Rosebud & Melody for a Dying Star by Telo Hoy (Music Videos)

June 2024.

A set of music videos created for the album Rubber Wing, shot near Newtown Creek in East Williamsburg.

When Telo first announced his album, he sent a brief email to family and friends describing the things that inspired the album -- trucks rattling down Western Avenue in Chicago, the machinery inside of the vibraphone, 20th century industrial landscapes, animals moving through man-made spaces, flickering lights. There was such a wealth of visual images in Telo’s writing that a video sprung into my head almost fully formed. Despite how clear my initial idea was, the video is also really defined by an ethos of improvisation and surprise. At our first meeting, Telo showed me a series of videos that he’d taken on his phone over the last couple years that he thought spoke to how he’d visualized his album. A pulsing green light in a subway station casting its light on a plaster ceiling. A set of especially bright car lights reflecting off of a huge mirrored church awning at just the right angle. The shadow of a pole being cast on sides of speeding train cars. We tried to channel the spirit of those videos by trying to embrace chance -- focusing on interactions of light and the environment that we couldn’t possibly plan for.

Director & Producer - Michael Rogerson
DP & Colorist - Leo Gallagher
Editor - Eddie Sanchez
Title Design - Kasey Oldford

Gundog by Simon Longman

September/October 2022.
Produced in partnership with CultureLab LIC.

Performed in a large empty concrete lot owned by Culture Lab LIC, a non-profit art gallery and performance space in Long Island City.

On a farm in the middle of nowhere, sisters Becky and Anna try to hold their family together after the death of their mother. When they discover a stranger wandering aimlessly across the land, the three establish an unlikely partnership in their determination to survive. All the while, time relentlessly moves forward.

Director/Producer - Michael Rogerson
Producer - Camille Casmier
Ensemble - Emily Ashenden, Michael Bracken, Daniel Chenard, Sophie Neff, Noah Yaconelli
Stage Manager - Jenna Arkontaky
Space Designer - Miles Blim
Lighting Designer - Zack Lobel
Animal Design - Gaby FeBland
Sound Design - Telo Hoy
Costume Design - Mána Taylor
Graphics and Illustrations - Anna White
Videographers - Leo Gallagher & Eddie Sanchez

All the Way Down, This Time

Premiered October 2022.
Best Short: Queer Fear Film Festival, Winston-Salem NC.

Shot on location in Big Sur.

Following the teachings of a controversial astrologist, three frustrated and hungry young artists drive into the wilderness intending to unleash their creativity with a raucous New Moon Ritual. The aftermath of the disastrous evening tests the bonds of their relationship and raises the question: how far is too far in the pursuit of art?

Director - Michael Rogerson
Screenwriter - Sophie Neff
Producers - Talbot Hall, Sophie Neff, Michael Rogerson, and Gabriella Sant’Anna
Cinematographer & Colorist - Ryan Alva
1st AD - Gabriella Sant’Anna
1st AC - Jen Pawlowski
Gaffer - Yorgo Tzoytzoyrakos
Key Grip - Dimitris Tzoytzoyrakos
Editor - Max Retik
Sound Recordist & Mixer - Alex Bologna
Composer - Max Abner
Special Effects and Makeup - Megan Lauchner
Set Dresser - Quinn Devillers
Title Design - Andrea Alberti
Book & Poster Design - Anna White
Craft Services - Grace Perry
COVID Compliance Officer - Sam Graves
Production Assistants - logo, Henry Bock

Watch short here. (Password: BIGSUR)

Home Invasion by Christopher Chen

January/February 2020.

Performed in three Chicago apartments, with the show happening in a different apartment each weekend it was performed.

Jane's sister has been murdered and a detective has been sent to investigate—meanwhile, something watches from the shadows. Christopher Chen deconstructs film-noir tropes and the DIY-house-play to create a mind-bending exploration of how well you can truly know the people you love.

Director - Sammy Zeisel
Producer - Michael Rogerson
Ensemble - Caleb Fullen, Ann James, Ella Pennington
Stage Manager - Tristan Chiruvolu
Space & Lighting Design - Sim Carpenter and Carter Caldwell
Costume Design - Alexis Chaney
Sound Design - Sam Graves
Graphics & Illustrations - Anna White
Photos - Joe Marshall

The Dog, the Night, and the Knife by Marius von Mayenburg

December 2019.
Produced in partnership with Fulton Street Collective.

