I wrote this educational performance piece in collaboration with Dreams of Hope Performance Troupe for LGBTQ youth. The Department of Hope opened January 2013 at the August Wilson Center in Pittsburgh, PA. Developed from improvisational scene work informed by the experiences of LGBTQ youth, we merged real life with a fantastical government agency. The Department of Hope asks what we all can do to bring about hope. The piece will be touring throughout the Pittsburgh area during 2013, educating audiences on LGBTQ issues.
Projects
Department of Hope
Ack! The Musical
Comedia meets the Sunday comics in this short play. Cathy fills her lonely life with chocolate and self-loathing. Jon Arbuckle can’t help but feel that he is nothing more than a side character in his cat’s time honored narrative. When fate and internet dating bring these two lonely souls together, worlds collide. With all the forces of hell pitted against them, can they make a better life? And will any of us survive the coming of the Marmaduke?
Ack! The Musical was performed for the February 2013 Ten-Minute Play Festival at the Shop in Pittsburgh, PA.
Chickens
Chickens is a new play that tells the story of a family through the eyes of their four chickens. It is the first project of Hatch, a new arts collective. Set in Pittsburgh, Chickens explores what a gay identity means for one couple, as they journey from the families that raised them to the family they choose to create together. Amidst the struggle to define partnership and wrestle with individual family ties, Chickens invites you to join them in taking one messy step forward.
Under the direction of Theatre artist Adil Mansoor, Chickens will be produced in the Spring of 2013. For more information about Chickens, please visit the play’s website at www.chickensplay.com.
Under the direction of Theatre artist Adil Mansoor, Chickens will be produced in the Spring of 2013. For more information about Chickens, please visit the play’s website at www.chickensplay.com.
Diq
Parody pharmaceutical commercial shot on Nikon D7000. Diq is set to premiere at the 2012 CNKY Scene Film Festival in Cincinnati, OH.
Internet Collaboration Project 1
The Internet Collaboration Projects come from a desire to collaborate among a large group of creative people who are separated by geography. On April 17, 2012, I emailed 50 of my freinds asking if they’d like to participate in a online collaborative experiment. 30 agreed to be part of the first Internet Collaboration Project.
Internet Collaboration Project 1
Text
Each creator submitted text that they or someone they know generated.
Chance
Each text submission was randomly assigned to a new creator.
Art
Each creator made something with the text that they were given.
All of these final creations can be seen here at the Internet Collaboration Projects website (www.paulwkruse.com/icprojects)
If you or anyone you know is interested in participating in the Internet Collaboration Projects, please send an email to me at paulwkruse@gmail.com.
The Price of Being Princess
DJ Rakliner and B-Libs know the prince of being princess.
Shot on Canon 7d and Nikon D7000
The Year I Broke My Voice
Paul collaborated as Director of Photography with filmmaker Madsen Minax during fall of 2011. The Year I Broke My Voice will begin festival screenings in the fall of 2012.
“The Year I Broke My Voice is an experimental film that re-examines the coming of age narrative. The story follows several groups of socially interconnected ‘adolescents,’ (played by trans adults) providing snapshots of the connections and traumas they experience through each other. The video examines notions of time, memory and nostalgia in trans experiences, the erotics of friendships, and the inevitability of being alone. The script for this project was composed in a collage format by excerpting and adapting texts from three Hollywood coming-of-age films.” -Madsen Minax
To Jamestown
To Jamestown from Paul Kruse on Vimeo.
To Jamestown is a post-apocalyptic short, shot on super 16mm film.
While bearing a mysterious message to the port city of Jamestown, Cillian Wood and his teacher John are attacked by a vicious monster.
Hold
Hold from Paul Kruse on Vimeo.
Hold is a short film that explores moments of loss and connection. It was funded by one of five grants given out by Zach Braff to Northwestern University students in 2008.
Jackie Can’t Walk South
Jackie Can’t Walk South from Paul Kruse on Vimeo.
MiniDV, Northwestern student video project, Jackie, she can’t walk south. So, I pushed her in a shopping cart.
