New Colony Presents Their First Film, SO MANY DAYS

The New Colony is proud to announce the world premiere of a short film So Many Days written by The New Colony Company Members Pat Coakley and Cole Orloff and directed by Nicholas J. Carroll. Based on characters from the original New Colony production of That Sordid Little Story; So Many Days debuts Tuesday, February 22 at 7 p.m. at Collaboraction, 1579 N Milwaukee. Suite 332. Doors open and cash bar begins at 7 p.m. with screening of film scheduled for 8 p.m. Immediately following the 15-minute film, The Sordid Band (featured in So Many Days) will perform. Tickets are $10 and on sale now. Tickets may be purchased at thenewcolony.org or the night of the screening, pending availability.

So Many Days re-introduces audiences to the Chicago comedian Bennie Patrick (Sean Ellis). Patrick first appeared in The New Colony's That Sordid Little Story, a bluegrass musical, which premiered July 8, 2010 at the Viaduct Theater. Writers Coakley and Orloff lifted from that staged performance, in addition to Patrick, the band and the setting and created a new story focusing on Patrick as the unlikely opening act of the band The Sordid Little Story. Fans of the staged production may notice some dialogue adapted directly into the film.

This is the first time The New Colony has taken the results of their creative process and used it to start a new project. They are using the same world, characters and tone in the film, but with a completely new storyline. This is also the first time the company has made a film. Nicholas J. Carroll, director, comments on the creation of the film from a staged production, "We sat down and asked ‘How does The New Colony make a film?' We had to address not just hiring a crew and writing a script, but how we could translate the excitement and creativity of our theatrical process into a whole new language." The New Colony answers that question by taking apart the process everyone else was using to make films and put it back together in a way that would work for them. This film is an experiment to see how well the new process might work. The film process is in its infancy, and The New Colony will grow along with it. There are two more short films planned over the next year: a documentary on The New Colony Process and a narrative short story.

Also starring in So Many Days John Wilson, Jack McCabe, Barbara Roeder Harris and "the Best Chicago Stand-Up Comedian" (Chicago Reader) Beth Stelling. The Band is Henry Riggs, Chris Gingrich, Thea Lux, Tara Sissom and Mike McCrackin.

The production team is Andrew Hobgood, performance director; Jay Patton, director of photography; Kate Carson-Groner, first assistant director; Cole Orloff, lead producer; Pat Coakley, assistant producer/gaffer; Adam Biagianti, audio director; Jared Debacker, art director; Carl Schumacher, editor; Chris Anderson, color, effects and online editing; Gary Tiedemann, music production; Sarah Fornace, fight choreographer; Will Cavedo, fight supervisor; Michael Lippert, trailer editor and crew and Cameron Yergler, crew.

So Many Days premieres Tuesday, February 22 at 7 p.m. at Collaboraction, 1579 N Milwaukee. Suite 332. Tickets are $10 and on sale now. Tickets may be purchased at thenewcolony.org or the night of the screening, pending availability.

 

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