SUU Departments Collaborate on New Horror Film, Far Remote

Published: April 16, 2021 | Author: Ashley H Palmer | Read Time: 4 minutes

SUU’s Department of Theatre, Dance, and Arts Administration is closing out their 2020-2021 season with something they’ve never done before. The final production of the year will be an original film by Peter Sham titled, Far Remote. People can view or stream this production on April 23 and 24, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. To participate in this event online, please visit go.suu.edu/virtualtheater. To be a part of the live audience option, guests must be masked and practice social distancing in the Auditorium. Pre-registration is encouraged at least 10 minutes before the show.

Elise Thayn, a sophomore Musical Theatre major from, Monticello, Utah, shares, “This is the first film I've ever done. It's been very different from live theatre, but every bit as rewarding. Instead of rehearsing one scene for days or even weeks at a time and working out every detail, we arrived on set ready to figure out actions and blocking just minutes before we started filming. There was a bit of a learning curve at first, but we all settled into the swing of things very quickly.”

Far Remote is a horror film project directed by Peter Sham that involves many of SUU’s theatre students. It is the story of an obsessed professor who uses a study abroad trip to get revenge on the white creature who compromised her innocence many years before, endangering her student’s lives. Far Remote is loosely adapted from the classic tale of Melville’s Moby Dick reimagined for a pandemic world. It also includes recognizable faculty and staff from different departments across campus. Viewers will see Todd Petersen, Jeb Branin, Lisa Quoresimo, Kirsten Sham, Kyle Bishop, and Asher Swan.

Peter Sham, Writer and Director of Far Remote, shares, “The pandemic was actually the biggest inspiration for my writing and directing the film. I desperately wanted to find a project that would be challenging, new, exciting, and most importantly, enjoyable for our students to be a part of during this most difficult of academic years. I wanted to adapt Moby Dick into a pretty much all female cast. I began to reimagine the story as a study abroad trip that goes wrong. What would happen if an obsessed faculty member used one that goes to Romania for the purposes of revenge? That was all I needed to get started! During Christmas break, I devised the treatment and began writing in February. I wrote the screenplay in 13 days and we began shooting the film the second week of March!”

Hannah McKinnon, a junior Acting major from Gilbert, Arizona, explains, “I’ve learned a lot about film while preparing for Far Remote. There’s a different kind of authenticity and subtlety needed for acting on camera that we need to replicate for multiple shots. I play psychology professor, Charlotte Buck. Charlotte is an intelligent and unwavering woman of science. Above all, she cares deeply about her students and wants nothing more than to see them grow and succeed. She knows she holds a motherly role in many of her students’ lives, making sure to protect them. They are her first priority. This is, in my opinion, the beauty of Charlotte. She is someone who relies heavily on logic and reason, but is open to possibilities beyond the limits of her knowledge, especially when her students are involved and their safety is questioned.” 

Be a part of this epic story by viewing or streaming the horror film on April 23 and 24, 2021 at 7:30 p.m. and visit go.suu.edu/virtualtheater. For more information about the Department of Theatre, Dance, and Arts Administration, please visit www.suu.edu/pva/ta.

About the College of Performing and Visual Arts

The College of Performing and Visual Arts (CPVA) at Southern Utah University comprises 26 academic programs including liberal arts (BA/BS) and professional (BFA, BM, BMEd) degrees in art, design, dance, music, and theatre. It includes graduate programs in the fields of arts administration (MFA, MA), music education (MME), and music technology (MM). More than 60 full-time faculty and staff are engaged in teaching and mentoring nearly 800 majors in the College. CPVA presents over 100 performances, lectures, presentations, and exhibitions each year and is affiliated with the Southern Utah Museum of Art (SUMA), Utah Shakespeare Festival, and the Center for Shakespeare Studies. Southern Utah University is an accredited member of the National Association of Schools of Art & Design (NASAD), National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD), National Association of Schools of Music (NASM), and the National Association of Schools of Theatre (NAST) making SUU the first public university in the state of Utah to be accredited by all four associations. For more information about the College of Performing and Visual Arts, visit www.suu.edu/pva.

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