Radio Drama Revival » Region

Episode 263 – North to the Yukon!

captainradio — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 04:55:15 +0000

We conclude our series New Year, New Audio, as Captain Radio™ guest-hosts once more for Fred Greenhalgh traveling abroad in Africa. On tap for our feature is the Captain’s own non-commercial redux of an episode from the very popular Old-Time Radio series, Challenge of the Yukon. Get ready for plenty of drama, intrigue, and action as your favorite Canadian Mountie and his furry, scene-stealing sidekick continue their relentless pursuit of lawbreakers in the days of the Yukon Gold Rush.

[RATED AD-G]

Sue Zizza of Sue Media and the National Audio Theater Festival returns briefly to help Radio Drama Revival honor distinguished audio dramatist Yuri Rasovsky who passed away last Wednesday, January 18th, 2012.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast263.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 263

Episode 260 – RRRants Are Good For The Soul

captainradio — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 03:22:51 +0000

What a wild and eventful week for us here in Alfred, Maine (Fred’s hometown).

Fred’s life is a furious pile of boxes bags and wires as he and Amy gear up for a five week trek to one of the most dynamic and intriguing countries of the world, South Africa. While there, Fred hopes to connect with some of South Africa’s varied audio drama lovers and record sounds of curious critters from local baboons to the hippopotamus (from a distant, he assures us).

So what to do with Radio Drama Revival programming for that period? In hopes to keep the same quality podcast productions flowing. Fred had even come up with an exciting new theme for the first set of 2012 programs, New Year, New Audio, to challenge all of us to try out audio drama genres and troupes not on our personal “short list”, then to share any genuine great new finds in production and talent with others to get them interested in doing the same or in listening for the first time to modern independent audio drama. But as time grew short for his trek, this mini-series did not seem fit to happen.

Just when he’d reconciled himself to substituting OTR re-runs of Baby Snooks and The Alan Young Show, serendipity struck with sweet vengeance. By insane coincidence, a recent yardsale find (a gorgeous one-of-a-kind hardwood cathedral OTR radio and phonograph) turns out to coince-accidental-and-destructionally be the powerful and noisy secret Auralan Resistance teleportation device. Next thing you know, our own Captain Radio™ was standing before me, dusting himself off, wondering what to do for a whole month while the “radio” recharged.

And you know it, dudes: Fred made him an offer he couldn’t refuse … try as he might!

So, while Fred’s away soaking up sun in South Africa, our own Captain Radio™ will be hosting Radio Drama Revival while shoveling snowed-in driveways and learning the gentle art of milking cantankerous Maine goats twice daily in sub-zero wind chills. We can’t tell you how much this thrilled the native Texan. No, seriously, we can’t.

To get our New Year, New Audio series off on appropriately eccentric footing, we open with three clever and satirical sketches cooked up by the fun patchwork of “unusual” poets, songwriters, and storytellers now part of the UK’s Rythmical Ravings & Rants (RRRants) non-profit consortium of modern troubadours. Visit festivals with a curmudgeon’s trained eye, turn a committee meet inside out, and carefully deflect observation while discoursing with talking critters, all this week on one of the most action-packed and fun Radio Drama Revival episodes ever!

Download audio file (rrrants-are-good-for-the-soul.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 260

Episode 255: Sweeney Todd’s Barbary Falls in a Trap

Fred — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 01:07:28 +0000

This week we are thrilled to be featuring work by Grammy-nominated dramaturge Yuri Rasovsky, whose 2012 production The Mark of Zorro is up for Best Spoken Word Album of the Year. We hear a teaser from that new work available either through Blackstone Audiobooks or on Audible.

Also in this edition is Captain Radio, with a taste of Lifehouse Productions’ Count of Monte Christo.

And then week 4, the bloody culmination of Yuri’s 2007 production, Sweeney Todd and the String of PearlsSweeney Todd and the String of Pearls. Week 4 runs a starving pie shoppe baker, a curious kid and the gallant Martin Gestry into diabolical confrontation – and conclusion. The sensation of 19th century London has returned in plays, film, and now, audio drama, in this masterful rendering by radio great Yuri Rasovsky.

Yuri proves that audio drama offers storytelling tools unavailable in any other medium, mixing in grisly violence, unsettling performances, and sonic interludes.

With permission from the producer, here is Blackstone Audio‘s release of . If you like what you hear, find almost 2 dozen other titles by Yuri also available through Blackstone.

Part 4 of 4

Download audio file (rdr-podcast255.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 255

Episode 243: Everyone (Including Us) Digs Bill Evans

Fred — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 14:22:21 +0000

Photo of Bill Evans at a German Jazz Workshop by Heinrich Klaff

Music sometimes takes a backseat to sound effects and dialogue in radio plays, but not in this lush play called Everybody Digs Bill Evans (the radio drama, not to be confused with the famous jazz album of the same title).

This 40-minute play, by Toronto-based playwright Bill Ballantyne, follows an imagined early career of Bill Evans when he was still a jazz unknown. The play pits his unique approach to impressionistic jazz against the expectations and commercial ambitions of music producers at the time. With some really delicious music in between!

First up, Captain Radio‘s review of a sound portrait by Mike Manafette, surveying the history of immigrants passing by Ellis Island.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast243.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 243

Episode 233 – Back From #CVG2011 with Stories To Tell and a Trip to 1918

Fred — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 23:46:42 +0000

Today we stagger back from a GREAT trip out west to Minneapolis, Minnesota for the CONvergence science fiction and fantasy convention (known to you Twitterers as #cvg2011).

We received the 2010 Silver Mark Time for FinalRune‘s production The Cleansed: Episode Zero and celebrated with other winners, including Jonathan Mitchell (who created the spectacular Moon Graffiti), Matthew and Monique Boudreau and Samantha Mason of 1918, Domien and Eline of The Witch Hunter Chronicles, Cayenne Chris Conroy of TEKDIFF, and Jack Ward of Electric Vicuna/The Sonic Society rounding out this year’s winners, plus Brian Price, Jerry Stearns and Kris Markman of Great Northern Audio Theater, Jeff Adams of Icebox Radio Theater, and Scott Hickey of The Grist Mill. That’s a lot of sonic energy!

