I DIGRESS: THE INTIMATEÂ INSIGHTS OF A CHILDHOOD WEIRDO
EPISODES 1-4​
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Written & Peformed by Sauda Aziza Jackson
Direction: April Sweeney
Produciton Design & Editing: Yana Biryükova
Animation: Dominick Bedasse
Original Music, Performer: Mike Weiss
Director of Photography: Tatiana Stolpovskaya
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​FILM FESTIVALS:
​ Black August Film Festival, CA, 2024
Prelude NYC, 2023
Glass Ceiling Breakers Film Festival, NY 2023
New York City Indie Theater Film Festival, 2023
​Development:
The WunderBar, Syracuse, NY 2019
Gray Spaces: RallySpecial Effects Festival, NYC 2020
Dixon Place, NYC 2020
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ABOUT THE PROJECT
I DIGRESS: The Intimate Insights of a Childhood Weirdo is a 4 episode, transmedia, performance memoir exploring the weight of inheritance and the recollection of memories and material things once lost to time. Jackson weaves together fifteen personal tales from her childhood with the media and memorabilia that defined her past.
By fusing theatrical performance, song, music, and projection design with archival materials, animation, filmmaking, and video art, TEAM I DIGRESS sifts through the weight and consequences of grief by taking us down a hilarious and heartfelt coming of age journey from a young girl in 1980s Chicago, through her adolescence and the death of her mother, to her own discovery of how absence, family narratives, and the legacy of history shape us—making us who we are and who we are not.
CREATIVE TEAM
SAUDA AZIZA JACKSON
Playwright & Performer
Saudi has appeared in many theatre productions during her 20 plus years in New York City. The Chicago native has participated with Little Lord (Now is the Time), International Wow lead by artistic director Josh Fox (Expense of Spirit, Limitless Joy) and Sponsored by Nobody (The Arts (original cast), Behind the Bullseye). Sauda studied theater at Eastern Illinois University, graduating with a B.A in Theater Arts. She continued on to The Neighborhood Playhouse summer program (Ron Stetson Scene study) and finally matriculated to the MFA program in acting at Brooklyn College (F. Murray Abraham, master class instructor).
APRIL SWEENEY
Director
April is a performer and theater maker who has performed internationally in theaters and festivals in Belgium, Hungary, Argentina, Colombia, and Costa Rica. Her U.S. performance projects have been seen at P.S 122, The Kitchen, Under the Radar, La Mama, Boom Arts, Montana Rep, Arkansas Rep, and various NYC downtown venues. As a director, her work has been seen in Argentina, Belgium, Germany, NYC, and Upstate New York.
Yana Biryükova
Production Design and Editing
Yana is a video artist and film editor. Her theatrical designs include Hart Island (Mason Holdings); I and You (Bristol Riverside Theatre); The Karamazovs (The Other Shore); Mlima’s Tale (Westport Country Playhouse); The White Devil (Red Bull Theater); Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson (The Working Theater); SELKIE (Dutch Kills); Grounded (Westport Country Playhouse); Promise Land, Imogen Says Nothing, and Scenes from Court Life (Yale Repertory Theatre); Square Root of Three Sisters (Dmitry Krymov Lab); Don Quixotte (Yale Opera); Transport (Irish Repertory Theatre) among others. In addition to theatre design Yana has worked on art installations and performances featured at the Yale Art Gallery, Catskill Art Society, Harvestworks and others. She is a 2019 finalist of the Robert L.B. Tobin Director-Designer showcase for Opera America. The recipient of the 2020 Connecticut Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Achievement in Projection, Yana has lectured and taught workshops on projection design at Harvard University. MFA: Yale School of Drama.
MIKE WEISS
Music Direction
Mike is a founding artist of Feed the Herd Theatre Co., The Ohmies,
Donksongs United. Songwriting/composition/performance: Melody Lanes Studios, Colgate University Theater, Inkfish Art, Random Folk, The Moblees (CBC), Sesame Studios, Chicago Fire (NBC), Tiger Orange (Film).
Dominick Bedasse
Animation
Dominick Bedasse is a storyboard artist and animator based in Brooklyn NY. Primarily, he serves as a board artist for the LA based animation company, Titmouse Inc, out of their East Coast studio in Manhattan. A recent MFA graduate of the School of Visual Arts Computer Arts Department, he is most known for his laurel decorated short animation Run Little Boy (Best Animation: Queen City Film Festival, NJ, Baltimore International Black Film Festival, MD, Gary International Black Film Festival, IN). While he humbly considers himself “fresh” in the animation industry, Dominick takes pride in his continued growth within animation pipeline; starting off as a storybook artist, now helping to develop various productions through multiple animation mediums. Recently, he returned to the School of Visual Arts as an adjunct professor in Career Strategy for the BFA Animation Department.
Tatiana Stolpovskaya
Director of Photography
Tatiana is a New York based cinematographer and experimental filmmaker. She explores different types of media, combining analog filmmaking with digital media production and live streaming. Her work explores themes related to immigration and LGBTQ+ rights. Born and raised in Moscow, Tatiana studied Cultural Studies at Russian State University for the Humanities and Cinematography at the Moscow Independent School of Film and TV. Films she shot as DP have been screened worldwide including 53 Pesaro Film Festival in Italy; KINOTAVR and ArtDocFest in Russia; Ishinomaki International Film Festival, Japan; and Women Media Arts and Film Festival, Australia (winner Best Media Arts in 2017 for NYC FLOW). Tatiana received an Award for Outstanding Achievement in Integrated Media Arts and MFA degree from Hunter College (City University of New York).
Ashely M. Thomas
Dramatturgy
Ashley M. Thomas, she/her/hers, was born and raised in Harlem, New York. A writer, dramaturg, and doula—she is interested in exploring the intersections of culture, politics, and Beyoncé through a Black feminist lens. Ashley is a proud alumna of the First Wave Urban Arts Scholarship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison where she graduated with her Bachelor of Social Work. She is currently an MFA candidate studying Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at Yale School of Drama.