Filmme Fatale

Attention: Evanston and Chicagoland-area film/videomakers

Wanna teach kids how to make videos? The Fleetwood-Jourdain Theatre in Evanston is looking for someone to direct a youth (11-15) video class this summer. This is a full-time gig from July 9th through August 17th, and compensation’s pretty good. Get at me for more info.

Also - looking for a video editor in Chicago

Do you edit videos on Final Cut Pro? Do you enjoy video editing? Are you quick, reliable, communicative and professional? Get at me.

This is a paying gig.

Production!

PA’ing a TV show tomorrow, location scouting for an indie short over the weekend (a new title to add to my resume!), and editing medical trial videos every night ‘til they’re done. Hurrah!

Also: Chicago-based ADs - the indie short I’m scouting for is looking for a 1st. If you would be interested, or know of someone who might be, please send me a message. This is a compensated gig.

This is a DAMAGE MANUAL - a performance review

What is it to be mentally healthy? Where does anxiety come from? Why is it so wrong to be angry, or sad, or to fight back? What’s your damage, anyway?

This is a DAMAGE MANUAL wrapped over a week ago and I’m still processing its affect of me. In the span of an hour, these four women shook my artistic and emotional foundation so hard that after I left the theater, I went home and cried. I know damage well - and even though I can’t say I’ve ever suffered because of my anxiety, it’s a ghost that haunts me wherever I go, always present in my periphery. What is there to do? Up until a few years ago I’d been in and out of therapy for most of my life and, for the most part, it helped. Rather, I helped myself. But did I “get better”, or am I just more self-aware? What’s the difference between the two, and what does it matter?

Let’s ask Earl.

At the top of the show, we are introduced to the so-velvety-you-could-wear-it voice of the 1950s motivational speaker, Earl Nightingale - visualized above as a skeletal hand puppet. He tells us that we are sane and want to get better, and all we need to do is listen to him. The implication here, of course, is that nervousness and anxiety are bad and it’s your fault that you feel this way.

Janna Barta dances first, stretching, heaving and limping through a dreamy instrumental of Florence And The Machine’s “Cosmic Love” on a single pointe shoe. Next comes Mindy Meyers as a 50s housewife slowly coming undone to a medley of music composed by a variety of men and their various orchestras. She is met by Atalee Judy, Anita Fillmore and Janna Barta all in white almost-haz-mat getups, who sanitize the stage to The Damage Manual’s “South Pole Fighters”. Atalee is left by herself to discover the Earl puppet and, slowly removing her mask, we see she is wearing a very familiar square black mustache. With a teary-eyed look of blissful wonder, she puts an identical mustache on the Earl puppet. Cue Klaus Nomi’s “Cold Song” as Atalee succumbs to a fascist id with awful sneezing fits, explained in the video projection as an indication of stress and psychoses: that some people harbor homophobes, germaphobes, and monsters inside of them that even they don’t know about. Rolling under a comforter, Atalee forces herself to sleep to shake this sudden onset of sickness. Then comes the dream sequence.

In a scene that reminded me very much of one of the dream sequences in The Cell (this is a compliment), Anita, Janna and Mindy appear in white bather’s suits and eerily - and I mean real spooky-like - crawl their way over to Atalee’s comforter. She busts out clad in a sparkly jacket and fedora and sings into a mic lowered from the ceiling - “Only You” by The Platters, a love note to delusion.

But wait. No. This isn’t right. “I know who I am,” Atalee declares, stripping off the jacket and hat and tell-tale mustache still attached to her face. “That…” - she points to her discarded garments - “that isn’t me. I don’t know what that is.”
“Hello, this is Earl Nightingale-“
Atalee is confronted once again with the idea that she’s being unreasonable and needs Earl’s help. Atalee says she needs a person. Anita enters, and counsels an extremely agitated Atalee to an instrumental mix of The Damage Manual’s “Limited Edition”. On two small white board worn around each of their necks, they express confusion and frustration. And then, coming to some kind of understanding, they split the word “Intermission” between them.

A quick moment to catch my breath and do a shot at Theater Wit’s bar and I’m back in my seat for the brief show closer.

Earl tells us to relax. That all we need to do is relax and we can solve all our problems. We’re too uptight; we’re too stubborn. Just relax - it’s that easy. The foursome confusedly convulse to a remix of “Anthrax” by Gang Of Four as Earl narrates to them over and over the mantra of relaxation. The group raises up Anita, who is eased out of her jumpsuit and slowly floats herself, step by cautious and painful step, across the stage and into a bright light at the far corridor.

