Progression (2014)

Progression is a feature-length narrative film project, set in Lawrenceville, shot in Lawrenceville and about a real-life Lawrenceville institution. This feature-length ensemble comedy follows a group of urban pioneers navigating love and heartbreak on the night of the annual progressive dinner in and around the hipster-est neighborhood in Pittsburgh. Dubbed a gentrification farce, this film features arty young professionals colliding with the fourth-generation locals who watch bemusedly as their neighborhood transforms under their noses. This film features three soups, two salads, and culminates in a raucous single entrée where secrets are revealed, true love is conceived or destroyed, and a baby is delivered on the dining room table. The tone of the film is urbane and witty, with some slapstick thrown in for good measure. The filmmakers pay stylistic homage to the great screwball comedies of 1930s American cinema, as well as the mannered farces perfected by French auteurs.