Genre
Synopsis
ELIZABETH SNAPS is a limited run series about the after-effects of trauma. 20 years after the fact, Elizabeth Park is still splintered and compartmentalized from having been sexually harassed and assaulted; she changed herself rather than the system. When her younger self returns, she demands reconciliation. In each episode Elizabeth must face, confront and integrate some aspect of her former self and ultimately face what happened, and help Lizzie survive. As with Russian Doll, the ultimate confrontation is with the self. Elizabeth desperately needs this younger self in order to break out of a midlife rut in work, marriage and parenting. And Lizzie, the younger self, needs answers. Neither woman fully “remembers” what happened the night she of the assault. This show explores the way we selectively remember and selectively bury details of trauma.
Soul Retrieval is an ancient idea, a process Shamans use, to bring someone back after trauma. The idea is that when we experience trauma, a part of our selves splinters off -- we compartmentalize and leave that piece, in order to move on. But we need these pieces back in order to be whole! We need our whole selves! And the show is darkly funny because those of us who have been through trauma use our humor as both weapon and salve.
Bio
Brooke Berman’s feature Ramona At Midlife premiered at Bentonville Film Festival and has screened at festivals including: Woodstock, Heartland, Mystic (Audience Choice), NYITFF (Audience Choice, Best Feature), Florida Film Festival, Pasadena International Film Festival (nominated for Best Actress and Best Feature), Omaha Film Festival, Rome Independent Cinema Festival (Best Fiction Feature) and Ridgefield Independent Film Festival (Best Ensemble and Fountain Award).
Brooke has a has written films for Natalie Portman, Mark Gordon, Vox, Fugitive and Red Crown. She adapted and directed the short U4G which premiered at the Aspen International ShortsFest where it won Audience Special Recognition. ALL SAINTS DAY, a short film Brooke wrote, directed by Will Frears, won Best Narrative Short at the Savannah Film Festival and played at the Tribeca Film Festival. Brooke’s feature POLLY FREED was chosen to be part of New York Stage and Film’s Screenwriters Lab where it was mentored by Kyra Sedgewick, Zach Helm and Billy Goldberg and selected as part of the MOME (Mayor’s Office of NYC) inaugural finance lab for female filmmakers and NYWIFT From Script to Preproduction lab. PF has made it to “second round” for Sundance Screenwriting Labs two years in a row and won Best Screenplay at the Toronto Independent Film Festival in 2020.
Brooke trained as an actor with Anne Bogart and studied playwriting as a Lila Acheson Wallace Playwriting Fellow at Juilliard. She is a member of the WGA and an alumna of New Dramatists.