We talk to these folks, recap the experience at CONvergence, and go on to play 1918 Season One in its entirety. And did I mention Captain Radio‘s great review of the Hazardous Players’ production Knighttime? Stay tuned…

Download audio file (rdr-podcast233.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 233

Captain Radio Reviews: The Cosmic Express

captainradio — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:24:00 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: The Cosmic Express
Producer: Joseph C. McGuire
Production Company: Radio Theater Project
Type: Drama
Genre: Sci-Fi, Speculative
Length: 16 minutes
Rating: AD-G*
Availability: Free to Listen – Radio Theater Project

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here, brought to you by RØDE Microphones, with a review of The Cosmic Express from Joseph C. McGuire and Radio Theater Project.

Be ever so careful what you wish for!

[SOUND BYTE]

In the far future, when, for most, work is more past-time than drudge, Eric Stokes-Harding (voice by Carl Waluconis) relieves his techno-lifestyle boredom by authoring adventure stories in former exotic Earth locales now erased by urbanization. He does so the hard way, speaking to an antiquated, voice-activated typewriter-replicant. Though less inclined to stray from her own modern voicewriter, Nadia (voiced by Laura Hale) shares her husband’s wistful longing to interact with more natural apparata:

[SOUND BYTE]

Their commiserating heightens until they genuinely long to abandon their sterile modernity for somewhere far more primal and sensually extreme – somewhere, perhaps, like …:

[SOUND BYTE]
Providentially, an experimental new long-distance travel mode exists, The Cosmic Express, a means so quaint and so familiar to a modern listener that perhaps it was restored from off a dusty shelf in an old 23^rd century relic shoppe.

Or perhaps the reverse: Three-and-a-half decades after sci-fi author Jack Williamson penned this short story, perhaps a Los Angeles beat cop, and a wannabee Hollywood screenwriter, named Roddenberry conceived something akin to the Cosmic Express as he prepared to make a little television history.

Regardless, the Stokes-Hardings eventually bribe Cosmic Express operator Charlie (voiced by Matt Clausen) with a metal flask of rare, very aged ambrosia. Faster than you can say, “Beam us up, Scotty”, the pair finds themselves stalking the showery alluvial jungles of Venus. All too soon, though, unexpected reverse nostalgia sets in just as neighbors come to call:

[SOUND BYTE]

It helps the couple’s cause little, meanwhile, that Charlie has met his liquor-holding Waterloo in the rare, very aged ambrosia.

The Cosmic Express is the first episode in producer Joseph C. McGuire’s public radio series project, Future Past, which debuts in September, 2011. Produced at Skagit Valley College radio station, KSVR, Future Past will dramatize stories written during the pre-World War II Golden Age of Science Fiction.

While this premier effort might seem, and sound, unpretentious compared to current flashier independent audio production benchmarks, it does authentically recall the audio austerity broadcast during the prime years of network AM radio drama.

Listen to Joseph C. McGuire’s Cosmic Express at the Captain Radio™ Audio Drama Showcase, or hear it and other Radio Theater Project productions at Radio-Stories.Blogspot.Com.

Remember – passionate, unique audio transforms our world … You start with RØDE™

Visit RodeMic.com

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-the-cosmic-express-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio™ Reviews Joseph C. McGuire’s Cosmic Express from Radio Theater Project

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Episode 228 – Firesign Theatre Goes Mad, While We Wait for the Electrician

Fred — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 03:39:49 +0000

Audio comedy was never quite the same thanks to the antics of The Firesign Theatre, the legendary multi-trackin’, sound embellishing, sterephonic surrealistic psychedelic merry band of Phil Austin, Peter Bergmen, David Ossman and Philip Proctor.

While best known for their studio albums (such as Waiting for the Electrician Or Someone Like Him, which we hear today), the troupe had hundreds of hours of live radio experience, and had a particularly special era of a program called “Dear Friends.”

A new boxed set (which we wrote about back in February) contains ALL of this material – a whopping 80+ hours – along with beautiful art and hilarious anecdotes. Listen to the show for samples, or check out the DUKE OF MADNESS MOTORS boxed set and buy it today!

Treasures, and a huge thank to Phil Proctor for giving us license to broadcast this terrific stuff. We also take time to shout out for the National Audio Theatre Festivals, who are preparing for their annual pilgrimage to West Plains Missouri later this month.

Also, Captain Radio is here to cover Headhunters, one of the latest titles from the L Ron Hubbard Tales from the Golden Age collection.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast228.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 228

Captain Radio Reviews: The Swamp

captainradio — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 14:07:35 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: The Swamp
Producer: Tanja Milojevic and LightningBolt Theater of the Mind
Type: Drama
Genre: Horror Mystery

Rating: AD-PG*
Availability: Free – LightningBolt Theater of the Mind

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Tanja Milojevic’s The Swamp from LightningBolt Theater of the Mind.

If you ever experienced ghastly fear trying to escape a nightmare presence but unable to awaken, then you know Rachel’s terror.

[SOUND BYTE]

This hungry, menacing demon dream swamp metaphorically overflows into her conscious existence. First, Rachel (voiced by Milojevic) abruptly loses her best friend, Alice (voiced by Amanda Fur) when their college expels Alice for surreptitiously cheating off Rachel’s exam. Then, after Rachel pleads vainly with her mother (voiced by Deborah Adams) to forego a simple driving errand in an icy blizzard, Rachel receives the worst of all calls:

[SOUND BYTE]

Finally, adding to Rachel’s growing horror, the relentless swamp dream demon returns, this time with unholy help as Rachel’s mother, apparently casting blame for the accident, joins him in terrorizing her.

[SOUND BYTE]

The only seeming positive in Rachel’s waking life is the sudden appearance of dark, handsome, and very mysterious fellow student, Blake, who quickly, and quite literally, entrances her:

[SOUND BYTE]

Eventually, we gain the eerie sense of having missed a key scene along the way. By the time both we, and Rachel, learn what’s missing, it’s hideously late in the game … maybe too late.

