The Inside Press

Magazines serving the communities of Northern Westchester

creative writing

Local Filmmaker Creates A First Full-Length Feature Film

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Dylan O’Keefe Presents: Zo in Exile

Moving to Chappaqua from the city during middle school wasn’t the easiest transition for Dylan O’Keefe. The now almost 30-year-old recalls that he wasn’t on any teams, nor did he do after school clubs. Instead he found solace in books and movies. He loved epic movies like the Star Wars series but also lesser-known horror/sci-fi movies such as Army of Darkness and The Thing. His mom who worked in book publishing fostered O’Keefe’s love of reading, film and strong storytelling.

But in addition to her, O’Keefe remembers Mr. Gilbert, his 7th grader English teacher at Robert E. Bell Middle School encouraging him to pursue creative writing. “I was a bit of a class clown–always getting in trouble,” he said. Whenever he had a book report, he used SparkNotes. However when he received a creative writing assignment, Mr. Gilbert initially accused him of plagiarism because it was far superior to anything else he had written. “My mom had to meet the principal. She told him that in my spare time, I would write fantasy stories in my room,” he now laughs when discussing the episode. Mr. Gilbert apologized and after that provided a lot of support for O’Keefe’s creative writing endeavors. “He told me I think your future may be writing,” O’Keefe recalls.

Fast forward almost two decades and O’Keefe is still writing stories. “I have at least 30 and some [stories] I have been writing and rewriting for 15-20 years.” O’Keefe graduated Horace Greeley in 2010 and entered the film industry after finishing a business degree at SUNY Albany in 2013. His father who worked in corporate A/V taught him a lot about camera/video equipment and operating microphones and video switchers.

Initially after graduation, O’Keefe worked on big budget productions, specializing in aerial photography. In 2017, he started his own video production company DOK Productions based out of Greenpoint, Brooklyn focusing on drone photography. His projects have included HBO’s Lovecraft Country, American Horror Story, Preacher and Seal Team. He’s also directed web series for Adult Swim and NY Fashion Week.

In his spare time, O’Keefe had created short films but with extra time on his hands during the pandemic, O’Keefe created his own first full-length independent feature film titled Zo in Exile. Heavily influenced by The Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland, the movie centers on Zo played by O’Keefe’s college friend Shiho Matsuoka. Zo and her friends escape for a weekend getaway in the quiet town of Exile, New York. But their bucolic vacation turns grim when Zo’s friends, fueled by debauchery, force her into a fantasy world where her only escape is to come to terms with her own destructive nature, according to the press materials.

Despite being low budget, O’Keefe paid everyone he hired for the film. “The goal was to employ people during the pandemic and make something fun while staying as COVID compliant as possible,” O’Keefe said. “Overall, I’m happy I was able to produce and film a full-length feature before I turned 30,” he said. The film has also been screened at several festivals both in the US and abroad and recently won an award for Best Fantasy Feature Film at France’s Hallucinea Film Festival.

O’Keefe hopes to inspire other young filmmakers with this project just as he was motivated years ago after speaking with Chappaqua-based screenwriter Mark Bomback who he read about in an article in Inside Chappaqua ten years ago. “Mark spoke about the good and bad parts of his career and what he learned along the way. It was a great experience to talk to someone in depth in the industry.”

“Young people today with their SmartPhones have way more powerful cameras and tools than anything that I had at 13.” He advises aspiring filmmakers experiment making movies. “They don’t have to be perfect but just try.”

And just like Bomback offered him advice years ago, O’Keefe said he’s willing to talk to any local high students interested in filmmaking.

To learn about scheduled screenings, visit Zo-in-exile.com. To reach out to O’Keefe, email him at info@dokproductions.com or check out his Twitter and Instagram Instagram.

