How an urban legend at old Vic Theatre sparked a historical thriller being filmed Green Bay
GREEN BAY - Bump into Freddy Moyano these days and you just might end up in his movie.
If not you, maybe your horse or your hat or your 1908 Cadillac, if you happen to have one.
Since the Green Bay filmmaker started shooting “Room 108: The Clearing” around the city and surrounding area in November, he’s been overwhelmed by how people have pitched in to get his historical thriller off the ground.
He’s not just talking about the other day when Pete Dorsch offered to let the crew film scenes in his Pilatus turboprop outside Jet Air Group in Ashwaubenon, its lounge made to look like an airport in Montreal with a few strategically placed props, and then took them on a 15-minute flight over the bay and Lambeau Field for more footage.
Local businesses like St. Brendan’s Inn in Green Bay and Seroogy’s and The Wine Cellar in De Pere offered their space for scenes that have already been shot. An area farmer has horses and a buggy for an upcoming shoot. The crew got three hours at National Railroad Museum in Ashwaubenon before it opened for the day.
Doug Grant, well-known by families for his 16 years of portraying the character of Conductor for The Polar Express Train Ride at the National Railroad Museum, signed on as, what else, a conductor for a scene at The Depot Green Bay. A driver for Escort Limousine Service said he was in, too.
People have sewn their own period clothing. The Green Bay Packers threw in a winter hat for one scene. Somebody found an 1890 wooden wheelchair at a Bonduel antique store for another.
When Moyano put out a call for extras through Facebook groups, “the community went crazy,” he said. “Oh, man, grandmas, grandpas, grandchildren. ‘Can I be in it? I’d love to get dressed up. This is on my bucket list. I’ve been doing theater all my life. I’ve always dreamed to be in a movie.’"
It's more interest than he could have guessed when he started storyboarding the 49 scenes last fall.
“It was conceived to give ourselves work as actors,” said Moyano, who also runs Moyano Lingua Consulting and Productions or MLC Productions. “Then it turned into something much bigger.”
The feature-length film will showcase some of the area’s history as told through a fictional story that uses time travel and supernatural elements to connect places in Green Bay that are 100 years apart, roughly the turn of the century in 1899-1900 and the early 2000s. If it sounds a little on the mysterious side, that’s the idea.
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Urban legend dates to 1900 murders at Green Bay Theatre
The spark for the project came last fall when Moyano stumbled across a Green Bay urban legend.
The story goes, as attributed to Tim Freiss of Green Bay Ghost Tours, that the first performance of downtown’s Green Bay Theatre on Feb. 24, 1900, was a Broadway play called “Because She Loved Him So.” The lead actress was a married woman who had fallen in love with the male lead. When her husband found the two of them kissing in the balcony, he shot the actor as he jumped from the balcony. He then chased his wife down the stairs, killed her and took his own life.
The historic venue at 217 E. Walnut St. was renamed the Orpheum Theatre in 1912 and the Vic Theatre in 1958. It later became City Centre Theatre, hosting touring bands in the '80s and '90s. It was most recently Confetti’s nightclub but is perhaps most often referred to by locals as "the old Vic Theatre."
The urban legend claims the building is still haunted by the unfaithful wife and her husband, and the murdered actor can still be seen jumping from the balcony.
Jolee Jackson, an actress in “Room 108,” worked production and as a stagehand in the building when it was City Centre the ’90s. She said visiting performers frequently asked about the story. She was often in the theater by herself and recalls being onstage and seeing “some white thing” go across the lighting booth in the far back of the venue.
She didn’t go investigate.
“You stay over there and I’ll stay right here,” she remembers thinking.
When Moyano read about the urban legend in September, it inspired him to do his own take on it for an independent movie. In “Room 108,” Stevens Point actor Steve Martin portrays the main character of Joe Bale, a man fascinated with the paranormal who teleports from 1999 and 2000 to the night of the murders to try to change fate. He discovers things are not as the urban legend suggests.
“I’m going to leave it at that,” Moyano said. “There are some surprises.”
Future filming locations include Door County, Meyer Theatre
The crew filmed a couple of scenes on Jan. 5 in the old theater building, which was purchased last year by Steve Schneider, who has plans to revive it with a dinner theater, escape rooms, a salon/spa and event space. The movie, however, doesn’t re-create the murders at the theater as the legend claims. Instead the action happens at the fictional Victorian Inn, with scenes filmed at St. Brendan’s.
