We Are ROM3

We Are ROM3 was conceived while touring the United States performing a repertoire of Shakespeare's work alongside my co-adapter and courageous actor, Leah Filley. We spent hours on the road in the back of a 16 seat passenger van chatting about current events of the time and their relationship to the vast collection of stories in Shakespeare's cannon. We found ourselves deeply interested in news surrounding the hacker-activist groups Anonymous and LulzSec, the NSA, Edward Snowden, the overthrow of President Morsi, to name just a few. Our conversations continued for months and kept leading to the same questions: Has anything really changed in the last 100 years? 1000 years? 2000 years? Are we doomed to continue endless cycles of violence and distrust? Indeed, every current event above can be boiled down to questions of ambition, ego, and power. It was only a matter of time before we would stumble upon one of Shakespeare's most exciting histories - Julius Caesar. And so our quest to uncover answers began.

Many know the story: A great nation in Rome, an even greater leader in Julius Caesar, a people dedicated to an idea, a republic in Rome, fearful of any one ruler or dictator. We've all heard the famous line, "Et Tu Brute?" a symbol of enormous betrayal in love and friendship. This story begs us to reflect on our own ego and speaks in ever-changing shades of grey.

With the Internet at the helm, there is an undeniable sense of anarchy in our times. A free-flowing source of information and communication touching core questions of morality. Anonymous, the largest leaderless hacker group in the world constantly straddles the line between Truth & Chaos. The senator-conspirators in 'Julius Caesar' walk a similar path, fluidly existing between notions of "right" and "wrong." Was Caesar's assassination justified? Was it his ambition or the ambition of others that stood against a greater, more powerful Rome?

As we began to compare this story to the leaderless 'Anonymous', we wondered what might happen if a Caesar-like hacker rose in power? What if his greatness, his desire to use this technology for "good" changed the entire landscape of what is known as a totally anonymous, unorganized network? A quick google search will reveal Anonymous' two sides: one fixated on destruction (releasing nude photos, hacking banks, etc) and one bent on exposing wrongs in the way of intercepting ISIS recruits or releasing videos of police brutality.

When I asked Caleb Wall to join the team as Director of Photography, he immediately dove into Shakespeare's text. This was vital to me as I believe the two texts (verbal and image-based) must be of equal importance. Aesthetically we wanted to create a world which felt both real & heightened combining classic language with modern imagination. We found great strength in stillness to engage our eye. We agreed that the actor would take us on the journey and the camera would only find presence when chaos ensued. There was a sense of light streaming through darkness which we aimed to capture, a notion that these events could take place anywhere at any time.

In the end, ROM3 became synonymous with Anonymous and this fictionalized group borrowed from the same means, technology, and ideals to communicate its message: Expect Us. Anonymous continues to grow into a network with the capability of making beautiful change or unleashing amazing destruction and so ROM3 would follow suit. In our present day, power is no longer decided by physical strength, gender, or wealth. One only needs a computer, internet connection, and search engines to realize their full potential in a world dictated by technology.

There is growing distrust between the government and it's people concerning privacy and our rights to both invade and deflect. Presidents, dictators, leaders are constantly overthrown for the sake of an idea and while the ideas may use different vocabulary they always come back to that place of "right" and "wrong" and depend solely on the examined side, the space by which we perceive.

So, how much has really changed since the time of Rome?

Shall ROM3 stand under one man's awe?

- Drew Feldman, Director of We Are ROM3