Washington man brings back ‘Chiller Theater’ concept with new show
Erik Sprowls of Washington parades as Captain Drake on "Dead and Buried Treasures," a "Chiller Theater" concept show that he created himself.
Submitted photo
Erik Sprowls poses with Davie Bones, one of the animatronics that he adds to his show 鈥淒ead and Buried Treasures.鈥
Erik Sprowls as Captain Drake in "Dead and Buried Treasures."
Above, Dana Cange takes on the role of Dirty Gertie in "Dead and Buried Treasures."
Erik Sprowls as Captain Drake listens to The Siren - the voice of a message in a bottle that was found at sea.
A behind the scenes look at filming "Dead and Buried Treasures" with Davie Bones.
Pictured is Jack, the electronic cockatoo on "Dead and Buried Treasures" who acts as a cohost and the first officer of Captain Drake's ship.
Submitted
鈥淒ead and Buried Treasures,鈥 a show created by Erik Sprowls, is set up in the same concept of the old 鈥淐hiller Theater鈥 where Sprowls entertains during 鈥渃ommercial breaks鈥 of the airing of public domain classic horror films and other scary movies.
Washington native and college professor for television and film production Erik Sprowls is putting in the work to get his name out there with his newly created 鈥渃hiller theater鈥 style show 鈥淒ead and Buried Treasures.鈥
鈥淟ast year my niece said to me, 鈥榶ou spend so much time making everyone else famous 鈥 when are you going to do something for you?'鈥 he said.
That thought stuck with him, and last year when he visited the Pittsburgh Renaissance Festival on pirate weekend, he decided to go all out and dress to the hilt as a pirate.
鈥淭he Steelers were playing and there were different places where you could get an update, so every time I heard an update, I took it upon myself to walk around and yell 鈥榟ear ye, hear ye,鈥 and then announce the update. If they were winning, I would yell 鈥榟uzzah鈥 and right away 30 people or more would yell it back.鈥
His character was so well received, an idea began to formulate with Sprowls on creating a show and using this character.
While a professor at California University in the late 1990s and early 2000s, Sprowls and a colleague Harry Metz created a show there called 鈥淔right Night Friday.鈥 In keeping with that same 鈥楥hiller Theater鈥 format, Sprowls kept the pirate character in mind to create the new show.
Chiller Theater, was a late-night horror and science fiction movie program on Pittsburgh鈥檚 NBC channel that aired from Sept. 14, 1963 to Jan. 1, 1984.
It was hosted by Bill Cardille, known to fans as 鈥淐hilly Billy.鈥 In between films, and at random times during the films, breaks were taken for skits such as reports from the 鈥淧SS鈥 (Pittsburgh Subway System).
So Sprowls went to Bethel Park TV and asked station director Dave Cable if there was any way he could produce a show.
With a 鈥測es鈥 solidified, Sprowls began to create the show 鈥淒ead and Buried Treasures鈥 and its many characters, including himself as Captain Calico Drake; 鈥淭he Siren鈥 as the voice of a message in a bottle; 鈥淒irty Gertie,鈥 鈥淒avie Bones鈥 and 鈥淛ack,鈥 his co-host cockatoo who is also the first officer of Captain Drake鈥檚 ship.
鈥淒ead and Buried Treasures鈥 airs classic horror films or science fiction films that are in the public domain, and as with 鈥淐hilly Billy,鈥 at random times throughout the film, Sprowls and his crew put on little skits focusing on the theme of the film being shown in that episode.
鈥淒uring the movie, we cut in eight times in a two-and-a-half to three-hour period,鈥 Sprowls said.
Sprowls has taken advantage of the advances of technology since his days at Cal U 20 years ago, and soon realized that he could shoot his material with a green screen in his own home.
鈥淣o one can possibly imagine the artistic creativity that goes into creating this show,鈥 he said. 鈥淵ou deal with green screens, and you have to be a little cracked to truly understand all of it.
