"Firesteel", John P. Dowgin's first feature-length screenplay, has been honored with placement in Triggerstreet's screenplay Hall of Fame. The honor, which indicates a ranking in the site's top ten screenplays for thirty days, has been bestowed on about 40 of the 1200 + screenplays currently ranked on Triggerstreet. The comic fantasy is set in a fairy tale kingdom where the heroes and villains have unionized. It has been entered into the 2004 International Screenwriter's competition as well as the 2004 Screenwriter's Community competition..

Put on Your Dancing Shoes

Adam B. Kaufman, one of the Porch Room's co-founders, choreographed, directed, and staged an original dance piece as part of Muhlenberg College's anniversary celebration of its dance department. Adam was the first male to receive a degree from Berg's dance department and was thrilled and honored to participate.

Voice Over Maven

Brain Sherman, Porch Room alum and longtime bandmate of Pete Barry, has scored his first professional voiceover spot for audible.com. It can be heard on 1010 WINS in New Jersey and New York at all ours of the day and night.

Porchroom.com 2.0 Launched

Finally, you're looking at some big news: version 2.0 of porchroom.com. Those of you who've been following the Porch Room's antics for some time and are not legally blind probably noticed the changes right away. It's been souped up and expanded to include downloads of our films, status reports from the front lines of production, histories and pictures of the Porch Room's stage ventures, our members gallery, contact form, and history pages.