I Wish That from Shannyn Sossamon on Vimeo.

Oft seen playing the struggling ‘Susy’ Sweet, jamming behind a drum kit, or dancing whimsically in both uncontrollable and rhythmic fashion, Shannyn Sossamon, better known for her lead roles in the early 2000s films A Knight’s Tale and 40 Days and 40 Nights, created her Maudegone Theater online-video project in 2010 for reasons she can’t quite put her finger on.

“I didn’t know exactly what it was and then you start to do more things and it all kind of lines up,” she tells Hook and Line Magazine. But, perhaps we’ve got our hands on something quite special and eclectic.

Noting that she simply enjoys the feeling of independence and freedom within the creative process, she says the Maudegone “comes from a very strange place that’s not necessarily based in story as much as it is atmosphere and feeling and images.”

And, from what I have noticed, her videos tend to take viewers into another world of their own–an atmosphere of feeling and emotions and images, as she herself states.

In her video “The Wall Dance,” featuring three dancers–herself, Hunter and Izzy–the dance relies simply on feelings of suffocation and spontaneity. Mimicking motions of selfless control, joy, happiness, disparity, or what have you, there’s a stark sense of beauty felt within the video through its utter strangeness.

“If it feels right, that’s all I care about; it doesn’t have to make so much sense at that time,” she mentions.

As a young breakthrough actress at the height of her career in 2003, Shannyn became pregnant at 23-years-old and gave birth to her first son Audio. “I wasn’t ready to be a mom,” she tells the Daily Mail, “but if you have any desire to be a better person, having a baby kicks it right into gear. Now I’m a better actress and a better mother.”

Often displaying a variety of creative-works and deep interest in other people, she says that, in her song “I Wish That” with her sister and friend, that “it’s kind of a one song thing for the three of us. But my sister and I, we always like to talk about how we have a band named Sissy. [laugh]..It’s just very lazy, it’s the laziest band in the world.”

When it comes to the aesthetics of the song and music video, perhaps what draws you in is its alluring, mystical and psychedelic features. The song seems to take you into a trip into your mind, as can be felt through both her films and music. The pulsing drumbeat, twangy bass-line and crooning violin, all succeeding in sometimes romantic, wistful and helpless motion, all create an intense feeling that can take you into a world of your own.

Citing many of her favorite filmmakers, perhaps that is just what she strives to do everyday.

“Do you think it’s possible to miss love? That it passes you by because you’re not ready for it?” she asks the Daily Mail. “I worry whether I’m so definitely not looking for someone that I’m turning away prospects. I am a bit of a hermit.”

And perhaps that is why I find such a stark, deep, and quiet relation to the woman. Her work, mind, behavior and all are beautiful.

More power to Shannyn, Women, and those of Hawaiian-Filipino-Dutch-Irish-English descent. Photo Source: Hook and Line Mag

View Shannyn’s work on Vimeo here: vimeo.com/user1041948
Visit The Maudegone Theater on YouTube here: youtube.com/TheMaudegoneTheater