Like the earliest practitioners of film, the men and women who made silent pictures, today’s writers, directors, producers, and actors often come to moviemaking through other disciplines. Film is a collaborative medium; except for some rarified experimental efforts, it requires a team. But you don’t have to go to Hollywood to realize your vision, whether it’s for mass distribution or a niche audience. Two recent Chicago independent productions, The Curse of the Tempest Jewel (2015), a film noir-style caper, and The Spy Who Knew Me (2017), a riff on James Bond, are narrative features modest in scale but big on ambition, starring a local ensemble of young performers with Down syndrome.
The outgoing, athletic Kern, 40, was born in Austin and got the acting bug at eight, through Shakespeare at Winedale at the University of Texas. After graduation from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, he became a stage actor, shuttling between UT and London until he took a two-year break to look after his ailing mother. He moved to Chicago for an MFA from the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University. There he met the late casting director Jane Alderman, who helped him to audition for ER and other TV shows that have filmed here. These days he’s paid well as a motion capture actor for NetherRealm Studios, where he’s worked on many video games, most recently Mortal Kombat 11.
As You Like It Mon 5/20, 7 PM, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand, 312-595-5600, chicagoshakes.com, $15.
Tue 5/14, 7 PM, the Fasseas Studio at the Menomonee Club, 1535 N. Dayton, eventbrite.com, $15.
As You Like It Mon 5/20, 7 PM, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, 800 E. Grand, 312-595-5600, chicagoshakes.com, $15.
