MEREDITH MILLER - The Wife
Known as a cabaret artist with a unique fusion of music and object theater, Meredith performs regularly with her cabaret duo Lovers’ Quarrel. In addition to her leading role in The Poisoner, she is also the subject of the upcoming feature film Nobody Here But Me, inspired by her work.
In 2012 she developed her one-woman show, Pale Hands I Loved, at Chicago’s Links Hall, and received a 3Arts Fellowship for a residency at The Ragdale Foundation. Meredith performed in New York City as part of Banner and Cranks’ The Singing Picture Show, and joined the cast of Parisian director Victor Quezada-Perez’s production of The Arsonists at Trap Door Theatre in Chicago.
Meredith has also been an important figure in the revival of burlesque and Vaudeville internationally. She was several times a featured performer with Chicago’s Gurlesque Burlesque, and has presented her work in cabaret and variety shows across the US and Europe.
Meredith is a graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She has also studied Butoh with Diego Pinon, Yukio Waguri, Nicole LeGette, and Vangeline. She has studied Clown with Barnaby King, Adrian Danzig, and Victor Quezada Perez. She currently collaborates with songwriter Tom Musick and arrangers Bryan Albert and Ronnie Kuller.
Keep abreast of her work via her website: www.meredithjmiller.com
R.K. SHUQUEM - The Husband
A veteran of some of the finest acts that the underground music, visual art and circus worlds have had to offer in recent decades, R.K. Shuquem (also known as Loto Ball) brings his strong sense for the theatrical and deftly restrained performative skills to his role as The Husband in The Poisoner. Over the years, R.K. has been an integral member of such top notch post-punk and avant garde musical and theatrical outfits such as the Loto Ball Show, The Phantom Limbs, Circus Redickuless, Mucca Pazza and The Arts of Life Band. He has also acted as the creative director of Chicago’s Arts of Life Studio, an arts organization designed to create a space in which adults with developmental disabilities may reach their full potential through a rich variety of arts programming, creation and performance. R.K. now lives and works in LA with his wife, alongside whom he continues to create striking new works in a wide variety of media. See them and more at his website: rk.shuquem.com
DANIEL KNOX - Composer
“Do yourself a favor and listen to Daniel Knox’s ‘Ghostsong’ at least 398 times in a row. Never has something so mean been so beautiful.”
-Robyn O’Neil, The Believer Magazine
http://www.danielknox.com/signup.html
Daniel Knox is a songwriter and composer living and working in Chicago. His most recent album, Evryman For Himself, was released in 2011 on the US independent label La Société Expéditionnaire. He has performed throughout the US, the UK, and Ireland with artists such as Jarvis Cocker, David Lynch, the Handsome Family, Rasputina, Swans and Rufus Wainwright.
In the Winter of 2011/12, as an artist in residence at Robert Wilson’s Watermill Center, Knox began work on a collection of pieces entitled Black & Whites, based on the photographs of John Atwood. He previewed the long-form work-in-progress, in January 2012 at 92Y Tribeca in New York City along with an exhibition of Atwood’s photos.
In addition to his score for The Poisoner (his first for a feature-length film), he has also composed scores for Mary Arrchie’s production of The Glass Menagerie, Incurable Theater’s In The Curious Hold of the Demeter: Count Orlock at Sea (2008) and a production of Annie Baker’s The Aliens in Moscow (2013).
contact [@] danielknox dot com
CHRIS HEFNER - Writer/Director
Chris Hefner is a multimedia artist living and working in Chicago. Through charcoal drawings, films and multimedia installations, he explores themes of absence, opacity and the ways in which we systematize our brief experience of the world in order to find meaning and interpersonal connections within it.
Alongside his films, Hefner also focuses heavily upon a separate but congruous body of visual artwork. The subject material of Hefner’s drawings is often drawn from found snapshots, film stills and existing vernacular imagery, often originating from the first half of the 20th century. The usage and manipulation of ephemerally-based, often anonymous images further examines the succinctness of life while maintaining focus on the thread of shared human experience. His first feature film, The Pink Hotel, was completed in 2010; The Poisoner is his second feature, and was completed in January of 2014. He has made music videos for artists such as The Handsome Family, Benoit Pioulard, Erik K. Skodvin, Mucca Pazza and more. Hefner also designs and prints posters at Screwball Press, and performs musical saw with the band of songsmith and composer Daniel Knox.
For more information, images of additional works and contact information, please visit his website at www.cmhefner.com.
ANDREW J MORGAN - Director of Photography
Since graduating Columbia College Chicago in 2008, Andrew J Morgan has been working professionally as a director of photography and videographer on a number of projects ranging in size, budget, and style. His training in the field of cinematography, combined with his practical experience, gives him the skill set and knowledge to capture excellent images no matter what your production calls for. His passion for being behind the camera, combined with his enthusiasm for projects both small and large, insures that your production will reach it’s full visual potential. In his free time, to the dismay of his wife, he can be found watching “Big Trouble In Little China” for the 251st time and admiring b-movies of the past.
Alongside The Poisoner, Andrew was hard at work with his creative partner Nick Nummerdor completing their first feature-length documentary: Vannin’: The Movie, an incredible and immersive look at custom van culture in the United States. Find out more about Vannin’, as well as Andrew and Nick’s fine work at their website: littlecabinfilms.com
SARA ENGEL - Production Design
From Sara’s website, saraengeldesign.com
I am a freelance production designer and prop master for film and theater currently living in Chicago. I am compelled to create physical environments that relate to their characters, impact the viewer, and evoke emotional responses within the context of each production.
My artistic foundation is based in set design, sculpture and installation art. I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Sculpture from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh in 2003. Since then, I have been employed in many different artistic capacities, as well as volunteering my talents in film and theater productions in Chicago.