It's been a couple of years since OMC checked in with Brooke Maroldi, the woman behind the Oriental pharmacy documentary, "Death of a Corner Drugstore."
It would be an understatement to say that she's been busy, juggling multiple solo and collaboration projects while training a new puppy and rennovating a three-story house. Like the vibrant city she was born in, it seems Brooke Maroldi never sleeps.
Recently, her lifestyle -- one that includes shooting documentaries in Alaska and cocktailing with local producers -- took its toll: Maroldi responded to this interview from a hospital bed in Columbia Hospital. But despite her current downtime, Maroldi remains fired up about her projects, about Milwaukee and even manages to maintain a healthy sense of humor.
OMC: Do a lot of people in Milwaukee think of you as "the woman who made the documentary about the Oriental" or do you have other projects that received just as much attention?
BM: That does tend to be the thing I'm most recognized for, even though I've done plenty of other work since then. But hopefully that'll change when "The Obnoxious Tourist" and some other projects are finished.
OMC: What are you working on these days?
BM: "The Obnoxious Tourist" which is about my two trips to Alaska last year. I've traveled a fair bit, but mostly to urban destinations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, never to a very isolated area. I didn't intend to shoot a documentary up there, but I brought my little tourist camera, Blinky -- I name all my cameras, because they're like pets to me; the other two are Gigi and Spike.
I also brought lots of naïve expectations about what Alaska was and wasn't supposed to be like. This piece is about letting go of that kind of baggage so you can see what's really there. It's a zen travel comedy. I was in Alaska the second time in October last year and it was very strange to work on a humorous piece in the wake of September 11, but I think I'm ready to do it now.
Last Spring, I shot and edited Theatre X's "Chomsky 9/11" because I thought it was a very important and ambitious work. I've admired John Schneider and David Ravel for a long time and this was a great way to work with them. I hope to re-shoot it in such a way that it is expanded beyond the walls of the theater, perhaps in a way comparable to Spalding Grey's work. I'm very upset about what's going on in the world now, and can't figure out a way to do anything about it other than in my work.
I've also formed a new production company, Go-Go Projects, with three other producers here in Milwaukee: Tess Gallun, Claudia Looze and Alison Rostankowski. I'm very excited about it. We've worked together in different ways before and realized that we have a similar work ethic and ways of dealing with people. It started with mutual respect for each others and work which lead to friendship, then trading favors on jobs, and after many long, hard nights of drinking we realized it'd be great to work together on long-term projects. We're in pre-production for a documentary that Tess is directing, "From Go-Go Boots to Combat Boots," which is about the impact that female war photographers have had on our images of war since WWII. I think it's a great idea. We're all going to take turns directing.
My husband, Greg Ryan, is producing a video that promotes the city of Milwaukee to young professionals who are thinking of moving here. It shows that Milwaukee is a tech-savvy city with a lot to offer. Josh Adams from Mindpool is directing it and I'll be editing it. You can find out more about it at www.milwaukee-video.com.
I'm also doing projects with different artists here, particularly all*cin productions. Allyson Bahr and Cinnamon Rossman run one of the few performance arts groups here; they're always taking chances and are very open to trying new things. I just love working with them because I never know what's going to happen at their events and they're such intensely creative individuals. I've documented three series with them this year, making videos for about 30 different artists. It's challenging because I shoot without knowing what will happen and it keeps me on my toes. With the editing, I try to keep true to the original performance but also take it to another level so that the piece stands on its own as a video.
OMC: Wow. That's a lot of commitments. How do you do it?
BM: I get bored easily, so I need to have a lot of things going on at once. The best is when I'm shooting one video, editing another, travelling somewhere great to research yet another, and releasing something else. But that's rare.
Sometimes I just kind of break down from exhaustion. I'm writing this from Columbia Hospital, where I've been for the past few days for double pneumonia, and I'm climbing the walls. But I think I ended up here because I was overdoing things. My mother has been sick a lot this past year, and I've gone back East to visit her quite often and that's been stressful. I don't think you can "do it all"-- something has to give somewhere; so it becomes a matter of prioritizing. I'm still trying to figure out how to work like crazy without the occassional burnout. I'll let you know when I figure it all out.
