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The Wake

"Every LOVE STORY is a GHOST STORY waiting to happen"

Developed from the never before seen play "The Wake" by legendary playwright and screenwriter John Patrick Shanley, and starring comedian Nicole Byer and PJ Adzima (Book of Mormon, Broadway), The Wake is a dark comedy that centers around Randy, a good natured man from Iowa who has never seen a dead body.

When Randy discovers his husband isn't going to attend his own father's wake, he leaves the comfort of his rural home to attend the service in the big city. When he arrives...no one is there. No one except a strange Frenchman named Guy. And Guy has a strange axe to grind with the man in casket, whether he's alive...or not!

  • Dave Coleman
    Director
    Joe Budden "The Spit", My Focken Glockenspiel, The Lobby Writer
  • John Patrick Shanley
    Writer
    Doubt, Moonstruck, Danny and The Deep Blue Sea, Joe Versus the Volcano
  • Kelly Campbell
    Producer
  • Ashley Cole
    Producer
  • Nick Hardcastle
    Producer
  • Nicole Byer
    Key Cast
    "Elise"
    Nailed it, Grand Crew, Nicole Byer: Big, Beautiful, Weirdo (Netflix Special)
  • PJ Adzima
    Key Cast
    "Randy"
    Book of Mormon (Broadway), The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Madam Secretary
  • Dave Coleman
    Key Cast
    "Guy"
    Blue Bloods, The Weekend Fix, This Time Tomorrow
  • Susan Berger
    Key Cast
    "Virginia"
    Jury Duty, The Tragedy of Macbeth
  • Project Type:
    Short
  • Runtime:
    22 minutes 10 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    May 1, 2024
  • Production Budget:
    50,000 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Alexa 35
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • SoHo International Film Festival
    Manhattan
    United States
    September 17, 2024
    New York Premiere
    Best Picture & Best Actor
  • LA Shorts International Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    July 20, 2024
    Los Angeles Premiere
    Official Selection
  • Pictures Up Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    August 22, 2024
    Official Selection, Opening Night Film
Director Biography - Dave Coleman

David Coleman was born in New Jersey in the mid 80s, right around the time the video cassette recorder went mainstream in the American home. VHS empowered a rogue babysitter to show young David such gems as “The Shining,” “Terminator 2” and “It.” The experience gifted him with a lifelong need for therapy, but it also gave him a profound love for stories and cinema staked a huge place in his heart.

For the next decade, David and his friends went on to shoot and act in a lot of unwatchable films - all except one, “The Ant Hill,” which was recognized as the best picture at the Emerging Filmmakers series in the Red Bank International Film Festival. This made his parents feel better about David pursuing a film degree at Temple University, and eventually deeper acting studies in New York City with the late legendary teacher Wynn Handman and Terry Knickerbocker.

David went on to star in Jonathan Demme’s mumblecore film “This Time Tomorrow,” the CBS show “Blue Bloods,” and then a turn as the title villain in MGM’s reboot of “WarGames” (Tribeca Film Festival). After working with John Patrick Shanley, Dave went on to stage John’s newest play in Los Angeles, where he now resides, spending his days making films and hanging out at New Beverly Cinema.

He’s excited for this new chapter out West. “The Wake” is Dave’s latest collaboration with John Patrick Shanley in bringing the heartbeat of New York theater to the big screen. He always hopes you enjoy the show.

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Director Statement

Over the course of John Patrick Shanley's prolific career in writing for the screen and New York stage, he's developed a uniquely playful way of working:

He takes a handful of his current projects - at varying stages of development - and actors stage them before a live audience. Often, these works have little to no stage direction, and the performers take wildly different swings at the same text: sometimes gender flipping the roles or finding a prop that might change the entire meaning of the story.

Over the years, these underground viewings have drawn crowds from across the country in both NYC and Los Angeles, as the audience chimes in and watches shorts evolve into full length plays, and full length plays become Broadway productions.

I'm honored that John gifted us with one of those short darlings to present - for the first time - on the screen. Audiences keep returning to these workshops to see John in process, and part of the fun is how wildly different the piece may be interpreted on any given night. We promised ourselves to keep to the spirit of that curiosity and fearlessness exhibited on the stage, and to bring the heartbeat of these raucous workshops to this film.

The challenge became taking this dialogue driven stage play and lifting it to a visual medium without changing a single word, syllable or piece of punctuation from the original text. Throwing aside any convenience that comes with adapting a piece for the screen, we attempted to lift Mr. Shanley’s words to a screen experience that still remains closer to going to an off-Broadway theater than a cineplex.

We even kept close to our roots physically - shooting the "The Wake" in a spare room above the theater where the workshops are held.

"The Wake" is one of the many shorts that made its rounds through the workshop circuit. It has been said many times, done many ways, and been spoken from many different actors lips. But not like this, and not with you. Welcome to the process :)

- Dave