Where we are today 

The story's all been staged and sung and shot, but now we need to turn it into a film.

This past summer a small group of talented filmmakers, actors and musicians combined their creative energy to bring Killian and the Comeback Kids to life. Many had never met, spent time in rural America, or worked so many long hot days! As Sondheim famously sang, “Art Isn’t Easy”. 

With the support of our generous investors, the local community, our fabulous actors and musicians (both famous and up and coming) our awesome crew -- and now you -- we can complete this film! 

We want to share this film with all the broke college students, music lovers, small town activists, worried parents and forgotten communities across the country -- but we’ll need your help to complete the film by Spring! 

How you can help 

Now that we have completed the film shoot we have a lot of post production work to do to make the film shine. We'll need to record the music in a studio, add some special effects, edit the film, mix the music and dialog, and correct the color.  We need your help!

Meet the team

Writer/Director: Taylor A. Purdee is the co-creator of the Yippie-Ki Ay! Do Cinema, interview series and has spent much of the last year overseeing the protection and re-release of screen legend Lee Grant’s documentary work. Purdee's debut filmThis is Honduras, is a documentary exploration of the relationship between humanitarian aid workers and the post-coup government of Honduras, the “murder capital” of the world. The film recently premiered with the most financially successful screening of the 2016 Chagrin Documentary Film Festival. His work is seen by someone, somewhere, every day, and has been awarded by the Young Arts organization, New York University, Fordham University, The Friars Club, and SAG. Taylor is a graduate of Fordham University with a BA in Theatre.

DP: Ian Mosley Duffy grew up in southern New Jersey, a son of two multilingual high school teachers. From a young age Ian traveled the world, living abroad for months at a time. He began skateboarding in his teens, making skateboard videos with his friends. This learning process gave him a foundation to pursue a career in film. He has worked in many facets of the film industry, understanding the importance of crew positions including grip, best boy, gaffer, clapper/loader, and 1st AC.  His commitment to film has brought him to work on projects across the United States, Mexico and Europe.  Ian works locally in the Philadelphia/NY area and is a proud member of the international camera guild.  

Producer: Roberta Morris Purdee began her career working with Academy Award winning Actress and Director Lee Grant. After producing many of Grant's films she opened Karmic Release, Ltd. with husband Nathan Purdee.  Since then Karmic Release and Feury/Grant have joined forces to make such ground breaking documentaries as the Emmy Award Winning Baghdad ER. Morris-Purdee has produced more than 18 films with Karmic Release Ltd. since it began in 1992. Her works have been honored with Emmy, Peabody, duPont-Columbia, and Cine Golden Eagle awards, as well as a place on the 1999 Academy Award Short List, for her personal favorite Wallowitch & Ross: THIS MOMENT.

Co-Producer: Suzanne Ordas Curry started in PR with her own firm publicizing actors, entertainers and musicians, and though she still does this, is also producing. She was co-producer of the award-winning theatrically-released film Equity (2016), starring Anna Gunn, Alysia Reiner and James Purefoy. She is an associate producer for two series on Amazon, The Other F Word with Steve Guttenberg, Judy Gold and Gilbert Gottfriend and the Emmy-Nominated Tainted Dreams starring Alicia Minshew,  RHONJ Dina Manzo, Mr. Pec-Tacular and many top soap stars. She is also an associate producer of the documentary Seeing is Believing, Women Direct by Cady McClain. Current projects include The Pages film with Jamie Lee Curtis and Tika Sumter and Egg starring Alysia Reiner, Anna Camp, Christina Hendricks and Gbenge Akinnagbe. She writes about her projects and other entertainment topics with a focus on females on www.SuzeeBehindtheScenes.com.

Music: Liam Higgins, Taylor A. Purdee Dubbed "The Cumberland Kids," the duo provided some of the inspiration and all of the music for the film. Having played around New York City for the last few years, their narrative folk-rock is currently being culled into a single debut "super-album".

Production Design: Liam Dague is a Production Designer from Nazareth, PA. A graduate of DeSales University with a Bachelor of the Arts in TV/Film, Liam has worked on many local films including the short film Control. With a passion for color and story, Liam connected with the film's writer/director Taylor Purdee to tell a story that could only be told in their hometown. Finding the views specific to the Lehigh Valley and dressing the band for hot summer days, Liam enjoyed working with the entire cast and crew.

