Actress’s Production Company Creates Opportunities For Emerging Creatives

Cynthia Kaye McWilliams is the Founder of CynCity Productions and star of “Messy Lola.” Photo by Blake Martin.
Cynthia Kaye McWilliams is the Founder of CynCity Productions and star of “Messy Lola.” Photo by Blake Martin.

Actress’s Production Company Creates Opportunities For Emerging Creatives

By Tia Carol Jones

Cynthia Kaye McWilliams has always been interested in the arts, theatre and storytelling. She went to school to train in theatre, receiving her degree from the Theatre School of DePaul University. She thought she would do theatre and that would be her life. Then, her focus became more film and television because those were the opportunities that she had access to. The more opportunities she had in film and television, the more she fell in love with it.

McWilliams decided that she not only wanted to act in film and television shows, but she wanted to produce and direct projects. She also wanted to encourage other artists to create. Now, she is set to premiere two shows that were produced by her CynCity Productions, “Messy Lola” and “Sunday Evenings.” A red-carpet event to celebrate the accomplishments will take place on Sunday, Jan. 18th, at CineCity Studios, located at 2429 W. 14th St.

McWilliams created CynCity Creatives about two years ago as a way for her and her team to start producing projects. CynCity Productions is the evolution of CynCity Creatives.

“Messy Lola” follows Lola, played by McWilliams, who is balancing motherhood and her life, while trying to keep it all together. The show was created by Kevin Douglas, an acclaimed playwright and screenwriter. Douglas, who is an ensemble member of the Lookingglass Theatre Company, also serves as Executive Director of “Messy Lola.”

McWilliams said that if she had the time, money and ability, Douglas would be the first voice that she wanted to build a project around. She said that she was in an incredible position to partner with friends and visionaries that she’s known forever, who needed capital and someone to believe in them, which is something she provided.

“I created Messy Lola as a love letter to the complex, funny, resilient people that define this city,” Douglas said in a press release. “Seeing this story come to life with a team that truly believes in artist-driven, collaborative storytelling has been incredibly meaningful.”

CynCity Productions uses a teaching set model, pairing emerging creatives in Chicago with seasoned industry professionals. McWilliams said that people learn best when they are in constant company of people who do the job they want to do. She said that while, in the film industry, the stakes are high and people aren’t willing to take a chance on emerging talent, she wanted to use her resources and invest in growing other artists. In the model, the people who know the most are given the most money and profit sharing in the project later, and the inexperienced people are paid at a discount rate and they get the opportunity to work on a SAG union set.

McWilliams said that with the model, the inexperienced creatives are able to try, while learning from their failures, with the goal of building an ecosystem of experienced Chicago creatives. She said that with every production, she wants to train more people. She said she is investing in people who are talented and committed, they just don’t have the access to opportunities.

 She also said that it is important for Black women and people of color, as well as people from marginalized communities to tell their own stories. She said that no one is interested in telling the stories of people from those populations that aren’t from those populations.

“Trusting other people to have ownership over our narrative has not worked in our favor, thus far,” she said. “I believe in this country, at this very moment, there is absolutely no more question about the fact that the governing powers are not interested in us. They are actively opposed to the advancement and equality of people of color, women, Latinos, immigrants and LGBTQIA citizens.”

McWilliams said that with CinCity Productions, she is showing that people don’t have to leave Chicago in order to develop quality projects. She said that for both projects, they were all Chicago writers, directors, actors and crew. McWilliams said that it is a huge accomplishment to go from ideation to script to production and have a finished project, while also being in post-production of another project. She credited having 10 episodes of Messy Lola and seven episodes of Sunday Evenings to having a community and partnerships and building things one step at a time.

For more information about Cynthia Kaye McWilliams, visit www.cynthiakayemcwilliams.com and to watch “Messy Lola,” visit www.CynCityProductions.studio.

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