Paul Reubens' final short screened at Morgan Hill Community Playhouse

Paul Reubens’ final screen performance was shown April 14 at Morgan Hill Community Playhouse during the Poppy Jasper International Film Festival’s LGBTQ+ program. (morganhilltimes.com) (pjiff2026.eventive.org) The film was “The Crown with a Shadow & the Search for Self,” a mixed-media short directed by J.B. Ghuman Jr. that follows Oliver, a pink skunk fish who transforms and is destined to become queen of the sea. (morganhilltimes.com) (imdb.com) Poppy Jasper sold a $50 LGBTQ pass for April 14 that included six curated screenings, the special 3D presentation of Reubens’ final film, a Pee-wee Herman costume contest, Amanda Lepore’s Icon Award and an after-party. (pjiff2026.eventive.org) Ghuman attended the Morgan Hill screening with Amanda Lepore and performance artist Krylon SuperStar, then joined a Q&A and a tribute to Reubens. Drag performers The Queens of Campbell danced to “Tequila,” the song tied to one of Reubens’ best-known scenes in “Pee-wee’s Big Adventure.” (moviemaker.com) Morgan Hill Times reported the screening was part of the festival’s LGBTQ+ day of programming, which paired the film with a panel on diversity and self-expression. Amanda Lepore received Poppy Jasper’s Icon Award onstage that night. (morganhilltimes.com) The short uses a real biological fact as its premise: pink skunk clownfish can change sex, with the dominant fish in a group becoming female. Ghuman told MovieMaker he used that transformation to build a story about identity, acceptance and bullying. (imdb.com) (moviemaker.com) MovieMaker reported that Reubens and Ghuman became friends after Reubens saw Ghuman’s 2010 film “Spork” and reached out to praise it. Ghuman said Reubens later embraced the fish project as the actor reconnected with LGBTQ+ communities late in his life. (moviemaker.com) The project has had a long runway. A version of “The Crown with a Shadow” premiered in 2021, and festival listings now describe “The Crown with a Shadow & the Search for Self” as a 15-minute 2024 expanded cut with a cast that also includes Geri Halliwell, Tatum O’Neal and Irawniq. (imdb.com) (chelseafilm.org) Poppy Jasper itself has grown into an eight-day regional festival across Morgan Hill, Gilroy, Hollister and San Juan Bautista. Organizers said the 2026 edition featured more than 150 films from 38 countries and centered inclusion, diversity and women’s empowerment. (visitgilroy.com) (pjiff.org) In Morgan Hill, that mission ended up framed through Reubens’ last role: a familiar comic voice inside a short about change, staged with a tribute, a Q&A and an LGBTQ-focused audience on April 14. (morganhilltimes.com) (moviemaker.com)