CAST

"Mrs. Raison" Kassie DePaiva is currently starring as Eve Donovan on Days of Our Lives. Kassie grew up deep in Kentucky, one of four children in a Southern Baptist family, where she studied dance and sang at school and church and 4-H talent shows. "Music has always been my strength," says the three-time Emmy Nominee, who has portrayed the character Blair Cramer on ABC's One Life to Live and appeared previously on CBS's The Guiding Light as Chelsea Reardon during the late-'80s.  "It doesn't matter," she says, "what kind of camera you put in front of me, whether it's 35-millimeter or video or high-def: I'm going to try to present the most real and honest performance that I can."

"Mr. Raison" Nathan Purdee is one of the leading Daytime Television actors of his generation. A key player on some of America's most beloved serials, from his ground breaking role as Nathan "Kong" Hastings on CBS' The Young and the Restless, Santa Barbara's Jeb (in whose skin Purdee performed the first inter-racial kiss on Daytime Television) to straight shooting District Attorney Hank "The Cannon" Gannon on ABC's One Life to Live. He revived the classic 70’s character Superfly in the 1990 motion picture The Return of Superfly. Purdee has been honored with seven NAACP image award nominations, two AUDELCO Award nominations for his efforts in New York's historic "Black Theatres," as well as having played a starring role on The Young and the Restless and One Life to Live over the years of their combined five nominations and three wins of the Daytime Emmy's "Outstanding Drama Series" award. He has been seen most recently on the revolutionary, made for the web, Emmy nominated, series' House of Cards and Tainted Dreams. The latter of which was nominated for the first ever "Outstanding New Approaches in a Drama Series" Daytime Television Emmy in 2014 and Outstanding Digital Series in 2017."Tristan" Shane Andries born and raised in Houston, TX, hung up his baseball mitt and went on to attend The University of North Carolina School of the Arts receiving a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the School of Drama. Upon graduating, he was awarded the Kenan Fellowship at Lincoln Center in New York City and shortly thereafter landed a job with Blue Man Group where he performed with the show Off-Broadway (NYC), as well as shows in Boston, Orlando, and as a cast member of the National Tour.  As a proud member of both SAG and EQUITY, he's worked in film and television (NBC, CBS, SHOWTIME), regional theater and commercials. 

"Sam" John Donchak is a NYC actor with Chicago roots.  Since graduating Fordham's theatre program ('14), John enjoys incorporating his fluency in french, along with fight choreography, to his roles (when applicable, which didn't happen so much on this one).  From theater to film, John enjoys finding the earnestness in the characters he plays, and is thrilled to call this his first leading role in a feature film.  Recent leading experience in short films include The Many Adventures of the Jonathan's Higgin (Jonathan Higgin), Bedford Chase, Domestic, and Ice Cream. He Co-Hosts the Yippie Ki-Ay! Do Cinema interview podcast with Taylor Purdee and can also be seen on occasion walking with purpose in the background of various New York T.V.and Film productions.  

 "Therese" Yael Elishiva is a New York based actress, director and activist. She is a teaching artist for Drama Club NYC and teaches improv and drama to incarcerated youth in New York City. You can catch her in the multi award winning scifi web series Here We Wait, as Siv the leader of the waitstaff. Some independent short film credits include Naomi in Waking Up, and Layla in When the Lights Go Out. She plays Ava in the mocumentary series MIRL that comes out this summer.  Yael recently directed her first play as part of the New York Winterfest Theater Festival as well as a comedy short that will be released in the spring. Proud CAP21 Alum. 

"Rowan" Genesis Mccaulley. This film marks the 11 year-olds film debut, she's currently looking forward to both the "And Introducing" title before her name, and the 5th grade. 

"Melanie" Emily Mest is a Los Angeles based actress and singer-songwriter. She toured with the Broadway productions of Spring Awakening and Oliver and can be seen in  upcoming Paramount film The Malibu Tapes. She released two singles and music videos in 2017 under her music pseudonym Harlie and will be releasing more music in 2018. 

"Rose" Shannon O'Boyle is a Broadway actress and proud member of Actors Equity. Currently she can be seen on Broadway as Nicola in Kinky Boots. Most recently she has been seen on Broadway as Girl in Once the Musical, but she has enjoyed a wide range of roles from Shakespeare to axe-wielding rockstar. She has also worked regionally in such renowned companies as Playhouse Square, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Great Lakes Theatre and Idaho Shakespeare Festival. Shannon received her BM in Music Theatre from The Baldwin-Wallace University Conservatory of Music under the direction of Victoria Bussert in May 2012.  "Josh" Andrew O'Shanick is a classically trained baritone from Midlothian, VA. He most recently appeared as the Soldier and Bartender in the Huntington Theatre Company's Sunday in the Park with George. Andrew was seen performing at the Huntington last year as well, playing Mr. Lindquist in the critically acclaimed production of A Little Night Music. An avid performer of operatic repertoire, Andrew has performed roles in Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Magic Flute, Iphigénie en Tauride, The Rake's Progress, Dove's Flight, La Traviata, and Adamo's Little Women, among others. In addition to his vocal studies, Andrew is also an accomplished violinist and has performed at the Kennedy Center, The Strathmore, and the Spoleto Festival. 

