{"id":90877,"date":"2020-07-20T08:05:28","date_gmt":"2020-07-20T12:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=90877"},"modified":"2020-07-20T08:17:40","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T12:17:40","slug":"dayton-com-wright-state-grad-stars-in-new-independent-film-the-surrogate-now-streaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2020\/07\/20\/dayton-com-wright-state-grad-stars-in-new-independent-film-the-surrogate-now-streaming\/","title":{"rendered":"Dayton.com: Wright State grad stars in new independent film \u2018The Surrogate\u2019 now streaming"},"content":{"rendered":"

Excerpt<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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Jasmine Batchelor, an acting alumna of Wright State University and The Julliard School, has received rave reviews for her starring role in Jeremy Hersh\u2019s new independent film \u201cThe Surrogate,\u201d available for screening locally and virtually courtesy of Monument Releasing and the Neon Movies.<\/p>\n

Initially scheduled to be presented at this year\u2019s South by Southwest Film Festival, the film tells the story of Jess, a Brooklyn web designer serving as surrogate and egg-donor for her best friends Josh (Chris Perfetti) and Aaron (Sullivan Jones). Situations escalate when a prenatal test creates a moral dilemma placing their friendship in jeopardy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs Jess, Jasmine Batchelor turns in one of the year\u2019s best performances, profound work that twists an already propulsive concept into a riveting character study,\u201d said Kate Erbland of IndieWire. \u201cPlayed by anyone else, Jess might read as cloying, even intrusive, but Batchelor finds a well of empathy in Jess. Her attempts to navigate her way through a story that has no easy answers allow both Hersh and Batchelor to explore even more questions, including issues of racism, privilege, and financial security. Rooted in Batchelor\u2019s transformative performance, these questions feel urgent and necessary, never shoehorned in to bolster a production modest enough to feel like a stage play.\u201d<\/p>\n

Furthermore, The Moveable Fest noted \u201cJasmine Batchelor is an effervescent stage presence,\u201d and The Playlist regarded the film as \u201cone of the most thought-provoking movies centered about parenting released in recent memory \u2013 bar none.\u201d In addition to her titular portrayal, she also served as associate producer.<\/p>\n

While at WSU, Batchelor delivered a stunning breakthrough performance as the vibrant, sophisticated, audience-friendly maid Sabina in W. Stuart McDowell\u2019s 2007 production of Thornton Wilder\u2019s \u201cThe Skin of Our Teeth.\u201d She was also a radiant Beneatha Younger in WSU\u2019s 2008 production of \u201cA Raisin in the Sun.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cJasmine Batchelor was a sparkling young actress who lit up the stage with the opening lines of our production of \u2018Skin of Our Teeth,\u2019\u201d said McDowell, former Chair and Artistic Director of WSU\u2019s Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures. \u201cShe\u2019s like a firecracker on stage; her sparkling eyes, her broad smile, her charming essence all unite to create electricity on the stage that\u2019s so rare.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to WSU Professor Bruce Cromer, she is \u201csmart, beautiful, strong, an excellent stage combatant (she was in my Combat classes), articulate, and a compassionate, generous and humble soul. Jasmine is among the finest individuals to have graced the WSU Professional Actor Training Program.\u201d In addition to appearing as Yale University student Terri Scholes in the Human Race Theatre Company\u2019s 2010 local premiere of \u201cThe Vertical Hour,\u201d Batchelor\u2019s theatrical credits include performances with Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Baltimore Center Stage, Two River Theater Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, The Playwrights Realm, and The Public Theater. Her recent television credits include \u201cNew Amsterdam,\u201d \u201cNCIS: New Orleans,\u201d The Good Fight,\u201d \u201cThe Affair,\u201d and \u201cLaw & Order: SVU.\u201d<\/p>\n

View the original story at dayton.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jasmine Batchelor, an acting alumna of Wright State University and The Julliard School, has received rave reviews for her starring role in Jeremy Hersh\u2019s new independent film… Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":90885,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[715,730],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-90877","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-wright-state-in-the-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90877"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90877\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":90889,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90877\/revisions\/90889"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/90885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}