Open Call: Pitch Reels

And All in War With Time Pitch:

The roar of a north wind blows thru branches of thickset trees. Branches creak and moan. On the edge of a ravine stands a man, teetering on the rocks, alone, ragged and bloodied, a steely gaze in his eyes. We close in on him. He cries out to the ravine below, vengeance in his call

“Then hate me when thou wilt, if ever, now,
Now while the world is bent my deeds to cross.
Join with the spite of fortune, make me bow,
And do not drop in for an after-loss”

Set against a placid sea, the ramparts of a fortress rise towards an auburn sky. The last rays of a setting sun embrace a bank of clouds, running orange, then purple, then red. A woman, an infant in her arms, holds the child tight as she gazes towards the horizon, tears in her eyes, pain in her voice

“When wasteful war shall statues overturn,
And broils root out the work of masonry,
Nor Mars his sword nor war’s quick fire shall burn
The living record of your memory”

These are the words of William Shakespeare captured in his lyric and evocative sonnets.

Mariner Films in collaboration with the Actor’s Shakespeare Project (ASP) proposes a 3 minute video featuring selected sonnets that deal with the themes of war; of loss, of battle, of passion, of human frailty, of the perseverance of the human spirit and of the redemptive power of love.

ASP actors will be shot on mini DV format at visually interesting environmental and architectural locations in the Greater Boston area that resonate with the themes of the sonnets selected. Music and imagery will be used as transitions and to underscore the sonnets themselves.

Example locales include Purgatory Chasm State Reservation, Fort Warren on George’s Island of The Boston Harbor Islands, Mount Auburn Cemetery.

This project draws upon the gifted actors of ASP, Boston’s premier Shakespeare ensemble, which has garnered national attention for its powerful and cutting-edge realizations of Shakespeare’s words.

These outstanding actors, placed in surroundings that amplify the beauty and power of Shakespeare’s words, will bring relevance and insight to our understanding of the repercussions of war on the human spirit, a spirit so well evoked through these sonnets