'Dirty Rhetoric' Begins Filming At Stony Brook University Southampton Campus

The in-production film“Dirty Rhetoric” has transformed Carriage House at the Stony Brook Southampton campus into a movie set, with filming scheduled to begin on July 13.

The movie only has 16 days to film on the campus.

A few months ago, Carriage House was a classroom space, with rooms that were mostly white. Now, the space has been transported back in time to be richly detailed to show the boom of the 1950s and Cold War preparations with a utility closet being transformed into a fallout shelter.

The entire set has been staged with vintage furniture and knickknacks sourced from Facebook Marketplace, online shops and vintage stores.

“Dirty Rhetoric” is a 1950s period piece surrounding a group of people who wind up trapped in a chateau by chance during Fourth of July weekend, but little do they know that the world is ending around them.

“It’s a look at what it means to be alive,” said Director and Producer James Evans.

The movie was inspired by current events in the news and Evans’s desire to set a film in the 1950s with contemporary inspiration.

Amy Gaipa teaches in the undergrad film program at Stony Brook University and is known for her work on “Titanic.” Gaipa was the production designer on set and will be playing Ruth in “Dirty Rhetoric” and has been working on staging the set since mid-March.

“Through looking in the character and really getting into what those characters are, it really sprang into my imagination as a production designer of what the interior where they inhabit looks like,” Gaipa said.

The movie features seven characters, the owner of the house, her sister and a group of jazz musicians looking to settle some debts.

The cast features well-known Broadway actors like Tovah Feldshuh, a two-time Tony nominated actress, who will be playing Bea. Feldshuh has announced she will be joining the cast of “Funny Girl” on Broadway as Mrs. Brice in September.

The cast also includes Tibor Feldman, known for his movies and television roles, including “Enchanted,” and Tony Award winning actress Julie Halston, known for her role in “Tootsie” on Broadway.

Evans calls having a talented cast “surreal,” and is excited to watch them “bring the characters to life.”

“There is nothing better than hearing the voice alive and actually brought to life,” Evans said.

For Evans, the characters are what make the movie unique, “seeing them all exist in one space is what the film is all about,” he said.