PHOTOS:Northwestern University Student Film Puts Young Actors -- & Neighbors' Yards -- In The Spotlight (BONFIRE, Pt. 2)

As I mentioned in my column yesterday, my daughter auditioned for a Northwestern University student film called BONFIRE in September. We found out about the audition thanks to a posting by Mindy Wallis on a Nichols Middle School email listserve. Mindy is an Evanston resident who excels at connecting people (case in point: Mindy created this Evanston Families Facebook Page).

Recently I reached out to Mindy to thank her for posting the casting call for BONFIRE. My daughter got a role! I’d said. And, I was dying to know how Mindy came to share the casting call in the first place. Here’s what she told me:

Well, it's kind-of a circuitous route. I found this cool website: https://ifttt.com/ which allows you to set up "recipes" to combine different applications together. (e.g. Weather app > Reminder app: "If it is going to rain tomorrow, remind me to bring umbrella!")

I set up a recipe to send me an email whenever a Craigslist Gig includes the word "Evanston." I got this one and immediately saw that it was appropriate for EvanstonFamilies.info. I posted it to the blog, but also sent it to the listserves for all the middle schools (except Haven, which doesn't have one and Bessie Rhodes which won't let me on theirs).

As you know, my passion is for connecting people with information. This seemed like a perfect opportunity to help connect two groups of people who might otherwise not have found each other because they didn't know to make the connection.

I'm glad it worked out for your daughter - I love a happy ending! :-)

P.S. If I had more time/money, I'd spend more time beefing up the EvanstonFamilies [Facebook page] so that I could do more with it. For example, I really want to add a classifieds section so people can post ads for babysitters or buy/sell used kids stuff, maybe post the kind-of stuff that COPE is looking for. I'd also like to add a blog for me (and others) to write about parent-related concerns (a bit like your articles, but also where the folks who are concerned about D65 math could post things and maybe find more like-minded people.) Oh well, some day, maybe.

Maggie and I first met the cast and crew of BONFIRE in a backyard on Greenleaf Street where the bonfire scenes were shot. Julian Stankovic played David; Owen Meyer played James; Trevor Burke played Eric; Monnie Aleahmad played Mr. Kidd; and Maggie played Amanda. As we arrived on set, everyone – including cast, crew, parents, extras and a member of the Evanston Fire Department – filled the brightly lit backyard of Danielle Dickerson. She was raised in Evanston and is now a local homeowner who rents space to Northwestern faculty and students on AIRBNB.com. Recently Dickerson said:

It is always a pleasure working with Northwestern. [This] project was very well organized and the production team was fantastic. I must say, with a background in tv production myself (production manager), the film students were a joy to work with and very organized. We did walk-thrus, contacted neighbors, secured ALL appropriate permits, and even got the Evanston Fire Department to monitor the bonfire. Evanston is a beautiful place and Northwestern is definitely vested, so let's keep the great ideas, resources, partnerships, and programs integrating into our community. I see the opportunity to inspire and be inspired. Glad I could help a great group of students out!

There’s a great deal of down time on a movie set. Shots are blocked and revised. Equipment is moved and moved again. Consequently, during breaks between shots, conversations continued between middle schoolers and university students. Parents like me tried fading into the background with fly-on-the-wall benefits, watching our kids interact with each other. I’d brought some warming packs for cast members’ hands and feet, but soon the entire group – including freezing crew members – passed the packs back and forth, laughing and jumping as they tried to keep warm. At one point, the Evanston firefighter leaned over to me and said, “I won’t say this out loud, but you know…if they really want to warm up, those packs work best when applied to the armpits and groin.”

“Good to know,” I said. You really do learn a lot about people on movie sets...

Cast member Julian Stankovic’s mom, Patricia, recently shared these comments via email:

Every member of our family greatly and continually benefits from our neighbor-partnership with Northwestern...My husband went to graduate school at Northwestern and our eldest son, Christian, attended the Center for Talent Development. However, even more beneficial are the general community opportunities that are a mix of academia and enrichment. Our boys have participated in Purple Crayon Players workshops, NASA held swim meets, sports days, research studies, Science and Engineering Pentathlons, Drama Workshops, the list goes on. And for us community organizers, being able to draw from a large university student volunteer population for elementary, middle and high school events is an honest blessing. And frankly, I'm always struck by how genuinely nice everyone is. 

Our middle son, Julian, who also dives at Northwestern with the Chicago Dive Club, gets lots of critical experience "in the business" by his involvement with the university's fine arts programs, that is not only close by, but with highly acclaimed faculty whether it be with a big-name director as a Super in The Grapes of Wrath Opera or as an actor in student film production. I do think it's a win-win for all...our community is chock full of great talent and spiciness and so Northwestern gets a huge resource pool to leverage. :-)

Three cast members were from Evanston/Skokie area schools; the fourth, Trevor Burke, traveled from St. Charles every day of the shoot. In addition to acting, Burke does stand-up comedy at venues as varied as Heartland Café to Comedy Sportz – not a bad gig for a 12-year-old who doesn’t enjoy sports. I’ll admit I was surprised to learn that Burke and Stankovic (whose professional name is Julian Josip) have their own websites (trevorburke.com and julianjosip.com). What I'd like to know is: When did kids start getting their own websites and how long until Maggie asks to create one, too?

One of my favorite things during this entire process was listening to NU students discuss what it was like working with these young kids -- click here to read that column.

Check out Part 1 of this series of columns here.

Finally, if you’d like to donate to the Kickstarter Page created by the filmmakers – including a short, promotional video of BONFIRE, you can check it out here.