EVERETT—Archbishop Murphy High School’s Fine Arts Department will be premiering its latest film, “Task Failed Successfully,” at the Everett’s Snohomish PUD Auditorium this Friday, April 11 at 7 p.m. A second showing is also scheduled for Sunday, April 13, at 2 p.m.
The film follows for teenaged girls who discover a genie bottle but the genie inside only has limited wish-granting abilities. The girls’ plans go south when their use for the genie doesn’t go fully according to plan.
“This is a very fun and unique take on the genie/wish trope we’ve all come to understand,” said Director Brent Stainer. “It takes the scenario and turns it on its head.”
Stainer also wrote the screenplay for the upcoming comedy with Composer Keith Curtis handling the music supervision, and Lily Krodel, Julia Frisvold, and Regina Rautio all stepping in as Assistant Directors since filming began last September.
Task Failed Successfully is the fifth collaboration between ‘Unfortunate COVID Productions’ and ‘AMHS Fine Arts.’ Previous films have either been nationally distributed or are in the process of national distribution, the high school said.
During the pandemic, many high school drama departments were forced to put their productions on hold, but Archbishop Murphy High School turned to feature films as a way to reach audiences remotely.
Typically, the Everett-based private school performs two productions a year – a musical in the spring and a dramatic play in the fall. When Director Brent Stainer was notified by the school, two years ago, the fall play could not be conducted as a live performance due to pandemic restrictions, he began brainstorming with Program Director Carrie Wright to find alternative options.
“We didn’t want a student to go through their senior year of high school and not have that theater experience — when you’re in the fine arts program that’s an important aspect, at least it was for me when I was in high school,” Stainer told the Lynnwood Times.
The two decided they’d take a stab at cinema. It was a way they could still engage the drama department while shooting under COVID-conscious guidelines and reaching an audience without packing an auditorium.
“We went into the film side of it reluctantly, quite honestly, but it was the only real option we could provide students that year and now I don’t think there’s any looking back,” Stainer said.
The first film AMHS’ fine arts Department made was Love at First Zoom, a hilarious and heartfelt story of a high school class trying to maintain normalcy during remote learning. The script was written by Julia Hawkins, Adriana Hilerio, and Brent Stainer utilizing social distancing to create a story told mostly through zoom call footage.
“Love at First Zoom was made out of the need to bring the arts back to AMHS because at the time musicals were kinda off the table because of the global pandemic. Mine and Brent’s solution was to create a film that could be made under COVID protocol. After that it became this big thing for students because it was such a unique opportunity,” Julia Hawkins, Co-writer of Love at First Zoom, told the Lynnwood Times.
Following the success of the department’s first film, they decided to return the following year to make Bridgehurst Asylum for the Sane, a thriller about a woman wrongly incarcerated in an insane asylum driven by control, manipulation, and greed.
After that came Varsity Squad, which follows a group of undercover cops who, in an attempt to break a potential racketeering ring, use a “de-age”ing device to infiltrate a local high school disguised as teens. The film stars many returning actors from the department’s previous film including Steven Locke, Emily Crawford, and Emma Weller. Brent Steiner, AMHS Drama Instructor, also returns as writer and director.
Most recently Archbishop Murphy released Beautiful Bombshells last year—a biopic that follows the careers of Hedy Lamarr, Shirley Temple and Judy Garland from the late 30’s to the 70’s.
Tickets for Task Failed Successfully are now on sale and range from $12 to $15. You can purchase tickets to the upcoming movie premier by clicking here.
To watch the move trailer for Task Failed Successfully click here.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
