The NY primos in “Marimorena, Biscochitos, and the Fear of Missing Out” are played by New York City-based Crip Video Productions https://cripvideoproductions.com company members Margot Cole, and Izabela Ginda from "A Stroke Of Endurance", as part of A Musical Pinata for Christmas 9, which is being streamed from today until June 3 2022. The performance features a mix of disabled and non disabled performers. Click here https://xerb.tv/channel/teatro-paraguas/virtual-events/2838 to view the performance for free.
To make a Xerb account click the yellow sign up button, make a username and password, then click on "A Musical Pinata for Christmas IX" and click "watch" and "I agree to let Teatro Paraguas see my email" to view.
An annual community celebration for the holidays featuring a short play written by Alix Hudson and Paola Vengoechea Martini, and directed by JoJo Sena de Tarnoff entitled "Marimorena, Biscochitos, and the Fear of Missing Out." The play continues the storyline from last year’s featured play, "Home for the Holidays: Con Amor y Gozo," which was performed solely on Zoom. This year’s production is a hybrid offering, with a number of actors participating from New York via Zoom.
In this Spanglish romp, 30 actors of all ages from our Paraguas family are also a literal family -- desperately trying to cobble together a "normal" Christmas for the family matriarch, Mama JoJo (JoJo Sena de Tarnoff). But with the chaos of the kids making biscochitos, the teens creating tree ornaments, the adults fussing over whether to present the Misa del Gallo on Zoom, and Padre and others hitting the Communion wine, chaos and hilarity shine as bright as the Christmas star.
The Teatro Paraguas Orchestra, with 10 musicians led by Jeff Tarnoff, plays traditional and contemporary carols, including a few with dance routines choreographed by Xochitl Ehrl. A number of other short plays are presented, including "Oh, Tannenbaum," by Mark Harvey Levine. And Santa Clos shows up at the last minute to help bring down the piñata for all the kids in the audience.
The NY primos in Marimorena, Biscochitos, and the Fear of Missing Out are played by New York City-based Crip Video Productions https://cripvideoproductions.com company members Margot Cole, and Izabela Ginda, as part of A Musical Pinata for Christmas 9, which is being streamed on Zoom live on Saturday December 18th. The performance features a mix of disabled and non disabled performers here https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ShTCHpfQSg-b8-0rb_Ec5g
Teatro Paraguas presents
A Musical Piñata for Christmas IX
an annual community celebration for the Holidays
The celebration features a short play written by Alix Hudson and Paola Vengoechea Martini, and directed by JoJo Sena de Tarnoff entitled Marimorena, Biscochitos, and the Fear of Missing Out. The play continues the storyline from last year’s featured play, Home for the Holidays: Con Amor y Gozo, which was performed solely on Zoom. This year’s production is a hybrid offering, with a number of actors participating from New York via Zoom.
In this Spanglish romp, 30 actors of all ages from our Paraguas family are also a literal family -- desperately trying to cobble together a "normal" Christmas for the family matriarch, Mama JoJo (JoJo Sena de Tarnoff). But with the chaos of the kids making biscochitos, the teens creating tree ornaments, the adults fussing over whether to present the Misa del Gallo on Zoom, and Padre and others hitting the Communion wine, chaos and hilarity shine as bright as the Christmas star.
The Teatro Paraguas Orchestra, with 10 musicians led by Jeff Tarnoff, will play traditional and contemporary carols, including a few with dance routines choreographed by Xochitl Ehrl. A number of other short plays will be presented, including Oh, Tannenbaum, by Mark Harvey Levine. And Santa Clos will show up at the last minute to help bring down the piñata for all the kids in the audience. https://www.teatroparaguasnm.org
If you are in Santa Fe New Mexico in person, on Saturday, December 18, ArtWalk Santa Fe teams up with Teatro Paraguas for a lively afternoon, with at least 15 local artists selling their creations, food trucks, live music, face painting, and other kid-friendly activities. The festivities begin in Teatro Paraguas’ 2nd Space at 12 noon, and continue until 5:00 p.m. Teatro Paraguas performs at 3:00 p.m. on the Mainstage and on Zoom.
