BY JENN GODDU
While living in Los Angeles, John Mossman and Kathy Scambiatterra got a taste of doing things for themselves and they enjoyed controlling their art. When the husband and wife team returned to Chicago, they wanted to regain that feeling and so, in 1998, they founded The Artistic Home, a training center devoted to both theatre and film that soon built up its own acting ensemble.
"The name of Artistic Home pretty much says it all," says Scambiatterra, the company’s artistic director. "We are committed to development. We are committed to process. We are committed to production. It gives a place where all of these things work under one roof."
It is unusual to find a company that gives theatre and film equal attention, but for Mossman it was a natural choice. "From the beginning we included film in our mission statement because that is just who Kathy and I are."
Both are primarily actors, Scambiatterra says. She is also a director and instructor who has worked extensively with Wisdom Bridge Theatre and Center Theatre. Mossman has degrees in Film and Theatre from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and has acted and directed in both mediums.
"We always wanted [film] to be a part, but we knew it would take a long time," Mossman said. "It’s not something you can just jump into…you have to set yourself up properly."
The company’s slow but sure involvement in the film industry includes working in conjunction with other producers on the Discovery Channel series "The Internet Coach" (which stars ensemble member R.J. Coleman), and they also won a Telly-Award for a drug prevention video directed by Mossman and written by former ensemble member Tim Miller.
Mossman’s short film Jell-Ohh Lady won Audience Favorite at the Palm Springs International Short Film Festival and his previous short, Draggage, also screened at numerous international festivals. He was awarded the Best Director of 2002 from Chicago Community Cinema.
The first short film solely produced by The Artistic Home, Spaceman Dan’s 243rd Flight, written and directed by Mossman, is currently in post-production. "This digital revolution over the last five years has made film that much more accessible to people like me," Mossman said. Editing is easier to accomplish outside of a professional studio and filming on digital is substantially more affordable.
The Artistic Home is based at 1420 W. Irving Park Rd., where classes are held in a small theatre seating only 35 people. Classes are offered in technique, scene study, advanced acting and voice. Mossman leads an acting for film and television class that "takes actors out of the black box entirely," he said. "We go on set and they work in this class as producers and crew of their own and each other’s scenes…It’s as close to an approximation of what they’ll really experience that I can create. I know that it’s nothing like a stage and that’s usually what trips people up."
In its training and ensemble work, The Artistic Home is focused on intimate work. "We approach the work of film and theatre from the actor’s point of view," Scambiatterra says. "It is a choice to be a small intimate space…It’s about intimate work, being right there in the storytelling…it’s close, in the bones of the artist and in the bones of the audience."
Next up at the Artistic Home is a production of Arthur Miller’s After the Fall opening with Mossman as Quentin on Feb. 23. In May, the company will present Alan Ball’s Five Women Wearing the Same Dress.
"We really delve into American playwrights," Scambiatterra said. "All of them are addressing a higher social order in their work…There’s something to be said about the social fabric."
The Artistic Home first opened to the critical press with In the Boom Boom Room by David Rabe in May 2001. This was followed by Tennessee Williams’ Orpheus Descending, Sam Shepard’s Angel City, Harry Kondoleon’s Christmas on Mars and a new work, Memories of Viola, by Jim Danek.
The Artistic Home has a large ensemble of members. They are Kerry Brett, Mike Carroll, Georgann Charuhas, Laura Coleman, R.J. Coleman, Tom Dietrich, Sharon Hazel, Tasha Anne James, Gillian Kelly, Dana Marini, Katherine O’Neill, William Tellman, Patrick Thornton, James Treacy and Kate Tummelson.
Kelly joined the ensemble after taking classes at The Artistic Home. "It was exciting to me what they were doing, the level of the work they were doing," she said. "We have a real common language that we use."
The ensemble is made up of people totally committed to their acting, Scambiatterra says. "If it’s a hobby, they’re just not going to survive," she says. Also, all the ensemble members have gone through some sort of Meisner-based training.
Mossman seeks ensemble members who will eventually become leaders. "It’s a willingness to work on a project in whatever capacity is asked of you," he said. "You find yourself growing in ways that you may never have anticipated."
With its dual focus on theatre and film, The Artistic Home gives its members an opportunity to grow in new ways in two different mediums. But Scambiatterra and Mossman want it to be even more than that.
The arts are under siege today, Mossman explains. "Chicago is a tougher place than when I first came here," he says. "It’s just not that easy anymore for anybody." He wants The Artistic Home to keep growing into a place where people can hone their craft and own their art. "You have to create an environment in your world where people can develop, and I would like to see us help create leaders and artists that will add to Chicago’s fabric."
For more information, visit http://theartistichome.org/