Dean Mozian: Coming of Age in a Zombie Apocalypse

What's your occupation?

I produce a webseries (I Am Not Infected - www.iamnotinfected.com) and work at an independent production company (Ambush Entertainment - www.ambushentertainment.com) assisting producers on feature films.

I find stories that I want to tell and get the right people together to make the vision a reality. Graphic design is also a hobby of mine. I really enjoy working with graphics both for web and motion graphics for video. Often times, whatever I happen to be working on at any given moment, will probably pass through my hands at some point or another in this more tangible manner.

I love laughing and I'm kind of a video game/tech nerd so really any joke about video games or a nod to them would definitely tip someone off that I had a creative hand in that particular project. I also LOVE food and eating. In a short series, I wrote a character who eats something crazy in all of his scenes.

You were recently screening the web series in Indianapolis last week, correct? What was that like?

Interview: Amanda Marie Pangle

What is your occupation?

Artistically, I consider myself a painter, though I occasionally dabble in other mediums. To generalize, I suppose, I am a 2D artist, as long as it’s on paper or canvas. My occupation otherwise, I am a cashier at a Japanese grocery store, something that I hope will change in the near future.

What are your primary artistic mediums? Why do you use them? What do you express in your art? What visual language or reference imagery inspires you personally in your art? How would you characterize your aesthetic?

My primary artistic mediums are pencil, india ink, and watercolor. I use them because I like that they’re kind of earthy, but they also get some really vibrant hues but don’t look latex-y like acrylic, and I get to use a paint brush but still work quickly. I use pencil to lay everything down. I use india ink to make the colors pop, to give it a raw feel. I think femininity, all things woman are references that I frequently draw from and am inspired by, or nature. I would characterize my aesthetic as natural woman-ness.

Where did you grow up? How did that affect either the narrative in your art, the technique, the content, or all of the above?

Interview: Stefanie Caril Vermillion

What is your gay activist superhero lady name?

My gay activist superhero lady name is Miss Rainbow

Miss Rainbow, what are the mediums you have used in your activist-related artwork?

I have primarily used screen printing and had my work featured in a movement called Event Horizon which was a project used to alert the community about social issues.
http://www.event---horizon.com/about.html

What do you think is so powerful about a screen-print? Is it the fact that you can make so many reproductions at one time? How does that factor in to the whole "spreading awareness" thing?

I really love working with screen printing because like my primary photographic medium (pinhole) there is a rawness to it. You really have to get your hands dirty and connect with your project on not just an emotional level but a physical one. Of course, the mass distribution factor is appealing and important to me and is a big reason why I took the opportunity to speak out about my feelings on gay rights when this project was presented to me.

Interview: Stacie Maree Willoughby

Interview: Tom Patterson

Job: I'm an actor.

Weren't you just in Sarasota, FL? What for?

Yeah, I was down in Florida for about three months. Kate Alexander, who is the Associate Director for Florida Studio Theatre, in FST’s production of Shotgun , had cast me.

First I guess I should tell you a little bit about what was happening with the play. Shotgun is a new work by John Biguenet and was picked up by the National New Play Network.

The NNPN is a sort of alliance of regional theaters who develop new work, and FST was one of three member theaters to pick up Shotgun . All three get credit in a "rolling world premiere" which, in theory, is to help promote new plays. All of this is to say I owe everyone involved a great deal because it led to me getting a job.

Shotgun itself about two families in the months immediately following Hurricane Katrina, one black and one white.

When the play opens, my mom has died. My father and I are moving into half of a shotgun apartment, hence the play's title. From there, you can sort of imagine the crucible. You have five characters, are wounded and sort of lost, and most not entirely comfortable with one another.

Image to the right, below - Tom Patterson as "Eugene" (left) with William Peden as "Beau" in National New Play Network rolling world premiere of "Shotgun" at Florida Studio Theatre

The play is about New Orleans, clearly, but it’s also about people living with death, which is something we all have to do. That said, I'm proud that it can remind audience that New Orleans isn't recovered. It's in the process of recovering and has been abandoned by the government and the collective American conscious.

You went to Tisch. What a privilege!

Well, I went to Tisch because it was in New York and part of NYU. I really didn't look at it beyond that.

Heh. Tisch was five years ago. I went to the undergraduate drama program which... has a lot of faults. I liked some of my teachers. Vicki Hart and Per Brahe were very influential. As far as professional advantages there's a lot more schools that offer a better "in" as far as the industry is concerned.

I received some good training, but I felt the program, as a whole, is unfocused. I've been out for a little while, and while I think there are programs that might serve you by getting you in the room, ultimately its up to you to bring the goods. You can look up any alumni list and see there's people who work and people who don't. A program can be a boost, but it won't give you jobs. Man, school was a while ago. It's not really something that I think back on or try to reason out. When I auditioned, I think I came in with the idea that I'd be famous a year after graduation. Now, I want a Tony.

It's not that I don't look back, it's just that I don't think where I went to college has a massive influence in my current career or lack thereof. NYU didn't grant me a "launch" and I feel everything I have I've hustled for.