overview of madison street theatre
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OVERVIEW OF MADISON STREET THEATRE “FILMS FOR $5IVE” screening series WEEK 1 - Performance Date Time Fri Jan 13, 2012 7pm Sat Jan 14, 2012 2pm Sat Jan 14, 2012 7pm Sun Jan 15, 2012 2pm Film A Good Man A Good Man Welcome To Anatevka Welcome To Anatevka Director 2011, Bob Hercules and Gordon Quinn 2011, Bob Hercules and Gordon Quinn 2001, Ruth Leitman and James Jernigan 2001, Ruth Leitman and James Jernigan Running Time 86 min 86 min 62 min 62 min A GOOD MAN This soaring, no-holds-barred documentary follows the two-year artistic journey of acclaimed choreographer Bill T. Jones (Last Supper at Uncle Tom’s Cabin, FELA!) as he struggles to incorporate his own evolving and conflicting impressions of Abraham Lincoln’s legacy into the creation of “Fondly Do We Hope…Fervently Do We Pray,” a piece commissioned by the Ravinia Festival to commemorate the Lincoln bicentennial. WELCOME TO ANATEVKA 22 adult actors with developmental disabilities, 8 theater professionals, 13 high school drama students, 10 weeks until curtain of their performance of “Fiddler on the Roof.”. Breakdowns, crushes, catfights, seizures… ‘Break a leg.’ --WEEK 2 - Happiness Date Time Fri Jan 20, 2012 7pm Sat Jan 21, 2012 2pm Sat Jan 21, 2012 7pm Sun Jan 22, 2012 2pm Film Director Inquiring Nuns 1968, Gordon Quinn Inquiring Nuns 1968, Gordon Quinn Graveyard shorts + Something Better Somewhere Else 2010 / 11, Ron Lazeretti Graveyard shorts + Something Better Somewhere Else 2010 / 11, Ron Lazeretti Running Time 60 min 60 min 10 min + 76 min 10 min + 76 min INQUIRING NUNS Two young nuns explore Chicago--from a supermart to the Art Institute and in front of churches on Sunday--confronting people with the crucial question, "Are you happy?" They meet many people--a lonely girl, a happy mother, a nun, some lovers, two hippie musicians, a lady sociologist, a college professor, even Stepin Fetchit; and receive many answers-"Happiness is the absence of fear," "Avoiding people," "Rasberries," "Joy in knowing Christ." The humor and sadness of these honest encounters lift the film beyond its interview format to a serious and moving inquiry into the concerns of contemporary man, and also into the circumstances in which men will actually express their concerns. GRAVEYARD (shorts) and SOMETHING BETTER SOMEWHERE ELSE Opening shorts: first three parts of GRAVEYARD: While the rest of the world sleeps, Pete the Custodian and Damon the Security Guard share late-night revelations, epiphanies, confessions, lies and whatever else they can can think of to keep from dying of boredom before the sun comes up. SOMETHING BETTER SOMEWHERE ELSE: A collective tale of yearning and restlessness told through four distinct but thematically linked stories. Inspired by the best short story collections and the almost lost art of the concept album, the film explores the question: Why is it that who and where we are so often pales in comparison to who and where we imagine we could be? --WEEK 3 – The Arts Date Fri Jan 27, 2012 Sat Jan 28, 2012 Sat Jan 28, 2012 Sun Jan 29, 2012 Time 7pm 2pm 7pm 2pm Film Golub Golub Typeface Typeface Director 2004, Gordon Quinn, Jerry Blumenthal 2004, Gordon Quinn, Jerry Blumenthal 2009, Justine Nagan 2009, Justine Nagan Running Time 80 min 80 min 59 min 59 min GOLUB Golub is a 1988 documentary film, produced by Kartemquin Films, that examines the life and work of controversial painter, Leon Golub. Inspired by war, political oppression and the fight for Free Speech, Golub and his paintings are famous for their depictions of extreme violence. Also featured prominently in the film is his wife, anti-war feminist and artist, Nancy Spero. The documentary tracks Golub from starting with a blank canvas to a touring North American exhibition and eventually to an exhibition in Northern Ireland TYPEFACE Charting the intersection between rural America and contemporary graphic design --- OVERVIEW OF MADISON STREET THEATRE “FILMS FOR $5IVE” screening series (cont) WEEK 4 - Politics Date Fri Feb 3, 2012 Sat Feb 4, 2012 Sat Feb 4, 2012 Sun Feb 5, 2012 Time 7pm 2pm 7pm 2pm Film Director Running Time Tony & Janina's American Wedding 2010, Ruth Leitman 83 min Tony & Janina's American Wedding 2010, Ruth Leitman 83 min By the People: The Election of Barack Obama 2009, Alicia Sams, Amy Rice 116 min By the People: The Election of Barack Obama 2009, Alicia Sams, Amy Rice 116 min TONY & JANINA’S AMERICAN WEDDING This film follows a Polish American family through the red tape of the current U.S. immigration system, telling the untold human rights story of post-9/11, that every undocumented immigrant in America faces today. The film became the centerpiece of a national advocacy effort that led to the Wasilewski family being reunited in Chicago in August, 2011. BY THE PEOPLE: THE ELECTION OF BARACK OBAMA 2009 documentary film produced by Edward Norton broadcast in November 2009 on HBO, which follows Barack Obama and various members of his campaign team, including David Axelrod, through the two years leading up to the United States presidential election on November 4, 2008. --WEEK 5 – The ‘Come On’ Date Time Fri Feb 10, 2012 7pm Sat Feb 11, 2012 2pm Sat Feb 11, 2012 7pm Sun Feb 12, 2012 2pm Film Toots Toots Lipstick & Dynamite Lipstick & Dynamite Director 2006, Kristi Jacobson 2006, Kristi Jacobson 2005, Ruth Leitman 2005, Ruth Leitman Running Time 85 min 85 min 83 min 83 min TOOTS