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Ain't It Though
TYPE: Hybrid Feature
GENRE: Drama
STATUS: Development
LOGLINE
When their estranged mother sends them a box of seven cassette tapes, a young drag creator living in NYC sets out on a journey to their long-lost childhood home in the desert wilds near Palm Springs.
SYNOPSIS
ALEX arrives in Palm Springs, bags stuffed with wigs for their drag persona GINA CAKESTAND and a box of tapes from an unknown address. Pressing play, their mother’s voice speaks to them for the first time in 17 years. They travel through the alien and familiar place where they were born, encountering a self-involved healer, a salty ex-girlfriend, a strange hiker, and a 50 ft. Marilyn Monroe. Back onstage in NYC, Gina narrates the journey…howling to the stars for mother, for self, and for home.
ARTISTIC STATEMENT
We came together in March 2020 to support each other and create during the pandemic shutdown. This is our first project as a group: 7 stories / 7 days in the life of Alex's journey. In this world, we are raised on stories; we carry tales out of love. Human accounts are beautifully messy, full of contradictions and shifting narration. Accepting this, we learn to accept ourselves. Stories bridge the space between I and Thou—the love we feel for others and the love we need for ourselves.
KEY CREW
McCaleb Burnett - Actor, Producer
MCCALEB BURNETT is a writer and actor living in NYC. He is A graduate of Brown University and holds a masters degree from NYU Tisch School of The Arts.
Michele Noble - Director, Producer
MICHELE NOBLE is an award-winning filmmaker of narrative and documentary films whose work often centers around Social Justice. Her films include: Runaway Dreams, Journey 4 Artists, the Revolution, and Reclamation: The Rise at Standing Rock.
Alessandra Mesa - Director, Producer
ALESSANDRA MESA is a Cuban-American writer and actor. Her latest project Superior (lead actor and co-writer) had its world premiere at Sundance Film Festival 2021. She is currently writing a television series titled Havana on the Hudson and three feature films: Hi Baby, A Kinder Sea, and TO THE BONE.
Samantha Soule - Writer, Director, Actor
SAMANTHA SOULE is a filmmaker and actress. She can be seen on Netflix's The Queen's Gambit, Outer Banks, Godless and Tales of The City. She is co-directing the indie feature Midday Black Midnight Blue with Daniel Talbott.
Daniel Talbott - Director, Writer, Producer
DANIEL TALBOTT's pilot In Her Blood is under option at Fabel, and he’s co-directing the indie feature Midday Black Midnight Blue with Samantha Soule (currently in post-production).
Kip Kroeger - Producer
KIP KROEGER is an award-winning producer from North Carolina, whose credits range from a documentary he produced at the age of 22, to most recently, AppleTV’s Ted Lasso.
Amy Berryman - Writer, Actor, Director
AMY BERRYMAN is a New York-based playwright, screenwriter, and actor. Her play Walden premiere don the West End in 2021 directed by Ian Rickson.
Alexander Lambie - Actor (Lead)
ALEXANDER LAMBIE is an artist from Intervale Avenue whose work is primarily focused on drawing attention to marginalized people and new play development. He is a member of Middle Voice Theater Company, an alumnus of Atlantic Acting School as well as The MCC Youth Company. He is also known as Gina Cakestand, a drag persona living in the kitchen on the intersection of anime and the black experience. Works include: Get Cooking With Gina (BAAD), The Enclave dir. Victor Cervantes (Rattlestick), Orpheus and the Bershires dir. Laura Savia, Accidents Waiting to Happen dir. Padric Lilis (Stable Cable) and The Parlour dir. Daniella Heart.
Sharon Washington - Actor
SHARON WASHINGTON is a NYC based actress and writer. Her recent credits include The Joker, The Kitchen, For Life, City On A Hill, The Code, Madem Secretary, The Looming Tower, Weiner Dog, Gotham. Sharon is a Primary Stages Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence and her play Feeding The Dragon was a nominee for the Outer Critics Circle, and is a Lucille Lortel and Audelco award winner. Sharon is a graduate of Dartmouth College and The Yale School of Drama.
Will Pullen - Actor
WILL PULLEN just wrapped the Netflix feature The Unforgivable, opposite Sandra Bullock. Recent film: Greyhound, opposite Tom Hanks. TV: Dickinson, The Americans, and Jenji Kohan’s HBO pilot Devil You Know, directed by Gus Van Sant. Broadway: To Kill a Mockingbird and Sweat.
Chapman Hyatt - Actor
CHAPMAN HYATT is a New York based actor and writer. Credits include Cino Nights, The Whole of You by Amy Berryman, Ugly Little Sister by Charlotte Miller, Pulp Verite by Crystal Skillman and in the Disney Channel Original Movie Lemonade Mouth as Lyle.
Ren Dara Santiago - Writer, Actor, Director, Producer
REN DARA SANTIAGO is a Puerto Rican-Filipina born and raised in the 212. Writer for stage, audio, and film. Sometimes producing curator, director, educator.
Bixby Elliot - Writer, Producer
BIXBY ELLIOT is a queer writer from New York City developing new works for theater, film and TV.
Oliver Palmer - Actor, Writer
OLIVER PALMER has appeared on Blue Bloods, Orange is the New Black, Daredevil and stars in the upcoming feature film Life After You by Sarah T. Schwab. His short film German Ridge recently won the 1st Monthly Film Festival and was selected for the Florida Script Challenge.
Mandy Olsen Cogman - Actor, Producer
MANDY OLSEN COGMAN is a Development Executive at Unicorns & Unicorns (an LA- based production company) and a co-founder of Feste Productions. She has spent over two decades in the industry as both an actress and independent producer.
Addie Johnson Talbott - Producer, Actor, Writer, Director
ADDIE JOHNSON TALBOTT is an LA-based screenwriter, producer, and author of 14 nonfiction books. Her pilot Grace in the Clutch won the Omaha and Sedona film festivals, and her short He Was Here won the Nevada City Film Festival.
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The Gotham Film & Media Institute is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to finding, developing and celebrating the people and projects that shape the future of story.