The Meyer Theatre will stand in as the Vic for the night of the play in 1900, but audiences are in for a twist or two there as well. Boston actor Mauricio Viteri, who bears a resemblance to Harry Houdini, will portray the escape artist who lived in Appleton from 1878 to 1882, as part of that evening at the Meyer. There won't be a stunt, but there may be chains.
It’s another way for Moyano to work in local history.
Born and raised in Spain, Moyano also lived in Brussels, Belgium, during college, so shining a light on northeastern Wisconsin’s Belgian heritage was also important to him. He’ll film with the Belgian Heritage Center in Brussels in Door County in April.
Several local names from the past will pop up in the film, including Julius Bellin, who founded what would become Bellin Health System in a converted house in 1907, and Winnebago County Judge Silas Bullard, who served in the early 1900s. Moyano couldn't believe his luck in finding an envelope postmarked 1899 and addressed to Bullard on eBay to use as a prop.
It tied in perfectly with the timeline for a scene shot at The Depot restaurant and the old train station, which Moyano discovered was built in 1898. The Automobile Gallery & Event Center helped track down a 1908 Cadillac used in the same scene. It didn't have an engine, so it had to be towed several blocks through downtown to get it on location.
It was one of the most fun days of shooting so far, Moyano said.
“Once it was parked outside The Depot everybody was looking, everybody that came to the restaurant was looking,” he said. “I felt like on top of the world when I was in that car and dressed in period clothes.”
Wanted: A Green Bay Packers player for a cameo
Moyano, who founded the MLC Awards in 2019 as a multiday festival to recognize independently produced films, television work and videography, both locally and internationally, has been able to tap his many connections through that event for the talent behind and in front of the camera.
He turned to Arkansas-based writer LaTrena Mitchell for the initial screenplay and then fleshed it out. He knew of just the makeup artist who could create a prosthetic bullet wound on a head. The 20 to 30 actors with speaking parts come from Green Bay, Manitowoc, Milwaukee, Iowa, Chicago and elsewhere.
Tony Lee Gratz, whose credits include NBC’s “Chicago Fire,” plays Sgt. Zachary Alexander, an 1890s U.S. Army officer. He met Moyano through a previous comedy project that was recognized by the MLC Awards and was eager to be a part of "Room 108."
“I’m from Milwaukee, so I like working on small productions when they’re friends of mine and when it’s local, because I like to support my hometown and my home state,” he said.
He also happens to be “a Green Bay Packers nut,” which didn’t hurt, either.
Moyano would like nothing more than to have a Packers player make a cameo in the Meyer Theatre scene but that's still a work in progress. Who’s on his wish list?
"You’re talking to the wrong guy, because I’m more of a soccer guy,” he said. "I know some of the famous ones, but they’re probably way south already.”
“Room 108” is looking for extras for two upcoming shoots — one on Feb. 12 for 50-plus people for an 1899 scene at the Moravian Church at Heritage Hill State Historical Park in Allouez and another for about 150 audience members at the Meyer Theatre on the night of March 18. People interested can sign up at http://room108themovie.com/extras. They are unpaid positions but will be included in the end credits. Participants also will need to provide their own late-1800s clothing.
The willingness of local businesses and other locations to allow filming at no cost as sponsors of the project has helped keep costs down, Moyano said. He has put more than $5,000 of his money into the film. As of Wednesday, the film’s crowdfunding campaign through Indiegogo has raised $3,610 of its $7,500 goal, and another $1,400 contributed through check donations, Moyano said.
The campaign ends Saturday but donations can be made after that via PayPal on the movie’s website at room108themovie.com.
The film will premiere at 1 p.m. Aug. 27 during the MLC Awards at The Tarlton Theatre in Green Bay with cast and crew.
Plans are for the film to be shown at festivals. It will not be distributed to paid platforms. It’s an opportunity to showcase the cast and crew in hopes it may catch the eyes of producers who want to fund a sequel. (Yes, Moyano already has one in mind.)
He also hopes it shows the industry that northeastern Wisconsin is rich in history and talent and that other film crews may bring their projects here.
“Think of it, nobody films up here. Very few. Yeah, there’s some commercials with the Packers here and there, but there’s really nothing," Moyano said. "Why do we have to go to Chicago? Why not do something up here? It seems like I’m tapping into so many resources that were never tapped into. I’m so thankful for that.”
Kendra Meinert is an entertainment and feature writer at the Green Bay Press-Gazette. Contact her at 920-431-8347 or kmeinert@greenbay.gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @KendraMeinert.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: How urban legend at old Vic Theatre sparked a Green Bay movie project
