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Declaration of independence Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Bill Moreing, formerly an actor at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, has written, directed and financed a feature film, "Joyful Partaking." The film will be shown at the Varsity Theatre in Ashland Friday through Thursday. A former OSF actor makes triumphant return to Ashland to showcase his self-produced film By BILL VARBLE Mail Tribune Bill Moreing always wanted to make a movie. In May, the 49-year-old ex-actor finished the final cut of "Joyful Partaking," which he wrote, directed and financed. Moreing is in Ashland to attend showings of the film, which is at the Varsity Theatre for a week. Moreing worked as an actor at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 1975 to 1977. "We used to sit at Angus Bowmer's feet," he says of the festival's founder. "Joyful Partaking" is a dramatic comedy about the residents of a Seattle neighborhood whose stories intertwine one fateful day. Several of the actors in the film are OSF veterans, including John Procaccino, Elizabeth Huddle, Jane Jones, Michael Kevin and Jos Viramontes. "Joyful Partaking" was shown at last month's Ashland Independent Film Festival, where it was well-received. It premiered earlier at the Tahoe Film Festival, where it won the Viewers' Choice award. "That was very cool," Moreing says. "When they rejected it in Seattle, I was convinced I'd blown it. I thought if they weren't going to show it there, nobody would show it." A Seattle film festival turned the film down, even though it was made there. In the last decade, many independent film festivals have become less "independent" as Hollywood has moved in with the star power to attract audiences. The budget for "Joyful Partaking" was $500,000 - lunch money, by Hollywood standards. Moreing had written three or four screenplays since he gave up acting a decade ago, but "Joyful Partaking" was the first one produced as a full-length feature. "It's a combination of stories," Moreing says, "some inspired by real life. There are no special effects, no car chases." The film was shot on 35mm film in the Ballard area, an older, middle-class part of Seattle, in the summer of 2000 and was edited in six months. It's a funny, moving look at a quirky cast of characters, including a former television weatherman whose son died in a storm he failed to forecast, an elderly stroke victim who has fallen and can't get up, an abusive, beer-drinking slob and a lonely spinster whose best chance for happiness may lie with her dog. "I like all the characters," Moreing says, "but there's one standout story. John Procaccino is the weatherman. He plans to end his own life, but his incompetence gets in the way." The story plays out in one day on one street, like Dylan Thomas' "Under Milkwood." Moreing's characters are often unaware and self-absorbed, sometimes noble and maybe even spiritual. The duality gives the picture a dimension that's spiritual without being churchy. The characters are isolated, going through their lives without reaching out to each other. If it sounds depressing, there's a chance for salvation that comes in an unexpected form. Moreing, now divorced and living near Half Moon Bay, was raised in the Bay Area, went to a community college in Atherton south of San Francisco, was an artist in residence at Stanford University. He says a day came after 20 years in the business when he knew he could no longer be an actor. "I was in a play and went through this weird thing," he says. "I was playing a good part but I felt nervous. Here I was, a grown man of 40 with makeup doing a funny voice. I didn't believe it anymore." He worked in Seattle, editing commercials and documentaries, nurturing the dream of making a movie. None of his screenplays had commercial appeal, and he knew he'd have to make a small picture he could finance himself. Indie pictures don't get Hollywood-style marketing campaigns, but "Joyful Partaking" is starting to get some attention. It will be shown soon in Telluride, Colo. The Movie Chicks rated it a 4.5 on a scale of 5 and posted an interview with Moreing (visit www.themoviechicks.com). "I cried," wrote Movie Chick Cherryl, "tears of sorrow and tears of joy." In a note of vindication for Moreing, the Seattle Art Museum has decided to show the picture. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.