About
A live, online and immersive
1920s experience
What if...
What if you weren’t sitting where you are sitting? What if this wasn’t now? What if you were in another place and time altogether, say, on a street in 1927? What would you see? Who would you meet? What music would you hear? Would you find a comfortable spot and just take it in, or would you wander about and explore? Would you be a voyeur, or would you interact with others? Would you be inclined to uncover secrets? Or not?
The internet is huge. You opened your browser and could have arrived at over five billion places. But you, dear viewer, have clicked your way here. So what happens next? Dealer's choice. You are invited to step with us...Into the Mist.
Featuring
The Cellar Boys
The Chicago Cellar Boys are the Midwest's premier 1920s jazz and hot dance band. The band prides itself by being fully authentic to the times without being a museum piece.
Artists
Northwestern graduates Victoria Zielinski and Paul Barrosse have been married since 1990 and comic collaborators many years before that. Paul was a founder of Evanston’s own Practical Theatre Company in 1979 and Victoria has performed in improvisational comedy revues with the PTC since 1983. In the past decade, they’ve teamed with Dana Olsen in The Vic & Paul & Dana Show and joined Steve and Bea Rashid in a series of annual holiday revues at Studio5.
Snö Bunta found her passion for circus at the young age of 10 when she started training contortion in her bedroom! She is trained in traditional Mongolian style contortion under Kevin Carpenter and with Serchma Byamba in Mongolia and completed her acrobatic and aerial training in New England Center for Circus Art’s professional program. Snö performs her work nationwide and internationally. She has worked in a variety of venues in New York City and Miami’s night life, Turks and Caicos, and on Cruise Ships. She has worked for circus companies such as Cirque Us, Quixotic Fusion, Shien Artist, Les Farfadais, and Cirque du Soleil.
Kim Davis is from Portsmouth, VA. She is a 2019 graduate of George Mason University. Kimberly joined DanceWorks Chicago in August 2019 teaching students at universities and in Germany. She’s now dancing with South Chicago Dance Theatre and she is also a teacher and singer in Chicago.
Jay is a Los Angeles based actor, director, and teacher. Whatever the project, usually in his back pocket are some playing cards. But tonight, in the mist, they're out to play. Recent projects and notable credits include: Holy Ghosts (director, USC), the 2018 CBS Diversity Sketch Showcase, American Vandal (Netflix), and Looking for Alaska (Hulu).
Daniel Rashid is an actor, writer, director and producer. Recent TV/Film acting credits include BEAST BEAST [Sundance 2020], BEING FRANK, STARGATE ORIGINS, and GROWN-ISH. His sketch comedy channel GIGGLE BREAK has been featured on FunnyOrDie and his films have screened at festivals around the country.
Jordan Reinwald (she/her), is a dancer, performance artist, and choreographer currently based in Chicago. She has performed professionally, nationally, and internationally with Winifred Haun and Dancers, Khecari, Cerqua Rivera Dance Theater, The Catskills Ballet Theatre, The Civic Ballet at the Ruth Page Center for the Performing Arts, Aerial Dance Chicago, C5 Create With No Limits, and as a promotional performer for Theater Mama with Cirque Du Soleil, among others.
Julie Roland is an aviator in the US Navy, a magician (member of the Academy of Magical Arts), co-creator of the Just Tryna Make Friends Show (@jtmfshow), and creator of the upcoming Firehouse Variety Show at the Firehouse Bar in San Diego. If she’s not flying helicopters, then she’s captivating audiences. She has performed magic and music while on board over four aircraft carriers, two destroyers, and a guided missile cruiser on deployments that have taken her from the Persian Gulf to the South China Sea, and has hosted variety shows in SD, LA, SF, and NYC. She has been reading tarot for over ten years and has been exploring the secrets of the universe even longer.
Stephen Malcolm Ruffin is a classically trained SAG actor, writer and poet from Atlanta, Georgia. Honored to be portraying the incredible Langston Hughes. Some recent TV/Film acting credits include: SNOWFALL, SAFETY, SUMMER 03 (SXSW 2018) and BEAST BEAST (Sundance 2020).
Larry Schanker has written music for theatre, film, and dance for the past 35 years. He also applies the same techniques to the improvisation of accompaniment for Silent Films. He has accompanied films for the Coastline Children's Film Festival, the Indiana University Cinema, the DeBartolo Center at Notre Dame, and at Studio 5. He also serves as Executive Director and Music Teacher at Brookview Montessori School in Benton Harbor, Michigan.
Mardra Thomas is a true jazz vocalist who was nominated for Chicago’s 2018 Best Leading Actress Lena Horne Award for her portrayal of Billie Holiday in LADY DAY AT EMERSON’S BAR AND GRILL. Mardra has delivered stunning interpretations as Alice-DAYDREAM-THE LIFE OF BILLY STRAYHORN at the Kennedy Center, as Mother Shaw-CROWNS, Bessie and Sadie Delaney-HAVING OUR SAY, Lady in Green-FOR COLORED GIRLS, Power Woman-MENOPAUSE THE MUSICAL...
Reggie can be seen fronting his own groups (Mardra/Reggie Thomas Ensemble; OGD) on both piano and Hammond organ and as a sideman with great artists including Hamiett Blueit, Ann Hampton Callaway, and the Carl Allen/Rodney Whitaker Ensemble. He plays regularly with the Count Basie Band, and is currently the head of Northern Illinois University’s Jazz Studies Program. Reggie has performed from Bangkok to Warsaw, Milan to Senegal, London to Tokyo, and has recorded with Clay Jenkins, Kim Richmond, and Clark Terry/Mike Vax.
Jasmin Tomlins is an actress, poet, stage manager, and the Artistic Director of the 14th Night Players; a digital Shakespeare company that all are welcome to join. She was last seen on stage in 1574 as a street actor at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, and is delighted to have made it all the way to the 1920s
Mia Weinberger is an actor, writer, and filmmaker based in Los Angeles, hailing from Evanston, Illinois. Mia is a graduate of Northwestern University and The Second City's Harold Ramis Film School, the only film school devoted solely to comedy. Her comedy content has been featured on the BBC, PBS, CBS, Funny Or Die, WhoHaha, and more. Mia has also been seen on stage Off-Broadway and in National Tours.
Crew
Steve Rashid
The Mastermind
Sam Fishkin
Sound Design / Mixing
Some of you may know Lauren as the third "one" in Bea Rashid's 11:11 piece from "Count me In" or as the redheaded bartender at Studio5. She currently works as a digital designer at a small firm in Chicago as well as a freelance website designer. Most importantly, she put together the Into the Mist site!
Lauren Biolsi
Béa Rashid Movement Coordinator, is a Choreographer, Dance Educator, and Theatrical Director. Béa is the Director of Dance Center Evanston, Founder of the Evanston Dance Ensemble. She collaborates with composer Steve Rashid whenever possible.