To my honor and surprise Michael mentioned Crip Video Productions in his latest video for his official youtube channel here https://youtu.be/lXm0VC8l1aMfor which I’m most grateful. Crip Video Productions is mentioned at about 12:14 into the video. The video is included in Michael Lettman’s blog post about his college experiences, and the blog post now includes a wonderful shoutout to Crip Video Productions and some Crip Video Productions supporters here https://masterml9502.wixsite.com/livingwithautism/post/the-college-life-of-michael-lettman in the section about the Fall Semester of 2020. This college post is wonderful for anybody wanting to learn about what college is like for people on the autism spectrum in the USA and how capable autistic individuals are. Special thanks to Michael Lettman for the wonderful publicity!
As a reminder Julesworks which often collaborates with Teatro Paraguas was kind enough to stream the "A Stroke Of Endurance" trailer again on Jan 2 2021. Our trailer is at 1:22:04 here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urbNTNl0ryE&feature=youtu.be with a shoutout to all our actors! Jules also mentions his experience with dysgraphia and seizures in the stream. Teatro Paraguas has poetry by a Stroke Survivornamed Damien Flores who wrote a poem about nearly dying of the stroke here https://xerb.tv/channel/teatro-paraguas/virtual-events/1609on Xerb as well if you are looking for more content on Stroke after watching our popular film“A Stroke Of Endurance”.
Crip Video Productions has upcoming presentations for colleges and folks in the UK so stay tuned to this blog for more.
Thank you so much to those of you who watched "Home For The Holidays" on Zoom! If you missed the play, want to see it again, or share it with other people, "A Musical Pinata for Christmas VIII Home For The Holidays" is now available for viewing on Xerb for FREE here https://xerb.tv/channel/teatro-paraguas/virtual-events/1559 ONLY until January 8 2021!!!Free play! An inclusive play with disabled actors and non-disabled actors performing together!
Please share the information about the play below with others widely! Xerb register link here!
If you haven't made a Xerb account yet simply input your name and email to make a free account and then click the yellow register button to view the play.
The play is on xerb.tv with videos of short scenes and carols and holiday music by the Teatro Paraguas Orchestra from previous community celebrations.
Alix Hudson & Paola Vengoechea-Martini's short play, Home for the Holidays: Con Amor y Gozo, is a Spanglish romp of Advent (and Chanukah) 2020. In Home for the Holidays, the 20 actors of all ages from our Paraguas family are also a literal family -- desperately trying to cobble together a "normal" Christmas for the family matriarch, Mama JoJo (JoJo Sena de Tarnoff). But group Christmas preparations on Zoom don't prove easy in the midst of the pandemic. Mama JoJo's daughters (Cristina Vigil, Juliet Salazar, Jeni Tincher, Alix Hudson, Sharla Stearn, Julia Gay, Paola Vengoechea-Martini) each take different approaches coping with the stress, from remedios to music to micromanagement, and Tio Padre Froggy (Rudy Fernandez) worries about composing his famous Misa del Gallo homily. While the teenagers (Luca Martini, Shaunti Sitonik, Amaya Smith) are more than okay with the lax oversight, their little primos (Logan Gay, Josephine Tincher, Emilia Martini) worry about the rest of the family. Eclectic Uncles (Stephen Jules Rubin, Argos MacCallum) remind us of our Musical Piñata for Christmas tradition, now in its 8th year. And observing this locura are the New York cousins, who have no excuse not to attend the family Christmas in its online format. The NY primos are played by New York City-based Crip Video Productions http://cripvideoproductions.com company members from "A Stroke Of Endurance" http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.php Margot Cole, John Diodato, and Izabela Ginda. Will the familia pull off the perfect rendition of Mama JoJo's favorite carol, "Vamos Todos a Belén," despite the odds??
After you watch "Home For The Holidays" check out A Musical Piñata for Christmas Retrospective and other plays such as "Volver, Volver, Volver" "Red Bike" and "Love In The DMZ" on Teatro Paraguas Xerb channel!
