we shot this film in New Orleans right after the 2008 election. the director Jake Scott created a lovely energy on set that was still palpable by the end of the shoot, and Jim Gandolfini was beyond a pleasure to work with. I’m in the beginning of the movie. enjoy! www.welcometotherileys-movie.com
thanks to everyone who came out to hear the music at Joe’s Pub Memorial Day weekend. don’t forget to buy a copy of SOMETHING ELSE if you don’t have one and sign up / check in here for info on the next show, play, event! (photos below by Nick Suttle and Kevin Yatarola.)
yes it was! here’s the link. also got a nod in the Village Voice’s column for contributing to best theater of the decade. nice, right?
“On this mixtape, style will dictate, we bounce back and forth in time…”
Using the rhythms of music and memory, Eisa tells the story of a radical upbringing on the dividing line between Oakland and Berkeley, California– in a family that includes her aunt, professor and activist Angela Davis.
Time shifts between the 70s, 80s, and 90s as smoothly as a DJ fading from song to song. Each track, each memory, has a built-in switch to the next, for theatrical momentum that keeps on building.
The music crosses styles and decades, but it’s hip-hop and a b-girl stance that keeps the piece bouncing in the present.
just closed THIS, acting, singing, and playing piano. the show, one of the New York Times bests of 2009, extended through January 3 and was an absolute dream to be a part of. shouts out to the visionary Melissa, Daniel Aukin on direction, Louis Cancelmi, Glenn Fitzgerald, Julianne Nicholson, and Darren Pettie on stage, and Peter Eldridge for his beautiful music. here’s an interview I did about the show as well as The New York Times review. Glenn also took some lovely photos of the cast during tech that were featured in the Times. another of his pictures is below. I’ll miss it muchly.
why haven’t I posted this until now. insane. it’s sort of like how a fish swimming in water doesn’t notice the water, I guess….after an unbelievably reviewed premiere (100% on Rotten Tomatoes!) and run at the IFC Center in New York and the Shattuck and Embarcadero in the Bay Area, Spike Lee’s film of Annie Dorsen’s and Stew’s and Heidi’s Passing Strange is finally coming out on DVD January 12, 2010! it’ll be shown on PBS then too. tell the Academy to give us an Oscar even though we aren’t eligible!
www.passingstrangethemovie.com.
did I mention the movie is hella good?