鈥淔or example, there鈥檚 one scene in our Halloween show where I have to be on the screen playing two characters at once 鈥 the host, Captain Calico Drake, and my great-great-great-great-great-grandson Reginald,鈥 Sprowls added. 鈥淚n order to pull just that 10-second scene off, you have to have an enormous amount of timing, a great amount of patience, make-up, costuming and above all else, imagination.鈥
Sprowls said he has to imagine himself talking to this other character who is not there while simultaneously not breaking character in his own skin.
鈥淎nd then I have to put myself in to those shoes on the opposite side of the screen and do the exact same thing on the other side of the coin,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t takes an enormous amount of focus and energy to pull something like that off, particularly when you are your own crew, director, actors, make-up artist and wardrobe provider. But hey, I guess that鈥檚 why I鈥檓 the producer too.鈥
Cable said Sprowls 鈥渞eally puts a ton of effort into producing and creating a show.
鈥淗e鈥檚 doing a great job, and you can tell from the productions that he puts in tons and tons of work, but it鈥檚 clear that he鈥檚 enjoying what he鈥檚 doing,鈥 Cable added.
Husband and wife team Rich and Dana Cange of Canonsburg both contribute to the show.
Rich Cange is the co-host with Sprowls of the pre-show 鈥淲alk the Plank鈥 where the duo signs in about a half hour before 鈥淒ead and Buried Treasures鈥 for an impromptu, off the cuff dialogue segment.
Dana Cange plays 鈥淒irty Gertie鈥 on 鈥淒ead and Buried Treasures鈥 with Sprowls.
Rich Cange said he met Sprowls through a mutual friend鈥檚 (Fiore Mastracci) birthday party.
鈥淚 told him I had an actual bat cave in my house and he geeked out and asked if he could see it and then said he wanted to work that into one of his shows and would I be interested,鈥 he said.
And so Sprowls used footage from the bat cave to film his show around Vincent Price鈥檚 鈥淭he Bat.鈥
Through that interaction, and after Sprowls鈥 original co-host for the pre-show moved out of state, he asked Rich Cange if he would be interested in being the co-host.
鈥淲e鈥檝e been filming since July or August and it鈥檚 just a lot of fun,鈥 Rich Cange said. 鈥淚鈥檝e never done anything like this before. Erik (Sprowls) is very professional with writing the scripts, and he鈥檚 given me editing pointers and helped me to grow in that respect.
鈥淥ur chemistry together on the pre-show is very natural,鈥 Rich Cange added. 鈥淎 lot is improv and we just roll with it.鈥
Dana Cange said Sprowls approached her about playing a character on the play and when he found out that she was a huge 鈥淪cully鈥 fan from 鈥淭he X-Files,鈥 he created Dirty Gertie, who is a 鈥減irate meets scientist/professor鈥 on the ship who has the persona of Scully.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a fun thing and an absolutely good time,鈥 she said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not like work at all.鈥
Sprowls said he鈥檚 enjoying himself despite all the work.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a labor of love, but I鈥檓 also doing it for my video portfolio,鈥 he said. 鈥淚 wanted to do something on my own to see what I鈥檝e got.鈥
It鈥檚 been picked up on a number of public-access cable channels throughout the region, and it is available in Uniontown, Brownsville, Bethel Park, and Peters Township.
The show airs between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. Fridays and Saturdays on BPTV, at various times (sometimes at midnight and sometimes at 2 a.m.) on Fridays and Saturdays on PCTV and anywhere from 8 p.m. to midnight Thursdays on CUTV (California University鈥檚 station).
CUTV is channel 17 on Atlantic Broadband Cable or 61 on Armstrong Cable. BPTV is on Channel 7 and PCTV is on Channel 21 with their respective cable carriers.
Sprowls said he hopes within the next year that the show will be broadcast on different channels all over Southwestern Pennsylvania.