Spring Theatre's Film Lock-In: “A Staggering Achievement For Local Theater”

Lock-In, a feature-length independent comedy film shot at a social distance during COVID-19 as a part of Spring Theatre's Digital Performance Project, premiered one month ago on the theatre's YouTube page. The film was written and directed by Dan Beckmann, Spring Theatre Artistic Director, and Erinn Dearth, Spring Theatre Executive Director, with an original score by David Lane.

Acclaimed as "A Staggering Achievement for Local Theater" by one IMDb reviewer who stated: "It's beautifully rough around the edges while still maintaining a sense of rhythmic pacing and heart...All the actors, directors, camera operators, singers, composers, editors, and overall supporters of the project will now forever have this as a moment in their lives in which they united to tell a wild story and to make a piece of art about strength and solidarity."

Lock-In boasts:

• Featured tunes written by 11-year old Caroline Mendenhall and 14-year old Tara Flury, as well as another original song written exclusively for the project by Hollywood Music and Media's "Best Country Artist" award winner Tiffany Ashton;
• A film that was cast, written, directed, recorded, and edited in less than two months with footage taken at social distance on mobile phones;
• A collection of both professional and community performers with ages ranging from three-and-a-half to 70 from 17 states, 18 cities with in North Carolina, and three countries; and
• 94 cast performers-a third of which are school-and-college-aged, 14 cameos, 8 voiceover artist, 8 extras, 27 in the animal cast, 9 assistants, 5 editors, 6 people on the sound team, 6 people on the graphics team, 1 special effects artist, 5 on the B-unit video team, and many other family members who helped as cinematographers, camera operators, and more.

"When the credits rolled it really sunk in that these were all individuals from their respective locations doing it all-and doing it brilliantly!" shared another IMDb reviewer.

With narrative tones ranging from the heartfelt to the absurd, Lock-In urges us to strip away the frivolities of life on Earth and discover for ourselves what is truly, universally important. The film, which takes place just before the 6-month mark of a complete and total global lock-in, runs 2.5 hours and can be viewed for free at Spring Theatre's YouTube page: www.youtube.com/springtheatre.

To post a comment, you must register and login.