Here's my interview with Julie Fei-Fan Balzer, artistic director of the Milk Can Theatre Company, who we wrote about recently, and whose simultaneous runs of The 5 Borough Plays and Running you can still catch at the Michael Weller Theater.

Julie offers some fascinating insights into the nature of working as a company--and a fiercely independent company in particular--and emphasizes the importance of extensive development to the company's work.

Enjoy!

Julie Balzer Interview from The New Roots Project on Vimeo.

I'm a few days late on this, but Warner Bros. has decided to blackout their artsy sidearms Warner Independent Pictures and Picturehouse. Now, I've always felt that the words Warner and independent combined on the same logo was a little contradiction-y, but they did manage to squeek out some pretty good flicks under the Warner Bros. stranglehold. Some of the films they put out include Paradise Now, A Scanner Darkly, Duck Season, Before Sunset, We Don't Live Here Anymore, The Science of Sleep, and that cute little penguin movie (March of the Penguins). Picturehouse also had it's fair share of respectable ammo in it's canon, including The King of Kong, La Vie En Rose, and Rocket Science (although I will forgive them for that Jennifer Lopez/Marc Anthony dance-off they put out).

Alan Horn, president and COO of Warner said because of New Line Cinema's (also under the Warner umbrella) increasing influence and reach, they have folded both W.I. and Picturehouse in order for New Line to become their main "indie" output.

One thing is for sure, the last shred of hope the studios were giving folks for an alternative to the endless sequels and remakes being forced down our throats in the big leagues is gone. Yes, Warner Independent wasn't really independent to begin with, but at least we could see some originality with our eleven bucks. But hey, I'm sure The Love Guru and You Don't Mess with the Zohan will save the studios, right?

The NewFilmmakers series that screens every Wednesday at the Anthology is showcasing a great crop this time around (May 14). First up is Mathematically Alive, a documentary about the relationship between the Mets and their fans. It's a very good doc that puts a very human face on the sports realm by following Mets devotees/lifers and attempts to show the motives behind a fan's devotions and livelihood. If baseball is your thing (and lord knows I love me some baseball), AND you're a Mets fan, Mathematically Alive is the perfect blend of the two and will hopefully repair some of the mental damage that without question you, said Mets fan, suffered during the conclusion of the '07 season.

The two features being presented are House of Women (2007, 78 minutes) and So Close (2007, 72 minutes). House of Women, by Aaron Lehman, focuses on Henry Hardy's assimilation back into home-life after being exposed to the urban way of life and how the negativity and degredation he experience while on the 'streets' influences his views on humanity as a whole. Family problems arise and he is forced to choose between accepting the selfish and evil ways of people, or believing in the hope that people can be good-willed and positive.

So Close follows a similar theme of humanity-down-the-drain (artsy dramas always do). This one, by Michael Sexton and Rob Fruchtman, zeroes in on the story of Claire and her tumultous marriage that began with a teenage romance and a premature pregnancy. It's adapted from a play and mixes various formats, including documentary, narrative, and theatrical elements, to make one great, invigorating sorrow cocktail.

Details and precise scheduling can be found here.

Today's post is penned by Ben Masten, a performer we've cited here previously. You can see his work at various comedy venues around the city, but in particular at the PIT, about which we're privileged to have his input today. --SD

The People’s Improv Theater (which has been featured on the blog a few times before) occupies an interesting niche in the NYC improv and sketch scenes. It’s a smaller and younger theater than UCB, which means it tends to fly somewhat under the radar among people who aren’t comedy geeks. The geeks themselves, however, have always supported the theater in force.

Over the past several years, the PIT has been able to attract solid audiences while slowly building a critical mass of skilled performers and students who use the theater as a relatively pressure-free environment to learn and grow. Now some industry folks have begun to take notice.

A couple weeks ago, The PIT announced that NBC has partnered with the theater to offer a diversity scholarship that will pay for the entire slate of PIT improv classes for two lucky female students or students of color. Here’s the press release:

NBC Universal and The PIT Partner in Diversity Scholarship

May 2, 2008: As part of their new Talent Diversity Initiative, NBC Universal is proud to announce its Improv Scholarship Program in partnership with The Peoples Improv Theater (The PIT) in New York City to support and promote diversity within the arts.

NBC Universal and The PIT will each sponsor one student for The PIT’s entire year-long improv program, which takes students from Level 1 to Level 5, and is taught by some of comedy’s newest and greatest talents including Kurt Braunohler, Ptolemy Slocum, Rebekka Johnson and Ali Farahnakian.

