Set against the backdrop of Eli’s current documentary film, this multimedia story transitions between stage and the screen, from past to present, and from tangible to abstract as Cat and Eli recount how they fell in love, events that tore them apart, and what they’d do if they could have one more day together.
After Eli is abducted from a child refugee camp, Cat replays the subsequent events to her therapist, Dr. Peterson, who challenges the choices she’s made and what it means to be Human. Through it all, Cat searches for meaning and, ultimately, salvation in her actions.
Following this journey is The Artist, an omniscient painter visible only to the audience and inspired by the drama of the story he witnesses. Capturing the unfolding narrative with spoken poetry and the rhythmic strokes of his brush, The Artist visibly reveals how true love transcends our imagination yet exists beside and inside everyone.
Feather creates synergy between Art, Charity, and Business while mutually benefitting the social and financial missions of all parties involved.
Each performance of Feather blends live painting, music, and film with a dramatic narrative to create a unique multimedia theatrical experience where drama takes center stage and catharsis is available on every level.
Shows are divided into Series based on either their location (as for a one time showing), or a specific charity that is then tied to the drama and selected portraits.
As part of Feather’s community outreach mission, each series of shows is a collaboration between the Creative Team and a predetermined charitable cause. The charity’s main function is to provide individuals of interest, whose stories are then subtly integrated into the theme of the series, influencing aspects of the dramatic narrative for these performances. Their powerful tales inform the actors; their image (for at least one predetermined show) becomes the subject of The Artist’s painting as the audience watches them come to life on canvas.
As the result, no two shows are ever the same.
Every show will feature aspects of the local performance city -- from film clips of well-known locales to references infused in the actors’ dialogue. The result allows each city to become the setting for Feather both fictitiously and in a very real way.
At the end of each run, the production company is able to team with a local art gallery and invite audiences from each show to a fine art exhibition premiering the unique paintings from the entire series of shows. A portion of each portrait sale will then be donated to the charity connected to the specific show in which the painting was created.
About Save The Children
Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating lasting change in the lives of children in need in the United States and around the world. Recognized for our commitment to accountability, innovation and collaboration, our work takes us into the heart of communities, where we help children and families help themselves. We work with other organizations, governments, non-profits and a variety of local partners while maintaining our own independence without political agenda or religious orientation.
When disaster strikes around the world, Save the Children is there to save lives with food, medical care and education and remains to help communities rebuild through long-term recovery programs. As quickly and as effectively as Save the Children responds to tsunamis and civil conflict, it works to resolve the ongoing struggles children face every day — poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease — and replaces them with hope for the future.
Maria May (YOUNG GIRL/CHILD DANCER)
Jaylah Springer (YOUNG GIRL/CHILD DANCER)
The painting process, starting with Jeffry using his hands before moving on to brushwork, created an emotionally engaging experience and captivated the couple’s imagination who, at the time, were looking for a unique project to develop using their combined talents and skills. Since Jeffry’s process takes place over three distinct acts or movements, it immediately clicked with Jeremy as a writer and Charleene as a composer.
In October of 2011, Jeremy, Charleene, Jeffry, and Rae met in Malibu, CA to explore potential concepts combining the unique elements of painting, music, and film within the framework of a traditional stage drama. After a few weeks of internal workshopping, Jeffry performed a live painting set to Charleene’s music at a private function in Malibu. The positive feedback validated the concept could work in front of a live audience. As Jeremy subsequently started developing the script, it became apparent the painting subject would have to change with each new performance, a challenge directly affecting the narrative structure of the show. The answer was in the decision to collect awareness stories from human rights, health, and environmental organizations and weave them into the story, making each new show and painting unique. And to better incorporate the back-story of the painting subject with the characters found in the text, a film component was also added at this stage. With a solid template in place, the next step was to incorporate the performance, awareness, and film components into a modern musical.
In the summer of 2012, Charleene and Jeremy were invited to Rae’s hometown of Noosa, Australia, a community known for its support and appreciation of the arts, to write the book and music for what would become the new musical, Catharsis, and to ultimately, stage a performance. It was early in this trip they met and formed a partnership with the songwriting duo Nick Everitt and Liesl Karlsson of the alternative folk group, Nick and Liesl.
Over the next three months, the show continued to develop with Nick and Liesl providing original songs to complement Charleene’s comprehensive score. During this time, Jeremy also worked with Moy Sweetman, of the local charity Frangipani Dreams, who would become the show’s first painting subject, while finalizing the script and producing the show’s original film segments. As the team moved out of development and into pre-production, Jeffry traveled down from Papua New Guinea for two weeks of intense rehearsals and community outreach, painting in public spaces to build awareness for the show.
After a critically successful dress rehearsal, the world premiere of Catharsis opened at The J Theatre Noosa on Friday 10 August, 2012 to an enthusiastic, sold-out crowd, with one reviewer stating, “It’s a living, breathing, beating work of unusual proportion and dimension...Catharsis challenges our notion of what theatre is.” Since the Australian premiere, the writers have been working on the next draft of the show, now titled, Feather, featuring an evolved storyline containing new songs and compositions. The team now looks forward to the U.S. debut of Feather in July 2013 where it will play as part of The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) in New York City.
Principal, Newsroom PR