Big Universe Adventures Productions will offer a limited streaming release of Eric Rosen’s short film Netuser. Tony Award winner and Emmy Award nominee Denis O’Hare plays Peter Sardovski, an activist whose life unravels when a nightmare about political violence turns true. Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Award nominee Claybourne Elder plays his husband who struggles to prevent Peter’s compulsion from endangering their young son. Two-time Tony Award nominee Johanna Day plays his sister-in-law, a NYPD detective who fights to shield her brother’s family from danger. The film also features Tatiana Wechsler as Peter’s editor Jenny.
Netuser explores our fears that the fraying of our political discourse is the result of manipulation by foreign influences – not just in social media, but in our most private interactions. When Peter Sardovski inadvertently becomes the victim of a devastating social media backlash, threats to his family expose dark truths about Peter’s own history. Reflecting on the fifty-year cycle of political upheaval that began with the assassinations of MLK and RFK, Netuser asks how conspiracies have changed in the current era, and how effective forces keep us complacent as the political process unfolds.
“When we made Netuser, we expected a very different world than the one we find ourselves in,” says writer-director Eric Rosen. “With the cancellation of all major film festivals this year, and the timeliness of our film, we decided it would be best to share it as widely as possible now.” Visitors to www.netuserfilm.com can view the trailer and sign up for a digital code to watch the short film online in its entirety. “I’m incredibly proud of the film we made. It is tense, exciting, and thought-provoking, and I hope it provides people a short burst of adrenaline in these strange times,” Rosen added.
Alexa Wolf is Director of Photography, Julie Tarrab is Editor, and James McKay/Big Universe Adventures produces. Casting is by Stephanie Klapper, and sound and music are composed by Andre Pluess .
Denis O’Hare is a prolific film, television, and stage actor whose credits include Emmy-nominated performances in American Horror Story and This Is Us. He appears in The Goldfinch, Late Night, The Good Wife, American Horror Story, True Blood and many others. He won the Tony Award for Take Me Out and was Tony-nominated for Assassins.
Claybourne Elder’s Broadway credits include Company, Bonnie and Clyde, Sunday in the Park with George with Jake Gyllenhaal, and Torch Song with Michael Urie. He was nominated for a Lortel Award for his performance in Allegro and a Drama Desk for One Arm. Elder was a series regular in The Carrie Diaries and appears in the new season of FBI.
Johanna Day was nominated for Tony Awards for her performances in the Pulitzer Prize winners Sweat and Proof, won an Obie Award for her performance in Appropriate, and was nominated for a Drama Desk Award for Edward Albee’s Peter and Jerry. She currently appears in the CBS series Madam Secretary, and her other television credits include Fringe, Elementary, The Americans, All My Children, and many others.
Eric Rosen is a theater director and playwright most known for the musicals Venice at the Public Theater and Clay at LCT3, and productions at regional theaters across the US. He was Artistic Director of Kansas City Repertory Theatre for the last decade, and co-founder of Chicago’s famed About Face Theatre. As a nonprofit producer, NY transfers include I Am My Own Wife, A Christmas Story: The Musical, and numerous productions Off-Broadway. He is a recipient of Jefferson, Barrymore, and Hayes Awards for his writing and directing, and was co-inducted into Chicago’s LGBT Hall of Fame.
Link to trailer and sign up for digital code to watch the entire film: https://www.netuserfilm.com/