"Killian" Taylor A. Purdee's usually on the other side of lights, but as an actor has made his way around New York's theatres, stumbled into a number of short films, digital series, pilots and music videos. And voiced way more radio ads than he'd realized before writing this down. He co-hosts the Yippie-Ki Ay! Do Cinema interview podcast with John Donchak, and plays folk music anywhere in New York that doesn't require a permit.

Supporting Cast

Maryellen Conroy, Lisa Foley, Dave Fry, Tim Shuman, Dylan Ungaretta, Kyle Walton, John Weiss, and Chase Yenser.  

Behind the scenes

Crew:  Our fabulous crew -- this movie could not have been made without the creative, dedicated crew that joined us for the long hot summer in Easton, Pennsylvania.  Thanks to Gabe Boucher, Marina Christine, Maria Class, Beth Clausnitzer, Kelly Kanaley, Anna Langman, Josh Lederman, Isaac Leggett, Dave Ondusko, Sean Regan, Dylan Rex, Mariah Simone, Josh Synoracki, and the DeSales crew -- Ben Musser, Jacob Metzger, Joe Crognale, Myles Machin, and Rees Lobban!  

Campaign Marketing: Alex Nielsen is a graduate of Monmouth University. In May of 2017, he concluded his 5 year enrollment at Monmouth University and had earned both a Bachelor's and a Master's degree, which were both focused around marketing and business administration. 

New Projects Intern: Leah Cozart is from Huntington, New York and is a Sophomore at Pace University on the NYC Campus.  There she is pursuing a double major in Film & Screen Studies and Communications.  Currently, Leah is involved in the Pace Sketch Comedy group in which she has both directed and acted in several skits.  While at Walt Whitman High School, Leah was intensely involved in the theater department where she had roles in many of the school productions and behind the stage, she was part of the stage crew leadership.   Her interests moved from the stage and she decided to pursue a career in film instead due to the abundance of opportunities that the film industry offers.

Generous Community Support: Special thanks to Angelo "Doc" Velasquez and Future Fires Records; Invite Only Studios; Chris Leon; The Boomtown Studio; Easton Mayor Sal Panto, Karen Roscioli and staff; Costume Designer Sue Gandy; The Crayola Factory, Weyerbacher, Chrinergy, The Evangelical Lutheran Church, FIFO, The Lafayette Bar, Twin Rivers Music, Lehigh Valley Charter H.S. for the Arts, Regina Strayhorn, Bronwyn Bishop, Kendall Cafaro, A'Keyah Williams, Chuck Gloman @ DeSales University -- and our interesting energetic background actors of all ages! 

Share, share, share

In addition to making a contribution you could be instrumental in helping us by sharing this campaign, following us on social media, telling your family, friends and colleagues about this project -- and checking in for updates!  Share the campaign on campus and ask us for some music for your campus radio station. We've got a special perk in mind for the person who generates the most shares.

Risks & Challenges

Making a film is never easy!  Each one comes with it's own set of challenges. This one required working around Kinky Boots' Broadway show schedule, TV dates for Days of Our Lives filmed on the west coast, a play in North Carolina, recording dates in LA, 2 weddings, unpredictable rain, and the 5th grade!

We've done a lot of filmmaking and had some great successes -- please help us get Killian and the Comeback Kids to the finish line. We need to raise $50,000 to stay on schedule, raising more would be great (needed for PR and other support) if we raise less we will continue on to keep our momentum - hoping for deep discounts and extended payment options.     

Karmic Release Ltd. is an award winning multi-media production company specializing in independent films and Studio Features. Notable films/properties include Wallowitch & Ross: This Moment, (Oscar Short List 1999) Baghdad ER (4 Emmys. DuPont, Peabody Award) Tarnation (Cannes, Sundance) Walk Away Renee (Cannes Queer Palm Nominee) Our Heroes Ourselves. (Cine Golden Eagle) What Sex Am I? (HBO). A Father, A Son, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood (HBO). Down and Out in America (Academy Award 1987).