Pittsburgh Fringe 2025

Medium Roast: Coffee and Clairvoyance

Analicia Kocher and Panagoitis Papavlasopoulos

Genre: Comedy

Venue: The Mr Roboto Proejct

Festival: Pittsburgh Fringe

Low Down

Review

Whimsical and hilarious, Medium Roast: An Hour of Coffee & Clairvoyance with Analicia Kocher and Panagoitis Papavlasopoulos was a sweet treat to enjoy. The coffee medium Galena, played by Analicia, entranced the crowd with her ‘wisdom’ beyond her years as she invited members of the crowd to join her on the stage and get their fortunes read. We watched her make the coffee then once the crowd member was with her, they talked about the persons life, and what they want to ask the coffee. Finally, they drank then the ritual began. Galena had a care and kindness with each of the audience members that was thoroughly appreciated. Her stage presence had a comforting yet jovial quality that soothed each person she spoke to. This and her well adorned stage, with a ritual table topped with various books and eclectic knickknacks, relaxed any nerves that came up with the vulnerability of having a fortune read. All of this comfort creates the perfect setting for the surprise guest in the rest of the performance. Through humorous jabs towards one another, the crowd gets to see Galena and Bassilia read each other through coffee before rekindling their relationship and begin a business giving potentially questionable coffee readings through the phone. The overall flow of the entire performance was excellently paced, no moment dragged on too long and each segway transitioned smoothly. A crowd favorite being the commercials, one of which had a clever reference to Point Park, who had performances and venues in the fringe this year as well. Medium Roast at the Mr Roboto Project venue was a perfect way to spend an afternoon, leaving the audience with a warm feeling and a craving for coffee. My only wish if I was to see it again would be to get my coffee fortune read!

Published May 4, 2025 by Maggie McClelland