Outlines the life of Toots Shor (1903-1977), Manhattan's premier saloonkeeper from the year 1940 to the year 1959. At 18, he relocated from South Philadelphia to New York and became a speakeasy bouncer. In 1940, he opened his restaurant, Toots Shor's at 51 West 51st St., which was frequented by sports heroes, actors, mobsters, cops, politicians, visiting dignitaries, and writers. The film is commentated by Shor's daughter, Frank Gifford, Peter Duchin, former sports writers, and others as the filmmaker mixes still photographs, archive footage, including an appearance on "This Is Your Life," and an audio-tape interview from 1975 to present a portrait of New York during and after Prohibition and of a lovable, larger-than-life, uniquely New York public figure. LIPSTICK & DYNAMITE Lipstick and Dynamite is a look into the lives of the women who made their living on the professional wrestling circuit. Full of outstanding archival footage of wrestlers like The Fabulous Moolah and Johnnie Mae Young, Lipstick and Dynamite is primarily concerned with the lives of hardship and hard work these superstars of the ring created for themselves. It could have been the sex, money, injuries, and intrigue that dominated their lives on the road, but the competitive passion of these women have for their sport shines through in director Ruth Leitman’s touching portrait of women who lived hard, and fought even harder. --WEEK 6 - Women Date Time Film Director Running Time Fri Feb 17, 2012 7pm Refrigerator Mothers 2003, David Simpson 60 min Sat Feb 18, 2012 2pm Refrigerator Mothers 2003, David Simpson 60 min Sat Feb 18, 2012 7pm Life Lessons/My Mother's Idea 2011, Maria Finitzo 19min / 47 min Sun Feb 19, 2012 2pm Life Lessons/My Mother's Idea 2011, Maria Finitzo 19min / 47min REFRIGERATOR MOTHERS It is America of the 1950s and 1960s, when a woman's most important contribution to society is generally considered to be her ability to raise happy, well-adjusted children. But for the mother whose child is diagnosed with autism, her life's purpose will soon become a twisted nightmare. Looking for help and support, she encounters instead a medical establishment that pins the blame for her child's bizarre behaviors on her supposedly frigid and detached mothering. Along with a heartbreaking label for her child, she receives a devastating label of her own. She is a "refrigerator mother". Refrigerator Mothers paints an intimate portrait of an entire generation of mothers, already laden with the challenge of raising profoundly disordered children, who lived for years under the dehumanizing shadow of professionally promoted "mother blame." Once isolated and unheard, these mothers have emerged with strong, resilient voices to share the details of their personal journeys. Through their poignant stories, Refrigerator Mothers puts a human face on what can happen when authority goes unquestioned and humanity is removed from the search for scientific answers. LIFE LESSONS / MY MOTHER’S IDEA Director Finitzo (TERRA INCOGNITA) based her humorous fictional short LIFE LESSONS on her own childhood experiences as the awkward daydreamer in a dance class of aspiring ballerinas. The short film became the inspiration for the documentary MY MOTHER’S IDEA, which alternates a making-of chronicle of LIFE LESSONS with a fond history of Chicago’s legendary Stone Camryn School of Ballet and its two charismatic teachers Walter Camryn and Bentley Stone, who ran the school for 45 years. OVERVIEW OF MADISON STREET THEATRE “FILMS FOR $5IVE” screening series (cont) WEEK 7 – Family Date Fri Feb 24, 2012 Sat Feb 25, 2012 Sat Feb 25, 2012 Sun Feb 26, 2012 Time 7pm 2pm 7pm 2pm Film Alma Alma Short films by Lisa Barcy Short films by Lisa Barcy Director 1999, Ruth Leitman 1999, Ruth Leitman Various, Lisa Barcy Various, Lisa Barcy Running Time 94 min 94 min 60 min 60 min ALMA In this intimate and darkly humorous portrait of the Thorpe family, filmmaker Ruth Leitman (Lipstick & Dynamite, Wildwood, N.J.) follows daughter Margie’s struggle with a mentally ill mother and an abusive, alcoholic father. Framed by accusations of incest, Alma is an unflinching examination of family secrets, love and abuse tangled up in love. LISA BARCY Animator Lisa Barcy uses a wide range of techniques, including Claymation, silhouette animation, and puppetry. Highly recommended for those whose interest in animation goes beyond Disney. --WEEK 8 – Growing Up Date Time Fri Mar 2, 2012 7pm Sat Mar 3, 2012 2pm Sat Mar 3, 2012 7pm Sun Mar 4, 2012 2pm Film Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football Louder Than A Bomb Louder Than A Bomb Director 2011, Rashid Ghazi 2011, Rashid Ghazi 2010, Greg Jacobs & Jon Siskel 2010, Greg Jacobs & Jon Siskel Running Time 92 min 92 min 99 min 99 min FORDSON: FAITH, FASTING, FOOTBALL Fordson: Faith, Fasting, Football follows a predominately Arab-American high school football team from a working-class Detroit suburb as they practice for their big cross-town rivalry game during the last ten days of Ramadan, revealing a community holding onto its Islamic faith while they struggle for acceptance in post 9/11 America. LOUDER THAN A BOMB LOUDER THAN A BOMB chronicles the stereotype-confounding stories of four teams as they prepare for and compete in the 2008 LTAB poetry slam event. By turns hopeful and heartbreaking, the film captures the tempestuous lives of these unforgettable kids, exploring the ways writing shapes their world, and vice versa.
