BLOGS

Jaime Howell, Jeff Ostenson and the crew at Howell at the Moon Productions have done it again. They've created a documentary that goes beyond merely telling a story and engages the audience in an exploration of what it means to be a community.

This latest project, The Last Director, is a film about New York director Jaime Donegan and the magic of the Wenatchee Follies, a beloved tradition in our valley that dates back to 1948. The film premiered Saturday night at the Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cultural Center and the crowd gave it a standing ovation. Donegan made the trip from New York for the showing.

The film chronicles the making of last year's Follies, which raised $47,000 for the Wenatchee Senior Activity Center. It takes the audience on a journey through the tryouts, the rehearsals to the show, which takes place in an incredibly short three-week span. Donegan travels all over the country doing these shows and he apparently is the last director doing these community variety productions.

It was moving to see how this charismatic director is able to tailor a show to individuals in a community and create an environment in which it's perfectly okay to perform for an audience regardless of your talent. The Follies is a place for people to play, have fun, and rediscover the joy of performing, all for a good cause. It seems to me that in these difficult times, we need this kind of experience more than ever.

These shows used to happen all over the country, but our society has gotten too busy, the pace of life too frenetic, to sustain a community effort like this in most towns. Fortunately, the Wenatchee valley continues to support the Follies.

After the show, Donegan talked spoke to the audience about the joy of finding ways to encourage individuals to perform and the satisfaction of seeing people get over their nervousness about performing. He talked about how much it means to him to be a catalyst for a sense of community in towns and cities all over the country. Donegan said the experience of The Follies is the same in every town in America, but also different. Every community is unique but the same dynamics are at play.

I came away with from this film with an appreciation of how The Follies knits together individuals in the Wenatchee Valley in a unique way that makes the communities stronger. This 34-minute film is definitely worth seeing and supporting.

Howell and Ostenson said they hope this film will inspire more communities to rediscover the magic of The Follies. They're continuing to raise funds (tax deductible), to enter the documentary in film festivals and increase distribution of the film. Contributions can be made through www.kickstarter.com, or at the company's office at 103 Palouse St., Suite 31, Wenatchee, Wa 98801.

Here's a link to Howell at the Moon web site

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