This is reposted with full permission of Teatro Paraguas!
DISCLAIMER: This online production has no connection to Crip Video Productions. Crip Video Productions does NOT receive monetary gain. This is an entirely separate project. This event is posted by Crip Video Productions for advertisement purposes only! All copyright belongs to original owners!
Teatro Paraguas theater and Crip Video Productions have collaborated in the past for screenings of all 4 Crip Video Productions films at different times in 2015 and in 2018 that you can read about in our "achieve" post sections on this blog. https://cripvideoproductions.blogspot.com/2019/01/new-mexico-2018-screening-press-release.html https://cripvideoproductions.blogspot.com/2019/01/santa-fe-new-mexico-screening-parts-1.html Now Crip Video Productions is performing in a Zoom play titled "Home for the Holidays: Con Amor y Gozo," a Zoom play by Alix Hudson on Friday, December 18 2020 7:00pm mountain time on Zoom. Pleasewatch the play and consider donating to Teatro Paraguas! This is an inclusive play where disabled performers and non-disabled performers perform together! Read our previous post about the play here (edited to include Zoom link) https://cripvideoproductions.blogspot.com/2020/12/crip-video-productions-performs-with.html
On Friday, December 18, 2020, Teatro Paraguas will present A Musical Piñata for Christmas VIII, an annual community celebration for the Holidays.This virtual offering features a short play by Alix Hudson and Paola vengoechea Martini, entitled Home for the Holidays: Con Amor y Gozo, which will be live on Zoom.Afterwards the audience is invited to join us for a virtual gathering.
The play will be posted afterwards on xerb.tv with videos of short scenes and carols and holiday music by the Teatro Paraguas Orchestra from previous community celebrations.
Alix Hudson & Paola Vengoechea-Martini's short play, Home for the Holidays: Con Amor y Gozo, is a Spanglish romp of Advent (and Chanukah) 2020. In Home for the Holidays, the 20 actors of all ages from our Paraguas family are also a literal family -- desperately trying to cobble together a "normal" Christmas for the family matriarch, Mama JoJo (JoJo Sena de Tarnoff). But group Christmas preparations on Zoom don't prove easy in the midst of the pandemic. Mama JoJo's daughters (Cristina Vigil, Juliet Salazar, Jeni Tincher, Alix Hudson, Sharla Stearn, Julia Gay, Paola Vengoechea-Martini) each take different approaches coping with the stress, from remedios to music to micromanagement, and Tio Padre Froggy (Rudy Fernandez) worries about composing his famous Misa del Gallo homily. While the teenagers (Luca Martini, Shaunti Sitonik, Amaya Smith) are more than okay with the lax oversight, their little primos (Logan Gay, Josephine Tincher, Emilia Martini) worry about the rest of the family. Eclectic Uncles (Stephen Jules Rubin, Argos MacCallum) remind us of our Musical Piñata for Christmas tradition, now in its 8th year. And observing this locura are the New York cousins, who have no excuse not to attend the family Christmas in its online format. The NY primos are played by New York City-based Crip Video Productions http://cripvideoproductions.com company members from "A Stroke Of Endurance" http://cripvideoproductions.com/astrokeofendurance.phpMargot Cole, John Diodato, and Izabela Ginda. Will the familia pull off the perfect rendition of Mama JoJo's favorite carol, "Vamos Todos a Belén," despite the odds?? Join us at 9pm NYC time, 7pm Mountain Time, on December 18th -- on Zoom! -- to find out.
This information is reposted with full permission of Teatro Paraguas!
DISCLAIMER: This online production has no connection to Crip Video Productions. Crip Video Productions does NOT receive monetary gain from any aspect of this production. Donations go to Teatro Paraguas, NOT Crip Video Productions! This is an entirely separate project. This event is posted by Crip Video Productions for advertisement purposes only! All copyright belongs to original owners!
Tonight (March 24th) we had the first of 2 special screenings of “A Stroke Of Endurance” in Santa Fe New Mexico at Teatro Paraguas. In 2015 we had a screening of the 3 previous Crip Video Productions films. Once I knew that I would be making “A Stroke Of Endurance” my friends at Teatro Paraguas promised to screen it once it had been completed.
