Heirloom
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"Heirloom is a heartfelt and touching story about overcoming our past and how the process is never easy or simply 'just stop drinking.' Josie Burke hits all the right emotional notes as an alcoholic who struggles daily with herself and those she hurt along the way to stay sober.” - Film Threat
Confronted with the sudden but long anticipated news that her estranged, drug addicted mother has passed away, twenty-three year old Norah finds herself at a crossroads. Only a few months sober herself, Norah wonders if this is the moment that will end up overtaking her. Made by an exclusively female and non-gender identifying creative team and crew, and starring Tony & Grammy nominee, Norm Lewis, 2020 Drama Desk Award winner, Mary Bacon, Tyree Robinson (Boardwalk Empire), and introducing writer/producer/actor, Josie Burke, Heirloom asks the question; can nature ever truly be overpowered by nurture?
The Team
JOSIE BURKE
WRITER, PRODUCER, "NORAH"
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Josie Burke is an actor, writer and producer. 'Heirloom', a short film that she wrote, produced and starred in alongside Tony & Emmy Nominee Norm Lewis and Drama Desk Award winner Mary Bacon, was made with an entirely female and/or non-gender identifying crew, and to date has been accepted into the LA Independent Women's Film Festival, Toronto International Women's Film Festival, Monmouth Film Festival, Berlin Indie Film Festival, the 8 & Halfilim Awards, Austin Lift-Off Film Festival, Cranford Film Festival, Sweet Democracy Film Awards, Big Apple Film Festival, Florence Film Awards, International New York Film Festival, Los Angeles Indie Film Festival, Block Island Film Festival, SOHO International Film Festival, New York Shorts International Film Festival, Amsterdam Lift-Off Film Festival, The Art of Recovery Film Festival, Culver City Film Festival, Grove Film Festival, Massachusetts Independent Film Festival, and USA Film Festival, winning six of them. As an actor, her stage roles include The Accidental Kiss (The Dream Up Festival/Theater for the New City), and Belgrade Trilogy (4th Street Theatre, NYC). Her film roles include features Impossible Monsters (alongside Santino Fontana), and Worth Fighting For (available for streaming on Amazon Prime). Josie is a proud graduate of the Atlantic Theater Company's Full Time Conservatory Program, and a former student of the late, great Wynn Handman. She was born and raised in Jersey City, where she still lives with her husband John & angel baby Tallulah.
NORM LEWIS
"GEORGE"
Norm Lewis is a veteran film & theater actor from Eatonville, Florida. He is known for the Oscar-Nominated film 'Da 5 Bloods' (2020), 'Scandal' (2012), 'Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert' (2018), 'Sex and the City 2', 'Better Things', 'Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt', 'Bull', 'Daytime Divas' and more. In addition, he was nominated for Broadway's Tony Award in 2012 for his role as Porgy in Gershwins' 'Porgy & Bess', alongside Audra McDonald (Bess) and David Alan Grier at the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2018, he performed in the musical revue 'ExtraOrdinary' in the American Repertory Theatre production at the Loeb Drama Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts alongside Patina Miller. He was cast as the Phantom in the Broadway production of the 'Phantom of the Opera', alongside Sierra Boggess, becoming the first African-American to play the role on Broadway. Some of his other Broadway credits include Javert in 'Les Miserables' at the Broadhurst Theater, King Triton in 'The Little Mermaid' at The Lunt-Fontanne Theatre, Jake in the musical 'Side Show', John in 'Miss Saigon', The Specialist in the original company of the Tony and Grammy Award-Winning 'The Who's Tommy' and Eddie in 'The Wild Party', to name a few.
TYREE ROBINSON
"LIAM"
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Tyree Robinson is a classically trained actor and vocalist living in Brooklyn, NY. A graduate of Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, and native of New Hampshire, Robinson is best known for his role as Samuel Crawford in seasons two and three of HBO's Emmy Award-winning series Boardwalk Empire. A naturally gifted multi-instrumentalist and songwriter, he records and performs with several NYC bands including the jazz outfit Twin Danger, and punk impresarios Hotter Than A Crotch. He also has a number of independent film and studio projects in the works.
