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Tenderloin Acting Workshop Receives Star Recognitian

by Lynda Carson (lyndacarson [at] excite.com)
Local Acting Workshop Of
The Tenderloin yGroup Receives Some Star Attention At The Mill Valley Film Festival In Their Latest
Collaboration With Rob Nilsson.
Tenderloin Acting Workshop Receives Star Recognition
By Lynda Carson 10/14/01

Oakland, Ca-The Tenderloin yGroup, an improv acting group with their free- acting workshop that welcoms the homeless located in the heart of San Franciscos Tenderloin District at the Faithful Fools Street Ministry, were well received at the Mill Valley Film Festival Friday October 12, for the screening of their latest film SCHEME C6 during it\'s World Premiere at The Rafael Film Center, downtown San Rafael. SCHEME C6, directed by Rob Nilsson, the Cannes-winning director of Northern Lights, is an improvised, Cassavetes-like film about a homelessman and his family, with their schemes and dreams of life in an urban setting of San Francisco, with the cinematography done by Steve Burns. It features Cory Duval, Monica Cort\'es Viharo, MC Mars, Gabriela Maltz Larkin, and other members of the Tenderloin yGroup. After the film, there was a question and answer session between the audience, cast, and the director Rob Nilsson. Among the evenings audience of many loyal fans and supporters who showed up for the screening of the film, were such notables as Lars Ulrich (drummer of Metallica), and actor Sean Penn (Dead Man Walking/Falcon And The Snowman). Ulrich and Penn, then joined Rob Nilsson, members of the Tenderloin yGroup, and others afterward, for a Premier Party a few doors away at the Broken Drum for food and drink. It was here at the Broken Drum that Sean Penn told me that he loved the movie Scheme C6, and that he plans to go through the Rob Nilsson collection of films to see what the others are like.

Cory Duvall, Monica Cort\'es Viharo, and MC Mars gave it their all in a stunning
portrayal of their characters to bare their heart and soul, with strong performances given by Ciarra Arnette, Gabriela Maltz Larkin, and many others to back up the main characters as the schemes unfolded.

It was a good sign to see such support for the Tenderloin yGroup and their free acting workshop which is open to the homeless during a very repressive time period in San Francisco for the homeless, poor, and low-incom renters, as the City vows to clean up the streets in an effort to rid itself of it\'s homeless population. San Francisco has the highest rents in the country, and times are not the best for those making less than $35.00 per hour. Worse yet, whats a person to do when their down on their luck, homeless, disabled, elderly, or feeling left out of the mainstream of life in the Bay Area? At the least, one can become a member of the Tenderloin yGroup/acting workshop, located in the Faithful Fools Street Ministry of San Francisco, and participate in the creation of the 9@NIGHT Films.

The Faithful Fools Street Ministry, founded in 1998 by Sister Carmon Barsody and the Reverend Kay Jorgenson, who sources say; are friends of Sister Helen Prejean, known as the Angel on Death Row, is a safe haven for the homeless. In their own words: In 1998 the Faithful Fools Street Ministry was created to be present with and address the existence of poverty in the midst of a booming economy as manifested in homelessness and the deterioration of the quality of life in San Francisco. They offer numerous projects working directly with the homeless, in a safe haven away from the oppressive aspects of a society that has no use for the homeless population other than as a means to scare the middle class into working their butts off so as to avoid becoming a part of the homeless population...The Faithful Fools Street Ministry value the artistic qualities of expression that the homeless have to offer. This is the location that you will find the Tenderloin yGroup, and their mentor/director, Rob Nilsson.

