SEPTEMBER 27TH, 2012

09/27/2012

 

and the award goes to...

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Courtesy IMDB
Congratulations to Kiana Harris who took home the award for Best Actress at the annual Naperville Independent Film Festival for her starring turn as Jess in SEPARATION ANXIETY! It's always fantastic when talented people working on a project of yours are recognized for their contribution. Kiana was the first person I cast back when we were making the investment teaser. This was 2008 and I had the pleasure of directing her for a few days. She taught me a lot, as I had only directed for the stage until that point and I'm lucky to have had someone like her on board so early in the process. I had seen her previous film (GLASS CITY) earlier that year and on the way home from that screening turned to a friend of mine and said "that's her. That's Jess." When Cole Simon took the reigns for the feature so I could focus on the writing, we were pretty much in sync that Kiana would continue on as Jess. Her work helped shape what Jess became during the film's development -- this award is completely deserved. I'm so proud of her, and the entire cast & crew. We were also nominated for BEST FEATURE FILM, BEST DIRECTOR - Cole Simon, and BEST ACTOR - Tyler Sieple. You can visit http://www.naperfilmfest.org for full festival information.
 

NAPERVILLE PREMIERE OF 'SEPARATION ANXIETY'

09/18/2012

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Nominated for four awards at the annual Naperville festival including BEST FEATURE FILM, BEST DIRECTOR - Cole Simon, BEST ACTOR - Tyler Sieple, and BEST ACTRESS - Kiana Harris, you can catch the Naperville Premiere at 7pm on Tuesday, September 18, 2012. Visit http://www.naperfilmfest.org for full festival information, tickets, and directions. The festival runs eight days from the 15-22 of September. With its proximity to Chicago (the current artistic base of Glass City Films), several members of the production team plan to attend a second screening on Thursday, September 20. 
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Upcoming Productions! Some news about where to see my work...

03/19/2012

 

Coming in April

Separation Anxiety, a film I wrote for Glass City Films, will be screened at the River Bend Film Festival in South Bend, Indiana, on April 13th! The film, was shot in 2009 in Columbus and Toledo, Ohio, under the direction of Cole Simon. Separation Anxiety has gone on to screen at several festivals around the country and took home a Golden Drover for Best Director for Cole at the 2011 Trail Dance Film Festival. Glass City is a Chicago-based company that has a slew of feature films, shorts, music videos, and documentaries to their credit --- and they are growing. I'm looking forward to what they do next! A great group of professionals, I encourage you to visit their website to learn more about them. The movie is available on DVD and you can watch the trailer to the right.

Visit The River Bend Film Festival to get tickets and for more information about the April 13th screening and the festival.

10 minute play hits Philadelphia in June

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Courtesy of Luna Theater Company
Luna Theater Company presents their inaugural new play fest this summer with the Solstice Play Festival and I am thrilled to be involved. Got an email this week from their Literary Manager Jeremy Gable to invite my new 10-minute play, The Cosmonaut in Human Resources, to be part of this week of world premieres!  Cosmonaut was developed in my MFA playwriting seminar this past Fall and I'm excited to have its first staging happen at Luna! Here's a line-up of the shows they're producing in this year's festival:
  • Their Master's Voice by Larry Pontius
  • The Cosmonaut in Human Resources by Jeremy Sony
  • Telltale Signs by Quinn Eli
  • Shelly by Alex Dremann
  • My Robs by Ron Burch
  • Militant by Eoin Carney
  • Little World by Joy Cutler
  • Inbox: Empty or Airport: Scanning by Kate Brennan
  • Homeschooling of Jonathan Anderson by Sean Christopher Lewis
  • Cycles of the Moon by Jae Kramisen
Of the other playwrights, I've met (and seen the work of) Sean Christopher Lewis. Based on him alone, I'm happy to be in the company of these writers. Congrats to everyone whose work was chosen for the festival and huge thanks to Luna Theater Company for including me. Visit Luna Theater Company's website to keep informed about the festival, how to get tickets, and all that fun.


 

Getting 'Separation Anxiety' in Alexandria

11/05/2011

 
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Cole Simon (Director) and myself.
This weekend, I'm in Alexandria, Virginia for the Alexandria Film Festival to see a screening of my film "Separation Anxiety." In case you didn't know, I wrote the screenplay for the film based on my own play of the same title. In attendance this weekend: my girlfriend Laila, and my friend and Director of "Sep," Mr. Cole Simon. I'll keep this quick, but let me touch on the highlights.
  • Old town Alexandria and King Street = awesomesauce. First, there's a trolley. This street is lined with shops, eateries, and according to Cole's Siri, about 14 pubs within a mile of the screening.
  • Bilbo Baggin's pub... seriously. On the pricey side (but what isn't in this town?), but still a great time. And our server was a Notre Dame grad from my year. Small world!
  • Don't forget the George Washington Masonic Memorial, which has excellent views of the city and the inside is phenomenal.
  • Cancerpants -- this documentary was a powerful, gut-wrenching, beautiful, at times funny year in the life of a woman fighting breast cancer and how it hit her and the community around her.
The best part (aside from seeing people watch and react to the movie) was that me and Laila got to spend some time with Cole. We meet a lot of artists as we work in theater (and now film) and we're not all living in the same town. So it's festivals like these (and their stage play counterparts) that are amazing opportunities to reunite and further those friendships that we've forged along the way. Kudos to the film fest folks for being amazingly hospitable and taking care of their filmmakers like rock stars. Wish I could've been here for more of the festival and seen more films. But with school still in session, this trip is all too brief and OU awaits on Monday.  As does Georgetown Cupcake tomorrow.... but I won't bore you with that.