MARY BACON
"CLAIRE"
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Mary Bacon received the 2020 Drama Desk Sam Norkin Special Award for her performance as Patti in "Coal Country" by Erik Jensen and Jessica Blank, with original music by Steve Earle, and her portrayal of Susan in "Nothing Gold Can Stay" by Chad Bekim with Partial Comfort Productions. She has worked with many wonderful directors, playwrights, and actors over her career; with theatres in New York City, both Broadway and Off-Broadway, including the Public, Lincoln Center, The Mint, Primary Stages, Second Stage, TACT, and others, with directors and playwrights including Michael Greif, Trevor Nunn, John Michael La Chiusa, Sybil Pearson, Charles Busch, Jenn Thompson, Vivienne Benesch, Lisa Rothe, Davis McCullum, Pam MacKinnon, Theresa Rebeck, Horton Foote, Hallie Foote, Daisy Foote, Pete Gurney, John Tillinger, Tom Stoppard, James Still, Lisa Peterson, Johnathan Bank, and Stephen Wadsworth, Shelley Butler, Chad Beckim, Heidi Armbruster, Dina Janis, Kate Hamill, and Sarna Lapine. In film and tv, she has guest-starred and recurred on SVU, Criminal Intent, Law and Order, Madam Secretary, Blue Bloods, Elementary, Boardwalk Empire, The Lost Girls on Netflix, and Three Pregnant Men, among others. She lives in NYC with her son and husband Andrew Leynse. Carnegie Mellon Drama.
MIRIAM GRILL
DIRECTOR
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Miriam Grill is an international stage director with a focus on women and global issues. Recent directing credits include Pass Over by Antoinette Nwandu (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival), Medea (Lenfest Center for the Arts), Chinese Opera and Modern Drama (Lenfest Center), War with the Newts (New York Puppetry Festival), etc. She served as a producer on acclaimed interactive installation Frankenstein AI, which premiered at Sundance 2018, and as an acting consultant on Cirque du Soleil founder Franco Dragone's The House of Dancing Waters in Macau. She has also been Assistant to the Scenic Designer David Korins on many Broadway shows including Annie, Motown, Sonya Vanya Masha and Spike, as well as the international tour of Chinglish, and Here Lies Love at The Public, etc. Her love for exploring new expressions of theatre-making has previously brought her to direct a documentary style, all-female theatre piece called Women in Taiwan and found a university theater department in Guangzhou, China with a mentorship program for female directors. She received her MFA in Directing from Columbia University and is currently a Professor of Theatre at City University of New York.
CARRIE RADIGAN
CO/LINE PRODUCER & ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Carrie is an independent producer and aspiring post supervisor based in New York. Her background in post production comes from her positions as Post Coordinator for VICE News Tonight, Operations Manager at Sim, and Client Services at Light Iron, a Panavision Company. Carrie's films have screened at various festivals including Fantasia, BFI London Film Festival, OutFest Fusion, and Seattle International Film Festival. Her short THE INVADERS by Mateo Marquez was acquired by Gunpowder & Sky and can be watched online. She’s in post production on the documentary CHASING CHASING AMY by Sav Rodgers, narrative feature TRIPLE THREAT by Stacey Maltin, horror short THE WALK by Victoria Negri, and in development on high school dramedy I LOVE YOU, MARGOT ROBBIE, written and directed by Sav Rodgers. She is a co-founder of Martini Shot, an art salon based in New York for creatives of various mediums and backgrounds to gather and showcase their work.
MATTHEW MESSINGER
CASTING DIRECTOR
Matthew Messinger has produced and cast internationally for TV, film, theater, commercials, animation, digital, and interactive. He cast and associate produced “American Dreamer,” starring Jim Gaffigan, Robbie Jones and Tammy Blanchard, which premiered at the 2019 Los Angeles Film Festival. Other credits include Walt Disney Picture's “Beauty and The Beast” (Academy Award-nominated for Best Picture), NBC's “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” Broadway and West End, London’s “Side Man” (Tony Award for Best Play), and the BBC's iconic “Absolutely Fabulous” series. His film work for Museum of Modern Art includes “Dorothea Lange: Words and Pictures” and “The Girl In The Watermelon” for the New Directors/New Films series. He has cast for Dreamworks/SKG, Warner Brothers, ABC, Disney Theatrical, PBS, Touchstone Pictures, Nickelodeon, and CBS.
KATHERINE CASTRO
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Katherine Castro is a New York City-based Cinematographer. After studying architecture and photography while living in the Dominican Republic, Katherine returned to Boston in 2008 where she began working in film and TV as a Local 600 Camera Assistant. Applying her design and photography background along with the invaluable lessons she has acquired over the years working in production, Katherine brings a unique style and viewpoint to her cinematography. Her work spans narrative, music video & documentary and has recently been screened in film festivals such as Indy Film Fest, Woods Hole Film Festival & Asian American International Film Festival in NYC.