Pittsburgh playwrights pen furry musical, invite Anthrocon attendees to observe reading

July 6, 2007

When Pittsburgh lyricist Bill Medica and musician JC Carter saw the influx of furries for the first Anthrocon in their city, they were mystified. But as they observed Anthrocon 2006, their thoughts on furries changed.

"They're not afraid to be themselves," said Carter. "When they left, the magic left."

"They were such a force," added Medica.

Inspired by their experience, they decided to write a play entitled Furry Tales. It is the story of four friends: BlueWolf22, MisoKitty2, HuggyBunny and Gorillanator. They met online and agree to meet at a furry convention. As it turns out, BlueWolf22 is an imposter, sent by an online magazine called "everythingawful.com" (an obvious play on Something Awful, a site frowned on by the sub-culture for their coverage) in an effort to get some steamy content on the debauchery that supposedly permeates the furry fandom. However, BlueWolf's opinions change, and he discovers he is a peer to his new furry friends.

Wikipedia describes furry fandom as "a fandom distinguished by its enjoyment of anthropomorphic, often humanoid, animal characters. Examples of anthropomorphism in the furry fandom include the attribution of human intelligence, facial expressions, and sometimes anatomy, speech, bipedalism, and the wearing of clothes."

The world's largest furry convention, Anthrocon takes place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania each July. Its focus is on furries: fictional anthropomorphized animal characters in art and literature.

The first staged reading of Furry Tales will occur on July 5, 2007, on the first day of festivities for Anthrocon 2007, at the CLO Cabaret. Medica and Carter planned it for July 5 in the hopes that furries attending Anthrocon will provide input for improving the final product. The Chairman of Anthrocon Dr. Samuel Conway has been invited to the reading, and he has confirmed plans to attend.

Tickets may be reserved online for $15 each plus a service charge of at least $7.50 from Pittsburgh Cultural District.

In related news, Anthrocon has selected local no-kill animal shelter Animal Friends as its 2007 charity. The shelter will benefit from the proceeds of Anthrocon's annual charity auction, which raised $5,845 for the Western Pennsylvania National Wild Animal Orphanage last year (the charity's total revenue was $8,400). Representatives of the charity will also be available as in the dealers room.