[Image Description: A table with refreshments and flowers has playbills and flyers for “A Stroke Of Endurance”! ]
The screening tonight was amazing! We had a much, much larger turnout than we had in 2015. Many audience members where members of the disabled community of Santa Fe or were in some way connected to the disability community.One of the audience members helped disabled people with employment opportunities and I had helped him with resources. I really enjoyed being a positive example for others with disabilities and their friends and family. We showed the trailers for “Drama Sighted” “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” and “Crips Not Creeps” before the full film “A Stroke Of Endurance”. I gave a small talk about the films before we showed the trailers and film. I got to hear wonderful audience reactions. The audience seemed to love the film. The Q&A had some great questions. One person asked if I would ever return to Santa Fe for a visit. Another person asked if I would ever combine my science interests with my films more. I talked about why I started Crip Video Productions in the first place, the origin of the use of “Crip” in the name of the production group, and how a wonderful lady who is a stroke survivor living in Santa Fe had helped me research strokes by telling me her experiences.
We have permission from Teatro Paraguas to write this blog post! Special thanks to JoJo Tarnoff, Jeff Tarnoff, Argos MacCallum,Lori Zucker, and all of Teatro Paraguas for this once in a lifetime opportunity to share my work with the world!!!
Crip Video Productions invites anyone reading this to please, please join us tomorrow Sunday March 25th 2018 at Teatro Paraguas 3205 Calle Marie Suite A at 2:00pm to see another screening of “A Stroke Of Endurance” with a special Skype Q&A with cast and crew!
EDIT: This screening has already happened. Read part 2
Today (March 25th) we had our second special screening of “A Stroke Of Endurance” at Teatro Paraguas in Santa Fe New Mexico USA. After JoJo’s introduction I talked about my mission to tell good stories about disability in life affirming ways. We showed the trailers for the previous films and then the full film again like yesterday. The audience was absolutely wonderful!
This time we were able to get around the technical issues with Skype that we had the previous night so after “A Stroke Of Endurance” was shown some of my cast and crew were able to join in on the Q&A. We had 3 cast members and one crew member. The audience gave us beautiful compliments. One disabled audience member loved how the characters in the film didn’t let anything stop them from what they wanted to do despite any challenges they had and found all the characters inspiring in the best way. Another audience member loved the empathy between the characters and did not want the film to end. Someone wanted a sequel to Professor Ben’s story. Everybody wanted me to make a 5th film eventually. One of the audience members who was an actor told Tim Snoha who plays Professor Ben how moved he was by his performance and that he could not tell which actors were disabled. The biggest surprise came when one of the audience members wanted to create something in Santa Fe for people with disabilities inspired by and modeled after Crip Video Productions and “A Stroke Of Endurance”. It has always been my biggest hope that Crip Video Productions would inspire others to do their own creative and disability based work so this made our day!
We have permission from Teatro Paraguas to write this blog post! Special thanks to JoJo Tarnoff, Jeff Tarnoff, Argos MacCallum,Lori Zucker, and all of Teatro Paraguas for this once in a lifetime opportunity to share my work with Santa Fe! We hope anyone reading this post who missed the screening will please check out “A Stroke Of Endurance” online along with our other 3 films available online and on here on the blog!
For our fans with Facebook accounts! Please share widely! Use hashtag #astrokeofendurance
Teatro Paraguas in collaboration with Crip Video Productions, presents screenings of “A Stroke Of Endurance” a film about friendship, faith, and endurance.
Dates: Saturday March 24th 2018 at 7:00pm. & Sunday March 25th 2018 at 2:00pm. Located at Teatro Paraguas, 3205 Calle Marie suite A, Santa Fe New Mexico.
Synopsis: A college student with Cerebral Palsy named Ava and her classmates must deal with the emotional and physical ramifications when their professor has a stroke that leaves him disabled in the middle of the semester when they least expect it.
