The last few months have been eventful, to say the least, for Jared Mezzocchi ’07, for it has been a period of accomplishment and one, as many have said, of grace.
Mezzocchi has just completed shooting for his independent film and theatre project, “The One Stoplight in Hollis.”
The two-act production, incorporates both theatrical stage and film sequences, revolves around the afterlife of a man named Michael, who has just passed away and left his family behind. Michael, guided by an angel named Sophia, is made to re-live the good portions of his life and, more importantly, the bad. The movement of Michael from his current existence to memories of his life will be mirrored by the movement from the stage to the newly-completed film scenes.
“We’ve shot seventeen scenes at eight different locations,” said Mezzocchi.
Mezzocchi has shot scenes around Fairfield; at two houses in town, the Bannow Science Center and the School of Nursing. He has also has shoots at St. Vincent’s Hospital, a bar in Newark, N.J., a horse corral and in Mezzocchi’s hometown of Hollis, N.H.
Maybe traveling to these locations solely for the sake of detail is what has made “Stoplight” seem like a different kind of venture. Mezzocchi said he does not like the term “student production,” as he feels that the expression is unfairly given a negative connotation. If anything, the uniqueness of “Stoplight’s” production lays in the project’s ability to inspire, both with a message and a seemingly fate-driven sequence of events.
One of these more astounding things to have happened during shooting was the introduction of Chris Roukas, the owner of the Country Kitchen restaurant in Hollis, where several scenes were filmed. Roukas, a deeply pious Macedonian with a long and successful history of pursuing his own dreams, was awestruck at the circumstances under which he met Mezzocchi.
Before coming into contact with Mezzocchi, Roukas had discovered a family heirloom: his brother’s cross.
“I said, ‘I’m going to take this cross with me, and I’m going to put it in my pocket. Something’s going to happen today,’ and he [Mezzocchi] showed up. He showed up,” Roukas said. “This was important and I want him to know about it.”
Mezzocchi had approached Roukas to ask for his permission to film in the restaurant. Both the location and the project as a whole were very important to Mezzocchi, which resounded within Roukas. A story of faith, family and fulfillment was something that Roukas thought to be well-worth supporting.
Another man, Peter Quentin Smith, a firefighter out of Stanhope, N.J. who auditioned for and got the lead role of Michael, was also amazed at how providence played a hand with his life relating to “Stoplight.”
“When the time came for the audition, I was like, ‘Fairfield is kind of far,’ and I was having second thoughts. I spoke to Mezzocchi on the phone and he said, ‘Look, don’t worry about it, just come to the audition’. I was really ready to blow it off, but then I was like, ‘There’s really something there that I need to see.'”
Smith said that he is certainly hapy he made the trip.
“It’s been one of the greatest experiences of my life, all 45 years of it,” he said. “I’ve grown, personally and in my acting career.”
“I think that the work will show that this is just an incredible melding of people and talents, all at the right spot, at the right place, the right time, the right project,” said Smith
Tess Brown ’07, who plays the role of Sophia, agreed.
“This [production] is amazing, this whole thing, and how many people are involved,” she said.
The upcoming phases of “The One Stoplight in Hollis” will involve film editing, followed by stage rehearsals, which will involve the highly-technical task of training the actors to be able to fluidly move in and out of filmed scenes. This will all culminate at the release date set for April 26.
A sequence of both powerful performances and skilled photography, the latter of which was directed by Fairfield alumni Brian McAllister ’06, “Stoplight” is sure to prosper, and may even be entered in European competition during the coming months.
As Mezzocchi puts it, “This group of people who have surrounded me to make this [production] has made it bigger than me, and I’m no longer in control of it.”
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