OMC: I still can't get over how many projects you are juggling. How many hours a night do you usually sleep?
BM: I've had chronic insomnia since I was a little kid. I remember seeing sad things on TV about starving children in Africa and it would keep me up at night because I would worry about them. I'd average about four or five hours a night. It's only a problem when you want to go to sleep, but can't turn off your brain to get proper rest. For the past few years I often use that late nighttime to work. But I just got a puppy, Lafayette, two months ago and now my insomnia has completely disappeared! He's running me ragged, so I'm going to enjoy sleeping like a normal person while this lasts. (By the way, Lafayette is named after Lafayette Place where Greg and I renovated a three-story Queen Anne Victorian house this summer.)
OMC: Tell us about your company, Magpie Media. Are there many other people involved or is it just you?
BM: I hire people when I need crews, but I do most of the work myself. A lot of the work is editing, but I also shoot and write scripts.
OMC: Would you say the majority of your work is related to Milwaukee?
BM: A lot of my work is related to Milwaukee because this has been my home for the past 10 years, which is a record for me. There have been lots of opportunities to leave, but something always keeps me here. Right now, my husband and lots of amazing friends are keeping me here.
OMC: What inspires you about Milwaukee?
BM: Milwaukee is the most underrated city on the planet and very down-to-earth. About a week ago, I was visiting two gallery openings with friends, Barnstorm and Guerilla Gallery. Each was like entering a different world and the work was engaging. It was a beautiful night, and as we walked around the city and I wished my friends from NYC could see Milwaukee in that light. It's big enough to have many of the stimulating things that cities offer, but small enough that I run into people I know all over the place, which I love.
OMC: Is this a good place for a filmmaker to live?
BM: Well, yes and no. We don't have enough equipment sales and rental businesses. As far as film, we're sorely lacking in facilities. But on the plus side, Milwaukee is a small city where you can go out and shoot without a lot of red tape and hassles. Just from a visual standpoint, you have the lake, the river, downtown, warehouse districts and so many locations to choose when shooting.
OMC: Why did you decide to collaborate with Sara Daleiden?
I met Sara while shooting "Stating the Arts In Milwaukee" and just fell in love with the concept of the Traveling Wearables and all the artists that are involved in it. These are people who live their art every day. I offered to document their work because its so transitory and I thought it deserved to be recorded.
(Traveling Wearables is a series of wearable sculpture projects. Basically, group of people dress in the same color and walk around in public, spreading the message "there is a simple choice in creating links between people. As simple as what color clothes you wear today.")
{INSERT_RELATED}OMC: What are your goals for the next five years?
BM: I'd like to finish a feature film script and makes lots of travel-related documentaries. Africa and Australia are high on my destinations list these days.
OMC: Have you lived in Milwaukee for your entire life?
BM: I was born in Brooklyn and raised both there and in New Jersey, so I got both urban and suburban experiences. I went to several East Coast schools. I came to Milwaukee originally because my first husband, Will Rockett, became Dean of the School of Fine Arts at UWM. We had been moving around a lot and came here thinking that this would be our home for a long time. Unfortunately he became very sick and died about a year after we came here, back in 1993. I thought of leaving many times but something always kept me here. Going back East just didn't seem appealing; I think I needed time to mourn alone and to figure out what to do with the rest of my life. Milwaukee is a gentle place, I was already here and it was a good place for me to take some time to heal.
Molly Snyder started writing and publishing her work at the age 10, when her community newspaper printed her poem, "The Unicorn.” Since then, she's expanded beyond the subject of mythical creatures and written in many different mediums but, nearest and dearest to her heart, thousands of articles for OnMilwaukee.
Molly is a regular contributor to FOX6 News and numerous radio stations as well as the co-host of "Dandelions: A Podcast For Women.” She's received five Milwaukee Press Club Awards, served as the Pfister Narrator and is the Wisconsin State Fair’s Celebrity Cream Puff Eating Champion of 2019.