“NBC is proud to join with the The PIT in sponsoring this vital scholarship that will encourage new voices within the minority community to learn valuable skills under the guidance of such an excellent program,” said Marc Hirschfeld, Executive Vice President, Casting, NBC Universal Television. “This involvement underscores NBC Universal’s continuing commitment to promote diversity.”

“I love the idea of working with NBC, it is the channel I grew up with,” said Ali Farahnakian, the owner and founder of The PIT, and former SNL writer. “To me NBC is television and the best it has to offer. To be in partnership with them in any way is an honor.”

“I am thrilled and honored that NBC has offered to sponsor a new and improved Improv Scholarship program here,” said Katie Goan, Managing Director of The PIT. “It’s exciting that more students will now be able to experience the joys of improv due to this promising partnership.”

All performers, particularly talented women and people of color with a strong desire to study improv, are eligible to apply. The candidate will submit an official Improv Scholarship application along with a five-minute DVD in which the candidate explains why he or she should be chosen and performs an original comedic work. The two scholarship recipients will be selected by The PIT and NBC Universal executives, and awarded in September.

Scholarship Details:

• Full ride scholarship to study improvisation in The PIT’s one-year improv school for two students, Levels 1-5.

• SUBMISSION WINDOW OPENS: May 1, 2008 (All submissions must be received by August 1, 2008 by 5:00p EST to be considered.)

• Submission packet must include application, performance resume and a five-minute DVD.

• Scholarship awarded in September by The PIT and NBC Executives.

The NBC Talent Diversity Initiative was created to promote on-camera diversity through community involvement and development, showcasing non-traditional casting choices and creating programs to raise awareness at NBC Universal and within the entire entertainment community. This initiative is part of NBC Universal’s ongoing commitment to diversity, both on and off camera.

The Peoples Improv Theater (The PIT) is dedicated to the instruction, performance, and development of original comedy. The PIT strives to entertain and educate the community about the comedic arts in a safe and nurturing environment. The PIT is composed of four elements: a school that focuses on the craft of improvisation, an eclectic variety of electives and an unparalleled professional writing program; a theater that presents original comedy six nights a week; a video production company focused on producing comedy series for the Internet; and a corporate and educational workshop program that offers team building, leadership and business training.

You can check out application info for the scholarship here.

Aside from the obvious benefit of promoting diversity in comedy, it’s great to see the hard work of all the people at this fast-growing theater get some recognition from the industry powers that be. With any luck, we’ll all see some PIT-developed talent stepping into the spotlight in the not too distant future.

 

Cannes is taking place over in France now, and I'm sure the baguettes and mustaches are being exchanged freely amongst the glitteratti as we speak. So, I will use the time I'm not spending over there to report on what is happening at film houses around here. Here's what's going down...

Doxita, a collection of short documentaries (shocs?!), and Surfwise, a film about, er, surfing, are being presented at the IFC Center.

Disconnected Isreali youth, homeschooled serial killers, and drill bras a plenty at Two Boots.

1968 had more than just the Tet offensive according to the FSLC...(Go see Medium Cool!)

Constantine's Sword gets revived and re-sharpened at the Quad!

If you've been reading this site regularly, then you know that Paraphrase Theater is a source of frequent funny business. The clip you are about to see features a conversation with the men behind that production as well as the banner known as the Redheaded League, Will Carlough and Matt Elkind...two hilarious gents who were cool enough to sit down with me and talk about things like how short should a short be, the joyousness of internet distribution, and why Will dislikes YouTube.

I've spliced some clips of some selected flicks from their filmography in with the talking footage so you can get a taste of what it is they do so well. But you should, however, go to their websites(s) to see the flicks in their entirety as well as the assload of other films they have put together (including the recent Blood Brothers series, which is probably my favorite Redheaded League project so far; but alas, I was not able to upload into the interview properly).

So, without further Apu, I give you Will and Matt...

(My apologies for the low volume on the talking sections...we're getting mics and better editing software very soon!)

Will Carlough and Matt Elkind Interview from The New Roots Project on Vimeo.

From the only acting school in New York to teach a course in "Jazz Acting" comes Appearance: A Suspense in Being, a meta-theatrical meditation on postmodern existence. The question posed by the piece, according to the synopsis:

What is it, about the art of acting, that touches us so deeply? It is, after all, an inherent deceit, in which the actor convinces us that they are someone else. What is the discourse between who we are and what we do? Why is that distance so compelling and moving within the self?

