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DORKS
DREAM BIG AND CREATE GEEK
Back in
their H.D. Jacobs High School days, when Kurt Larson and Michael Marsico were
self-confessed dorks, they'd escape the Algonquin cornfields by piling into an
old, windowless van with their friends and driving to the vintage, 800-seat
movie theater in Crystal Lake.
"We saw
'Forrest Gump' there, 'Dumb and Dumber,' the Batman movies," said Marsico, now
30, recalling the blockbusters of the 1990s. "There was nothing in Algonquin,
nothing. We had to go to Crystal Lake."
On Friday,
Larson and Marsico will return to the old theater, now known as the Raue Center
for the Arts, but this time they'll be the stars. They're hosting a free
screening of their independent film, "The Alpha Geek," as a thank you to the
hometown folks who have supported them since they moved to California seven
years ago to pursue their own Hollywood dreams.
"The most
important thing for us is to bring the movie back home and the only place we
were willing to show it is at the Raue Center," says Larson, who wrote "The
Alpha Geek." He also stars in the film and co-produced it alongside Marsico, his
business partner and longtime friend.
After
Larson and Jacobs met while performing in the Jacobs improv group, The Insanity
Players, the two realized they both wanted to make it big in pictures. Although
Larson went to Bradley University to study broadcasting and Marsico headed to
Florida for math education, Larson persuaded Marsico in 2000 to join him on a
move to Hollywood.
Not a
dream deferred
"We wanted
to do it while we're still young so we didn't look back when we were 30 and say,
'We should've given it a shot," said Marsico.
Instead,
both now 30-year-old-men have the satisfaction of looking back on fairly
successful 20-something careers. Marsico's acted in short films and did a stint
on "MAD TV." Larson's credits include appearances on "ER," "JAG" and in the
films "Jarhead" and "The Terminal."
Although
Larson's three dozen lines ended up being cut from "The Terminal," the mere
experience of sitting down with Steven Spielberg and Tom Hanks to work on a
scene was still a dream come true.
"Hanks
walks up and says, 'How are you doing Kurt, my name is Tom,'" Larson recalled.
"Like I didn't know."
Two years
ago, the men decided that it was time for them to start making a mark on
Hollywood with their Algonquin sensibilities.
"There's a
certain heart where we're from that seems to be lacking out here," Larson said.
"I miss the feeling that every single person on the street cares about you."
So the two
raised $75,000 to produce "The Alpha Geek," the humorous coming-of-age story of
a young man, Riley (played by Larson), who tries to leave his successful life as
a sci-fi writer after being dumped.
"He doesn't
want to live in this geek world anymore, he wants to be a bit of a player,"
Marsico said. "My character, his friend Nick, is all for this, because as far as
he is concerned he can feed off the table scraps that Riley doesn't want."
In the end,
of course, Riley realizes that he needs to stay true to himself, and he's helped
along this journey by a relationship with an older woman.
It took
Larson and Marsico two years to fund, film and edit "The Alpha Geek."
They enlisted Hoffman Estates native Kurt Gellersted, a
successful musician, to write the score. The movie is just a stepping
stone to more ambitious projects, but the men are proud of their first feature
film and can't wait to show it to those who have supported them.
"One day
you are on top of the world and the next you want to jump off a building,
because you're constantly rejected," Larson said. "When I get e-mails from old
teachers or people I haven't heard from in years telling me they're excited
(about my career), the excitement I had when I first came out here comes back to
me."
Marsico
hopes "The Alpha Geek" will inspire other suburban teens whose idea of fun is
dressing up in Batman costumes and hanging out at the movie theater filming the
audience's reactions, as he and Larson did on one memorable occasion.
"Hey kid
out there who lives in Algonquin, if this is what your dream is, you can make it
happen," Marsico said. "It doesn't matter that you're from a small town, you can
make this happen with just a little bit of perseverance and hard work."
'THE ALPHA
GEEK'
7:30 p.m.
Nov. 16 at the Raue Center, 26 N. Williams St., Crystal Lake. Free.
* * *
Luther College Alumni Magazine, Fall 2007
* * *
SCORE ONE
FOR HIP, HAPPENIN' 'WILLIAMSBURG!'
By FRANK SCHECK
August 21, 2007
-- THE Lower East Side is so over. Exhibit A:
"Williamsburg! The Musical," a looser, comic "Rent,"
minus the melodrama, about Brooklyn's hipster hangout.
The cast of
characters is suitably eclectic, including a Hasidic dry
cleaner, a suicidal trust-fund heiress ("I can't keep up
with the fashion trends around here!"), a Puerto Rican
bodega owner, a Polish landlady who keeps herring and
knishes under her coat, and a rapacious real estate
developer turning the entire population into an army of
hipster zombies.
That last part
is the show's most realistic element.
"Williamsburg!"
- created by Will Brumley (book), Kurt Gellersted
(music), Brooke Fox (music and lyrics) and Nicola Barber
(additional material) - is best appreciated for its
witty songs ("Peter Luger Lullaby," "Craigslist
Hook-Up," "Million Dollar Crackhouse"), exuberant
staging and choreography and energetic cast of 14 than
its barely-there story line.
In short, the
show needs work, lots of work, but it's promising enough
to warrant further development.
WILLIAMSBURG!
THE MUSICAL
Village Theater,
158 Bleecker St.; (212) 279-4488. Through Friday.
* * *
 September
5th, 2002 - Schaumburg, IL Composer
Releases Requiem
By
Robert Loerzel, Diversions
Editor
Kurt
Gellersted, a Hoffman Estates native, started composing a choral and symphonic
piece as a way of remembering his Father, Guy Gellersted, who had died in 1996.
But after the events of last September 11th – when Gellersted
watched from his New York apartment balcony as the second World Trade Center
Tower collapsed – the composition became a piece about that tragedy as well.
“It
took on two meanings,” he said.
Gellersted
is now releasing a CD of Requiem, featuring a live performance of the work from
this spring.
After
spending his undergrad years at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, Gellersted went
to New York University’s Steinhardt School of Education to study Music
Composition.
Last
December, he made his conducting debut when NYU’s University Singers, of which
he was a member, premiered his chamber piece “He is the spirit.” After
hearing the selection, Jeffrey Unger, Director of the NYU Choral program, was
intrigued.
When
he learned that Gellersted’s next piece was to be an eight-movement requiem,
Dr. Unger asked if he could hear bits of the then-unfinished score. After
Gellersted played through some movements at the piano, Unger chose the piece as
a closer for the University Singers Spring concert, which this year was
presented in memory of the World Trade Center Tragedy.
Joining
the University Singers for the April 18 performance were NYU Faculty soloists
supported by a 23-person chamber orchestra featuring Manhattan School of Music
students and others. Performed at the 1200-seat St. George’s Episcopal Church,
it was the largest student-composed work performed in NYU’s history.
“I
ended up having to fund the concert myself, which came out to around $5,000,”
Gellersted said. “My biggest challenge was putting together a 23-piece
orchestra from scratch.”
Describing
his music, Gellersted said, “It’s the romantic, classical sound, with a
modern twinge to it.”
Since
graduating in May, Gellersted, who is 24, has been seeking commissions as a
composer – and looking for a day job to support his music.
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