History Lessons with Park Productions Work never stops at Park Productions, the school’s professional video production unit. Though they’ve just recently completed an award-winning Ithaca College admissions video and a three-part video series on breast cancer risk factors, Park Productions manager Carol Jennings and her crew of students and professionals are already engaged in new projects. Jennings is especially excited about two productions that she herself initiated: a documentary on the renovation and reopening of the State Theatre in downtown Ithaca and another on General John Sullivan’s campaign against the Iroquois during the Revolutionary War. "I started working on the State Theatre project," she says, "because I thought it was a very interesting moment to follow --- where a community decides to renovate a historical space that has such significance for the city and the region and involves so many organizations and people." She and her student crew have interviewed area residents who still remember the opening of the original theater in the 1920s, gathering anecdotes of what the theater and the city itself were like back then. They’ve also filmed the repairs to the roof of the structure. To include both the theoretical and practical aspects of the project, they will interview designers, architects, sociologists, and experts in other fields who can comment on it from a conceptual standpoint, as well as the planners and builders actually undertaking the work. Among those who have worked on the project so far are Rodrigo Brandao ’01, Jay Hickman ’02, Becky Reagan ’02, Alex Morrison ’02, and Jason Longo ’94, who is serving as director of photography. Jennings hopes to complete the documentary early next year. "The State Theatre people are working very hard to finish the project and plan to open in December [2001], so there’s a natural progression toward that date," she says. "We’d like to film the opening and then edit during the spring, when we’ll probably have to shoot a little more to piece the story together, create transitions, and things like that --- the finishing touches." Tracking a Complex Story Park Productions’ second new project, the Sullivan campaign documentary, is still in the planning stage. "Taking on a project like this is a tremendous task," Jennings says. "It’s a huge story --- actually there are many stories --- and it’s very complicated. To talk about Native American history and Revolutionary War history, to examine conflicts between cultures in the present day --- these are big, complicated themes. The politics are charged, so telling the story is fraught with difficulty." The way into the story, she believes, is to talk to people in the area that was affected by Sullivan’s march, asking them how they choose to remember the past and think of the present. "To research," Jennings explains, "we’re retracing Sullivan’s actual route and talking to people along the way. Right now a lot of towns in the area are putting together ways of memorializing the past. This engages local, city, and state governments, historical societies, libraries, and schools, as well as the tribal councils who are currently governing the six [Iroquois] nations. I think that process is very interesting." Historical concerns are nothing new for Jennings, who majored in history and English at Cornell University and planned to pursue an academic career before her interest in film led her down a different path. After starting graduate school in history at New York University, she succumbed to her love of film, switched fields, and went on to earn a master’s degree in cinema studies and a master of fine arts in film and television production, both from NYU. She then spent a year working as a freelance producer and production manager in New York City before returning to Ithaca in 1996 --- this time to the southern hill --- to head up Park Productions. The job proved ideal, letting Jennings combine her film work with a newfound love: working with students. "I am daily impressed with our students’ dedication, skill, and talent," she says. "I find it inspiring and deeply rewarding to help them find their path." Photos by Bill Truslow
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A. Ozolins, Ithaca College Office of Publications, 21. Mar. 2002