The fundraising, casting and pre-production organizing involved in the groundbreaking live-streaming live theater production I posted about last week — Joey Brenneman’s Better Left Unsaid — is moving along very nicely, thank you.
- Jennifer Dorr White
First and arguably most important, the production’s Kickstarter campaign recently passed the $16,000 mark — 93 people have pledged money thus far, which is a fantastic feat (and just $4,000 to go).
Check it out: there are currently two pledges of $500 or more, one pledge of $250 or more, seven pledges of $100 or more, 22 pledges of $50 or more, 31 pledges of $25 or more and 14 pledges of $10 or more.
Impressed? Frankly, sounds like time for you to crack open that wallet!
Meantime, producer Kathryn Velvel Jones emailed the CFR today and revealed that casting is nearly complete on the show. The performers will include Jennifer Dorr White (yep, you recognize her from the Onion News Network?), Craig Waletzko, Jessica Arinella (notable for producing and starring in the Web series The In-Betweens of Holly Malone) and Miguel Govea.
Jones also confirmed that Tom Concordia has joined the team as director of photography. Here’s some 411 on him:
…Tom has also become recognized in the film community for his portraiture and documentary style of shooting and has been called upon to create posters and portraits for celebrities and film studios such as Tim Robbins, Edward Norton, Robert De Niro, Chris Rock, Billy Crystal, Bai Ling, Sam Rockwell,Josh Lucas, Ellen Burstyn, Tim Blake Nelson, Billy Squire, Lauren Martin, Angela Bassett, Naturi Naughton, and shot key art and publicity for the productions of Analyze That, Head of State, NYPD Blue, CSI NY, Notorious, Brooklyn’s Finest, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2, The Royal Pains, Nurse Jackie, Leaves of Grass, Germany’s Next Top Model, Bravo’s Launch my Line, and Dr. 90210.
Tom maintains evolving as a photographer and filmmaker with his directorial debut of “Love Or…” a five minute short based on Romeo and Juliet and Indian fashion designer Swati Argade, written by Alec Pollack. He is also the director and producer of the web series “Making the Shot” that chronicles behind the scenes activities of fashion photographers and has just started pre-production of the 12 part documentary of “Lucumi Now” the story of Afro-Cuban ritual migration to the Americas for PBS Seatle. Tom is still actively working as a photographer shooting portraits, fashion, publicity, and advertising for various companies. He is the official photographer for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Style360, Julian Louis, Tuleh, Marc Bauwer, FYI productions,as well as continuing to be a frequent contributor to Getty Images.
As I noted before:
There’s no question this will be theater: Better Left Unsaid will feature live actors on a real stage playing characters and unfurling a plot before a living, breathing audience here in New York.
There’s no question this will be television: Better Left Unsaid will be captured through multiple cameras, then streamed live to the Internet, therefore allowing anyone, anywhere in the world to watch the play – and, through chat rooms as well as social media, to immediately interact with it.
There’s no question this will be online video: Better Left Unsaid once captured forever by the camera and streamed, will be available for download by those unable to participate in the action in person or cyberly.
We’d like to give a special shout-out to White, who, as we noted up above, is instantly recognizable from her work for the Onion News Network, for which she has appeared since 2007.
This is a great clip — and a nice compliment to the Kansas City Royals (watch the clip for context). This is her bio:
Jennifer Dorr White has appeared most recently in NYC in Children at Play (Collaboration Town; 2 NY IT Award nominations; named “one of the year’s best” by nytheatre.com) and Blue Before Morning (terraNOVA Collective; 7 NY IT Award nominations including “Outstanding Ensemble”). She has appeared Off-Broadway in Sealed for Freshness, The Flashing Stream, The “A” Word, Women of Manhattan and Pera Palas. She has worked in many Off-Off-Broadway venues, such as the NYC Fringe Festival, E.S.T., the 14th Street Y, Hudson Guild, Vital Theatre Company and the Lark Play Development Center, where she is an Artistic Associate. She has performed regionally at Stamford Theatre Works, Dorset Theatre Festival and the Denver Center, among others. Jennifer co-starred in the movie A.B.C.D. and recently completed filming on Done to Death and Aaron Bacon. She has been seen on “Law & Order: SVU” and “Guiding Light” and appears regularly as Julianna McKannis on the Onion News Network. She received her M.F.A. from the National Theatre Conservatory and her B.A. from Williams College.
And this is White’s reel:
