Playing Saturday June 5th

at the Planet Ant Film Festival

CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO!

The Mosaic Youth Theatre of Detroit isn't like anything you would expect.

Anyone who has ever seen a Mosaic performance can testify that its truly an amazing experience. Their talent, energy, and passion for their craft truly leaves the stage, makes its way to your seat and gives you goose bumps. At least that's what it does to me. Many audiences across the country and abroad have had the opportunity to experience the power of a Mosaic production.,

a group of Russian orphans stare, mesmerized by a mosaic performance in a Danish library.

Mosaic has performed in places such s the Kennedy Center for the Performing arts in Washington DC, at the Nashville Shakespeare Festival, Miami of Ohio University, Iowa State University, Detroit Music Hall, The University of Michigan, The Millennium Dome in London. They were also chosen as the sole U.S. representative to the World Festival of Youth Theatre in England and Forum 2000 festival in Denmark

Mosaic members come from all around the Metro Detroit area, and encompass a variety of social and ethnic backgrounds. and range in age from 12 to 21. Mosaic kids are divided into three major categories: actors, singers and technicians. All Mosaic productions are completely written and run by Mosaic members.,

This group of extraordinarily talented young people finds its home at Historic Fort Wayne. Somehow these ancient battlements and officer's quarters have been forgotten in the midst of southwest Detroit. Sometimes, the chemicals that spew from neighboring factories and waste treatment facilities make the air smell quite peculiar, to say the least.

The idea for "Focus Up!" came up almost immediately when I met Mosaic. Since April of 1999, I accompanied Mosaic's National Touring Company on the road, as a combination roadie, chaperone and documentarian. Always with
my trusty (borrowed) dinky Hi-8 camcorder, I recorded an insane amount of footage.

Although the content was mostly good, the format was essentially unusable. The real opportunity to complete "focus up!" came when Rick Sperling, Mosaic's artistic director invited me to join the group in Europe in the summer of 2000. Armed with a real camera this time, I came back with nearly 30 hours of tape, to be condensed into the 30 minute finished project.

I hope to have captured the essence of Mosaic. With no budget, no frills, no crew, only chaos. I hope that you will be able to see what I saw: an amazing group of kids doing some truly amazing theatre.

©2001 Felicia Jamieson