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The People Behind the Problem Stew Born and raised in Los Angeles, Mark Stewart, better known as Stew, has been making music since the mid 1970s. He played in a variety of rock bands during and after his days at Fairfax High School, before moving to New York City in 1982 to explore the burgeoning avant-garde noise scene. Whereas many of his musical contemporaries tried to make their musical mark through perpetual touring of the United States, Stew moved to Berlin in 1983, founding a multi-cultural, multi-disciplinary art group called The Wonderful Guise. In 1995, he assembled The Negro Problem, which released a box of singles that would serve as the foundation for their debut LP, Post Minstrel Syndrome (1997). The critical adulation that this record attracted was matched by TNP’s follow-up, Joys and Concerns (1999). In 2000, Stew and his main collaborator, Heidi Rodewald, opted to shift gears and produce a more introspective set of songs under the name of Stew. Titled Guest Host, this LP was named “Album of the Year” by Entertainment Weekly. This was followed by The Naked Dutch Painter…and Other Songs, which The New York Times called “perhaps the finest collection of songs an American songwriter has come up with this year.” Only six months later, Stew and Heidi dusted off The Negro Problem franchise and released Welcome Black, which Allmusic.com commended for being “out-bloody-rageous in its musical vision and sense of rock & roll as a place for political theater and social lampooning, as well as racial gut-busting.” In 2003, Stew released Something Deeper Than These Changes, a record that was showcased by NPR for seamlessly blending “gospel and funk with sophisticated lyrics, sweet melodies, and an even sweeter voice.” Stew’s latest project is a theater work called Passing Strange, which tells the story of a young man's emergence out of an oppressively incurious black middle class world and his subsequent journey through various promised-land bohemias en route to an elusive sense of belonging. The piece explores the limiting notions of black authenticity, the double outsider status of black bohemians, and the definition of "home." The Sundance Institute's Filmmakers Lab selected Stew and Heidi's screenplay, We Can See Today, as one of eight projects for development. They were able to collaborate with professional actors and digital production crews, shooting and editing key scenes from their script. And for the second year in a row, Stew and Heidi were invited to the Sundance Theatre Laboratory in July to continue work on Passing Strange, with their director Annie Dorsen and choreographer David Neumann. Heidi Rodewald Born in Pomona, California, Heidi Rodewald is the other half of Stew. A classically trained multi-instrumentalist, Rodewald spent part of the 80's touring the country and enjoying MTV rotation with the band Wednesday Week, writing and singing lead on the songs "Why" and "Missionary." She joined The Negro Problem in 1997 and has been Stew's co-producer and arranger on every record since 1999. Heidi is an integral component of Stew's songworld. Her distinctive dulcet vocals literally give voice to the female characters that inhabit many of Stew's narratives. She has also written songs for The Negro Problem; of particular note is “Watering Hole,” one of the standout tracks on Welcome Black. She is presently finishing up her first solo album which she co-produced along with Stew. She is co-musical director of Passing Strange, Stew's music-theater piece, which also features some of her music. She also co-wrote their screenplay, We Can See Today Jeffrey P. Winograd (President, Hawk Productions Inc.) - Producer/Director Jeffrey received his bachelor's degree from Columbia College in Chicago in 1993, where he studied film and video with a specialization in creative writing. Throughout the early 1990s, Jeffrey worked on an assortment of productions in various capacities. His production experiences in film started when he was working as an assistant to writer/producer/director John Hughes, the man behind such renowned films as Sixteen Candles, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, and The Breakfast Club. He continued to work in production on television shows such as Rescue 911 and Unsolved Mysteries. In addition to working on Hollywood feature films such as Hoffa, Dennis the Menace, and Home Alone 2, Jeffrey also learned about independent film production on such projects as the documentary Out of the Loop (1998) and the narrative feature Blast (2000). In 1994, Jeffrey embarked on a career at the Sundance Film Festival. Beginning as a member of a small print department, he continued to work there through 2002 when he resigned as Manager of the Film Print Department, supervising over twenty employees within three areas of the film print department: the film print traffic department, the production office for the technical department, and the technical department filmmaker liaisons. Jeffrey's film work was highlighted at Sundance in 1999 when he wrote, directed, and co-produced a 30-second promotional spot for that year's film festival. This promotional short film was part of a three part series created and produced by Jeffrey and his co-producers. These short films aired before every film at that year's festival, on television, as well as in theaters throughout the country. In 1995, Jeffrey founded Hawk Productions, Inc., and has led its growth to a full-service video-production company in Portland, Oregon. In addition to weddings, music videos, and other for-hire projects, Hawk Productions co-produces The Apartment Shopper, a daily cable television show which airs throughout the Portland metropolitan area. Recently, Hawk Productions has been focused on music related film and video, including recent projects with Stew and The Negro Problem, Soulfly, and local Portland rockers Server X. To contact Jeff, email him at jeff@hawkfilms.com. JD Kiggins - Editing & Post Supervisor JD has worked as an editor, sound designer, and cinematographer inthe Northwest and has taught film and television production at Mt. Hood College and Art Institutes International. He wrote, edited, and directed the feature, The Longest Day of The Century, which played nationally and internationally. He is currently a partner at Blue Dog Recording Studio whose clients include Nike, IndieDVD, Intel, InFocus, Ideal Productions, and Hawk Productions. Jeff Downing - Associate Producer/Webmaster Apart from being a managing editor for a major publishing house, Jeff is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in The Riverfront Times. He is based in St. Louis, Missouri. To contact Jeff, email him at webmaster@stewfilm.com |
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