I don’t know if I’ve ever had a therapy session that affected me as much as This Is A DAMAGE MANUAL, and I wonder if that is deliberate. Perhaps the message is that it isn’t therapy - specifically, the prescriptive kind - we need, but eachother. Perhaps rebirth comes when we submit to ourselves.

Like I said before, I cried the rest of the night after seeing this. I understand now that that “alone” feeling I often experience is a shared one, and particularly acute among women. Contrary to what the Earl Nightingales of the world tell us, though, to fight back against these pressures and pigeonholes thrust upon is nothing but an act of pure sanity. To fight back is self-expression, yes, but it is also self-preservation. That Atalee created this show around these feelings proves she truly lives by her mantra: “Art Sanctifies.”

In terms of the dancing technique itself, outside of the greater narrative, I’d expect absolutely nothing less from an experimental dancemaster such as Atalee. Her athletic and intense choreography is exciting to watch and it is clear to see that all four of these women - Atalee, Mindy, Janna and Anita - are extremely dedicated and innovative movement artists.

As I’m a huge supporter of independent showcases, I fully recommend each and every one of you to get out and experience local theater, film, art, performances, music, comedy, and everything in between. Shows like This Is A DAMAGE MANUAL need to be experienced and written about, and I am honored to have had the opportunity to do so.

If you’re interested in learning more about this show and others produced by Atalee, click below:

• breakbone.com / Atalee’s dance company site
• BONEdanse on FaceBook

And check out this awesome trailer shot and edited by Atalee’s creative partner/significant other and my friend Carl.

Photos above taken by Chrystyne (www.chrystyne.com).

Forthcoming Performance Review

I saw an amazing show this past weekend. Chicagoans - if you’re into multi-media cutting-edge dance performances, you need to see This is a DAMAGE MANUAL at Theater Wit (by Belmont and Sheffield).

A quick synopsis: Produced and performed by Atalee Judy and the BONEdanse danseurs, This is a DAMAGE MANUAL is a potent mix of anxiety, punk rock, prescriptive ’50s psychology mumbo-jumbo and bad dreams, exploring the cyclical process of what it is to be “damaged” - and alive in spite of (or because of) it.

How I ended up seeing this show is kind of an interesting story. A couple years ago, I PA’d an indie here in Chicago (same PA gig I wrote about in my previous advice post). I spent most of those 3 days trying not to get in the way of the steadicam operator, Carl. Now, a couple years later, I reunite with him out of nowhere at my grrl Chrissy’s birthday party at the MusicBox, seeing a midnight showing of Wayne’s World (Chicago really is a tight-knit town for creatives). I also met his girlfriend/creative partner, Chrissy’s close friend Atalee. Of course I knew about Atalee, due to her being an innovative and intense local dancemaker/choreographer, so it was really cool to meet her. She invited me to see her dance show, This is a DAMAGE MANUAL, and Chrissy got me comped for opening night because I was so excited to go. Opening night was this past Friday and I can say (with great self-awareness) that I made a fool of myself begging Carl to use me for whatever he might need in future BONEdanse productions - second camera, camera assistant, carrying his equipment… anything.

And then I went to my boyfriend’s apartment and cried. I was so overwhelmed and moved by the show that I fell into a self-analytical spiral of how I call myself an “artist” and “filmmaker” but don’t really live up to it at all. And This is a DAMAGE MANUAL not only forced me to confront my own lack of productivity - I also realized a lot about myself from the themes of the show: anxiety, identity, stagnancy, being overwhelmed, feeling strapped down, and reeling from constantly stimuli that only do harm.

So I’m gonna write a review on it. I won’t be able to write anything else, anyway.

What have you seen or heard recently - be it movie, performance, concert, album, exhibit, etc. - that deeply moved you? What feelings came with it? Did it motivate you to do something, or did it aid in self-reflection?

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Crew Call for Chicago

My AD/Producer friend, who I’ve worked under for several commercial and independent productions, has a Gaffer friend who’s looking for a fledgling/student PA with some grip experience for a 4-day shoot. No pay, but this project would be a great addition to a young resume, and of course there will be food. If you’re in the Chicagoland area and are interested, or know of someone who might be, send me a message!