PushPush To Premiere SLOW DOWN ATLANTA Near Halloween

PushPush offers a new take on death, afterlife and modern culture. Beginning Thursday, October 20, PushPush will launch the pilot episode of its original production, Slow Down Atlanta, an office series that is part contemporary satire, part ghost story mystery. The show, which enjoys equal parts horror and humor, focuses on a group of slack thirty-somethings who start an Atlanta-based paranormal services company called "Partners Paranormal" for beer money. The pilot features local actors Amber Nash, Daniel May, Lake Roberts, Shelby Hofer, George Faughnan and Theroun Patterson. The premieres of the live and filmed pilot are the second phase of an ambitious international media project PushPush is developing to be produced on location in Atlanta and Berlin in 2014.

The live stagings of Slow Down Atlanta will be at PushPush at 8 pm October 20, 21, 24, 27, 28, and Halloween night, Monday, October 31. Audiences are encouraged to come in vampire attire on Halloween night and stay after for some spirited festivities. Fun prizes will be awarded for the best costume. PushPush is located East of Downtown Decatur, at 121 New Street, behind FIGO Pasta and The Corner Pub.

The series title, Slow Down Atlanta, pokes fun at personal and southern ghosts, both literal and figurative, and how they slow our cultural progress. The themes of the six episodes range from internet gaming, marriage, strippers, immigrant culture, and modern racism, sexism, and homophobia. Formative years full of movie and comic book education, coupled with rampant ADHD characteristics, and a lack of any discernible skills, leave the "partners" facing repeated issues in each episode. It's a comedy, with substance.

The pilot episode of Slow Down Atlanta was hailed during a staged reading and dinner last winter, and featured some of Atlanta's top talents. PushPush forges ahead with a stage production of the first episode (Gaydar) this October before filming the 22-minute show on location in Atlanta. The filmed version of Slow Down Atlanta will have its premieres in November and December. The live versions will be slightly longer, with improv shows, talk-backs and other post-show events aimed at further engaging audiences in the content development.

According to Actress and Managing Artistic Director, Shelby Hofer, "staging episodes of Slow Down Atlanta before filming, introduces a process for long-range craft and content development." Hofer added, "Serials are interesting to us because they allow for the characters and storylines to develop into a richer experience over time, something a one-time theater show rarely offers."

The Slow Down Atlanta project is part of the Artistic Planning Program (APP) at PushPush. Working with major support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the APP currently involves over 30 local, national, and International Artists taking their careers to the next level. Slow Down Atlanta has evolved out of a long term creative process at PushPush that produced several local success stories. Local filmmaker and Slow Down Atlanta film director, David Bruckner was one of the creators of the low-budget horror flick The Signal along with PushPush alums Jacob Gentry (Pop Films) and Dan Bush (Psychopia Pictures). In 2007, their film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where Magnolia Pictures bought and then distributed it world-wide in 2008.

"Atlanta has a variety of short-form comedy outlets such as improv and stand-up," says Tim Habeger, PushPush Artistic Director and Series Creator," but lacks artistic outlets for locally created narrative content development. This project aims to address the "stepping stone" syndrome that is Atlanta, providing a global hub where narrative content and related artistry can be explored, thereby retaining our many talented artists who regularly leave because of a perceived lack of opportunity to stretch and grow."

Sponsored in part by Turner Voices, the filmed pilot for Slow Down Atlanta will undergo post production at Studio Outpost, one of PushPush's partner media organizations. Slow Down Atlanta is a follow up project to its Dailies film work, and aims to involve hundreds of film and theater artists in areas of writing, acting, directing and other art forms.

SLOW DOWN ATLANTA Live Shows:

WHEN: 8 pm, October 20, 21, 24, 27, 28, and Halloween night, Monday, October 31.

HOW MUCH: Pay-what-you-can $12 - $25

Tickets available online, at the door, or by calling 404.377.6332. Reservations recommended. Seating is limited. Visit www.pushpushtheater.com, email pushpushtheater@gmail.com for more information.