Crips Video Productions makes short independent films that increase understanding of disability through engaging characters and storytelling. The films are created by people with disabilities and are written, directed and produced by Margot Cole, (a former student of The Childrens Theatre and a graduate of Kingsborough Community College in New York). For more info: Teatro Paraquas http://www.teatroparaguas.org
For questions email cripvideoproductions@yahoo.com or use our website contact page.
To share on social media use these links http://cripvideoproductions.tumblr.com/post/170916014151/see-a-stroke-of-endurance-in-santa-fe https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/103662816758572885430/103662816758572885430/posts/jZcL2qySQjf
Teatro Paraguas in collaboration with Crip Video Productions, presents public screenings of “A Stroke Of Endurance” a film about friendship, faith, and endurance.
Dates: Saturday March 24th 2018 at 7:00pm. & Sunday March 25th 2018 at 2:00pm. Located at Teatro Paraguas, 3205 Calle Marie suite A, Santa Fe New Mexico.
Synopsis: A college student with Cerebral Palsy named Ava and her classmates must deal with the emotional and physical ramifications when their professor has a stroke that leaves him disabled in the middle of the semester when they least expect it.
Crips Video Productions makes short independent films that increase understanding of disability through engaging characters and storytelling. The films are created by people with disabilities and are written, directed and produced by Margot Cole, (a former student of The Childrens Theatre and a graduate of Kingsborough Community College in New York). Q&A with cast and crew of “A Stroke Of Endurance” film to follow screening! For more info: Teatro Paraquas http://www.teatroparaguas.org
Please note: the open captioned accessible version of “A Stroke Of Endurance” was released on December 15th 2017 and was added to the website after this review was created!
“A Stroke Of Endurance” has hit 1,000 views today on youtube! (Jan 15, with 1,007 as of this posts writing).
{Image Description: youtube video with woman with crutches. View count is 1,007 on video)
“A Stroke Of Endurance” has come a long way so far. Many fans have already expressed that “A Stroke Of Endurance” is their favorite Crip Video Productions film. People love that the characters in the film are of different ages and have different disabilities. The film has fans all the way in India. Once the film was uploaded many stroke survivors had contacted us to let us know they relate to the film, that it is very accurate to their experiences with stroke and disability and thanked us for getting our message across. We have already had a screening premiere of the film and we have at least 2 major public screenings planned which will hopefully occur in spring 2018.
When I first started writing I wasn’t sure how successful the film would be. It was roughly based on my professor who had a stroke in 2015. When I first met him I could see he was very kind,generous, and very smart. Not just book smart. He could understand people very well and had good instincts. He was very expressive with his body language when teaching and had a vast knowledge of many subjects. He had this vibrancy where he would embrace life head on. He did not let fear control him. If I could re create even just a small piece of that spark, the bright light in him, I knew I could create something wonderful. With “A Stroke Of Endurance” I wanted to show disability comes with both good and bad aspects, because I felt certain movies only put emphasis on the bad aspects of disability. Since I kept seeing mass produced movies about disabled characters who wanted to die shortly after becoming newly disabled I wanted to make a film about a newly disabled person who wanted to live, not to die! I wanted people who were new to the experience of life with a disability to know that they can come to us who have lived with disability from birth or childhood for support. Through my experiences in making “A Stroke of Endurance”. I realized that I knew things about life because of the CP that could be valuable to others in a sense that I was reminded that God gave me Cerebral Palsy and writing talents so I can help others with my films. It is my hope that my current and future work can let people know that disabled people are also made in the image of God and that their lives are highly valuable.
Today(January 30th) is the one year anniversary of the day “Crips Not Creeps” was uploaded to youtube! “Crips Not Creeps” now has 541 views on youtube as of this post. Spoiler alert for anybody who has not watched “Crips Not Creeps” . This post may also contain spoilers for anybody who has not seen our other 2 films. Please scroll down on this blog or go to the “Films” section of our website to watch the films.
