Wes Mason, in the role of Reinaldo Arenas, leaps among the women of his Cuban village, while Fort Worth Opera conductor, Joe Illick, leads the orchestra during a dress rehearsal for the world premier of Jorge Martin‘s “Before Night Falls” at Bass Hall in Fort Worth, Texas, Thursday May 27, 2010.

Fort Worth Opera‘s latest creation, “Before Night Falls,” opened at Bass Hall this weekend to enthusiastic crowds and while the reviews are mixed, Fort Worth gets a tip of the hat for underwriting composer and librettist Jorge Martin‘s operatic re-telling of Reinaldo Arenas’ life story.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available in my online archive:

NYC playwright, Zayd Dohrn’s, Long Way Go Down will premier tomorrow evening, May 28, 2010, at Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas.

I photographed Dohrn for TheaterJones.com at the McKinney Avenue Contemporary gallery this morning. We made the photo in the gallery space because I wanted a photo of the playwright that had a bit of mood and mystery to it. The shadow behind him is cast by the sculpture “The Way Home” a foam sheet/mixed media piece by artist Kana Harada, whose work is currently on display in the gallery. Harada’s intricate piece dominates the space and it provided a perfect gobo for this shot.

To create the shadow, I lit the sculpture with an SB 600 and green gel off camera right. I wanted the shadow to spill across the white gallery wall behind the subject. Dohrn was lit with an SB 900 in a 15 x 15 softbox, camera left.

Dohrn, 33, is the son of William Ayers and Bernadine Dohrn, members of the ’70s radical movement Weather Underground.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available in my online archive:

Friday night featured an outdoor screening, on an inflatable screen, at El Cosmico of “The Athlete, a film by Davey Frankel and Rasseleas Lakew.

Marfa Film Festival participants gather at The Filling Station, sponsored by Cafe Bustelo.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available, here, in my searchable online archive:

Actress and executive producer, America Ferrera, was in Marfa today to promote her latest film, The Dry Land, an intense and riveting drama that explores one American soldier’s return from Iraq and his struggle with post-traumatic stress disorder.

Ferrera teamed up with filmmaker Ryan Piers Williams, as both leading lady and executive producer. She portrays the soldier’s wife.

Ferrera and Williams paused for photographs at the Marfa pavillion shortly before their interview with Marfa Public Radio. This and other images from the Marfa Film Festival are available through ZUMAPress.com

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available, here, in my searchable online archive:

The third annual Marfa Film Festival got underway yesterday evening to the sound of Cinco-appropriate mariachis, two excellent Mexico-centric films and plenty of Patron and New Belgium libations. Post-film viewing, rock music played into the night, but not far into the night as Presidio County sherrif’s deputies showed up in force–I counted five officers–two hours before the midnight curfew. I suppose you gotta keep a close eye on these artist-types. You never know when they’re likely to go all minimalist on your ass.

Despite the chilling effect of Presidio County’s finest, the crowd kept their chill and dispersed into the night.

Marfa Film Festival founder/director, Robin Lambaria, kicked off the third annual festival Wednesday afternoon at the Crowley Theater.

This and other images from The Robert Hart Studio are available, here, in my searchable online archive:

Moby Dick, Herman Melville’s classic, debuts tomorrow night with the Dallas Opera. There’s a huge buzz about how director Leonard Foglia intends to portray the whale and it’s been one of Dallas’ best kept secrets. Given Mr. Foglia’s reputation for putting audiences in the middle of the action, the leviathan’s first appearance onstage in Dallas should be stunning. Stories this week in the The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have only added to the suspense.

Back on April 1, I had the opportunity to meet and photograph Moby Dick‘s composer, Jake Heggie, and librettist, Gene Scheer, for www.theaterjones.com inside Dallas’ gorgeous new Winspear Opera House. I wanted to incorporate the rich, warm burgundy surfaces inside the lobby, so I arrived a couple hours early to scout the location.

Jake and Gene showed up right on time and we were able to finish the shoot in less than 30 minutes. What an absolute delight these two were to work with. They were both enthusiastic, engaged and eager to participate and I am delighted with the result.

As any photographer will tell you, a good portrait requires the cooperation of the subject(s) and Jake and Gene were the best.

Turns out they loved the result as much as I did and each requested a signed copy of the photo, which I was flattered to provide.

I’m eager to see the performance tomorrow evening and can’t wait for the great white whale’s operatic debut.

It’s time to saddle-up and head west again. Marfa is holding its third annual film festival May 5-9 and I’ll be there covering it for clients old and new.

Elizabeth Redwine, of Redwine Campaigne, the agency handling publicity for the festival, told me this morning that Lou Reed’s film Red Shirley is featured at the festival and it marks Reed’s directorial debut. Diane Bell, director and writer of Obseldia and many more films, will be on hand as well. The whole festival lineup lists an impressive menu of films and filmmakers. Of course, the best thing about any gathering in Marfa is the opportunity to meet other artists, and the film festival will pack them in.

It’s also an excuse to slide down to Terlingua and sip fine whisky with Blair and hop over to Valentine to check in on Boyd. Although I expect Boyd will turn up at the festival his ownself. In fact, I expect the two of them will make an appearance.

I just wrapped up a project involving five stunning actresses from the Fort Worth/Dallas stage and film scene. Brilliant, beautiful and a blast to work with, all five were delightful collaborators. It included three actresses, Jennifer Sipes, Juli Erickson and Morgana Shaw, from “Carried Away“, Tom Huckabee’s film.

Tom’s film was featured at the Dallas Film Festival, which is wrapping up this weekend. Two of the actresses, Stephanie Rhodes and Arianne Martin were featured in Frank Mosley’s film, “Hold“, also featured at DFF.

Both “Carried Away” and “Hold” were filmed in Texas using the best of north Texas’ stage, film and production talent.

I made this image in my pasture Thursday, Feb. 11, at 11:30 p.m., while snow was still falling. I was struck by how much ambient light was reflected by the snow. The sky was completely overcast and save for the light above my barn door, off camera right, there was no light source nearby. My neighbor’s porch light is visible in the distance.

It was a 2.5-second exposure at f4, ISO 100.

I’ve spent a fair amount of time in the mountains of Colorado and Wyoming and I’ve seen big snow, but never in my back pasture. The stillness was overwhelming–no cars on the streets, so it was silent all around. My part of Texas was sleeping under a 12-inch blanket of downy snow.