You are invited to a private screening of Michael Montenegro's first film Apparaticus at Facets on February 24th at 7pm. Doors will open at 6:30 for light appetizers and a multi-media lobby display.
How long would you last in solitary confinement?
Apparaticus, loosely based on Franz Kafka’s short story “The Penal Colony,” is a darkly satirical look at the prison industrial complex. As we voyage into the unconscious mind of a man imprisoned and isolated, we meet diabolical clowns--those bureaucrats who maintain the carceral state--engaging in a dance of "the banality of evil." Right now, 75,500 individuals are in solitary confinement in the US (with as many as 300,000 during COVID-19 lockdowns): inspired by firsthand accounts, Apparaticus allows us to experience--at a surreal, dreamlike slant--the psychodrama of confinement and the grotesque farce of authority.
Chicago puppet and mask-maker Michael Montenegro began collaborating with Theatre Y during the pandemic, when the only available medium was film. Montenegro took these new tools into his sculptor's hands and wrought something very much his own. As disonant and disorienting realities unfold over 90 minutes, Montenegro rattles our cages, startles our senses, and makes us stare down this antiquated tool designed to crush the human spirit. Are we capable of reconsidering our carceral practices and expanding our moral imagination?
"My initial inspiration for this film was my own personal experience of claustrophobia. And my understanding that within 80 miles of anyone there is a human being incarcerated in a cell in solitary confinement. This “solitary confinement” viscerally translates into a human being held in a concrete cell, usually 7ft. by 9ft. (the size of a small bathroom) confined often for 23 hours a day, 7 days a week. Some prisoners have been confined in these inhumane circumstances for as many as forty years. The incredible isolation often devastates the prisoner both physically and mentally over time. The mental anguish resulting from this circumstance can easily reach the point of physical self-mutilations, psychosis, and suicide. These astonishing facts are basically unknown to most citizens of this country, a country that professes to be democratic and a proponent of justice and human rights. As an artist I was compelled to imagine, as best I could, in a visceral way, the reality implied by this system. Compelled so that I could create a piece of art to attempt to communicate the hidden truth of real human suffering behind these often mechanical bureaucratic maneuvers dedicated to abstract principles such as profit and political agendas." - Michael Montenegro, Director
APPARATICUS written and directed by Michael Montenegro, edited by Michael Montenegro and Kevin Hurley, cinematography by Justin Jones, Kevin Hurley, and Michael Montenegro, sound engineering by Monteith McCollum and Kimberly Sutton, lighting design by Jason Lynch, set design by Henry Wilkinson costume design by Rebecca Hinsdale and Meagan Beattie, assistant direction by Catrina Evans
CAST: Steve Bynum, Melissa Lorraine, Eric K. Roberts, Arlene Arnone, Howard Raik, Nadia S. Pillay, Zahrah Pillay, Henry Wilkinson, Catrina Evans, and Evan Hill
MUSIC BY JUDE MATHEWS musicians: Ben Goldberger, Steve Lieto, Noah Silver, and Jude Mathews APPARATICUS IS IS A THEATRE Y PRODUCTION This film is dedicated to Jude Mathews
Humans of Life Row
Theatre Y has been working with men serving extreme sentences at Stateville Correctional Center since 2018. With no parole system for natural life sentences, these men will never be released, despite aquiring multiple degrees and starting a non-profit inside. Artistic Director Melissa Lorraine is creating an original work with twelve men who have been part of the PNAP (Prison+Neighborhood Art Project) Think Tank for many years. Thank you for helping to give voice to some of the thousands of Humans of Life Row in the state of Illinois (one of 12 states without a Parole System).