Crip Video Productions has really come a long way. I guess it started when I met people within the disabled community. Meeting my disabled friends and disabled mentors inspired me in many ways. For the first time, I became interested in the lives of other people with disabilities. I originally wanted to write plays about my experience of being a disabled person. I heard about a playwriting contest in Bay Ridge Brooklyn called “A Playwright Grows in Brooklyn” when my mom took me to see one of their performances. Thomas Kane, the artistic director, suggested that I write a play for the contest. I wasn’t even sure if I could write a play. My mom, who is also a playwright, promised to help me write the play. I decided to base the play called “Drama Sighted” on a little of myself plus other people I knew, creating a fictional story. I ended up winning the contest which was a huge surprise. A few months after that another friend of mine with CP(who saw “Drama Sighted” performed as a play at BrooklynOne) told me to join a group called “DISLABELEDtv” which made videos about people with disabilities. One day during a meeting at a cafe with DISLABELEDtv one of the other members, Walei Sabry who is blind and has always been a fan of “Drama Sighted”, suggested I turn “Drama Sighted” into a short film. I agreed to the idea. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had to learn the process of filmmaking from scratch. As I have said many times it was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I had to cast the film myself, direct it, and eventually find someone to edit the film. I found an editor named Rich Brotman. The person who Lisa was roughly based on was kind enough to describe her blind spot to me so that Rich and I could make a special effect that looked like a real blind spot. Thomas unfortunately died before we finished editing “Drama Sighted”. “Drama Sighted” was uploaded to youtube on October 12 2011. Drama Sighted still gets positive feedback to this day! After that DISLABELED told me to make a special trailer for Drama Sighted to be shown at their first film screening in 2012 with their brand new name DISLABELED Film Series.
Once DISLABELEDtv changed their name to DISLABELED Film Series and decided to screen other people’s work instead of making their own films and media I had to branch out on my own with the name Crip Video Productions as soon as I had decided to go ahead and make “Only Those Who Limp Allowed”. I decided to make this blog and, much later on, my official website to keep all news and events related to Crip Video Productions in one central easy-to-access place. I had to take on a lot more responsibility with “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” compared to “Drama Sighted” like learning how to manage scheduling. I had to find my own voice a lot more with “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” Then I decided to make “Crips Not Creeps”. “Crips Not Creeps” is the first Crip Video Productions film that did not start out as a one act play with a play writing style or format. That’s why “Crips Not Creeps” experiments with visuals more.
I started developing “Crips Not Creeps” just days after I uploaded “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” I knew I wanted to write a fictional mystery plot. I wanted to explore the idea of morals. I wanted to try to have the disability be part of the plot without the disability being the main point of the plot. Frank is a guy who has let his pride and jealously towards Brandon turn him evil. He is smart in a manipulative way and stops at nothing to get what he wants. He feels that his position in the world of disabled performers is threatened by Brandon’s presence. Before Brandon came along Frank would get a lot of attention and had a reputation for being a great actor. Now Frank and Brandon and often compete for similar roles in stage plays. Frank knows that Brandon is more talented than he is, so he feels he has to go to drastic measures to get Brandon out of the way. I wanted it to be clear in this film that Frank is NOT jealous of Brandon over physical abilities. Frank is not bitter over being disabled. Frank just has an intense fear of being replaced. I absolutely hate being falsely accused so I wanted to explore the idea of what would happened to Brandon if he was falsely accused by his able bodied ex girlfriend due to a misunderstanding. “Crips Not Creeps” involved a lot more planning in regards to locations and visuals. I was honored to work with all of the cast and crew. “Crips Not Creeps” quickly became the fan favorite.
Since “Crips Not Creeps” has been uploaded, my films have been getting a lot of attention in the form of good feedback,interviews, reviews, and successful screenings in Santa Fe New Mexico,Kingsborough Community College and through various outreach events. October 2015 was CVP film outreach month. The New Mexico screenings were special bittersweet experiences because I got to see some very old friends who I have not seen in years. I would advise anyone reading this not to take anyone they love in their life for granted. In terms of the reviews, I was able to teach an able bodied girl that CP comes in many forms, not just the most severe forms commonly seen in media and teach her about visual impairments.
