Our Screening Event!
June 29th, 2023
Fort Washington Collegiate Church
Link to Tickets Below
An Evening As You Like It was a night celebrating works made by Upper Manhattan Artists during the COVID-19 pandemic culminating in a screening of AS YOU LIKE IT OR (THE PURSUIT OF LOVE IN SHARED ISOLATION), a film adaptation of Shakespeare’s As You Like It. A VISUAL ART gallery FEATURING live music began the event. Composers, illustrators, photographers, and painters showcased their work and shared their experiences creating art during the 2020-2021 lockdown. Artists had the opportunity to share their social media accounts so patrons could connect with and support these artists. Following the gallery, we premiered our film. Our goal was to connect artists and audiences through sharing not only artists’ works but their process.
This project is made possible in part with funds from Creative Engagement, a regrant program supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs (DCLA) in partnership with the City Council and administered by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC).
Poster Art By: Madalyn Baker
AS YOU LIKE IT
Or
(The Pursuit of love in shared isolation)
Directed By: Kendall Cafaro and Marc David Wright
This psychological exploration of Shakespeare's As You Like It finds four runaways, Rosalind, Celia, Orlando and Jaques, in the same deserted New York City apartment. When Rosalind discovers Orlando has arrived, she devises a plan to test the limits of his love by wooing him under her concealed identity. But her game backfires when his desire turns turn doubt and her love turns to lunacy. Meanwhile, Jaques and Celia come face to face with their deepest doubts and desires as they share one space with two lovers.
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Why As You Like It?
I imagined the characters of As You Like It as people on the precipice of becoming who they're inevitably going to be for the rest of their lives. During quarantine, I began to see the Forest of Arden as an arena for involuntary reflection and growth. A place where characters are forced to wrestle with who they think they are because they've been separated from everything they thought they knew.
As I was about to move out of my NYC apartment, where I experienced shutdown and quarantine, I was excited by the opportunity to make this empty space into a modern twist on the Forest of Arden. I mentioned this idea to Marc David Wright, one of my roommates. That night, we sat at our living room table and started drafting an adaptation. We asked our other roommates, close friends, and collaborators to be part of it. Everyone said yes! So then all we had to do was...make a movie.
Over the next two months this team would: rehearse in this apartment, plan out COVID Safe Shoot Days, coordinate schedules, Vincent Gunn would paint and create a scenic backdrop in their foyer, Marc and I would coordinate who would DP when, and we would shoot the principal photography for our film.
In the fall of 2021, we launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to pay for post production and provide additional compensation for artists involved in principal photography.
https://seedandspark.com/fund/asyoulikeitfilm
AYLI Team and Cast
Directed By: Kendall Cafaro and Marc David Wright
Original Text By: William Shakespeare
Adaptation By: Kendall Cafaro and Marc David Wright
Director of Photography: Marc David Wright
Produced By: Kendall Cafaro and Marc David Wright
Associate Producer: Leigh Honigman
Costume and HMU Design: John Beltre
Thy Executioner HMU and Wardrobe Associate: Primo Davis
Lighting Design: Vittoria Orlando
Thy Executioner Production Design: Vincent Gunn
Lighting Associates: Amara McNeil and Will Rossiter
Sound Mixer: Rachel Suffian and Erica Huang
Assistant Director: Laura Hetherington
Post Production: Anna Michael
Crew: Kayla Otero, Aisha Mitchell, Gabriel Neumann
Cast:
Rosalind: Kendall Cafaro
Jaques: Marc David Wright
Celia: Madalyn Baker
Orlando: James Wygle
Phoebe: Kayce Wilson
Silvius: Franco Giacomarra