WE consider stories to be living organisms, therefore we see our roles in shaping and guiding a story from concept to screen not as static positions, but as the outcome of a process.
We, therefore, define ourselves by the “doing” in a story’s creation, rather than in the title it gives us. We list our roles as verbs rather than nouns.
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This protects the life of the story because whatever we seek to possess dies.
In the end, we are merely stewards.
SARAH BASS
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writing
WENDELL Berry wrote, “To go into the dark with a light is to know the light. To know the dark, go dark. Go without sight, and find that the dark, too, blooms and sings, and is traveled by dark feet and dark wings.”
For me, Story is the way through the terrifying and unpredictable darkness of human experience. It is the promise of dawn after deep night, spring after snow, life through death, and in a time of destruction, the return of the honeybees. I see Story as a creative act of hope and anticipation, the work of the Farmer and the Watchman, both of whom do the work in faith, and in faithful expectation of sunrise.
Sarah writes for the Old Coat Society. She has a BA from Amherst College in English Literature and Black Studies, is a Fulbright awardee (Trinidad and Tobago), and has an MFA in Fiction from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, Trinidad. In addition to working with Drew in their financial advisory business, she teaches writing in the Chicagoland area. In her free time, she’s either with her cello, Clarion, or in the garden with her honeybees, asking them about the wisdom of the Druids.
ANDREW BASS
writing & producing
I have always viewed storytelling as an architect views their blueprints. For me, the artistry of Story is in problem-solving the fine details. My inspiration stems from a love of nature and reading both history and literary fiction.
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Andrew writes and produces for the Old Coat Society. He is also the Senior Vice President of a financial firm. Andrew’s favorite works include those of John Truby, Joseph Campbell, and Lawrence Turman.
RACHEL BASS
directing
RACHEL is a film director based in Chicago. She has won seven international awards and two Director’s Guild of America awards including Best African-American Film in the West Region for her short Thicker than Water.
Rachel earned her MFA in Directing from Chapman University and her BA in Black Studies from Amherst College. Rachel’s directing analyses have been published in Ms. Magazine, Visible, and New York Amsterdam News. She has taught Directing and Visual Storytelling at Chapman University, London's Solaris International Film School, and currently resides as a professor of film production at DePaul University.
Her work can be found at thevisionarystoryteller.com
COAT COLLABORATORS
SOPHIA BASS
orchestral conductor & film composer
AS a composer, my purpose in life is to be a servant of Music, not its master, for I understand that I am engaging with a force greater than myself, with a power transcending far above my mind’s capacity to comprehend. Music is the ambassador of Mystery and Ultimate Meaning; who am I to call myself its master? I am a composer not because I try to invent musical ideas but rather because I can't ever get them out of my head. Just as a clap of the palm necessitates sound, so too the very act of my living necessitates the creation of music.
Given the monikers "Wunderkind" and "bold composer" by her mentor, Hollywood film composer Roger Neill, Sophia has experience writing film and chamber music and has produced original works for music albums. She also works as an orchestrator, arranger, and conductor, and has received mentorship from notable industry professionals Roger Neill (20th Century Women, Mozart in the Jungle), Larry Groupé (Straw Dogs), Jason LaRocca (The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, The Nevers), and has collaborated with artists and organizations, including the New World Symphony, Toledo Opera, Bass Players for Black Composers and others, to create original musical works. Sophia writes for a range of ensembles, from large orchestra to solo instruments, and her compositional style blends traditional Western classical counterpoint with cinematic orchestration. Dealing primarily in an acoustic medium, Sophia experiments with hybrid scoring — blending acoustic and electronic sounds — and her musical aesthetics have evolved over the years to fuse Western, East Asian and Indian classical musical forms.
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Her work can be found at sophiajbass.com
CATHERINE BASS
production design
A storyteller does a task without thinking about being a hero or reaping glory. The storyteller hopes only that her task has meaning. It’s simply a purpose to be served.
Catherine is a realist painter and scientific illustrator. She received a BFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. In addition to painting, she spends her time in the garden raising Monarch and Swallowtail butterflies and lives with her black rabbit, Charles.
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Her work can be found at www.underthegardenwall.com
JESSI BASS
choreography and movement
AS a medical student, I am an apprentice of human weakness and illness. I am also a healer, and relate to storytelling as a cure. A good story can be better than any medicine, a balm for the soul, fire for the blood, and strength for the bones. Unlike the best surgeons, Story can bring the dead back to life.
Jessi script-reads and choreographs dance and movement for the Old Coat Society. She has a BS in Sociology from Bryn Mawr College, with a minor in Africana Studies. She is currently a fifth-year medical student at the Latin American School of Medicine in Havana, Cuba, through IFCO/Pastors for Peace, and is the delegation representative for the United States Student Delegation.
In her free time, she dances and choreographs.
CHARLES BASS
Mini Lop
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CHARLES D’ Prince is a bottom- heavy, silky-black domesticated rabbit, and the only royal member of the OCS.
He is a bunny of comfort and leisure, though he has had his own share of troubles. After being orphaned and raised in foster care, Charles is now widowed, having lost his partner of five years, Sophia, a little over two years ago.
When he isn’t lounging on the couch analyzing films with the OCS, or cuddling, or plotting escape from his cage, he’s in the kitchen expecting treats, as they include extra pellets, apple bits, a blueberry or two, and carrot shreds.
He is often indignant and routinely displeased; his good favor is never guaranteed. Everyday it must be earned from everyone, and more often than not, it’s denied.