Milojevic’s unhurried but increasingly suspenseful pace of revelation here renders The Swamp’s sudden finale all the more shocking, while the denouement “chaser” is served up suitably well chilled.

Milojevic emigrated with her family from Serbia to America at age 6. Since 2008, by day, she pursues an undergraduate degree in English Writing with a minor in Communications from Boston’s Simmons College. After-hours, she pursues her calling as an independent audio drama producer at which she steadily has improved.

For example, The Swamp, actually enlarged and scripted from a high school English Lit writing exercise, comes smartly decorated with background and bridging music so discriminately selected that I wished to hear the scoring again apart from the play.

Appearing instinctively to leverage her visual-impairment, Milojevic also aptly employs her keenly attuned hearing to evoke college environs and voices as binaural backdrop to her drama. You’ll need headphones or good stereo speaker separation to catch this particular nuance, but listen closely to this clip from The Swamp in which a professor’s voice seems at first to wander about randomly until we realize that he’s passing out student exam sheets:

[SOUND BYTE]

Having already completed over ten independent audio productions, Milojevic has also begun to create Spirit Blade Underground Alliance series episodes of Out of the Night in collaboration with Spirit Blade producer, Paeter Frandsen.

Ms. Milojevic, who aspires to graduate work at UMass and, thereafter, to teach Braille, seems also to be well underway with a moonlight career as a talented independent audio producer and voice actor.

Hear Tanja Milojevic’s The Swamp on the Audio Drama Showcase at CaptainRadio.com, and listen to all her productions at LightningBoltTheaterOfTheMind.Mypodcast.com.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio™, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-the-swamp-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews Tanja Milojevic’s The Swamp from Lightningbolt Theater of the Mind

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Captain Radio Review: Too Much of a Good Thing

captainradio — Thu, 19 May 2011 20:13:52 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Too Much of a Good Thing
Producer: Elsa Lankford and Black Crow Productions
Type: Comedy/Drama
Genre: Social Satire

Rating: AD-G* (mild swearing)
Availability: Free to Listen on PRX (Free Listener Registration Required)

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Elsa Lankford’s Too Much of a Good Thing from Black Crow Productions.

Some global cultures have well-known, presumably independent news gathering outfits working alongside reasonably respectable commercial enterprises.

American news-gathering falls largely upon the shoulders of both commercial and intensely-sponsored “public” organizations.

Both, of late, have received their fair share of cynical criticism for dubious content, methods, objectivity, and, importantly, independence.

The separation between news and sponsorship can become precariously blurred, as our Too Much of a Good Thing protagonists learn while watching “news” that seems more broken than “breaking”:

[SOUND BYTE]

Laura, a wannabe mystery writer (voiced by Danielle Lenhard), and her Helen Reddy-obsessed intimate roommate, Trina (voiced by Lankford) step outside to try to fathom the news frenzy engulfing the house next door.

When Trina defends neighborhood trash collector Joey (voiced by Patrick Zemeral) from media pillorying, “ace” live reporter Dank Stevens (voiced by James Armstrong) soundly repudiates her:

[SOUND BYTE]

The reporter then presses on to fast-breaking coverage of … unicorn abuse.

Soon, a furtive figure recruits the amenable ladies to investigate the mysterious comings-and-goings in the neighborhood, just as the old News Director at “Channel 7.5” (voiced by Grace Enriquez), explains the (sad) facts of news evolution to Dank:

[SOUND BYTE]

When neighborhood uber-gossip Mrs. Lewis (Enriquez again) abruptly is hired and upgraded to become the new Channel 7.5 News Director, Lankford unleashes through her a droll and thinly veiled volley at network newsgathering credibility:

[SOUND BYTE]

Satire eventually shifts more toward a genuine mystery, and imperiled Laura and Trina uncover a plot so large and so sinister that even Monty Python writer/director Terry Gilliam’s dark fancy would be tickled.

While the play hints at autobiographical asides and harbors some fun, if not essential, dialog, its virtually unrelenting satire seems all too suited to modern network news-mongering.

Listen to Elsa Lankford’s Too Much of a Good Thing from Black Crow Productions at PRX.org.

During your visit, you may also wish to hear Lankford’s half-hour documentary about a neighborhood bypassed by road construction entitled, Rooted and Unrooted: West Baltimore’s Highway to Nowhere.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-too-much-of-a-good-thing.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews Elsa Lankford’s Too Much of a Good Thing from Black Crow Productions

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Captain Radio Review: Saki’s Quail Seed

captainradio — Wed, 11 May 2011 19:00:13 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Quail Seed (19 Nocturne Boulevard Anthology)
Producer: Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions
Type: Drama
Genre: Social Satire

Rating: AD-G*
Availability: Free – 19NocturneBoulevard.com

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Saki’s Quail Seed, adapted and produced by Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions.

High-profile classic literary oracles, like H.G. Wells and George Orwell, have astounded readers with profound and often disturbing scientific and social insights into the future. However, audio drama producer Julie Hoverson holds that lesser-known but certainly competent writers, such as Edwardian era author H.H. Munro, known better by his pen name, Saki, could cleverly employ biting humor to reveal equally rare foresights into mundane matters:

[SOUND BYTE]

Struggling small businesses today could garner an insight or two from Quail Seed which opens with Mr. Scarrick, a small-town shop owner who, having just topped off his inventory, abruptly faces dismal Christmas sales:

[SOUND BYTE]

However, some local gossips, trying to be discrete as they surreptitiously browse Scarrick’s lowly local establishment before traveling to the big city to make their purchases, witness two bizarre visitations, first, that of an unusual boy:

[SOUND BYTE]

Even as the ladies cackle feverishly over the departed boy, a stranger and more imposing customer stalks in:

[SOUND BYTE]

In no time the entire exurban community is abuzz, both about the strange visitors and Scarrick’s puzzling perfidy. On subsequent days, shoppers mill about the store, draining the shelves of goods, at last gasping when the strange boy, the imposing man and Scarrick’s deceit all score an encore. With that, the rumor dam crumbles:

[SOUND BYTE]

And no one can resist shopping at Scarrick’s thereafter for fear of foregoing the finale of all this unfathomable intrigue, perhaps … not even you.