Performed at Fulton Street Collective, an industrial loft in West Town.

After a dinner with friends, M finds himself in a nightmarish world he doesn’t recognize. The clocks are all stuck at 5:05am, everyone he meets has the same two faces, wolves roam the city, the hospital is filled with sand, and people are eating each other to stay alive. Is tenderness possible in a world that’s given itself over to unfettered hunger?

Director & Producer - Michael Rogerson
Ensemble - Sazi Bhakti, Hal Cosentino, Tom DeFrancisco
Stage Manager: Ethan Embry
Space & Lighting Design - Sean Gundersen
Costume Design - Jasper Drummond
Sound Design - Sam Graves
Movement Direction - Collin Quinn Rice
Fight Direction - Daniel Chenard
Intimacy Direction - Kayla Menz
Graphics & Illustrations - Anna White & Max Abner
Production Assistant - Amanda Loch
Assistant Director: Zoe Lesser
Photos - Joe Marshall

Disco Pigs by Enda Walsh (Revival)

November 2018.

Performed at Silencio’s own DIY space, a house basement in Logan Square.

Following the sold-out success of the first run, we took the opportunity to remount the piece and reimagine our original staging in a bunch of key ways — most notably Jasper’s gorgeous custom costumes and a more tailored approach to the audience experience (made possible by staging the project in our own space).

Director & Producer - Michael Rogerson
Ensemble - Tom DeFrancisco & Sophie Neff
Designer - Sean Gunderson
Movement Direction - Collin Quinn Rice
Live Percussion - Aidan Kranz
Costumes - Jasper Drummond
Dialect Coach - Daniel Chenard
Graphics - Anna White
Opening Band - Corsick/Pontac
Production Assistants - Rory Gilchrist & Gaby Sant’Anna
Photos - Joe Marshall

Disco Pigs by Enda Walsh

March 2018.
Produced in partnership with Hostel Earphoria.

Performed in the basement of Hostel Earphoria, an arts co-op and DIY space in Logan Square.

Born at the same time on the same day in the same hospital, Pig and Runt have been inseparable ever since. They speak their own made-up language, play by their own rules, and have created an insular world in which boundaries blur between truth and make-believe. But encroaching adulthood calls for an end to their idyll. On their 17th birthdays, in a kind of last dance, they feverishly drink, fantasize, and try to hold onto the childhood that’s slipping through their fingers. An intense and surrealistic play about the fantastical shared worlds within friendships, and the exhilaration and terror of growing up. This site-specific production reimagined Enda Walsh’s seminal play as a rock concert, complete with an opening band and an onstage drummer accompanying the entire performance.

Director & Producer - Michael Rogerson
Ensemble - Tom DeFrancisco & Sophie Neff
Designer - Sean Gunderson
Master Electrician - Raphael Grimes
Movement Direction - Collin Quinn Rice
Live Percussion - Aidan Kranz
Dialect Coach - Daniel Chenard
Graphics - Anna White
Photos - Joe Marshall

The Maids by Jean Genet

March 2016.
Produced at Northwestern University, in partnership with the City of Evanston.

Performed in an abandoned storefront on Howard St in Evanston, IL.

Director - Michael Rogerson
Producer - Yianni Kinnas
Ensemble - Sophie Neff, Cemre Paksoy, & Lindsay Whisler
Stage Managers - Becca Schwartz & Josh Krivan
Set Designer - Sean Gunderson
Light Designer - Tatiana Aravena
Costume Designer - Vanessa Strahan
Sound Designer - Thomas Molash
Fight Choreographer - Sean Foer
Photos & Graphic Design - Ryan Alva

Mercury Fur by Philip Ridley

May 2015.
Produced at Northwestern University, in partnership with the Art Theory and Practice department.

Performed in the former Roycemore School building in Evanston, IL.

Director - Michael Rogerson
Producer - Alana Basil
Ensemble - Tom DeFrancisco, Axel Mark, Russell Kahn, Collin Quinn Rice, Sean Foer, Lindsay Olsen, & Michael Fleischer
Stage Manager: Sam Riese
Space Designer - Preston Choi
Light Designer - Gracie Schwartzenberger
Costume Designer - Vanessa Strahan
Hair/Make-up - Madeleine Briggs
Props Design - Alice Dayton & Delaney Burlingame
Sound Designer - Juliet Roll
Fight Choreographer - Daniel Chenard
Blood/Gore Designer - Matt Silverman
Photos - Ryan Alva