Saturday, June 13, 2026 | 3:30pm
WHEN LAST SEEN
an updating of the Demeter and Persephone myth, focuses on a woman gone missing who uses the official wording of a Missing Persons form to call attention to the multitudes like herself. The root cellar, where Persephone is held captive, holds much more than herbs and jars of preserves. Subverting horror film and police procedural tropes, WHEN LAST SEEN becomes a search party for those taken from the earth.
Filmed in New London | 12 min.
Director: Donna DiNovelli
Starring: Rachel Jett, Ashnah Strongheart
Donna DiNovelli has a writing career that spans film, music-theater and stage. “When Last Seen,” her director debut, won finishing funds from the New York City’s Women’s Fund/New York Foundation of the Arts. An adaptation of the Persephone and Demeter myth, it sheds light on the epidemic of gender violence and was screened at NYC’s Cinema Village in 2024 as part of the New York International Shorts Festival. It was also screened at New Plaza Cinema, in New York City’s Upper West Side in January 2026.
Di Novelli was the co-writer of “Madeline’s Madeline,” directed by Josephine Decker, premiering at Sundance. Di Novelli penned the award-winning short film, “Stag” starring Sarah Steele, her first film to be shot in New London with Rachel Jett as a main character. Her latest short film, “Nubile” advanced to the finals of the Sundance Institute Episodic Lab and is currently being sent out to film festivals. She is in pre-production for her next short film, Choreomania, to be shot in August 2026, make it her fourth film to be made in her beloved hometown area.
She is an Assistant Arts Professor at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and a frequent instructor at the Eugene O’Neill’s summer program, Theatermakers.
Rachel Jett is the Artistic Director of the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. She holds an MFA from TISCH in Music Theater Writing and attended Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, OK. She was the first American aspirant to the innovative and esteemed Russian movement coach and teacher Andrei Droznin. She has been teaching Droznin at NTI and various universities and conservatories for 25 years. Rachel was honored at the Connecticut Women’s Hall of Fame in 2018 for her service as an educator. She proudly serves as the Vice President on the Board of Trustees for Writer’s Block Inc in New London. Her theater performances include Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet directed by Erica Schmidt, multiple performances with Synetic Theater in Washington, DC, The Body Artist by Don Delillo, and NOT ONE DAY by Anne Garrete, directed and adapted by Jody McAuliffe. Other Performances: Stag, a short film by Donna DiNovelli directed by Kevin Newbury, When Last Seen written and directed by Donna DiNovelli, and Breathe Right written and directed by Kolton Harris. She was the choreographer for Songs for a New World by Jason Robert Brown directed by Nicole Brewer. She has directed The Wolves by Sarah DeLappe, Love and Information by Carol Churchill, and She Kills Monsters by Qui Nguyen for Connecticut College. She is grateful for her musical collaborators Eric, Julianne, Shoshanna, Sun Hee, Pearl, and Will. She is the proud mama of Jett and Phoenix.