Lucky Me

The definition of a lucky life: as I drive north to begin shooting something new, I get word that Her Magnum Opus will premiere at the Port Townsend Film Festival September 15-17, 2018. All reports are that Port Townsend is the perfect community to welcome Opus into the world. Very satisfying to be launching a new project as the previous one finds its home.


             
Music in the above trailer composed by Lorenzo Wolff with Kate Steinberg who also sings it.


Also lucky to be housed in a beautiful place in Vermont with a cabin at our disposal where we created a surreal interior location for 4 days of shooting, while sharing good company and delicious food with our host Marta Miller.

And the cast! Both Aislinn MacMaster and David Thomson had danced with me many times before on stage and on camera - she in Her Children Mourn and Opus, he in Considering an Exhibition - but they'd never met before. What a pleasure to watch them connect immediately and deeply off screen and on. 

Hard to believe since the guy is only 25 years old, but this is the 6th time Charles Caster-Dudzick and I have collaborated since 2010 - starting with Aqua-booty and continuing through 890 Broadway, Honeymoon, On the way to Work, and Opus.  For this one, his multiple credits will read: camera, gaffer, grip and fellow art director.

And as if this weren't enough proof of my lucky life, there's more:

You'll remember that March's post described the process of creating Marta Renzi: Newsletters Vol I & II with Arthur Avilés. 

Starting with scans of the newsletters spanning the years from 1992-2006, our task gradually expanded to include additional photographs and occasional text. Thanks to Arthur's heartfelt generosity, creative spirit and hours of labor over several months of Sundays, we now have hard copies - 

yes Virginia, actual books! - and they are gorgeous.

Because the printed set is prohibitively expensive there are only a few copies in circulation - at my house and Marta Miller's, in the Bronx at BAAD! and probably at Jacob's Pillow and the Lincoln Center Library. But thanks to modern technology, the Newsletters will soon be available online - for free.

   David Thomson, Marta Miller & Aislinn MacMaster perusing the Newsletters.

Marta Renzi Newsletters memorializes countless dancers. who joined the Project Co - among them my frequent muses Peter Stathas, Marta Miller, Anka Sedlackova - as well as a lifetime of commitment to making dance accessible, outdoors and usually for free, at venues such as Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Summerstage and Jacob's Pillow.

Thank you, Arthur.
Thank you, all.