The latest installment of the Fertile Ground film and speaker series that I curate for the Ukrainian Institute of America invited senior producer Daniel Lombroso of the The New Yorker to talk about the films of documentary-maker Nadia Parfan. We had a full house, they had a lot of questions, and we had a terrific conversation about what The New Yorker looks for in documentary, as well as Daniel’s process of working with Nadia to create the short, “I Did Not Want to Make a War Film.” The evening was proof, yet again, how hard documentaries can hit, especially when the filmmaker has a sense of humor as impish as Parfan does.
Nadia is also founder of Takflix – a Ukrainian streaming service that pays 50 percent of proceeds to the artist, and 10 percent to Come Back Alive – a foundation providing assistance to Ukraine’s military.
I’ve written, animated, and directed a new animated short, on the Tuskegee Airmen. We had an incredible team on this project, starting with the immensely talented Julian Dwyer creating the illustrations. It also included historians Daniel Haulman (retired historian of the US Air Force and author of The Tuskegee Airmen Chronology) and Todd Moye (author of Freedom Flyers), story doula Alisa Kwitney (author of G.I.L.T., Mystic U., Cadaver and Queen, and many others), the voice talents of actor Tony Melson, my production partner Alex Tuller, and many others including the staff of curators, educators, and archivists at the FDR Presidential Library. Special thanks to the New York Community Trust for the grant that funded this project. Enjoy this stills gallery:
I haven’t mentioned in this blog that I wrote, animated, and directed a short film for the FDR Presidential Library, illustrated by my long-time friend Richard Prouse, and production managed by Alex Tuller. That film, which was named a finalist in the New York Animation Awards in January, today was named a Semi-Finalist for the Flickers Rhode Island Film Festival, an Oscar-qualifying festival.
No, I have not updated this blog in ages. Yes, I need to. Good news is, I don’t have time to do that because I’m insanely busy, but I can start from the things happening today.
Will we qualify for an Oscar? No. We’re semi-finalists, not finalists, but please rub more salt on that wound.
But seriously, they had over 7000 submissions for 350 slots. I’m so incredibly honored that this little film, created for education, made it through adjudication in such a prestigious festival.
The Isabel Sandoval film Lingua Franca (starring me, well… me in a cameo) is a contender for the Best Film Award in this years Official Competition at the London festival. Writer, director, actor Isabel Sandoval is the first transgender director to compete in Official Competition.
Official Competition titles will screen nightly across the Festival in the two premier screens of the Vue Leicester Square, with a red carpet-style reception for the attending filmmakers each evening. The Festival invites audiences to share responses to films seen in Competition throughout the Festival at #MyLFFAward.
BFI says: “A beautifully performed character study and an incisive critique on race and immigration in modern America, writer/director Isabel Sandoval (who also takes on the role of Olivia) has crafted a deeply moving work of great intimacy and insight. “
Isabel Sandoval’s film Lingua Franca, about a transgender woman under threat of deportation, is one of 11 films (out of 900 submitted) selected for this year’s Venice Film Festival. I play Chad in this film. I’m a little bit excited about this, here’s the article in Variety.…
Killy Dwyer invited me onto her awesome radio show Mock-U-Mental (okay, maybe I prompted the invite). I got to share the two hours with the funny and talented T-Spoon, aka Katie Haller. We told stories, we sang songs, I ran out early to catch my train. Honestly, it’s everything you want in a radio show. Here’s a link to give it a listen:
I’m on talking Voice of Authority and what possessed me to take a show to EdFringe, along with Michael Koegel of the Phoenicia Playhouse and Doug Motel from the show Mind Salad.…
The Muff satirizes all the elements you see at a typical Moth show.
You’ll see the storytelling types: The Crier, The Rambler, The
First-Timer, The Stand-up Comedian, The Fake Newbie, The Survivor….
Or course everyone’s name will be picked from a bucket as
Come see the fake drama! The scoring! The drunken judges! The celebrity
name-dropping host! 2 Theremins signaling to wrap up stories
And of course, the bucket – where all names will be picked.
Featuring: Michele Carlo, Jamie Brickhouse, Susan Kent, Jake Hart, Glen Heroy, Robin Gelfenbien, Harmon Leon, Richard Templeton, Adam Selbst, Sean O’Brien, Colleen Hindsley, Sarah Chandler, Dean Temple …
As part of the East to Edinburgh Festival at 59E59, Voice of Authority will do a preview run of the EdFringe version of the show, July 17-21, 2019.
Currently working on a rewrite of the show with editing/writing direction from NYC comedy veteran Veronica Mosey, which is very exciting and also fun. And Carol Lee Sirugo will be stepping up from creative consultant to the role of director for this EdFringe run.…
Tribeca Film Institute has selected 14 scripted and documentary projects for the 16th annual Tribeca All Access program which amplifies stories from historically underrepresented voices.
Lingua Franca is about a Filipina immigrant in Brighton Beach scrambling to avoid deportation becomes involved with a Russian slaughterhouse worker who is unaware that she’s transgender.
BOTTOM LINE: The witty and charming Dean Temple uses stand-up, singing, and other ways of storytelling to delve into his existential crisis of wanting to be a performer versus having a more conventional job.
