Movies at Mechanics' Presents: Out Clause with Ernest Thompson and Tony Bravo

Join Academy Award winning screenwriter, playwright, and novelist Ernest Thompson in conversation with San Francisco Chronicle’s Arts & Culture Columnist Tony Bravo on Thompson’s latest book, Out Clause, alongside a screening of his short film, The Constituent. This is a special Movies at Mechanics' feature, hosted by film curator and author Lara Gabrielle.

$5 for Members, $15 for Non-Members

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About Out Clause

What if you could leave your life? Oxton Paris, the ultimate misfit, years ago left his and repurposed his angst into helping others escape their own entrapments, bad marriages, poor choices, compromising positions. He created Out Clause, providing thousands of Travelers a new life, a second chance, a smoother fit. The compact, though, comes with caveats: one, a commitment to discontinue all contact with what’s been left behind, and, two, a promise to live a better life, predicated on honesty and kindness, not only to others but to oneself. If Travelers fail in their mission, their bodies will be discovered where they went missing. Enter a New York detective obsessed with suicides, especially those he calls No Bodies, and determined to find out where they’ve gone, setting up a human chess game with Oxton Paris and putting the entire sweet construct of Out Clause in jeopardy. 

“The incomparable wordsmith Ernest Thompson’s latest book grabbed me from the get-go; engrossing characters and what a ride! It also teases with a titillating question: if you could … would you?” — Jean Smart, Actor

About The Constituent

Chas Potter, a small-town New Hampshire voter, for decades has written no-holds-barred letters to his senator in Washington, D.C. The content of his missives may be more profane than profound but there’s no mistaking the constituent’s patriotic concern, culminating in an uproarious confrontation when the senator has finally had enough and comes calling. The story is more timely than ever. And even funnier. And it’s crazy funny. And unexpectedly moving. And even reassuringly optimistic, proving that authentic human connection can still trump our political differences. The Constituent stars two veteran theatre, film and television actors, Ernest Thompson and NYPD Blue Emmy winner Gordon Clapp.

About the Speaker

Ernest Thompson’s work has won an Academy Award, two Golden Globes, Writers Guild and Broadway Drama Guild Awards and been nominated for a Tony, an Emmy and a British Academy Award. His plays have been seen in theatres around the world, his most enduring, On Golden Pond, translated into 30 languages and presented in more than 40 countries. Current projects include an On Golden Pond Broadway revival, directed by and starring the author; true also of his new one-man play, Archie Parish’s Parting Words, now on tour; his newest play Grand Time; the short film The Constituent; and the movie sequel, Home On Golden Pond. His novel Out Clause is now available. A prolific lyricist, his song with Carly Simon, “The Father Daughter Dance,” will soon be playing at a wedding near you. With his writer wife Kerrin Thompson, he established Rescind Recidivism, a prison writing program giving inmates a chance to feel creative as well as human, capable and worthy. 

About the Moderator

Tony Bravo is the San Francisco Chronicle’s Arts & Culture columnist. He primarily covers visual arts, the LGBTQ community and pop culture. His column appears in print every Monday in Datebook. Bravo joined the Chronicle staff in 2015 as a reporter for the Style section and also wrote the relationship column “Connectivity.” He is the host of the live interview series “Show & Tell” every month at Four One Nine and created the VoiceMap Chronicle LGBTQ audio tour “Over the Rainbow in the Castro” available for download on the app. Bravo is also an adjunct instructor at the City College of San Francisco Fashion Department, where he teaches journalism.

Movies at Mechanics’ has welcomed film enthusiasts for classic cinema screenings and salons on Friday evenings for over 20 years. This June, our tradition gets a special twist—Mechanics’ Institute members choose the films. Join us for fresh popcorn, lively discourse, and member-selected favorites the first three Fridays of the month. Hosted by Lara Gabrielle, film writer and author of Captain of Her Soul: The Life of Marion Davies.

“Author Gabrielle has given us a gift: an honest biography of a woman whose life and career have long been misunderstood. . . . In short, this is the book Marion Davies has always deserved.”-Leonard Maltin, film critic and historian

$5 for Members, $15 for Non-Members