History of the Henge

For those of you wondering, "Where did Stonehenge come from anyway?" and those curious about previous henging activities, this page is for you.

Stonehenge was created by Bjorn Munson (founder of Team J) after working with indie filmmakers in DC for a few years. He noted that there was a growing community of dedicated and talented local filmmakers who were looking for actors. At the same time, from his years working in the DC theater community, he knew there was a wealth of actors, eager for film and video experience looking for filmmakers. He resolved to get these two groups to meet each other. Taking a cue from the annual League auditions, he designed a mass audition event now called Stonehenge.

Why is it called Stonehenge? The historic Stonehenge was a feat of monumental engineering. Getting up to 192 actors and 20 or more production companies together takes considerable logistics. The historic Stonehenge is massive. We strive for this event to be massive in a good way. It could be because, when it comes to casting, we "want to make a big thing out of it," as Derek Smalls of Spinal Tap might say. And of course, being independent filmmakers, oblique film and pop culture references are a must.

Then again it could simply be that "Stonehenge" is a lot more succinct than "That mass audition and casting project for indie filmmakers and related media professionals wanting to tap into the great acting talent we have in the area."

Through the sponsorship of the DC Film Salon, the first Stonehenge came about in April 2005. Our hope is to continue to put Stonehenge on multiple times per year (as much as we are able), continually building and improving it—while helping people make movies and strengthening the DC and indie film community. Thanks to everyone who continues to help us make this possible!