Saki’s engaging satire, minimalistically, tastefully, and warmly adapted by Hoverson, might well be served as a delicious after-dinner dessert with a sherry apéritif or Turkish coffee. Though Hoverson jests about making relatively casual casting decisions for her many works thus far, no character of Quail Seed seems truly out of place or unapproachable here. Enjoy.

Listen to Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Production’s adaptation of H.H. Munro’s Quail Seed currently podcast on the Captain Radio’s Audio Drama Showcase or by visiting 19NocturneBoulevard.com where you can hear three other standout Saki yarns as well as over 60 other short Hoverson pieces.

You can also hear a podcast of Hoverson’s Mark Time Award-winning scifi drama, The Outpost, right here on Radio Drama Revival.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-quail-seed.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews Quail Seed from Julie Hoverson and Wheeality Productions

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Captain Radio Review: Harrison Quest

captainradio — Wed, 04 May 2011 13:06:11 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Harrison Quest
Producer: Justin Piasecki
Type: Comedy
Genre: Fan Fiction Satire
Rating: AD-PG13*
Availability: Free – HarrisonQuest.com (available at iTunes as well)

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Harrison Quest from Justin Piasecki.

Ironically, social media networking seems to be creating more and more iconoclastic but energetically bound and resolute subcultures within our increasingly disaffected society.

Our poster child for the day, then, is the Sons of Ford, a bickering, potty-mouthed, occasionally rowdy klatch of young males all ultimately cinched together in blind devotion to superstar Harrison Ford. However, at their weekly meeting to sort through Ford’s trash, the Sons discover their failsafe scheme to aggrandize Ford will soon be despoiled big time by the celeb himself:

[SOUND BYTE]

The race is on, but the obstacles just keep a’ comin’. First, Simon (voiced by Piasecki) fails to register the Sons fan booth at the annual GalaxiCon that Ford attends, defaulting the slot to odious archrivals, the Harrison Ford Fan Club, led by sadistic Desoto (voiced by McCoy Jen). Then, unbeknownst to the Sons, Desoto plants Joel (voiced by Matthew Novak) as a spy in the Sons’ midst to capture the secret movie script. If that weren’t enough, unbelievers pop up like paint ball targets everywhere, even on a movie date:

[SOUND BYTE]

Stalwart listeners to Harrison Quest episodes gradually grow tolerant enough of the steady stream of expletives to sense how totally enraptured (perhaps self-deluded) Simon, Brent, Eddie, and Horris have become. Their daily lives, their art, even their metaphysics coincide with Ford infatuation. In this scene, brimming with hilarious irony, Horris (voiced by Brad Bogner, on occasion standup comic at NYC’s Eastville Comedy Club) piously exchanges “scripture” with Daniel (voiced by Kai Lahti), a Jehovah’s Witnesses who, erroneously assuming it to be a kindred gathering, shows up for a fan production of “Witness: The Musical”:

[SOUND BYTE]

With time running out, digital whiz Brent (voiced by Dane Williams) concocts a clever plan to foil the superstar’s date with icy Destiny. After sampling Ford’s dialog from various DVD’s, Brent dials up the cryolab to cancel the actor’s upcoming appointment by replaying the samples at opportune moments. All seems at first to go well, until Eddie (voiced by Brad Marriott) decides the lab staff are stone-walling:

[SOUND BYTE]

Subplots and random anecdotes abound, all persistently re-enforcing how deeply entrenched fan adoration is in these guys. The tone and mood of Harrison Quest most closely mirrors a zany blue MTV buddy sitcom.

Despite some low-no-budget audio disparities (dialog delivery comes from Piasecki’s former NYU film school cronies, other friends, and the odd stranger, with some lines home-recorded and emailed in from as far afield as Iowa), and despite the proliferation of expletives and adult innuendo, Harrison Quest delivers an intriguing if humorously embellished expose of celeb fandom. As the AD-PG13 rating indicates, this extended spoof is definitely not meant for the kiddies.

[SOUND BYTE]

Hear all nine current madcap Harrison Quest episodes, with a surprised-filled “season finale” tenth episode due out soon, at HarrisonQuest.com.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-harrison-quest-extended.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews Harrison Quest from Justin Piasecki!

As a bonus this time, hear Mason Page’s fun, fired-up rap theme music for the series, We Are the Sons of Ford Download audio file (captain-radio-sons-of-ford-theme.mp3)

* Rating based on the Audio Drama Directory Ratings System.

Captain Radio Review: New Kids on the Block

captainradio — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:04:05 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Wireless Theatre Kids
Producer: Wireless Theatre
Type: Drama
Genre: Children’s Educational and Entertainment Audio Plays
Availability: Free and Paid – WirelessTheatreKids.co.uk

Title: Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark
Producer: Matt Brown / Leo Media Ltd
Type: Drama
Genre: Children’s Fantasy
Availability: Paid – Explaudio.com
(Till 5/31/11 – hear it on Captain Radio’s Audio Drama Showcase!)

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with reviews of ZooDudes from Wireless Theatre Kids and Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark from Leo Media Limited.

[SOUND BYTE]

Though the sudden Recession still stifles public funding in Britain and elsewhere for audio drama projects, Wireless Theatre boldly pledged, through its new offshoot project, Wireless Theatre KIDS, to continue audio drama production for children. ZooDudes mane-framed Bob Marley-esque Ryan the Lion affirms that vow in his opening metaphorical monologue from the pilot episode of the new series:

[SOUND BYTE

Our pleasantly languid narrator casually oversees the abandoned zoo-vivers who seem prone to traditional Celtic internecine wrangling. While these conflicts and their storylines ultimately emphasize the usual social values, the zany goings-on are entertainingly interstitched with UN-usually catchy tunes:

[SOUND BYTE]

In addition to such original audio content, Wireless Theatre Kids will feature more traditional fare, such as fairytales, like The Gingerbread Man, nursery rhymes, and poetry. They also offer more sophisticated works for older children, such as an abridged version of Romeo and Juliet performed by a cast of collegiates from West Thames College of London.

Another funding dearth victim was an experimental interactive kids audio game prototype that BBC commissioned in 2009 to 360 digital media company, Gamelab UK. Despite project termination, GameLab UK chose nonetheless to demonstrate their new 3D audio technology by producing a half-hour static audio play based on the BBC game script:

[SOUND BYTE]

In the resultant Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark, the first such drama to have rich 3D audio animation applied in post-production, multi-talented sound engineer and producer, Matt Brown, depicts all characters other than the fretful but plucky protagonist, voiced by Georgia Collins.

Even with a lower-quality audio compression file, listeners with headphones or good home theater surround systems easily perceive the immersive spherical point-of-view.

Also, like early gray hairs, the script’s gaming roots often show through, sometimes viscerally absorbing listeners. Check out this clip in which Sophie races through the whacky-hacky hell of Decapitation Alley with her unique ally, skeletonal Lord Smythe, rattling in more ways than one while clinging to her back:

[SOUND BYTES]

For a limited time only until May 31^st, audiophiles and kids can hear Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark on Captain Radio’s Audio Drama Showcase. You can also go online anytime to obtain this, the first 3D audio animation, from Matt Brown and Leo Media Limited, as well as other new 3D audio dramas from Explaudio.com. While online, you can also find more entertaining and educational childrens audio productions at WirelessTheatreKids.co.uk.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-new-kids-on-the-block-long.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews ZooDudes from Wireless Theatre for Kids and Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark from Leo Media Limited!

Episode 222 – Witches of Lublin Visit for Passover

Fred — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 10:36:28 +0000

In our first ever Passover holiday show, today we feature the breathtaking original show The Witches of Lublin by Sue Media Productions, featuring a star-studded cast including Tovah Feldshuh, Simon Jones, Neil Gaiman and Barbara Rosenblat with a supporting cast of New York’s finest audio actors, and fresh music by leading klezmer musicians.

Drawing on traditions of Jewish folklore and mysticism, The Witches of Lublin, written by Ellen Kushner, Elizabeth Schwartz, and Yale Strom, weaves together history and myth with the struggle for survival of one woman’s family in an old world Polish city, and offers a glimpse into the lost Jewish women’s lives of Eastern Europe.

Set in the Passover season, The Witches of Lublin is directed by the award-winning Sue Zizza and features haunting vocals and an original high-energy klezmer score by Yale Strom.

First up, Captain Radio reviews two delightful audio programs for children – the new effort Wireless Theatre Kids by our friends at the Wireless Theatre Company, and Sophie’s Adventures in the Dark, a brilliantly sound design mixture of interactive audio and radio drama.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast222.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 222

Captain Radio Review: Chicago Gumshoes

captainradio — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 12:58:27 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Trouble’s Up In Alphabet Town
Producer: Jared Jeffries
Type: Comedy
Genre: Detective – Noir Spoof – Serial (Adult Innuendo)
Availability: Free – Alphabet Town Podcast

Title: Trouble’s Up In Alphabet Town
Producer: Stephan A. Bellinger Productions
Type: Comedy/Drama
Genre: Detective – Humorous
Availability: Free – CaptainRadio.com

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a reviews of Trouble’s Up in Alphabet Town and Murder on the Evanston Express.

Previously, we met Third Coast Live’s dodgy but durable Dick Private. Then we sauntered past, pretending not to notice, Washington Audio Theater’s Stosh Force on stakeout.

Now we’re off to the urban Heartland to meet two starkly different Chicago gumshoes, Spencer Marx and Johnathan Tower.

[SOUND BYTE]

Youthful sleuth Spencer Marx (voiced by Jared Jeffries) spouts obligatory, if slightly skewed, similes as he’s approached for help by rich and sultry Charlotte Branagan (voiced by Letitia Guillaud):

[SOUND BYTE]

The innuendo-ridden adult dialog of this first episode foreshadows heavy influence from Jeffries’ improv comedy team, Inkling, that performs at Chicago’s iO Theater.

For a first effort, rapid hat-shifting Jeffries edits in some decent stereo FX. Check out this zany clip in which the clueless cop duo of Tyler Samples and Jeff Rukes try to detain gumshoe Marx just as his client is kidnapped:

[SOUND BYTE]

While Gen-X writer-producer-actor Jeffries impeccably channels a youthful Leslie Nielson in his audio send-up of Naked Gun Gets Busted, Boomer Steve Bellinger dusts off the harpsichord as he elegantly reincarnates Hercule Poirot as the Windy City’s deducer extraordinaire, Johnathan Tower, in Murder on the Evanston Express.

[SOUND BYTE]

Trapped during the real-life Chicago blizzard of 1979 on a stalled “L” train in which the CTA Director himself is murdered, petulant Tower (voiced by Mark Burk) forgoes his longed-for catnap to flush out the ne’er-do-well from among a locally authentic lineup of suspects. The story eventually leans a bit toward Sheer Luck Holmes as effusive Dr. Stickney, DDS and Olympic Conclusion Jumper (voiced by veteran Jim Keith), becomes Tower’s Dr. Watson clone in the investigation:

[SOUND BYTE]

At first blush, the audio may seem fuzzy by current standards for this fun Chicago-style spoof of Dame Agatha Christi on a tea date with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. However, when you discover that this script was produced in the late 70’s using analog tape decks in a cramped home studio … Well, the Captain gets a lump in his throat to realize individuals, like Steve Bellinger, assured that the spirit of radio drama never entirely succumbed to the TV tsunami.

Listen to Trouble’s Up In Alphabet Town episodes at AlphabetTownPodcast.org, where Jeffries is about to release a second episode of this madcap caper, and hear Murder on the Evanston Express on the Audio Drama Showcase channel at CaptainRadio.com.

Also, be sure to catch SueMedia’s haunting production of the Witches of Lublin, a drama of three Jewish woman musicians who secretly aspire to live uncommon lives under a repressive 18^th century European regime on the next Radio Drama Revival podcast!

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-chicago-gumshoes.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews Trouble’s Up In Alphabet Town and Murder on the Evanston Express!

Captain Radio Review: Super Indian

captainradio — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:53:50 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: Super Indian
Producer: Native Radio Theater Project and Native Voices at the Autry
Type: Comedy
Genre: Action – Satire
Availability: Free – PRX (you must create a free Listener account)

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of Super Indian.

Super heroes have always served as role models for our world:

[AUDIO CUE]

Perhaps some just need better parking lot etiquette. Or luck. Earlier that day at his birthday party on the Leaning Oak Indian Reservation, young Derek Thunder challenges his friend, Hubert Logan, to see who can eat the most government commodity cheese. Neither realizes the “commod” is tainted with the dangerous experimental compound, Rezium:

[AUDIO CUE]

When Technoskin, a huge evil robot sporting metal feathers, terrorizes the reservation, Hubert realizes the tainted cheese has done more than sour their stomachs:

[AUDIO CUE]

Derek (voiced by Michael Matthys) chooses to hang out as evil sidekick to Reservation arch villain, Wampum Baggs (voiced by Tom Allard). However, so very fortunately for us all, Hubert (voiced by Kalani Queypo) takes the high road as …

[AUDIO CUE]

The Super Indian brand origins are as unique as those of the super dude himself. For starters, Super Indian has triple citizenship!

Actor, musician, and comics artist Arigon Starr was tossing about project ideas with Indigenous Theater Workshop mates on a 2006 train ride out of Brisbane, Australia, when she unexpectedly conceived Super Indian to fill a Native-American gap in the super hero pantheon.

While Starr returned to flesh out her concept in Los Angeles, two of those mates, Jean Bruce Scott and Randy Reinholz of Native Voices at the Autry, allied with Shirley Sneve of the Native Radio Theater Project to commission an audio script from Arigon featuring her new superhero.

Super Indian emerged as a “hit” production at the 2006 National Audio Theater Festival, and Starr was asked to adapt the original script into a series of ten five-minute episodes.

Then a cast of mostly Native-America talent, led by William Dufris as Director and Tony Palermo as Sound Designer, performed the adaptations live in one evening before a packed Wells Fargo Theater at the Autry National Center in Los Angeles.

Native Voice One Radio Service and the American Indian Radio on Satellite thereafter aired these episodes nationally.

With commission funding concluded, Starr plans to fund six new episodes awaiting production by re-launching her web site, superindiancomics.com, next Monday, April 11^th. New online Super Indian comics, free for viewing, will be updated weekly thereafter. Visitors can also purchase gifts from the online store to help underwrite the new audio production.

With a solid cast of savvy insiders, plenty of fast-paced action, and clever satire that flies like bent arrows both ways across the reservation boundary, the Captain believes that …

[AUDIO CUE]

… justly earns its fans and the continuing right to delight.

Listen to Super Indian audio episodes at PRX.org, and read Super Indian Comics at superindiancomics.com. Click on Merchandise at the latter web site to visit the Leaning Oak reservation store where your wampum is welcome, and you can help out Super Indian. All commodities guaranteed 100% Rezium-free. Even the cheese.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-whacky-productions-unlimited-super-indian.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews Super Indian From Wacky Productions Unlimited!

Episode 220 – The Final (Severed) Thread

Fred — Sat, 09 Apr 2011 01:11:58 +0000

This week we finish our spellbinding and unforgettable feature of three lives intertwined by cheap labor in India… SEVERED THREADS.

Penned by seasoned field recording radio dramatist John Dryden, here is Severed Threads, originally commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Play write-up:

Vengeance is all that’s on schoolboy Ben’s mind as he pieces together the events surrounding his father’s death. Four thousand miles away in India, journalist Prem is drawn deeper into a dangerous world of exploitation and corruption. In the US, as Jim’s life takes a nose-dive and he is gradually stripped of all he holds dear, his unquestioning faith turns to simmering rage. As these three stories converge, they build towards a terrifying and climatic resolution.

Cast:
Jim ….. Brian d’Arcy James
Prem ….. Ameet Chana
Ben ….. Hugo Docking

US Cast:
Ruth ….. Marsha Dietlein
Faith ….. Amanda Scot Ellis
Pastor McGiven ….. Tom Tammi
Kyle ….. Matt Bennett
Sheila ….. Janet Foster
News Anchor ….. John Leonard Thompson
Billy ….. Jacob Knoll
Harry ….. Craig Bockhorn
Casey/Waitress ….. Felicity Jones
Prison Priest ….. Miles Chapin

India Cast:
Rahul ….. Ankur Vikal
Amit …..Vijay Yadav
Amit’s mother ….. Ayesha Raza
Amit’s brother ….. Sagar Shinde
Welfare Officers ….. Veruschka Menon, Pushan Kripalani
Dr Khunna …… Shaikh Sami Usman
Factory Owner ….. Kenneth Desai
Factory Workers ….. Rupa Kasbe, Jyoti Reddy, Shabana Sheikh,
Rita John, Neeta Chavan, Eisy T. John, Pramod Yedke

UK Cast:
Fiona …. Natasha Little
Timms ….. Henry Goodman
Elgood ….. Francois Testory
Jones ….. Gethin Anthony
Psychologist ….. Kate Fitzgerald
Travel Agent ….. Joanne Ferguson
Heyward ….. Daniel Bridle
Boy …..Callum Francis

Production Team:
India Line Producer ….. Nadir Khan
Assistant Director ….. Tasneem Fatehi
India Sound ….. Ayush Ahuja

US Producer ….. David Rapkin
US Line Producer ….. Kim Moarefi
US Casting ….. Janet Foster
US Sound ….. Frederick Greenhaigh

UK Broadcast Assistant ….. Sarah Tombling
UK Production Assistant ….. Lucy Howe
Music ….. Sacha Puttnam

Written and Directed by John Dryden
A Goldhawk Essential Production for BBC Radio 4.

Our Captain Radio review this week is the uproarious and offbeat Native American comic book romp Super Indian by Arigon Starr.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast220.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 220

Episode 219 – Severed Threads Cut Loose

Fred — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 16:26:22 +0000

This week we continue our feature of three lives intertwined by cheap labor in India… an exploration of the undertow of modern globalism and a test of the theory of degrees of separation… Penned by seasoned field recording radio dramatist John Dryden, here is Severed Threads, originally commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Play write-up:

Second part of John Dryden’s epic story of inter-connected lives, set on three continents.

When journalist Prem Sharma rescues a child working in a textile factory outside Delhi, seven thousand miles away in Minnesota, Jim Nostrand, proprietor of church-owned clothing firm Cheap Threads, becomes the scapegoat. Meanwhile, in a private boarding school in England, troubled twelve-year-old Ben seems obsessed with school-shootings and vengeance.

Cast:
Jim ….. Brian d’Arcy James
Prem ….. Ameet Chana
Ben ….. Hugo Docking

US Cast:
Ruth ….. Marsha Dietlein
Faith ….. Amanda Scot Ellis
Pastor McGiven ….. Tom Tammi
Kyle ….. Matt Bennett
Sheila ….. Janet Foster
News Anchor ….. John Leonard Thompson
Billy ….. Jacob Knoll
Harry ….. Craig Bockhorn
Casey/Waitress ….. Felicity Jones
Prison Priest ….. Miles Chapin

India Cast:
Rahul ….. Ankur Vikal
Amit …..Vijay Yadav
Amit’s mother ….. Ayesha Raza
Amit’s brother ….. Sagar Shinde
Welfare Officers ….. Veruschka Menon, Pushan Kripalani
Dr Khunna …… Shaikh Sami Usman
Factory Owner ….. Kenneth Desai
Factory Workers ….. Rupa Kasbe, Jyoti Reddy, Shabana Sheikh,
Rita John, Neeta Chavan, Eisy T. John, Pramod Yedke

UK Cast:
Fiona …. Natasha Little
Timms ….. Henry Goodman
Elgood ….. Francois Testory
Jones ….. Gethin Anthony
Psychologist ….. Kate Fitzgerald
Travel Agent ….. Joanne Ferguson
Heyward ….. Daniel Bridle
Boy …..Callum Francis

Production Team:
India Line Producer ….. Nadir Khan
Assistant Director ….. Tasneem Fatehi
India Sound ….. Ayush Ahuja

US Producer ….. David Rapkin
US Line Producer ….. Kim Moarefi
US Casting ….. Janet Foster
US Sound ….. Frederick Greenhaigh

UK Broadcast Assistant ….. Sarah Tombling
UK Production Assistant ….. Lucy Howe
Music ….. Sacha Puttnam

Producer/Director: John Dryden
A Goldhawk Essential Production for BBC Radio 4.

Our Captain Radio review this week is the immersive and innovative audio experience The Realm Unseen, an interactive story that might remind you of those wonderful “Choose Your Own Adventure” books.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast219.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 219

Episode 218 – John Dryden’s Severed Threads

Fred — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 19:51:59 +0000

This week we feature a spectacular original story of three lived intertwined by cheap labor in India… an exploration of the undertow of modern globalism and a test of the theory of degrees of separation… Penned by seasoned radio dramatist John Dryden, here is Severed Threads, originally commissioned by BBC Radio 4.

Play write-up:

Jim Nostrand, proprietor of Cheap Threads, a church-owned clothing firm in Minnesota, becomes the scapegoat when news-reports implicate the company in a child-labour scandal.

Four thousand miles away, in a boarding school in the British countryside, troubled twelve-year-old loner Ben, seems obsessed with school-shootings and vengeance.

In India, British/Asian journalist Prem Sharma is making a radio documentary for the BBC about children working in factories. But after rescuing a young boy and taking him back to his village, the reception he gets there is not what he expected.

Over three episodes, these three stories interweave and revolve around each other revealing connections and layers as they build to one climatic resolution.

Cast:
Jim ….. Brian d’Arcy James
Prem ….. Ameet Chana
Ben ….. Hugo Docking

US Cast:
Ruth ….. Marsha Dietlein
Faith ….. Amanda Scot Ellis
Pastor McGiven ….. Tom Tammi
Kyle ….. Matt Bennett
Sheila ….. Janet Foster
News Anchor ….. John Leonard Thompson
Billy ….. Jacob Knoll
Harry ….. Craig Bockhorn
Casey/Waitress ….. Felicity Jones
Prison Priest ….. Miles Chapin

India Cast:
Rahul ….. Ankur Vikal
Amit …..Vijay Yadav
Amit’s mother ….. Ayesha Raza
Amit’s brother ….. Sagar Shinde
Welfare Officers ….. Veruschka Menon, Pushan Kripalani
Dr Khunna …… Shaikh Sami Usman
Factory Owner ….. Kenneth Desai
Factory Workers ….. Rupa Kasbe, Jyoti Reddy, Shabana Sheikh,
Rita John, Neeta Chavan, Eisy T. John, Pramod Yedke

and children from the Akanksa Foundation, Mumbai

UK Cast:
Fiona …. Natasha Little
Timms ….. Henry Goodman
Elgood ….. Francois Testory
Jones ….. Gethin Anthony
Psychologist ….. Kate Fitzgerald
Travel Agent ….. Joanne Ferguson
Heyward ….. Daniel Bridle
Boy …..Callum Francis

Production Team:
India Line Producer ….. Nadir Khan
Assistant Director ….. Tasneem Fatehi
India Sound ….. Ayush Ahuja

US Producer ….. David Rapkin
US Line Producer ….. Kim Moarefi
US Casting ….. Janet Foster
US Sound ….. Frederick Greenhaigh

UK Broadcast Assistant ….. Sarah Tombling
UK Production Assistant ….. Lucy Howe
Music ….. Sacha Puttnam

Written and Directed by John Dryden
A Goldhawk Essential production for BBC Radio 4.

