WHAT GIRLS KNOW @ St, Mark's

On Friday, Dec. 3rd, eleven little girls, ages 8 & 9 and one ten year old participants of the What Girls Know workshop at North Rampart Community Center gave a presentation of their original play, Magnolia and Truth. This was after only three days since they had come up with the story which begins, of course, with

Once upon a time there was a girl named Magnolia. She didn't know where she came from, because she can be in one place for only 24 hours at a time. Every morning she wakes up in a different and strange place and doesn't know where she is. When she woke up yesterday, there was another girl there with her. Her name was Truth and she was looking for her parents. Magnolia hoped they would be friends. Magnolia and Truth set out on the next 24 hour journey. They go to three lands: Helping Land, Bubbleland, Mexico, and Hollywood Land. In each Land they discover something important that ultimately helps Magnolia and Truth find their way home.

Kourtney Heart, the 17 year-old local singing sensation in New Orleans ("My Boy") delighted girls and audience alike with her portrayal of Truth. She and the girls sang in a call and response style set to the rhythm of "Billie Jean". Each girl portrayed the character she had created and resided in her chosen Land. Ciera Payton, Associate Director of What Girls Know, and wonderful young actress played Magnolia.

HUGE THANK YOU to Brenda Currin, Artistic Director of What Girls Know who made it happen!




--

www.whatgirlsknow.com

Just back from New Orleans where we marked the 5th anniversary of Katrina by screening the AFTER THE STORM film at the North Rampart Community Center. Our first audience was made up of the some of the kids who now attend the after school program at the Center. For many of them, Katrina is a dim memory, but they were excited to see their own Community Center featured in a film. The difference between THEN and NOW is remarkable -- even to young eyes. We had three more screenings of the film, which gave some of the cast members an opportunity to come forward and speak to the audience. The Center itself is about to go through a major change. After four years of financial challenges, structural improvements and major miracles, Joanne Finley is stepping down as Executive Director. I think we can all agree that she's done wonders with the Center, raising it up from nothing and turning into a true hub of community activity, summer fun and after school care. During this past weekend, we got a chance to meet with the new board members who are taking the lead in making the Center even more essential to the kids and the community.

A special thank you to everyone who have helped us create change in New Orleans -- one neighborhood at a time.

From Beatrice Crouch - Vashon

Last week I attended a wonderful screening at Vashon Island. As soon as I arrived and I saw the theater with After The Storm next to Avatar just in a better time of the day, I knew it will be special. and it was...Beatrice Couch who helped organized it wrote that:

In late November Diane Bradford asked me to coordinate a promotional campaign and oversee the NW premiere of “After the Storm” on Vashon Island, WA on January 18, 2010 (MLK Day). After watching the movie, I was inspired along with and a small group of local Vashon artists to create a two week event called “From Vashon with Love: a Celebration of Films, Music and Art”.

As part of the grassroots promotion of “After the Storm” I held a private screening for 20 local artists, ranging from film-makers, musicians, artists and local promoters of the arts. From that meeting came a core group Vicki Dunakin, Richard Waits, Robyn Landis and myself that helped to create “From Vashon with Love: a Celebration of Films, Music and Art” (January 8 – 20, 2010).

With a recent break in of the Vashon Theater, Vicki Dunakin and some of the local film-makers created FilmAid as a means of helping the theater owner recover from the financial loss. Along with FilmAid we created a benefit “From Vashon with Love: a Celebration of Music” to send local musicians to Sundance. We were able to take Robyn Landis (the Grand prize winner of the 2009 John Lennon singer/song-writer award), Troll’s Cottage and Song and Legend to perform during the first weekend of the Sundance Film Festival at the “Crown on Main” in Park City, UT.

As part of the NW Premiere of “After the Storm”, it was Diane’s wish to include an educational piece to the screening of the movie. I have known James Cardo for many years he was the perfect choice, James Cardo is the assistant Dean and teaches at The Harbor School and has been leading a group of 8th grade students to New Orleans’ for the past three years in an effort to play a part in the recovery projects. The NW Premiere was used as a benefit to create a follow up mini-documentary and show how the power of community involvement with youth can be used as an experiential educational piece and showcase the value of volunteering. Nick Weisnet, Vicki Dunakin’s son will be filming the travel study trip that the 8th grade students from The Harbor School in May, 2010.

“After the Storm” is a magical movie that provides a model to create community cooperation combined with the creative arts to overcome most obstacles that life presents us. As Gerry McIntyre states in the movie “through Community and Love one can over come any disaster”! James Lecesne, Hilla Medalia, Gerry McIntyre and the cast of young performers all give us a shining example of how with love, determination and inspiration communities can bring hope into even the most hopeless of hearts.

Sincerely,
Beatrice Crouch
Heart of the Sound Events
www.fromvashonwithlove.org

Photos by Peter Ray and Rebecca Douglas

Seariders!

Hilla and I spent our lat day in Hawaii vistiing the West side of the island of O'hau. Thanks to the amazing Jeff Stone we were able to screen the AFTER THE STORM film to a group of exceptional high school kids involved in a film production program at Waianae High School called "Seariders". Jeff and his brother Randy Stone started this program almost ten years ago to help local teens on the island get a head start in learning the skills needed to compete in the world of film and tv production. Candy Suiso, an inspired and inspiring teacher is in charge of the program and the staff are all brilliant graduates of the school who have come back to Waianae to pass along what they know to the next generation. You can visit their website at www.seariderproductions.com to learn more about them.

Superstar: : Kristina Vakameilalo

James, Jeff Stone, Candy Suiso, Hilla, Beverly Stone

NY Premier

Over the weekend, AFTER THE STORM won the AUDIENCE FAVORITE award at the Woodstock Film Festival! And as if that wasn't enough, the next day the film received a wonderful review in the NY Times on Monday morning. http://movies.nytimes.com/2009/10/05/movies/05storm.html But all this was leading up to an exciting opening night screening of the film at The Museum of Modern Art in NYC. Some of the performers featured in the film arrived fresh from New Orleans to join in the festivities and see themselves projected ten foot high -- Desiree´, Griffin, Gabrielle, Ashley and Annie were all there along Gerry McIntyre, Randy Redd, Duncan Sheik, Chita Rivera, Lynn Ahrens and Steve Flaherty and many many other.