Voices From Chornobyl - Performance Blog

Hello everybody,

It is hard to condense all of the events from this past weekend into one email, but here are the highlights.

• Over 100 delegates from Chernobyl Charities in the UK and Ireland saw our Demo Film and heard the idea for the Anniversary Readings.
• The Workshop for “Commemorating the Anniversary,” which I facilitated, had many more attendees than had signed up, after they had seen the Film.
• All of the charities involved are excited and interested in utilizing the play for the Charity’s benefits.
• 2009 will be the true beginning, but many were encouraged to read the play aloud at their Board Meetings, and get started sooner.
• A woman formerly on the Examination (Education Board) Board is looking to put a Special Adaptation for Primary Grades into the Examination Curriculum, either for Health, Science or History classes, or all
• The UK Anniversary Readings will be integrated into every Charity’s “Remember Chernobyl” festivities, and after my presentation, a Charity Delegate pledged the first 5,000 pounds towards a full-time National Coordinator for such readings.
• By the 25th Anniversary, these readings should be worldwide and create an event that will make Chernobyl more than just a footnote on the news.
• The DVD will be used as a vehicle to interest more families in hosting “Holidays” for children who are ill due to the effects of radiation.

And I’m extremely open to other people’s ideas and suggestions.

More later!

On the morning of the 9th, Aaron and I went over to Cindy’s house to record the script on tape (voice.) Then we went to the shooting location at the B-Space in Atwater Village where we were going to spend two weekends shooting.

We started with a couple easier set ups and I was script supervising and using the clapper for the takes. I was really intimidated with the script supervising element at first because I have never done this before but it was quite interesting and I slowly relaxed into the role. (I prefer acting in front of the camera though.) I had to watch for continuity, I had to write down camera details, and I also had to pay attention and write down what the director was saying. It was a short day and we finished it with some great shots.

On Sunday, February 10th, I was in some of scenes so Corey took over the script supervising role during my takes. We also had a fantastic Make-Up artist, Bill Myer, who helped with anything in between his make-up work. Everybody pitched in. Everybody lent a hand with something other then their assigned job. And during takes we made up a couple Chernobyl songs that I wish we could have recorded. “Chernobyl the Musical!” Ha! Our fantastic actors know how to make light of the situation. In between the depressing, sad, and heartbreaking scenes we sing songs. I love working on this play!

On Saturday, February 16th I had to go to a production meeting in the morning for a short film I’m shooting, so I could not get to set until 3 pm. Shawn jumped into the script supervisor role and he ended up doing it all day long. To make myself still useful for the day I took my reliable Canon D10 with me to the B-Space and I took pictures of the crew, cast and the set.

When I was in front of the camera acting, Bill took some photos of me, which I’m quite thankful for. Usually when I take pictures, there are never pictures of me.

We finished shooting the last scene at around 9 pm. The entire shoot went very fast. This was an incredibly well organized set. We had scripts, story board, and scene schedules all over the place. We had snacks and lunch break. We had a fantastic director, who was one of the most laid back directors I’ve ever worked with (Christine Louise Berry is another one.) And the crew was very professional.

I think these two weekends on the set were the most relaxing weekends for me in a long time. I love being on set! That is where I can relax from all the hustle and all the daily stress. I miss it already. But thankfully I’ll be working on another project this coming weekend. Woohoo!

The finished short film of “Voices From Chornobyl“will be presented in UK on March 9th, at the Remember Chernobyl Conference.

Two years ago I thought my play VOICES FROM CHORNOBYL would be great as a way to raise awareness and money for Chernobyl charities around the world. I modeled my idea after Eve Ensler’s V-Day which uses her Vagina Monologues for various women’s rights charities.

And I’m about to take the very first step towards truly realizing this goal.

REMEMBER CHERNOBYL

Annual Networking Conference for UK & Irish Chernobyl Charities

Saturday 8^th March 2008

Alderbrook School, Blossomfield Road, Solihull, B91 1SN

2.00 Dramatisation of Svetlana Aleksievich’s book, Voices from Chernobyl and readings planned to take place on 26^th April 2009 - Cindy-Marie Jenkins

Questions and Discussion

Raising Awareness of the Ongoing Effects of Chernobyl and Commemorating the Anniversary - Facilitator: Cindy-Marie Jenkins, Rapporteur: to be chosen, in advance, from attendees