Where Do The Children Play? is a co-production of Michigan Television and Metrocom International, LLC.
Michigan Television, a service of Michigan Public Media, is the public television station of the University of Michigan. Metrocom International was founded in 1996 and produces documentary films, corporate and industrial video and news segments for television networks programs.
Jennifer White, Executive Producer
A native of Detroit and graduate of the University of Michigan, Jennifer White has worked at Michigan Public Media since 1999, serving in several capacities including Director of Individual Giving and Major Gifts Officer. Jennifer has managed Michigan Television as its station manager since 2005, where she has guided the development of EMMY award winning collaborative projects focused on the arts and humanities. These include the MATRIX series, a partnership with the Michigan Council for Arts and Cultural Affairs and the Michigan Humanities Council; and PLAY, a collaboration between the station and the School of Art and Design at the University of Michigan.
Christopher M. Cook, Producer-Director-Writer
Since 1997, Cook has written and produced more than 14 hours of documentary programming, most of which has appeared on regional PBS stations, for which he has received eleven EMMYs, three of them for work from 1999-2007 on Michigan Public Television's Michigan at Risk series. His Sprawling of America was nominated for best limited series in the International Documentary Association Awards in 2002 and won three EMMYs regionally. For twenty years, Cook was a reporter and held various editing positions at newspapers across the country, including the Detroit Free Press and Newsday in New York, where he was part of a team that won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative journalism.
Mark J. Harris, Consulting Producer
Harris is a journalist, novelist, and documentary filmmaker whose work has won three Academy Awards. His first Oscar was for The Redwoods (1968), a short documentary he wrote and produced. He also won Oscars for The Long Way Home (1997) and Into The Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2001). In addition, he has published five novels for children, two books of non-fiction, and dozens of essays, articles and short stories in publications ranging from American Heritage to the New York Times. He has taught film at the School of Cinema-Television of the University of Southern California for 20 years.
Elizabeth Goodenough Ph.D., Film Consultant
Elizabeth Goodenough is a scholar, author and activist in the emerging field of children's studies. She has taught English literature at Harvard College, Claremont McKenna College and is currently at the University of Michigan Residential College. She is the founding editor of the Landscapes of Childhood series at Wayne State University Press and has co-edited Infant Tongues: The Voice of the Child in Literature; Under Fire: Childhood in the Shadow of War; and Children's Literature and Violence. Other books include Secret Spaces of Childhood (University of Michigan Press, 2003), Where Do the Children Play? A Study Guide to the Film, and the forthcoming A Place for Play.
Matthew Zacharias, Editor
Zacharias has been a filmmaker and editor for 13 years. His work has won three regional EMMYs for PBS projects. Zacharias' films have been featured at national film festivals such as Slamdance, South by Southwest and ResFest. His multimedia projects are exhibited in leading contemporary art galleries. Zacharias is at work on a feature-length film, which he is producing, directing, writing and editing. Zacharias' short films include Kim (AWOL; 1990), Max (AWOL; 1997), AWOL After School Special (AWOL; 1998), Ace's High (AWOL; 2002), and Good, Brother (AWOL; 2002). He is a graduate of Film Studies department at the University of Michigan.
Barbara Lucas, Associate Producer
Lucas has worked on institutional video projects and Michigan public television documentaries such as the Ticket To Ride and Emerald Ash Borer: Path of Death for the Michigan PBS series Michigan at Risk, and The Great Experiment: MSU, The Pioneer Land Grant University. She helps produce the weekly public radio show, Issues of the Environment for WEMU-FM, produces environmental education videos for non-profits and municipal governments. Lucas holds a B.A. and an M.A. from the University of Michigan.
Mark Berg, Director of Photography
Mark Berg is a highly experienced camera operator who has worked on news and long-form programs for twelve years, including stints at four television stations in the Midwest. Berg's work has appeared on ABC News, NBC News, 20/20, World News Tonight, Good Morning America, Dateline, Today Show, Nightly News, CNN, A&E, Fox Sports, and other broadcast and cable outlets. He also shoots for the National Hockey League, Ford Motor Co., and others. He has been nominated for EMMY awards four times and has won top honors from the Michigan Association of Broadcasters in 1987 and 1990. Berg is the president and co-owner of Great Lakes Television Productions
Gordy Marcotte, Sound Technician
Gordy Marcotte is a sound technician who earned his B.A. in communications from Western Michigan University in 1988. He began his career with Filmcraft Video, a producer of corporate and network video, and also worked for ENG Detroit before striking out on his own in 1995. As a freelance sound technician, he has worked on news stories for each of the major broadcast television networks, including stories for NBC's Dateline, ABC's 20/20, and CBS's 60 Minutes. His other clients have included Fox, PBS, CNN, NBA Entertainment, NHL Productions, GM, Ford, Chrysler, and Volkswagen.