Greeley Alum Shapes a New Era of Theatre

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Carly Brooke Feinman, a Chappaqua native and Greeley alum, is making a splash in the theatre world just two years after graduating Wesleyan University. This past summer, her original musical co-written with Cassie Wilson, If Sand Were Stone, made its Off-Broadway debut as part of the New York Music Festival. As if that wasn’t enough, her play Reflux was selected to premier Off-Broadway a few weeks later as part of the Broadway-Bound Theatre Festival.

Feinman loved growing up in Chappaqua.  She always enjoyed poetry and writing and assumed that would lead her to a career in journalism or poetry.  Her favorite teacher at Greeley was her creative writing teacher, Mrs. Chadwick. She “was the first teacher to really take interest in me and encouraged me to continue writing. I’m so grateful for her,” Feinman says.

Feinman’s road to musical theatre began when she took a class in college with the Pulitzer Prize winning playwright Quiara Alegría Hudes, who wrote In the Heights with Lin Manuel Miranda. “She changed everything for me… She is an epic human and one of my dearest friends and mentors. She showed me that the things I love about poetry and the fun language gymnastics I get to do really do lend themselves to theatre.  She pushed me to dig deeper and take more classes and I found that I loved it,” recalls Feinman.

If Sand Were Stone Actors (L-R): Mari Uchida, Jhardon DiShon Milton, Jennifer Reed , Alexis Floyd and Tabatha Gayle PHOTO BY HAYIM HERON

It was in Hudes’ musical theatre class where Feinman was paired together with Wilson for an assignment. They immediately clicked and became great friends and collaborators. “To find someone that you want to work with for the rest of your career is such a gift to receive at a young age.  We’ve been working on the musical for two and a half years. There will be future iterations of it and it’s more fulfilling every time we touch it,” says Feinman.

If Sand Were Stone is a musical that follows a poet as she and her family grapple with her early onset Alzheimer’s Disease at the peak of her career. It’s based on a true story about Wilson’s grandmother. Despite the sad subject, there is joy to be found in the moments on stage between family members. In preparation for writing this musical, Feinman and Wilson volunteered at an assisted living facility for memory care. “Just as many times as we would leave crying, we would leave laughing.  Where there’s sadness, there’s joy. That’s a fundamental belief of ours,” says Feinman.

Feinman is proud of the fact that the musical’s creative team was all female, under 25, and included women of color. “Cassie and I are from very lucky backgrounds, we are hyper aware of the advantages we’ve had, and we have no interest in doing anything besides trying our best to be inclusive and to use what we’ve been given and share,” she explains.

Her other production this past summer, Reflux, is an absurdist comedy in a dystopian world where a man and woman are paired together randomly, and sent by boat to navigate the ocean to the honeymoon island where they must have sex. They try to figure out what sex and marriage is and how it fits into society’s expectations spoonfed to them since birth. 

In Reflux, the couple is played by two gender non-conforming people of color. “We have all seen the man-woman romantic comedy and I was really interested in disrupting that whole Adam and Eve archetype… I’m interested in centering historically marginalized places and including people who have historically been disenfranchised by the institution of theatre. That’s not something that I’m looking for applause for. I just think it needs to be more of the norm,” says Feinman. Generally, she is drawn to art that disrupts and is different than anything she has seen previously. She was greatly inspired by the musicals Hamilton, In the Heights and Fun Home.

PHOTO BY HAYIM HERON

Feinman is not afraid of laying bare her creative work.  “I don’t think you could fail if you try. This summer, if both of the shows were flops, that wouldn’t have been a failure to me. The failure would’ve been chickening out and saying that it would be too much to do in one summer,” she contends.

Feinman is living her dream career. “I’ve only ever wanted to be a writer. To be a songwriter was one of my early goals as a young girl but I don’t know how to play any instruments. In writing musicals, I’ve been able to call myself a songwriter. I’ve always wanted to be a poet and in writing plays, I’ve been able to do that.  I’ve always wanted to collaborate with artists I admire and I’m getting to do that now. I’m so happy,” she concludes.

