‘Golden Scallop’ Screening Benefits Fight Against Breast Cancer

In the 11 years since its revival, the Chatham Orpheum Theater has developed a history of partnering with local organizations and nonprofits for special events, often to raise money for a local cause and bring awareness to its audience.

One local organization that the Orpheum has partnered with in the past is Marnie’s Army, a nonprofit dedicated to raising funds to fight cancer in the memory of actress Marnie Schulenburg.

Josh Koopman, who grew up with Marnie on the Cape, said that after Marnie was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, one of the first things her family did was establish a Facebook group for support. Over time, Marnie realized she had a platform from her time on the CBS soap opera “As the World Turns,” and decided to come forward and share her diagnosis publicly.

“They called it Marnie’s Army because it sounded nice, but it really was an army of family and friends and fans,” said Koopman. “Half of the people on the Facebook page were fans of her career that she had never even met.”

Koopman is the co-founder of Pizza Shark, a restaurant that began over the pandemic and very quickly became a mainstay in the vacant restaurant space at the Orpheum. Pizza Shark has since been a co-sponsor of numerous fundraising events at the theater, including screenings of “A League of Their Own” and “The Blues Brothers.”

“People have gotten to know us on our own terms,” said Koopman. “We’re grateful to be there, but we’re hanging on for dear life in the summer between [our] three locations. We’ve been having a lot of fun working with the Orpheum, doing fundraisers and community nights, especially in the spring and fall, when we have the time to find a local charity, show a movie that relates to that charity, and make a fun night out of it.”

The next Pizza Shark-sponsored screening will be “The Golden Scallop,” a film that starred Marnie Schulenburg and co-starred Koopman, in addition to featuring “Game of Thrones” star James Cosmo. It’s the film’s 10th anniversary, and the screening benefits Marnie’s Army.

“The only reason Pizza Shark is at the Orpheum in the first place is that [Orpheum Executive Director] Kevin McLain showed ‘The Golden Scallop’ for a week when the Orpheum first opened, and then for another week the following summer,” said Koopman. “It’s a fun Cape Cod comedy, and it’s great to have it back.” The film was previously screened at the Orpheum for another fundraising event at the end of May.

Koopman hopes that the resurgence of “The Golden Scallop” during these 10th anniversary screenings will bring more attention to the efforts of Marnie’s Army to raise awareness for metastatic breast cancer, which Schulenburg has said is the “most insidious kind, inflammatory breast cancer which doesn’t look like typical breast cancer, is more aggressive, affects younger women, and disguises itself as a breastfeeding infection.”

“Marnie flew fast and bright, and touched a lot of people,” Koopman said. “Her first legacy is that everyone she ever met felt a special bond with her, and it was just such a generosity of spirit that Marnie possesses that everyone wanted to do whatever they could to help her on that journey.”

Schulenburg passed away in 2022, and since then, Marnie’s Army has organized events such as Marnie’s March in Barnstable, a public memorial service, and a march at DeSales University, where Schulenburg and Koopman both studied acting.

“She was like a sister to me. She’s always been in my life,” he said.

This year, the Pizza Shark leadership team decided that since the restaurant has gained a platform, it should be used for fundraising and education, especially since metastatic breast cancer tends to be misdiagnosed as any number of common breast infections. Koopman shared a story about a young mother in Texas who was experiencing symptoms, and because she had heard Schulenburg’s story, she got tested and the disease was caught at stage two. “She now has no evidence of disease,” said Koopman. “Marnie was able to save at least one life.”

Pizza Shark started by donating a dollar from every slice towards cancer research. “There was a huge response even by putting out a QR code for donations and sharing her story,” said Koopman. They also put out flyers on pizza boxes that encouraged customers to check out Schulenburg’s story and learn what they could do for themselves.

“A physical pizza box is sometimes better advertising than a Facebook ad with limited engagement, especially if there’s hundreds of them going out,” said Koopman. For the month of May, Pizza Shark sold 3,442 slices.

Last year, over 200,000 young women in America were diagnosed with stage four metastatic breast cancer. “We can raise money over five years, but if in that same time we can get that number down, that’s the real win,” said Koopman. He hopes that new screenings of “The Golden Scallop” will help viewers get to know Marnie Schulenburg through her role. “She gets to show all different aspects of her personality, even though it’s a comedy,” he said. “It’s endearing, straight, funny, and bold. I’m sure she never thought ‘Golden Scallop’ would be the way that someone who never knew her at all could get to know her.”

“The Golden Scallop” will be screened on Saturday, July 13 at 6:45 p.m. Tickets are available at the Orpheum box office and online at chathamorpheum.org.