It's fascinating to me that TheaterLab is investigating this question, particularly from such an avant-garde standpoint. It's my general impression that the public's fascination with "the art of acting" (if you agree that such a fascination exists) is generally derived from an interest in much more mainstream, naturalistic acting styles, as opposed to the work of Meyerhold, Artaud, and Grotowski, all of whom are cited as influences on Appearance at the company's website. Each of those artists was specifically concerned with performance styles that departed from realism and viewed the actor as more of a total-theatre artist rather than a medium for expression of a certain character.

It seems like a bit of gamble to me...I look forward to seeing whether or not it pays off. After all, what's the use of theatre if it doesn't take risks?

 

After a little bout of email tag, the very talented filmmaker Elise Kermani was nice enough to let me probe her brain as to what it takes to be a successful independent filmmaker. Elise completed her film Jocasta and it is a stunning example of how original and diverse independent film making can, and should be. Through grassroots, 'shot-gun' film making, Elise took Euripides' infamous play about family awkwardness and retold it in her own interpretation of the Oedipal complex. Elise knows what she's doing when it comes to truly fulfilling art, so let her explain her various theories and methods in this candid interview that the internet has provided us with. And, with this being the New Roots Project, take note of the film/theatre interplay that she touches on frequently (eat that synergy!). So, heed the call...

 

Q: Explain Jocasta and how it differs from some of your other projects.

Jocasta was inspired by the magnificent architecture of the Great Stone Barn which is a Shaker ruin in upstate New York. We originally wanted to do a performance there, but because the barn was structurally unsafe we decided to film the performance instead of having a live audience there. The idea to perform a Greek play by Euripides came after we found the barn. When we found out in 2006 that they were going to start reconstruction on the barn, we had just three months to get our crew together and film it. So it was a ‘shot-gun’ project: no funding, and not a whole lot of time for preproduction planning.

It differs from my other projects in that Jocasta exists mainly as a ‘concrete’ art product, whereas the other projects I’ve created have been fluid and performance based, meaning that they would be continually evolving from performance to performance and were never completely ‘set’. It’s exciting to think that Jocasta doesn’t need me and can exist after I’m dead!

Q: What aspects of theatre translate so well on film?

In Jocasta, the cinematographer was able to go into small places where no audience could get to. In film you can set specific angles, and you can be more specific in setting the tone and the rhythm of the performance. In live performance the audience member uses his eyes to shift from one place on stage to the other, in film the editor makes those decisions for the audience. Being able to see minute facial expressions and design detail is a theatrical dream. In fact, in my past performance pieces I used live camera feed on stage in order to get extreme close-ups, for instance of my feet walking on marbles in “Private Eye/Public Hand” (performed at PS122 in 1995), or of a woman putting on lipstick in “ANNE” performed at the Experimental Intermedia in 1996.

Don't miss ROFL at Piano's this Monday night. The slate features hilarious stand-up comedians and excellent live bands coming together for an evening of chuckles and grooves co-sponsored by Brooklyn Vegan (another excellent resource for comedy junkies in NYC), and you can enter to win free tickets from The Apiary. Here's a video preview of one of the performers doing a set on Conan O'Brian.

Have an excellent weekend!

Starting this Friday and Saturday, Harmony Korine's (Corporate Ghost, The Diary of Anne Frank Part II) film Mister Lonely will run for two weeks (through May 6) at the IFC Center. It's probably the only film that will attempt to explore the magical, mystical paradise of a headspace that is celebrity impersonation. It might also be the only time you see a figure that resembles Michael Jackson romantically involved with a female (nose intact). From the IFC organizers:

Harmony Korine's long-awaited return to moviemaking finds a down-on-his-luck Michael Jackson impersonator (Y Tu Mama Tambien's Diego Luna) fleeing the sad streets of Paris with Samantha Morton's Marilyn Monroe look-alike for a commune of celebrity wannabes in the Scottish Highlands. Meanwhile, somewhere in the Amazon, a priest (Werner Herzog) discovers a troupe of nuns who can fly. Steeped in Korine's trademark outrageous humor, but tempered with a new and unexpected soulfulness, MISTER LONELY is a visually ravishing fable of dreamers big and small.

Korine will be on hand at the evening screenings both Friday and Saturday nights (those would be the 8:20 and 10:45 times). I'm checking this one out...will you?

And if that enticing poster isn't enough for you, here's the trailer: