Behind the Scenes of “Playing Ourselves“

Senior Film Project

Charlie Young and Daisy Palmer are two of four college actors competing in a theater production in hopes of being awarded a scholarship to NYU. Their director assigns Charlie and Daisy the roles of husband and wife and asks them to replicate their stage relationships outside of the theater before rehearsals. Before they know it, their stage and real relationship begin to become indistinguishable.

Charlie, who struggles with a past filled with loss, allows himself to be vulnerable with Daisy and talks about his history out loud for the first time. Daisy sees how open he is and, knowing that they have both fully fallen for each other, decides it is the perfect moment to end the relationship – she hopes that it will strengthen his performance in the play and give him a chance to start a new life in a new city. It doesn't go as planned.

Playing Ourselves is powerful story of youth, heartbreak, vulnerability, looking to the future, and the love of theater. It is about the struggle of tearing down the walls we build around ourselves as well as how we can learn to come to terms with our past. Whether you’re an artist or not, the story is meant to explore how our passions can affect our decisions and those around us. Our story begs the question: how much do we separate ourselves from our art?