"The Relentless Patience of Priscilla Cranberry," A Period Comedy, Premieres At The Stissing Center
A Victorian-era comedy, the short film was shot entirely in Pine Plains.
Cynthia Levin as Priscilla Cranberry. Photos provided by Staro Industries.
The Stissing Center in Pine Plains recently hosted the world premiere of the short film, The Relentless Patience of Priscilla Cranberry. Starring and co-written by comedian Cynthia Levin, the period comedy follows the pining of a Victorian woman long in waiting as she struggles through the timeless predicament of loneliness and longing.
The 30-minute film was directed and produced by Patrick Trettenero, who, along with being The Stissing Center’s board of directors president, is also an director, writer, and producer (in which capacity he spent 20 years at NBCUniversal). The short film is the first media produced by Trettenero’s new production company Staro Industries and was shot entirely in Pine Plains. Levin says the humor in “Priscilla Cranberry” is found in the tedium of a woman unprepared for life.
“Many years ago, when I started standup, there were all these movies of women brushing their hair in the mirror while they waited for a man. Then they would go to bed and lie down on this hair they just brushed, while they waited. [Priscilla] is relentless and she just can't give up on this person she’s writing to.”
Though the film is a period piece, Levin says, “I’m not sure there isn’t a woman in the world that can't relate to it — wanting to be loved, wanting to be found. Back then you couldn’t get too strong or too smart. Some men still prefer that.”
The fact that there is so much relatable with this character is where the sardonic humor lies. In the standup bit Trettenero loved so much, Levin juxtaposed Priscilla’s relentlessness with her own modern singleness.
Levin met Trettenero at the famed Second City sketch comedy theater in Chicago when she was still a teenager. While their careers went down different tracks, the two remained friends. Over the course of her career Levin bounced between coasts, performed all over and has been a regular at the legendary Comedy Store since 1993. She also acts and teaches acting. Along with hyping her comedic virtues Trettenero also praised Levin’s understanding of acting. He recalled her helping him out of a bind 25 years ago, when he was directing a play and the actors were… “not up to par.” He says Levin swooped in and whipped them into shape.
When Levin moved back to New York City just a year ago, the two reconnected again. He told her he’d always wanted to direct her doing her Victorian hair brushing character as a short film.
“I said, ‘me too!’” Levin recalls. “I’ve been a standup for 30 years and I’ve done a lot but to get something you wrote on film is special.”
Trettenero says he’d asked her before, years ago. She doesn’t recall. But he was serious and had the perfect place to shoot: his Pine Plains back yard and The Pines Inn, an immaculate, historic vacation rental down the road.
The longtime dream became a reality last summer as they shot the short over just two days with Levin and Shecky Beagleman, who played Cranberry’s maid. The strange codependent relationship between the two is palpable, even just in the trailer. Unfortunately Beagleman, who also went by Angela Muto, passed away from cancer not long after filming. Both Levin and Trettenero expressed that it was a great loss and a shame she never got to see the finished picture. They were happy, however, to have the opportunity to have her in the movie and add to her legacy.
The film does not yet have a release date. Levin and Trettenero used the world premiere at the Stissing Center as a bit of a test screening. Though it was admittedly a primed audience, they were so pleased with the response that Trettenero is now feverishly submitting it to film festivals.
“The fact we shot this entirely in Pine Plains is wonderful. I have such an affection for this town,” says Trettenero, who is also co-chair of the committee planning the forthcoming town bicentennial celebration. “All of this is a way to give back. And it’s also a way to save my sanity as a typical New York overachiever.”
The overachiever also announced last week that he is coproducing For Here Lies Love by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim on Broadway at the Broadway Theater, opening July 20.
