Stage and Screen Arts premieres 'Miss Havisham'

The UW-River Falls Stage and Screen Arts (SASA) Program held a red carpet premiere of the short film "Miss Havisham" on Feb. 16. The screening took place in the Davis Theatre in the Kleinpell Fine Arts building, and featured other short student films as well.

"Miss Havisham" is inspired by characters from Charles Dickens's "Great Expectations," and, according to the film's promotional website, "explores a tortured mind bent on a twisted form of vengeance." The film was adapted and directed by Kathy Welch, the Stage and Screen Arts Associate Lecturer, who also directed SASA's renditions of Mary Shelley's "Mary Frankenstein," and Shakespeare's "The Tempest."

The film "utilizes stylized movement, original music, and creative cinematic techniques." This original music was created by the UWRF Music Department in collaboration with SASA.

The screening included a selection of films from Casey Palbicki's Multimedia for the Performing Arts Class: the short commercials "A Beer" and "Rad Brad's coffee, the YouTube tutorials "How to Ollie" and "How to Hide a Dead Body," and the short horror film "289."

In addition, the screening included two short films from Erik Johnson's Advanced Field Production class, the comedy film "Consequences" and the horror film "Ghost Light." These two films were produced in collaboration with Joe Rein's Screenwriting class.

"Miss Havisham" starred Sophie Hilo as Miss Havisham, Adrienne Quinlan as Estella, Billy Chester as Pip, and Laura Klein as Miss Havisham's cousin. Casey Palbicki served as the Executive Producer, the Director of Photography, and the Music Composer, among other roles.

"Miss Havisham," as well as "Consequences," "Ghost Light," and "Mary Frankenstein," can be viewed online at the UWRF Stage and Screen Productions YouTube channel.