Although I did not mention this in the pervious posts, I met someone who injured himself in such a way that it caused his body to tense up tremendously. His alignment was actually a lot like a person with CP after this happened. He ended up asking me about my physical therapy experiences after seeing my films and I hope I was able to assist him in this area. Like many people I know, he found physical therapy to be incredibly boring. This person was able to look at the films and be encouraged in his road to recovery. Hopefully his bout with spasticity will not be permeant but even if he has continued muscle issues he knows tight muscles and loss of some balancing ability is not the end of the world. Life goes on either way. I think something people have to remember is unlike a person with CP like myself, who are born with a disability, people who become disabled later in life need to adapt to the new disability and may need that extra encouragement that some other disabled people don’t want or find patronizing. I happened to do a talk about Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and Cerebral Palsy where I met people with types of brain damage that I had never even heard of before, such as brain damage that effects sleep patterns and sensory processing. These types of brain damage are almost completely invisible. I see from meeting these people that these types of brain injury are a night and day difference from my own. These people had to adjust to doing things differently which was emotionally difficult for them because the disabilities happened instantly but they accepted it as just part of life, just as the characters in the films do. I got to meet people with conditions that I hardly understood like diabetes and epilepsy. For whatever reason these people felt that they could share the details of their conditions with me after seeing the films. The person with diabetes told me what low blood sugar episodes felt like. The person with epilepsy told me what a seizure felt like. I’m honored that these people were effected by the films in such a way where they would trust me without even really knowing me. It was a very brave thing for them to do. I also got a message online from somebody all the way in Italy who saw Crips Not Creeps. I don’t know how this person got around the language barrier since my film is in english on youtube but it sounds like he was somehow able to read the open captions in english or translate the open captions to Italian. He said he appreciated my work since he had been disabled through polio. Fans have told me that our films, particularly “Only Those Who Limp Allowed” and “Crips Not Creeps” seem to have the ability to break racial and language barriers. I have been contacted multiple times by both disabled and able bodied film students for advice. One of our actors, Dustin Jones, who plays Frank in “Crips Not Creeps” has also gotten a lot of attention when he appeared in various Uber related TV ads after the films release. You can view these ads on our google plus page. I have built connections through the films that I never knew were even possible! I hope this continues! I hope to do more films one day in the future and make them even more accessible if possible.
This are archived posts from Summer 2015. Older posts are on the bottom.
“Margot, You were so eloquent and down to earth in the Q and A. My daughter was really impressed and I am sure all of the others were too. You rock! Michael”
—
Michael Sheppard
Michael Sheppard sent this wonderful message to me after our Crips Not Creeps screening last night. This message is posted with Michael’s full permission! He set up the entire screening for the Big Sky Learning summer camp in Santa Fe New Mexico. Michael is an amazing person and an even greater friend! I am forever grateful to him for all of his efforts! Special thanks to Michael for this fantastic once in a lifetime opportunity!
We just had our screening at Big Sky Learning and it was another SMASHING SUCCESS!! To start at the beginning I use to be a math and writing student at Big Sky Learning in 2007 where I met Michael Sheppard. I became very close to Michael. I was fascinated by his vast intelligence. He had a very unique way of explaining math and the methods behind it. Years later we reconnected via email. I would send him each of my films after they were released.
Then in May 2015 when Teatro Paraguas showed all 3 of my films Michael came in person with some members of his family. He met up with my very dear friend JoJo Sena Tarnoff and her husband at the end of that screening and suggested that we do a similar screening at a high school in the Santa Fe area. I was overjoyed by this wonderful news! Just roughly a few weeks later Michael emailed me and suggested showing Crips Not Creeps to his summer camp. We only showed Crips Not Creeps simply for/due to time and length reasons. Walei was happy to join us a second time for a Q&A. I was thrilled when JoJo Tarnoff, Jeff Tarnoff and Argos from Teatro Paraguas were able to aid Michael by setting up all technical aspects of the screening from the sound to the projector. I got on Skype two hours before the screening and got to meet some wonderful people that Michael is currently working with as mentors. We had a last minute snafu with the sound coming from the projector,but we were able to fix it just in time,thank goodness, thanks to Jeff. I was relieved I actually remembered what I wanted to say about Crips Not Creeps and Big Sky Learning. I got to see the audience through Skype. We luckily had a much larger turnout than for the Teatro Paraguas screening. The audience was a nice mix of ages. Many people were slightly younger than my usual target audience. I got to hear some audience reactions through Skype like giggling. Walei came on Skype after the film ended. We answered some fantastic questions! A lot of the questions had to do with different aspects of the film production like what software was used to edit the film(iMovie and Final Cut Pro) and the music(Garage Band) and how we work around Walei’s visual impairment. Somebody asked how Walei became interested in music. One person asked if the films were ever meant to be television episodes. I told them how the first film Drama Sighted was originally written as a DISLABELEDtv episode. The idea of me using a crowd funding website like kickstarter or indiegogo was suggested.
