Backdrops enhance experience at Greensburg's SummerSounds concerts

(Editor’s note: Behind the Art is a recurring series highlighting artistic works throughout the county.)

It’s not just the musical performance, but the added artistic touches that makes SummerSounds in Greensburg special.

The backdrops that hang behind the bands at Robertshaw Amphitheater in St. Clair Park were made by local artists, as were the paper mache creatures that collect donations during the free Friday evening events.

“The art, I’m proud of it,” said Gene James, chairman of SummerSounds. “I’m proud of the fact that we have gone to the trouble to make (the stage) pretty.”

Two of the three backdrops were created by Greensburg artist Brian McCall and the third by Mark Kissner. McCall also put together the paper mache animals that roam the crowd seeking donations on a weekly basis.

James said the backdrops have been hanging behind performers for most of the series’ 23 years. It was at first a way to balance the acoustics and dress up the stage. The backdrops take the experience up a notch, James said.

McCall watched a Friday afternoon in June as one of his creations was hoisted onto a pole behind musical instruments. It is referred to as the Superman backdrop because Superman wearing a red cape bearing the words St. Clair Park flies across the right panel.

That backdrop took two months to complete in 2009 and 2010. On a black-and-white checkered floor, there’s a vibrant array of people playing instruments, sitting at tables and dancing. The people are joined in their merriment by animals — an elephant, a giraffe and others.

“I had to do it, of course, in parts,” McCall said.

The second one, completed a few years later, is an ethereal cityscape of Greensburg. Smoke or clouds float in the foreground while the sunset scene shows prominent and recognizable buildings and houses lit up, including the courthouse.

“It’s a pleasure to see it and know that people really like it,” McCall said while watching the Superman backdrop be raised. “The musicians seem to be the ones that always comment.”

While event-goers’ views of the backdrops are typically obscured by performers and instruments, they often get a close up look at the paper mache rabbit, pig and hippopotamus used for donation collections. The pig has been around for about 10 years and the hippo is new this season.

“You can put your hand through the (hippo’s) mouth and go all the way in and drop your money in,” McCall said.

He made them in pieces and then fused them together. It took a couple weeks to finish each project and paint them with SummerSounds on the side. The performers are the stars of the show, but the creatures come in a close second, being introduced at the start of the night.

The final concert of the 2023 SummerSounds season is Aug. 25 when Dancing Dream, an ABBA tribute band, takes the stage at 7 p.m.