Burst the Silence
Burst The Silence is a musical fable about a father and son and a gift that gives voice to a haunted past. Robbie is a precocious kid growing up with his father, Konnie. A charismatic and irrepressible storyteller, Konnie is also shadowed by a memory that has remained hidden in the woods of his childhood: how he, as a young boy, survived the Holocaust. A turn in both their lives comes when Konnie gives seven-year-old Robbie a guitar, neither of them yet realizing that it will allow Robbie to tell the only story his father never could. Burst The Silence is an elegiac memoir about forgetting and remembering and being lost. And being found.
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Eric D. SchaefferDirector63rd Tony Awards (winner)
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Robbie SchaeferWriter
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Mark MaxeyProducerSpace Oddity, As They Made Us, Rare Objects, Up to Snuff
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Marcy HarriellKey Cast"Chantelle"Men in Black: International, Nurse Jackie
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Dylan SilverKey Cast"Ellie"Diary of a Spy, Downeast, CollegeHumor
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Nick BlaemireKey Cast"Middle Robbie"Maestro, tick tick Boom!, Space Dogs the Musical
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Susan RomeKey Cast"Rivka"The Wire, House of Cards, My One and Only
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Declan FennellKey Cast"Young Robbie"
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Bobby SmithKey Cast"Konnie"
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Robbie SchaeferKey Cast"Robbie"Eddie From Ohio
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Project Type:Feature
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Genres:Musical, Family
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Runtime:1 hour 42 minutes
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Completion Date:April 1, 2023
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Country of Origin:United States
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Country of Filming:United States
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:Digital 4K
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Aspect Ratio:1:85
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Film Color:Color
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First-time Filmmaker:Yes
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Student Project:No
Eric Schaeffer was the Co-founder and Artistic Director of Signature Theatre for 30 years from 1989-2019. Founded in 1989, Signature grew into a major force in the American Theatre.
Under his leadership, Signature Theatre was honored with the 2009 Tony Award® for Outstanding Regional Theater in America. On Broadway, Schaeffer directed Gigi, the critically acclaimed Follies as well as the Tony Award®-winning Million Dollar Quartet, Glory Days and Putting It Together starring Carol Burnett.
His West End credits include Million Dollar Quartet, The Witches of Eastwick, and Roy Orbison: In Dreams. He has directed Sweeney Todd (2017 & 2019) and Titanic in Seoul, South Korea. Schaeffer – who is known for his direction of Sondheim musicals having directed over 30 productions of his musicals worldwide – served as the Artistic Director of the acclaimed Sondheim Celebration at the Kennedy Center in 2002 as well as directing its productions of Sunday in the Park with George and Passion.
He is currently developing Captain Nemo for Seoul, South Korea.
When I first read the screenplay for Burst the Silence, I wondered how we would be able to afford going to India, Switzerland, Israel and Europe on an independent film budget. I knew it was going to take some creativity. But then came the idea of placing the whole movie in the woods - precisely where Konnie's horrific memories had taken place - seemed like the perfect solution. So much so that, without anyone realizing it, the woods suddenly became a character in and of itself. It brought the film alive in a new way so that the audience could lean in to the words, music and story. By the end of the film, the audience realizes that Konnie has been trapped in his own woods his entire life. The idea of him escaping the woods and his trauma as he stands in the tranquility of water - washing his heart clean - lets him be free. And the discovery that his sister is the person who opens Robbie’s world to the window of Konnie’s choice, allows Robbie himself to leave the woods and embark on his own new journey. I instantly knew that this was the best way to tell this story-- among the beauty of the leaves and trees which also served as a haunting memory of Konnie’s world.