Budding Authors Get A Chance to Shine

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By Liora Fishman

chapp-libraryAs winter approaches, the 34th Annual Friends of the Chappaqua Library Young Writers Contest will begin to accept entries from gifted student writers in the Chappaqua school district. The contest acknowledges the wide range of exceptional and inventive writers in the community and gives all students the chance to try their hand at writing a variety of genres, from poetry to nonfiction to short stories. The contest accepts student-written literature and showcases the talent of the applicants in the form of first, second and third place prizes. Winners are presented with certificates and monetary prizes, and a bound copy of all the work is placed in the stacks of the Chappaqua Library.

The Young Writers Contest is a program offered through Friends of the Chappaqua Library, a group that meets monthly to coordinate events that enhance the community’s interaction with the Chappaqua Library.  The group hopes to promote creativity and literary inspiration through the contest by “encouraging students around the district to share their writing in a more public way than just turning it in for a grade,” explained Cheryl Ehrlich, coordinator of the Young Writers Contest.

Contestants may submit one piece per category, for a total of three works. Often, students choose to submit works they have completed in school, though some choose to create their pieces outside of school. Eva Sibinga, former Greeley student and winner of the 2012 Young Writers Contest’s Fiction section, submitted her story 
“A Decision at Hopewell” after completing it for her Creative Writing class. “That piece was actually the only thing I’ve ever submitted to a contest,” said Sibinga. “I regret not submitting to the YWC other years, though. I really  love the Chappaqua Library, and it felt good to participate in something that they sponsor.”

For many students who often find themselves immersed in the science and math departments in school, the contest is a means for literary expression and creativity that they would otherwise be unconnected with. “At school I’m often very focused on math and science, [but] I really enjoy English and I love this outlet–it’s my way of keeping in touch with that side of me,” said Rachel Neuburger, 2012 Honorable Mention recipient for her non-fiction piece, “Confessions of an Obnoxious Vegetarian.”

The contest has a long history of maintaining integrity in regard to its choices of winners, insisting on strict procedures writers must follow in order for their piece to be reviewed by the judges. “The Young Writers Contest has been sponsored by the Friends of the Chappaqua Library for close to 35 years, and I just carry on the traditions that came before me. I’ve streamlined certain procedures, but the rules don’t change,” added Ehrlich.

One of those rules is the “blind” policy, which insists that those submitting pieces omit their names on their writing. Should a writer’s name be on his or her entry, the panel of judges will not review the piece. “In years past, some coordinators would white out the names, but really, this isn’t fair to the other submitters who follow the rules,” said Ehrlich.

However, a new element of the contest utilizes the ease of the Internet, allowing submissions to be made online. This development was first put into effect in the 2013 Young Writers Contest, setting the precedent for the future contests in hopes of being more environmentally friendly and straightforward. Students can upload their work as a PDF to the Chappaqua Library’s Submittable account.

The Young Writers Contest encourages students to create a piece of writing to take pride in and fosters creativity and experimentation in regard to students’ writing. “It’s a really positive way to get yourself out there and get some feedback on your writing, and get comfortable with the idea of sharing your form of expression, which can be scary but is often very rewarding,” said Sibinga.

Additionally, the contest showcases the student talent that would otherwise be unrecognized. “[The Young Writers Contest] shows how much talent there is in the district, and I think it inspires students to throw their work in the mix and get involved,” said Neuberger.

Ehrlich couldn’t agree more: “It’s as much about the submitting as the winning,” she explained. “Sure it’s great to win, but the act of submitting lets you feel the value in your work. You also on some level declare to yourself ‘I am a writer.’ Writing is a life skill that lets you communicate with and persuade and move others.”

The deadline for the 2014 Young Writers Contest, expected to be in late March, will be announced shortly.

harry potterLiora Fishman is a senior at Horace Greeley High School. Growing up, she loved the Harry Potter books.