Super special thanks to Michael, JoJo Tarnoff,Jeff,Tarnoff and Walei Sabry!!!! I was truly honored that they all made special time for me and put in such beautiful efforts to make this screening possible!! Thanks to the wonderful audience for coming out to join us and for their insights and curiosity!! I loved meeting everybody! I’m thrilled that a little film like Crips Not Creeps can bring together so many people from different places. Please note that Crip Video Productions did NOT receive any monetary gain or monetary sponsorship from this screening! This screening was completely free.
Quote from our fan Amina
“Hi Margot, and thank you very much for inviting me to watch your film :) I like the idea of showing how you guys are having a social life just like anyone and connecting to each other and to other people despite your disabilities! you have chosen a sweet music to start with; it give feeling of happiness and freshness <3 your actors are handsome Brandon, Randy and even Madison’s new boy friend! I love it and I’m so proud that I have met you because you have showed me a beautiful world that include lovely, intelligent and talent people like you. you told me in the class that not all of you are Christy Brown; I think you, with your awesome personality and talent, are capable to achieve greater success than Brown. I’m strongly waiting to see your next films. ( I saw Drama Sighted, Only Those Who Limp Allowed , and Crips Not Creeps). Amina”
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Amina
A review of Crips Not Creeps from a brand new fan of Crip Video Productions named Amina. Super special thanks to Amina!!! This review was posted with Amina’s permission! If you’d like to check out Crips Not Creeps in person please come to our public screening at Big Sky Learningtomorrow July 29th 5:00pm MDT in Santa Fe New Mexico!!! For those of you reading this blog who don’t know, Christy Brown is an artist and writer from Ireland who had Cerebral Palsy(he has passed away) like myself and 2 of the characters in Crips Not Creeps. Christy Brown is most widely known because of the movie “My Left Foot” starring Daniel Day Lewis. Unlike “My Left Foot” all of the disabled characters in our films are played by actors who have disabilities in real life.
On Wednesday July 29th 2015 at 5:00pm (at the Santa Fe Waldorf School) we will kick things off with a special showing of the short independent film Crips Not Creeps by past Big Sky student Margot Cole. Margot is the founder and director of Crips Video Productions which makes short independent films that increase understanding of disability through engaging characters and storytelling. The films are created by people with disabilities and are written, directed and produced by Margot Cole,a student at Kingsborough Community College in New York. Margot and the film’s composer Walei will answer questions via Skype after the showing.
DATE: Wednesday July 29th 2015 at 5:00pm MDT.
ADDRESS: Santa Fe Waldorf High School 26 Puesta del Sol Santa Fe, NM 87508
A brand new press page has been added to our official Crip Video Productions website! Check it out to see links,interviews and reviews about Crip Video Productions. The Press page includes our director Margot’s blog writing and drawings for Enter The Faun centered around Cerebral Palsy and dance(the bodywork mentioned in the Enter The Faun post is NOT a cure for Cerebral Palsy!)and our Able Pathways Media interview,
We have also confirmed a new public screening of “Crips Not Creeps” for July 29th 2015 at 5:00pm MDT in Santa Fe New Mexico! The screening is part of Big Sky Learning. If you are interested in this screening please contact us via email as most of our promotion is being targeted at New Mexico specifically rather than nationwide.