The Tenderloin yGroup, a drama improv acting group of local residents, homeless folks, ex-homeless, volunteer filmakers, and others gather for a free workshop Wednsday nights on a weekly basis at the Faithful Fools Street Ministry. It\'s a free-acting workshop (donations accepted) that allows people from all walks of life to participate. The workshop, directed by Rob Nilsson, allows the participants to hone their improv acting skills in the setting of a safe space to open up their emotions. At times, there may be as many as 30 participants in one evening, entering the circle of creation in search of the characters sought after in any given moment. It\'s very demanding, Nilsson knows what he is looking for, all must participate, and voyeurs are not allowed. For those in the circle; to some it feels like a form of therapy that allows them the freedom of being who they really are, to others it\'s a frightening experience to unleash emotions that have been pent up for years in a society that demands conformity. Either way, it\'s a safe space to explore your inner self in a group setting, to nurture those emotion\'s such as fear, joy, fierceness, arrogance, humility, rage, shyness, despair, etc... Some of these same participants later go on to be cast in the 9@Night Films, portraying characters with these same emotions coming through the medium of film to hit the audience on an inner level of conciousness. On a deeper level, the purpose of the workshop is to allow the participants to develop as individuals and artists, as they are immersed in sessions meant to explore and bring out inner feelings such as joy, rage, and despair. It\'s a means to access emotional accessibility, says Rob Nilsson a co-founder of the group along with Rand Crook and Ethan Sing.

Members from all walks of life include some from the Screen Actors Guild,
Industrial Light and Magic, to those stage performers on a live stage, or
the drama student seeking more than a college may offer...

Formerly known as the Tenderloin Action Group, the Tenderloin yGroup with Rob Nilsson at the helm as director, meets weekly on Wednsday evenings at the
Faithful Fools Street Ministry, located near the S.F. Civic Center Bart Station, at
234 Hyde Street, between Eddie and Turk Streets. The workshop runs from 7:30p.m. through 10:30p.m. Donations of $3.00 to $5.00 are requested for the Faithful Fools Street Ministry, but no one is turned away for the lack of a donation. People are advised to dress warmly on chilly evenings. Anyone is welcom from all walks of life, from the rich to the poor, to the young or the old. The youngest member of the workshop is Aden Faudoa at the age of 10, who was featured in the film called Attitude, he assisted in art direction for 2 other 9@Night Films called Stroke, and Scheme C6, and was so tired at the latest Premiere Party during Friday October 12, that the little guy fell asleep sitting up at the table.

As for Rob Nilsson, who has won the Camera d\'Or prize at Cannes Film Festival
for his film Northern Lights, and a Sundance Film Festival Grand Prize for his film Heat and Sunlight, the collaboration of working with the Tenderloin yGroup
is solidly committed, and he believes in what they are doing despite the challenge of a limited budget. In a question I posed to Nilsson regarding the budget of this latest film during the question and answer session after the screening of SCHEME C6, Nilsson stated that it always works out to be just enough to make it happen.

For more on this story, be sure to find the November Issue of Street Spirit
which is published by the American Friends Service Committee. Homeless vendors receive 50 papers a day, keep all proceeds from sales, and educate the community about homeless issues. I plan to go into further detail regarding quotes from the cast of the film SCHEME C6 as they fielded questions from the
audience, how Sean Penn and Lars Ulrich showed up as a sign of support to the Tenderloin yGroup, quotes from Rob Nilson/yGroup Members, and how this group has litterly helped some of the homeless and couch surfers to get off of the streets, onto the big screen, and into homes or apartments of their own again.

To often the only news one sees about the homeless, or nearly so, is when society treats them with disrespect. This story is certainly some good news about those that welcom and embrace the homeless with open arms for the beauty of who they really are, and not the way the corporate media portrays them, as little more than a nusiance to be tollerated by a brutal ruthless economy that creates many prisoners, and has no mercy.

SCHEME C6 was a fine piece of artwork that thrilled the audience with some bike scenes speeding through an urban setting, and some gritty scenes that allowed the cast to bare their heart and soul in ways never done before...

Rob Nilsson has a web site:

http://www.robnilsson.com/

**************************

Faithful Fools Street Ministry:

http://www.faithfulfools.org/

******************************

For more info on the Tenderloin yGroup:

Call: 415/ 474-6196

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