The Directors Studios Works with ACTivation to Create its First Film

The Directors, which is the parent company of The Directors Studios, is producing its first film this spring for a new start-up company, ACTivation. With a working title of "Set to Spark," by Trista Baldwin, this will be the first film in a library of online content that ACTivation will make available to teachers, parents, community leaders and other youth influencers.

The 20 minute film will follow three high school freshmen girls who attend their first party with a group of older guys. We'll see how body image and sexual competition get in the way of their friendship, causing each of them to behave differently depending on the situation. The film (and all ACTivation content) will provide youth influencers with a jumping off point for discussion of important social issues concerning teens.

Steve Barberio, director of the film, and Baldwin have cast the film with experienced young actors. Ali Rose Dachis graduated from the Guthrie Theater/University of Minnesota BFA program in 2009, Avi Aharoni is currently an apprentice at Children's Theatre Company and Andrew Lentz recently appeared in the Cohen Brothers film, "A Serious Man". Myrna Rae and Sanyu Lubogo are in the theatre program at the St. Paul Conservatory of Performing Artists.

Barberio has selected Kevin Obsatz of Video Haiku to be the film's Director of Photography and Erica Zaffarano to be the Art Director. Others on the production team include Tim Wilkins, Kim Teplinsky, Michael Croswell and Molly Thorpe. "We have a phenomenal team of artists and technicians working on this project," Barberio said. "As our first venture into film and online media, we chose a group of experienced and talented artists to put the piece together."

The screenplay will continue to be developed at The Directors Studios through the end of March, utilizing improvisation techniques designed to draw from the actors' own experiences. The film will be shot on location in April and post-production is expected to be completed by mid-June.

After almost a month of improv and workshops, The Directors Studios hosted an open reading of the ACTivation film script "Set to Spark." Studio A was transformed into the ideal setting for a reading with plenty of room for the entire cast, crew and friends. After a 20 minute reading the director of the film, Steve Barberio, lead the group in a discussion on the content of the script. A great turnout and engaged audience helped provide feedback on the script. Rehearsals will begin in two weeks.

For more information on The Directors Studios, visit online at tdstudios.us.

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