Milwaukee-based filmmaker Brooke Maroldi, an animated, vibrant character known for her documentaries and fiction shorts, is slipping into new roles as an improv actor and a stand-up storyteller.
Tell us about your participation in the 48 Hour Film Project.
I've done it three out of the last four years. Before that, I had written screenplays and longer documentaries. I did a couple of these shorts, and I felt like it really woke up something in me to get away from documentaries and do fiction again.
What's one secret to good storytelling?
Part of telling a really good story is editing out what you don't need to tell, what you don't need to burden the listener or reader with.
Did you always have a knack for film?
I grew up reliving things, so it's very natural for me to be an editor; an editor plays things back and forth and back and forth. My father would watch movies over and over and over again; it would just be something he would lock onto. He gave me that love of film.
What's your approach when working on collaborations?
With editing I like to have a lot of discussions up-front to get a real sense of what's the mood, what's the overall feel of it, what's the pacing, and then I want to take and interpret that. I'm sort of a chameleon with editing because I really think I adapt the style of the editing to the piece.
We hear you have been collaborating on an interview series with your husband, Greg.
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It started with Greg and I questioning what we were going to do next, what's "Our Next Thing"? We thought of doing this series together and meeting interesting people and traveling. It led to us getting involved with theater. We took acting together, and from there I went into comedy improv. I've also started doing stories at Ex Fabula.
Where do you see these newfound features coming into your work?
You know when something is emerging in you, it's sort of like under the surface and brewing and it's about to break? That's kind of where I am right now. I see all those things that I've worked on as coming together and being a part of something, the next stage. I don't know if it is going to be film or if it will be something really immediate like theater. It may be that the next thing I do will be theater with video components. Part of me wants to do a one- or two-person show with video, and I think it is going to end up being quite autobiographical. I owe a little bit of that to Ex Fabula because it's forced me to tell personal stories as opposed to fiction.
How can we see your work?
In the 48 Hour Film Project in Milwaukee June 17-19 and at www.ournextthing.com.
