About five months ago, I pitched an idea to Patrick Kennelly, one of the two artistic directors of Highways Performance Space. Rather than complain about traditional Hollywood’s inability to see the value of my as-yet-unproduced screenplay A Place by the River, I’d adapt the material into a two-act theatrical experience. He accepted the challenge and Highways presented the material this past month.
The logistics of the project were immense. We had a cast of 19 actors, and several dance sequences choreographed by Jamie Jeppe-Benson. The reincarnation romantic drama spanned thousands of years, taking us between ancient India and modern day Los Angeles, causing a production design challenge like no other for the brilliant Nathaly Lopez. The costumes were also a huge ask – and designer Shpetim Zero delivered. We had no budget for dedicated understudies so there was a complicated system of actors knowing each other’s parts in case one of the 19 actors ever got sick or missed a show (it never happened – to my amazement!). The sound design of David J. Kruk and the lighting design of Brandon Baruch filled in the material in ways I did not know was possible before rehearsals started. And I couldn’t be more pleased with the efforts of Alessandro Piersimoni on the marketing graphics and for the help of Taylor Thompson, who shot the trailer-within-the-play and Patrick Kennelly, who edited the trailer (you can watch it below). These meta materials helped us create the feeling of Nathaniel Quinn being a real, well, filmmaker. And, as if I couldn’t be more grateful, my long-term partner James Pulizzi got in on the action and shot all the production stills (photos below).
The entire cast was fabulous and you can see a full list here, but I want to pay special tribute to Blake Sheldon, Laurence Fuller, Rex Lee, Rebekah Brandes, Shayan Sobhian, Greg Ainsworth and Daniel Benett.
Not only am I incredibly moved and proud that my characters and dialogue found life through their efforts, rescued from a script discard pile. But, even more than that, the show achieved a longstanding goal to create a unified team for a production with high creative aspirations. It truly felt like we found ourselves working within a community of good faith artists in a way that I’ve been seeking my entire career. I credit that result largely to our casting director/producer Daniel Berilla for finding so many of these talented human beings and producer Jason Daks for managing them with such grace, humor, and class.
I so wanted to produce Place by the River as a three million dollar indie film, but maybe I got just what I needed with this more modest incarnation. The cast and crew truly made a dream come true.
-Hunter
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