The Public Staging ‘Venus in Fur’; ‘Stand By Me’ Screening at Row House (Sun., 6/19/16)

1) If you haven’t heard about Venus in Fur, you might be paying too much attention to politics or sports. This David Ives play has been hotly anticipated since the day it appeared on Pittsburgh Public Theater’s schedule. The play’s backstory began in the real world of 1869, when the Austrian writer Leopold von Sacher-Masoch signed a formal contract with his mistress, agreeing to be her slave if she would wear furs while treating him cruelly. He then published a novel with a similar theme, Venus in Furs, which over the years inspired many knockoffs including the Velvet Underground song “Venus in Furs.” Eventually it inspired David Ives to write an intellectual sex comedy that’s set up as follows: A theater director is planning an adaptation of Sacher-Masoch’s novel. An unusually skilled actress comes to his office to audition for the role of the mistress. And from there, to put it in intellectual-speak, the conventional male/female and director/actor patterns of dominance are called into question. Ives’ Venus in Fur premiered in 2010 in New York. 2 and 7 p.m. Performances through June 26. The Public’s production is at the O’Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Cultural District. (MV)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnY_j85MidU

2) Stand By Me – Who knew, when this film was being put together in 1986, it would turn out to be the beginning of some of Hollywood’s biggest careers? Rob Reiner made his directorial debut a few years earlier with This is Spinal Tap, but established himself as a major feature film director with this movie based on Stephen King’s novella “The Body.” Four young boys learn that a local kid has been hit by a train and set off into the countryside to find the body. Demonstrating he certainly had an eye for talent, Reiner cast Wil Wheaton, River Phoenix, Corey Feldman, and Jerry O’Connell in the leads. The film also features Richard Dreyfuss, Kiefer Sutherland, Casey Siemaszko, and John Cusack in a coming-of-age tale where each of the kids begins to understand the bigger world and his place in it. King still considers the film to be the first good movie version of any of his work. 2:15 p.m. Continues through June 23. Row House Cinema, 4115 Butler St., Lawrenceville. (TH)

3) Hearty Sunday dinners aren’t just for the meat eaters or the financially comfortable. Grab some friends and head over to Brillobox for the Starving Artist Sunday Suppers. Every Sunday, the restaurant’s chef creates a different hearty vegetarian meal and offers it for just $7 to give you a break from your regularly scheduled ramen du jour. You’ll want to get there early, as the special only goes until the food runs out (and at that price, it will). 5 p.m. 4104 Penn Ave., Bloomfield.

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