Voice of Authority, written and performed by Dean Temple, is a perfect example of enjoying the journey. Not everything in life is about the end result, but it’s about the paths you explore on the way there. Dean Temple weaves this tale with myriad mediums to share his strange, yet true, story about being sued for $19 million dollars by the US Department of Justice, with some great quips sprinkled throughout….
Voice of Authority teeters on the edge of a more amateur open-mic-night feel, but the witty, charming, and handsome Dean Temple is talented enough to tie it all together in a nice package.
My show, Voice of Authority (tickets»), is about getting into big trouble. The US Dept of Justice comes after me for $19 million. True story. So I’m doing a new, very short storytelling series I’m calling Big Trouble, where I ask you to tell us your story.
My first guest is my Here Lies Joe co-star Andi Morrow. Andi is an actor, writer, & director currently living in Los Angeles. She is originally from the mountains of East Tennessee, and recently travelled home to make her latest project, PUSHER. The film, which Andi wrote, directed, & stars in, centers around a young woman who has found herself caught up in the opioid epidemic that is plaguing her Appalachian community. You can learn more at www.pusherfilm.com and www.andimorrow.com.
When you get to play an angel and a devil, that’s a pretty good Christmas. Marie Hasenpflug’s production of the Lux Soap radio play in LaGrangeville, New York, performed to two sold-out audiences and it was a delight to be part of it. I played superintendent of the angels Joseph, as well as Old Man Potter, Harry, and Sam Wainwright, alongside Nancy Auffarth as Mary, Paul Francis as George, Marie as Clarence, and a cast that included Doug Woolley, Anna Marie Paolercio, Jeff Wilson, Ronlutti, Audra Siegel, and Diane Wassick.
It was great to meet some other Equity actors in my area that I did not know, as well as working with some old friends again. Thank you to Marie for such a warm experience that’s got me ready for the holidays.…
Yes, if you like video games, then you can see me in this one. That might even be me in this picture. A lot of the horse footage will be modeled from the work I did on this project, not sure I should say more than that. Very exciting stuff though, my first video game.…
I’m very thrilled to join the cast of Isabel Sandoval’s feature film Lingua Franca, playing the character of Chad. You might have seen Isabel’s film Apparition, which showed at MoMA last year. Producers on the film include Oscar-winner Gigi Dement, and Grammy- and Tony-Award winner Jhett Tolentino.
Synopsis: Olivia, an undocumented Filipino transwoman, works as a caregiver to Olga, an elderly Russian woman, in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. When Olivia runs out of options to attain legal status in the US, she becomes romantically involved with Alex, Olga’s adult grandson, in the pursuit of a marriage-based green card.…
Voice of Authority will be part of the 2019 FRIGID NYC festival at Under St. Marks in February next year, with a minimum of five performances. Dates will post in events on this site and our Facebook page once they are set.
In other super important news, my parents finally saw the show in NYC on Sep 16 and, to my considerable surprise, they loved it. I won’t post that to the reviews page or anything, but it’s always nice when your parents like your work.…
Voice of Authority has been invited to do a 20 minute version of the show at StoryFest this year, curated by Harmon Leon. The performance will be at the PIT Underground on July 14 at 4pm, and other performers in this block include: Amanda Miller and her show How To Suffer Better; Mick Cohen-Carroll and his show Me Talking, Mostly; and April Brucker and her show The Lady and President Tramp. More details and tickets here»…
“Dean Temple is an engaging guy. Right from the moment we stepped into the basement space at the Unitarian Universalist Church we felt as if we were part of something – even if we didn’t quite know what it was. The space, as you might expect, was set up with the obligatory pipe and drape and plastic chairs, but there was something intangibly different hanging in the slightly musty air. For a second or two I felt myself feeling a little like the kid at the beginning of ‘The Princess Bride’ waiting for his Grandpa to start reading the story already. Temple, in his searingly honest yet self-depreciating way, entertains as more people arrive singing covers, strumming his guitar, and even throwing in an original composition or two and before you know it you’ve organically become a part of the show which started five minutes previously.”
I traveled to my first Fringe festival in Pittsburgh this weekend with no idea what to expect. I didn’t know what Pittsburgh would be like, what performing at a festival would be like, whether there would be anyone in the seats, or what it’s like to travel back and forth to venues with a guitar, props and an amplifier when it’s snowing outside.
It was awesome. The staff was super friendly and enthusiastic. The audiences were incredibly responsive. The other artists were amazingly talented and I enjoyed their shows immensely. I got two excellent reviews. I even won an award (see picture on this page). And there was real German beer everywhere near the venue, in particular black lager, so that’s a huge win.
Among some of the terrific shows I saw (or that were there that I have seen before):
Falkland by Tasty Monster Productions (Which won the Best Show Selke award)
#vanlife by New Vintage Ensemble
Krish Mohan’s Empathy on Sale (which won the Audience Choice award)
Peter Michael Marino’s Show Up (which won Best Solo Show)
Amanda Miller’s How to Suffer Better (which won Best Actress)
David Lawson’s No Odd Job
Andrew Frank’s Macrocosm
Tessa Flannery’s Tentacles
And Sean Miller’s Straw, Mud and Old Boards (which got me to scream out loud when he hammered a six inch nail up his nose).…
