This Offbeat Philly Theater Troupe Is Doing a Live Reading of Snakes on a Plane
After getting their start at Fringe, Theatre Contra does live readings of cult movies throughout the year. This time, they’ve had enough of these motherf’ing snakes on this motherf’ing plane.
Theatre Contra’s live readings are bonkers in the best way. / Photograph by Emilie Krause – Glasscanary Photography
Note: This event was moved to January 27th due to weather.
Back in 2006, I had the single greatest moviegoing experience of my life. On a summertime midnight, I crowded into the University City theater — then called Bridge Cinema De Lux — to see a film starring Academy Award nominee Samuel L. Jackson.
The movie … wasn’t good. We didn’t expect it to be good. We would have been disappointed if it were somehow good. But then, Mr. Jackson said the line we were all waiting for.
I have had it with these motherfucking snakes on this motherfucking plane!
And let me tell you, people: It was pandemonium. Fists shot up in the air, people leapt out of their seats. It was a glorious moment of community and togetherness. If one could replicate that millisecond on a global scale, perhaps world peace would be within our grasp.
Nothing has felt like that again. But Theatre Contra’s live movie readings come close. And on Saturday, January 27th, they’re taking on Snakes on a Plane. Natajia “Tay” Sconiers will direct this dramatic reading of the film at Meyers Brewing Company.
If you haven’t been to a Theatre Contra event, let this musical extravaganza from their Halloween reading of Hocus Pocus catch you up:
@theatrecontra The things we do in a South Street bar on Sunday nights… #hocuspocus #halloween #theatre #fyp #philadelphia
Fittingly, their motto is “Low Stakes, High Fun.”
Bryant Edwards co-founded Theatre Contra in 2018 after his successful 2016 Fringe Festival VS. Series. The experience connected him to like-minded members of the Philly theater community who wanted to create a space of creativity and exploration. “A big thing for us was creating a space where people could come and try new things — actors could try that directing, administrators could try acting, everyone can do anything and not feel like you’re gonna be judged or fail.”
Theatre Contra’s movie-script readings were born out of an idea to fund-raise for the nascent theater company, inspired by a celebrity benefit reading of Space Jam they had seen. But not just any movie would do. Edwards explains Theatre Contra selects “movies that are what we call ‘just left of cult.’ So, movies that have a big following … that are also not necessarily good.”
Their first reading was Die Hard at Tattooed Mom, and it was a hit. By their second reading — National Treasure — “we realized it was really gonna be something we could do really well, and something that was unique,” says Edwards. When the pandemic hit, they did a virtual reading of Zombieland.
When they returned to live performances, so did the fans. “You had heard horror stories about theaters not being able to get audiences back, but here we are this little group getting a full house immediately, which was amazing,” said Edwards.
Audience at a Theatre Contra live movie script reading at Tattooed Mom / Photograph by Emilie Krause – Glasscanary Photography
Since then, their loyal followers have grown. As company member Mariah Ghant puts it, “Theatre Contra has become ‘just short of a cult movie’ itself. I think we acquired our own big fanbase that’s really unique and like the things that we do, and that’s why we’re able to do movies of such a variety.”
So, why Snakes on a Plane this time? “It really does fall into the perfect niche for us,” Ghant says. “There’s a lot of wild things happening, and truly nothing makes sense. Yet it’s a film with a really strong actor at the front of the movie, and you’re like ‘How on Earth did Samuel L. Jackson get roped into this?’”
If you can’t make it to Snakes on a Plane this week, Theatre Contra is planning a whole year of movie-inspired fun. “We all have our movies that we keep begging for the group to do,” Ghant tells me. (On her wish list? The Emperor’s New Groove.)
Photograph courtesy of Theatre Contra
We’ll have to wait a little longer for Kuzco, but here are the live movie readings they’ve got planned for the rest of the year:
- Batman and Robin, February 18th at Tattooed Mom
- National Treasure (Dare Night), April 5th, 12th and 19th at ComedySportz
- The Happening, April 22nd at Tattooed Mom
- Scooby Doo, May 15th at Tattooed Mom
- Face/Off, June (TBD) at Tattooed Mom
- 2 Fast 2 Furious, July 9th at Tattooed Mom
- Holes, August (TBD) at Forîn Cafe
- The Birds, October (TBD) at Tattooed Mom
They’re also planning what they call an “immersive show” at the East Passyunk bookstore A Novel Idea in November or December.
