Chopin Theatre the set for an existential tavern

Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune
www.grayblackwhitefilm.com

SCREEN SCENE: Chopin Theatre the set for an existential tavern - Robert K. Elder, Chicago Tribune 9/5/08


'There's no destiny," says the bartender. "Nothing is predetermined. ... We're like actors on a stage. Whatever happens, happens ..."

"Cut!" says director I. Michael Toth, a moment later, as the scene winds down.

Here, the lavishly decorated bohemian basement of the Chopin Theatre doubles as a bar in "Gray in White and Black," an existential drama that recently wrapped production in Chicago.

"Not to be too weird, but I had a dream about this [story]," says Toth between takes. Toth is expanding his award-winning 2005 short "Cast in Gray" into the feature "Gray in White and Black," a series of three interlocking stories springing from one man's (played by Timothy Burke) choice to swap identities with a hitchhiker (Stephen Angus).

"It's about multiple choices in life and in art," says Toth, a documentarian and maker of short films, with credits in television and industrial production. Toth, a native of the former Yugoslavia, immigrated to the U.S. in 1987. He has lived in Skokie since 1989.

"Why did I come? That's a long story," Toth says. "At that time, the political situation was not so good—there was censorship ... other reasons."

He adds, laughing: "The ticket [to the U.S.] was also the cheapest ticket."

With producing partner Christopher Gentry, Toth founded Life Is a Dream Productions in 2000 to fuel their feature ambitions.

"I've hitched my wagon to his star," says Gentry. "He's the real deal."

Gentry said the pair chose to expand the short film in lieu of developing Toth's other scripts because "we were tired of pitching and wanted to get on a set and show these people what he can do."

Starting next year, Toth and Gentry hope to do just that, after a planned exhibitor screening in Los Angeles and a run on the festival circuit.

"Gray in White and Black" was shot in Illinois in Macomb, Oak Brook, Richmond and Chicago's North Side neighborhoods.

For more info, visit gray whiteblackfilm.com


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