Checking off his bucket list: Greene art teacher serves as extra on TV series
Joe Kuhns always wanted to play some part in a television show or movie but kept it to himself.
When he received his opportunity recently, serving as an extra for the television series “Mayor of Kingstown,” he ended up with a case of cold feet – literally.
“I don’t know that I ever spoke of that desire out loud,” Kuhns said. “My sister (Liz) told me about the opportunity, and I love the show. On a whim, I filled out (the required) form and turned it in. I then got the word I was selected.
“They told me I’d be attending a funeral and to dress appropriately. Apparently, they didn’t like what I wore. The only thing they allowed me to wear was my hat and loafers.”
And those loafers were what led to his cold feet.
“I was standing out in the cold and in snow,” Kuhns explained. “Loafers aren’t the best in cold or snow.”
“Mayor of Kingstown” focuses on the McLusky family, power brokers in Kingstown, Mich., where the business of incarceration is the lone thriving industry.
The show has focused on themes of systemic racism, corruption and inequality, while the series provides a glimpse at the family’s attempt to bring justice and order to a town that is bereft of both.
The first and second seasons of “Mayor of Kingstown” are streaming on the subscription service
Paramount+.
Kuhns, 54, an art teacher in the Central Greene School District and a painter in his own right, has taught for 27 years. He formerly was the head football coach at California Area, Waynesburg Central and Bethlehem-Center, his alma mater. He also served as an assistant football coach at Waynesburg University and his collegiate alma mater California University of Pennsylvania, now PennWest California. He lives in Sandy Plains, a part of the Bethlehem-Center School District, with wife Kim Kolat Kuhns and their children, Kennedy and Colby.
Kuhns’ scene was filmed at the former Western Penitentiary in the Brighton Heights section of Pittsburgh.
While he can’t divulge many details about the episode, Kuhns was taken by the production and staff.
“I was blown away by the efficiency of the production,” Kuhns said. “Each scene had at least five camera views and a drone view, boom microphones. When the scene changes, the cameras are moved in an impressive manner. These are big cameras sitting on platforms with wheels.
“Our meals were all catered, three meals a day. They really take care of you and their people.”
Kuhns, whose theatrical experience includes roles in high school productions of the “Miracle Worker” and “Our Town,” and in the musical “Footloose” when his students at Waynesburg talked him into participating more than a decade ago.
He said the scene he filmed as an extra featured an explosion.
“I was instructed that the scene would be of sad times and to not move around much,” he said. “I was supposed to reflect sad times in my face.”
Kuhns’ face was made up to appear bloodied in the scene.
He added that his scene “won’t appear at least until fall.”
“You’re never sure your face will appear in the episode,” Kuhns added. “It all depends on the camera angle that is used in the scene.”
He was surprised to see a former student on set, hairdresser Candace Orlandi.
“I taught her 20 years ago at Beth-Center Middle School,” he said.
When his two days of work ended, Kuhns summed up the experience on social media:
“(I) checked one off the bucket list today. … (It) was a pretty cool experience, next one I do will be in warm weather, though.”