Area company rolls out green pop-up stage for Earth Day
Have stage, will travel. That’s the concept of the mkrStage, which is being rolled out this week with live pop-up performances coinciding with Earth Day.
The mkr is a portable stagein-a-bag, weighing about 50 pounds, that is designed for solo or duo artists to create a gig in the street, a backyard, a park, a bowling alley — wherever. With the pairing of a solar generator, you can plug in and play all day.
The mkrStage was created by Live Arts Everywhere, a collaboration between ZeroFossil Energy Outfitters, a Munhall-based green event production company, and Phillter, a Pittsburgh tech community that presents the annual Phillter festival, showcasing a variety of solo artists who employ looping technology.
Live Arts Everywhere will debut the stage on Earth Day, which is Thursday, with a free pop-up concert on the South Side (details at https://www.facebook.com/ZeroFossil), followed by a four-day weekend concert series.
The main event features Liz Berlin — of Rusted Root, Drowning Clowns and Social Justice Disco — streaming a show at 8 p.m. Friday from the deck at Mr. Smalls, which she co-owns with her husband, Mike Speranzo.
“I don’t know a lot about it yet, but I’m excited to try it out,” she said of the stage.
Phillter co-founder Michael Yanchak, who performs solo as Mike Why, said the collaborators started working on this technology for solo artists as early as 2016 — well before the pandemic — and are rolling it out now just over one year into the social distancing era.
“People are jonesing to get out and go back to the arts, and they know they need the arts in their life, but ultimately, it’s not the same priority as, you know, getting back into your grocery store on a regular basis, right?
“We consider ourselves live arts experience engineers. We’ve been trying to use any engineering technique we can find to bring some restoration to this piece of the economy and help it heal as quickly as possible.”
The stage was designed and built by ZeroFossil owner Steven Kovacik, a chemical engineer who studied at the University of Pittsburgh. With ZeroFossil, he’s brought solar power to such events as the Three Rivers Arts Festival, Three Rivers Regatta and Discover Presque Isle.
The mkrStage, which can be assembled by a single person in about a half-hour, is structured with lightweight 4-foot Schedule 40 aluminum pipe that fits in a duffel bag. It is priced at $2,021 — about the same as the ZeroFossil JuiceBox portable solar generator. Early in the process, Live Arts Everywhere will also lease it out to artists.
“I looked into it, and there’s nothing like this on the market right now,” Mr. Kovacik said. “If you wanted a mobile stage, you’re looking at 50 grand to get in on one of those. A Stageline SL50 is like $75,000, which, if you’re a budding performer, there’s no way. That’s the cost of a house.”
The collaborators have a second model coming out in the shape of a half-circle. Depending on the location, it can be secured with sandbags, with stakes or by being tied to a guardrail.
“It’s extremely wind resistant,” Mr. Kovacik said. “The canopy and the banners are all mesh, so it allows most of the air to go through it, so you’re not getting the wind shear you would get with, like, a giant sail. Safety is a big thing in my line of business.”
They demonstrated the stage and generator for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Tuesday in Munhall with electronic artist kidmental.
Left to their own devices, what else could artists do with mkrStages?
“It’s an enclosure that could hold a solo or duo act,” Mr. Yanchak said. “We’re not exactly sure where you’d put a drummer or a keyboardist, but we’re sure people will figure it out, because that’s just how people work when they get new toys.”