Butterbird Christmas Debuts Live at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts

On December 7, 2015, we put on our first radio play, Butterbird Christmas.  This inaugural performance was given at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts to a standing room only crowd.  (Click here to view the performance on our YouTube channel.)

With scripts in hand, the players read their parts aloud into wireless mics, accompanied by the Calumet Jazz Duo and our foley artists.  The gallery was decorated with 1950’s newspaper advertisements and photographs of mid-century scenes from Northwest Indiana, in particular, the Grandfield family (the inspiration of Butterbird Christmas).

           

The Family Folklore Players took a cue from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Senior Players and set up their stage to mirror the radio plays that these pros perform regularly at the Chicago Cultural Center. Additionally, Koni Shaughnessy (of 90.9 FM), took us under her wing and explained the whys and hows of creating sound effects, she read our play and made recommendations for sound effects.

Members of Family Folklore Foundation Inc. and the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts worked together on this mutual labor of love.  The sound system was fine tuned, decorations for Christmas and Hanukah decked the hall, Addycake’s baker, Mallory Keller, brought designer cupcakes in the seasonal colors represented in our inter-faith tale, the band set the mood, and the foley artists lined up their sound gear.  

The play began on time at 4 o’clock and the whole cast and crew did a wonderful job!  The audience was friendly and seemed to enjoy the humor and mini tragedies featured in the story. Sue Ross of the Post Tribune reported and photographed the playand the article appeared December 19th.  A great time was had by all and the event was a success. We were able to raise funds to support other arts endeavors for our community and very humbled by the out-pouring of support we received in the planning/ execution of this program. Now, we’re focusing on finishing the post-production on our documentary of the making of this project.

 If you would like to listen to our fully mastered radio play mix click here.

Art Teacher’s Resource Fair at the Munster Performing Arts Center

On September 27th 2014 Mandi Renslow and Meg DeMakas ran a booth at the annual Art Teacher’s Resource Fair at the Munster Performing Arts Center in Munster, Indiana. This is a lovely event where area artists and non-for-profits showcase their products. We were there to market our “Butterbird Christmas” live performance on 12/7/14 and to explain to teachers how we can offer creative arts activities for the students at their schools. 

Seven teachers from seven different schools signed up to have our organization bring experiential learning projects to their schools. Along with having a table set up we participated in the artistic activities that were going on around the art gallery networking away the whole time. It was a wonderful event!!!

Casting Callout

Now it was time to market the idea and buy some much needed equipment.  Along with doing an email blast of the flyer to many community websites, the Family Folklore group went door to door plastering the community with the flyers.  A two week contract for advertising on the Miller Marquee helped bring in local voice actors!   

To learn more about making a radio play our Executive Director had lunch with a producer from the SAG-AFTRA Senior Radio Players who explained how to set up, practice and present a radio play. Then On Tuesday July 22nd at 7 p.m. two of our board members took the South Shore train to Chicago to the Chicago Cultural Center and enjoyed a radio play, entitled “Radio as You May Remember It!” 

Inspired and recharged we were ready to start our auditions. Family Folklore held them in late July. Several people came and auditioned. They also consented to being interviewed for our documentary. After filling out permission slips, they were videotaped being interviewed with our freshly purchased light kit brightening the room. 

Cultivating Local Lore

Family Folklore Foundation, Inc. is a nonprofit organization located in Northwest Indiana (USA). We are seeking to educate people of all ages about the world via multimedia and experiential learning. Our goal is to cultivate global citizenship while promoting creativity and community development. We have done a variety of projects over the years, mostly based on local history and oral tradition.

After Limberlost, Gene Stratton-Porter's life in California, 2013 (10 minute documentary) 

Film's Trailer

 

Full Film

 

The One Man Dog, 2012 (4 minute oral history piece)