SL_Spotlight_0721FINAL.qxp_Spotlight 7 / 29 / 21 4 : 29 PM Page 1 The Golden Record is that it to was born during a pandemic , s and so was I . I was born with S P O T L I G H T Q & A HIV in 1987 , and HIV has affected and guided my life in a number Tell me about The Golden of different ways . I was always a Record and why you wanted very science - based kid . Combine to be involved . that with the fact that I kind of I met Micah at the New Jersey grew up in hospitals . Renaissance Faire in 2019 . The As I got pandemic put the world in limbo , older , I realized how much my Next and that’s when Micah wrote early life was kind of a gift . They the play . He reached out to “ Ren didn’t think I would make it to Faire ” actors he had worked with , the age of four ; I was a Make - A - Generation including me , but I was busy Wish kid . I didn’t have a lot of the night he had the read through . prospects for what to do with I got the chance to watch the my life . … I lived in the moment read through with the actors , because I had to . and I thought : This is a cool story . I’m a sci - fi geek , too , so I reached One of the screenings out to him . We were just chatting benefits Camp Dream - about what everybody was doing catcher , which is a camp and I said , “ I started a production for children whose lives have company . ” He wanted to turn been affected by HIV and The Golden Record into something AIDS . You attended the camp bigger , and as I kept reading as a child . How did that expe - through the script , I knew there rience impact your life ? was something there . I knew I Back then it was called Camp had to be involved . I love sci - fi’s Rainbow . … Being a young ability to pull you into another black boy with HIV playing on world . It makes the unbelievable a swing set , everything was fine believable , and it lets us dream until I skinned a knee . The sec - what we could be . … I feel like ond someone found out [ I had HIV ] , they kept their distance . The Golden Record is a new inter - Camp Dreamcatcher was a year - pretation of that spirit . ly retreat from all that . Everybody Self - professed “ sci - fi geek ” James was there for the same reason ; The play is described as Ellerby goes boldly where few others it was made specifically for kids “ virtual sci - fi , ” where every who couldn’t go to camp . It show will be unique and the have gone before . B Y BILL DONAHUE also provided a lot of emotional audience will have a hand in James Ellerby has gotten used to beating the odds . healing and a few emotional the outcome . Can you describe Born with HIV at the height of the AIDS epidemic , Ellerby was scars . At camp , every year you the experience ? not expected to live long enough to see his fourth birthday . Today would go back and realize you It’s an interactive online experi - he and his wife live in Harrisburg , where they are adding to an might not see your friend again , ence . At the heart of the interaction already vibrant arts and culture scene . He has his own production because someone might not be is the AI character , a new being , company , Blue Owl Films , and is on his way to becoming a force in winning their battle . … There who is just coming into her own . science - fiction storytelling . were a lot of people there who Who she is will be dependent “ I love stories , I love narrative , and I love taking people far away were caring , and they made us on how the audience interacts from their normal lives , ” says Ellerby , whose acting career began in feel safe , wanted , and accepted . with her , how they guide her . It’s the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire and its sister across the river in To us , it was just camp . like watching a child go from New Jersey . “ With Blue Owl Films , I want to make productions that I have a dark sense of humor , learning how to walk to becoming s are accessible to the everyday person . ” so when the coronavirus came , a teenager , all in the span of an Film One of is current projects is h The Golden Record everyone was freaking out . I’d hour . Audience participation is wl ( goldenrecordplay.com ) , a new play by Micah Kosstrin - Greenberg joke with friends of mine , “ Oh , vital ; it’s the lifeblood of the play . O e that pioneers the use of virtual theater for science fiction . Ellerby is u is this your first deadly pandem - When you come to interactive Bl f directing and producing the online play , which runs through the end ic ? ” To me , there was theater , you get to interact and almost a o y of July . One of the screenings benefits Camp Dreamcatcher in have the time of your life . dark solace in the fact that I rtes KennettSquare ( campdreamcatcher.org ) , a camp for children whose have a deadly virus and I sur - cou lives have been affected by HIV / AIDS . vived , but not everybody did . Did you always think you ph We spoke with Ellerby about The Golden Record , how HIV a I’m living proof that it’s not the would have a career in the ogr affected his young life , and why his past may have enabled him to end of the world . ? creative arts ? hot cope with the pandemic better than most . One of the things that drew me P SUBURBANLIFEMAGAZINE.COM JULY 2021 88 |