Premiere Of 'The Pornographer’s Daughter' Comes To Z Below

SAN FRANCISCO, CA—Artie and Jim Mitchell comprised one of San Francisco’s most infamous duos, the Mitchell Brothers, pioneers in the pornography industry. Liberty Bradford Mitchell, daughter of Artie, tells the story of growing up on the fringes of an X-rated world in the world premiere of The Pornographer's Daughter, directed by Michael T. Weiss (star of NBC’s The Pretender) and produced by San Francisco-based producer and designer Jeff Rowlings, with musical accompaniment by San Francisco rock band The Fluffers.  The Pornographer's Daughter opened last night, January 17, and will run through February 16, 2014, at Z Below, 470 Florida St. in San Francisco. A press opening is scheduled for 8 pm Wednesday, January 22.  For tickets ($32), click here. Notorious for entertaining a stream of celebrities, politicians and artists at their XXX movie theatre and strip club, The Mitchell Brothers' O’Farrell Theatre, Artie and Jim capitalized on the “free love” movement of the 1970s. Their Behind the Green Door, one of the first feature-length porn films ever made, earned a standing ovation at the Cannes Film Festival and sparked a new wave of adult entertainment. The party ended in February 1991 when Jim shot and killed Artie. In The Pornographer's Daughter, Artie’s eldest child Liberty Bradford Mitchell recounts this unique slice of San Francisco history with a first-hand perspective, from her counter-culture beginnings, growing up and coming of age in the wings of the porn industry, through surviving the surreal aftermath of her father’s murder. Joining Bradford Mitchell on stage will be San Francisco rock band The Fluffers, providing a driving soundtrack of music from the ‘60s to the ‘80s and beyond. Liberty Bradford Mitchell first began writing The Pornographer's Daughter while attending Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, where she received her BFA in Theatre (playwriting and directing). What began as an exercise in writing about her uncle’s trial ultimately grew into a full-length play, exploring the parallels between the fascinating Mitchell family story and those of Shakespearean tragedies and Greek epics. The play continued to take shape as she moved to Los Angeles, worked for two seasons as a writers’ assistant for Nickelodeon Studios, produced theatre productions at the Rose Alley Theater in Venice, and worked as an artist educator at Los Angeles public schools in Los Angeles.  Bradford Mitchell also worked with California First Lady Maria Shriver and as the Senior Aide for The Women’s Conference, which hosted such notable guests as the Dalai Lama, Madeleine Albright, Eve Ensler, Billy Jean King, and Oprah Winfrey.  The Pornographer's Daughter staged a workshop performance in March 2013 at the Electric Lodge in Venice, California.