Cobscook Bay, Pembroke, Maine - Robert Savina
Screenwriter
Michael Dorn Moody
From a young child, Michael Dorn Moody had always wanted to be an entertainer.
His plays have been produced nationally including The Shortchanged Review at Lincoln Center; The Fool at Image Theatre NYC; University of Kansas produced by Colleen Dewhurst, The Met Theatre in Los Angeles directed by James Gammon; and Acadia Annex Theatre Company in Maine directed by Robert Savina and Amy Waguespack. A National Endowment for the Arts playwrighting grant funded the writing of The Fool which was subsequently nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. His third play SPILL had a workshop production directed by Robert Savina in Lafayette, Louisiana and a reading at Ensemble Studio Theatre in NYC directed by Paul Austin.
Michael wrote a film for Francis Ford Coppola, King of White Lady; developed a film for HBO and the Vietnam Veterans Ensemble Theatre Company, Hard Time for Heroes ; wrote episodes of St. Elsewhere for NBC; and his original screenplay, Paint the Sky, was optioned for development by 20th Century Fox Film Corporation.
Survival between entertainment industry projects included such hazardous activities as serving three tours in Vietnam; bridge painting in New York City; iron-working as a steel gypsy; fishing commercially in the Bay of Fundy; as a Merchant Marine Officer transporting explosive petroleum cargoes.
Michael was a founding member of The Magnificient Liars, a theatre company based in Downeast Maine which has been described as a "rogue operation," " a maverick band of drama advocates," and a "loosely affiliated group of theater veterans."
Robert Savina
Director
Robert Savina grew up on Lake Erie in the shadows of the steel mills of Ohio. After high school, Robert started college, dropped out after one semester and joined the U.S. Navy. He was trained as a Chinese interpreter at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA. and stationed in the Far East. His professional background has been wildly varied but has always returned to the Arts. He moved to NYC in 1985 and worked as an Art PA for the film unit at Saturday Night Live for two years. His formal training included two years in Houston as an assistant to scenic designer, Robert Howery, and a degree in Theater Arts from The State University of New York at Stony Brook with emphasis on directing and scenic design.
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For the past 15 years, Savina has worked as a production designer for feature film, television, theater and special events. Film projects include: Fall to Rise, Christmas Hours, Video Girl, The Neighborhood, Burning Blue, Blowtorch, Fall To Rise, The Rig, Dark Circles, and My Alien Mother. Recently, he designed the set for Conquest of the Universe or When Queens Collide by Charles Ludlam with the incomparable Everett Quinton at the LaMaMa Theatre in NYC.
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Savina has directed all of Michael Dorn Moody’s plays - The Shortchanged Review, The Fool, and SPILL. Other directing credits include, Assassins, Fool For Love, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Whiskeyville, American Diner, The Family Continues, He also facilitated Liz Lerman’s Hallelujah Project (MacArthur Genius Award Recipient) that originated in Eastport, Maine for the Millennium; Sarah Pearson and Patrik Widrig’s If Wishes Were Horses Beggars Would Ride at the Portland Museum of Art; and Bates Dance Festival at Bates College.
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Savina is currently developing a new play, THE LOST KEITH HARING MURAL OR HOW TO SURVIVE THE APOCALYPSE and a screenplay adaptation of his play, Wheels Over Indian Trails, based on his 1987 cross-country bicycle journey.
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His produced plays include, Four Brothers, Wheels Over Indian Trails, and Whiskeyville.
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