We also have Captain Radio again with a review of Cat Whackers by Washington Audio Theater, a new audio podcast so outrageous you have to listen to believe it.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast218.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 218

Captain Radio Review: William’s Leap For Freedom

captainradio — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 14:18:56 +0000

Graphic - FunGraphix.com | Theme music - Shane Lamb

Title: William’s Leap For Freedom
Producer: SueMedia Productions
Type: Historical Drama
Genre: Biographical-Literary
Availability: Donation – SueMedia Productions / ZBS

Greetings, Audionauts – Captain Radio here with a review of SueMedia Productions’s William’s Leap For Freedom.

Within his lifetime, William Wells Brown became America’s first bonafide Black novelist, playwright, and travelogue. Now, thanks to a serendipitous collaboration, this self-made literary’s challenging and sometime’s unblinking drama, Leap For Freedom, becomes the focus of a distinguished independent audio production.

After successfully staging Dr. Cheryl Black’s original adaptation of the play for the 2008 Missouri History in Performance Theater, the Missouri State Historical Society approached veteran audio producer, Sue Zizza, who recognized the script’s audio potential. Zizza recruited director Renee Pringle and producer David Shinn to continue working with Dr. Black on a further audio adaptation for performance at the 2010 National Audio Theater Festival Workshop in West Plains, Missouri. That effort produced an emotional and essential recording about the ostensible Father of Black Literature in America.

Though the NATF audio features an imaginative dialog between Wells Brown and a prospective drama producer, followed by lively excerpted scenes from the play itself, it opens with intriguing detailed historical background narrated ably by host Dion Graham:

[AUDIO CUE]

Years after William became house playmate to his slave master’s son, the extended household moved to St. Louis where some slaves were “let out” to earn for the master as described here by Mirron E. Willis who enthusiastically and punctually voices Wells Brown:

[AUDIO CUE]

After many failed attempts to escape, Brown succeeded ironically on New Year’s Day, 1834. Then, following two decades as an underground railroad operator and outspoken abolitionist in both America and Europe, Wells Brown focused on producing his own dramas that highlighted contemporary American self-deception about racial bigotry, particularly among those of faith, as the following scene illustrates:

[AUDIO CUE]

Ralph Ellison devastatingly re-visited this Wells Brownian view of compartmentalized American racism in his 1953 National Book Award-winning novel, Invisible Man, just as American Blacks began non-violently to assert their national right to political, social, and economic freedom in modern society.

[AUDIO CUE]

The Audio Publishers Association (APA) nominated William’s Leap For Freedom for an Audie® Award in the category Best Original Work.

Final awards will be announced during the Audies® Gala in New York City’s TimesCenter, May 24^th, 2011.

You can listen now to William’s Leap For Freedom on the Audio Drama Showcase channel at captainradio.com or by visiting the production web site at prx.org, where radio stations can also obtain a copy for on-air broadcast.

Until next time, Audionauts, this is Captain Radio, signing off!

Download audio file (captain-radio-suemedia-productions-leap-for-freedom.mp3)

Captain Radio Reviews William’s Leap for Freedom from SueMedia Productions!

Episode 217: St Patrick’s Day Audio Special Live from Ireland

Fred — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 15:23:35 +0000

OK, well the Guiness might actually be starting to run out of your system by the time you hear this, but we couldn’t help but raise a cheer for our favorite Dublin-based audio artist this week – Roger Gregg – by replaying some of his excellent work with Crazy Dog Audio Theatre.

So, we got a double feature – first, from Crazy Dog Live, “Ferdia the Druid,” about a druid con artist who gets in over his head when he is send to investigate REAL fairy folken. Followed by the first episode of The Apocalypse of Bill Lizard, a surrealist adventure into the Irish subconscious care of a sexy demon.

Also, Captain Radio is back on the beat with a review of Audie-award nominated radio drama original, “William’s Leap for Freedom” about abolitionist author Wells Brown, who was born a slave in Lexington, Kentucky in 1814.

Throughout his lifetime, Brown was a fugitive slave, a conductor on the Underground Railroad, an abolitionist, an anti-slavery lecturer, an historian, a medical doctor, and a poet. For only $5 you can grab the entire MP3 on ZBS: http://www.zbs.org/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=16_57&products_id=414 . Produced at National Audio Theatre Festivals’ 2010 workshop.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast217.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 217

Episode 208 – Another Visit to 522, Where Struggling Writers Stay Warm in Many Ways…

Fred — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 21:53:47 +0000

Today we continue the feature of the 1980 serial Our Life Together Among the Works of Art, a sexy and side-splitting serial that aired on WBAI, telling the woeful tales, struggles, romances, and substance abuses of a group of struggling young writers in New York City.

From Producer Jessica Raimi’s website:

A story of the years of struggle artists go through before they make it big or give up. Phoebe’s unfocused ambitions land her in a crowded apartment on New York’s Upper Left Side with five roommates and their friends. George is a film critic paralyzed by deadlines, and his wife, Marceline, is tired of telling his editors he’s not home

Julian writes poetry inspired by unattainable men, while Red toils over the definitive science fiction novel. Jay spends his days in dark theaters, claiming that movies are as real as real life. Cecily, an actress on the soaps, must choose between Butch, a novelist whose radical sentiments are being eroded by his job at a mailing house, and the Narrator, whose voice of authority conceals a soul all too human.

We hear 3 of the 28 episodes today – more coming next week.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast208.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 208

Episode 207 – A Life Together Among Works of Art

Fred — Sat, 08 Jan 2011 00:31:13 +0000

2011 hits and Radio Drama Revival tries something completely different yet again.

Today’s feature is from the 1980 serial that aired on WBAI, telling the woeful tales, struggles, romances, and substance abuses of a group of struggling young writers in New York City.

From Producer Jessica Raimi’s website:

A story of the years of struggle artists go through before they make it big or give up. Phoebe’s unfocused ambitions land her in a crowded apartment on New York’s Upper Left Side with five roommates and their friends. George is a film critic paralyzed by deadlines, and his wife, Marceline, is tired of telling his editors he’s not home

Julian writes poetry inspired by unattainable men, while Red toils over the definitive science fiction novel. Jay spends his days in dark theaters, claiming that movies are as real as real life. Cecily, an actress on the soaps, must choose between Butch, a novelist whose radical sentiments are being eroded by his job at a mailing house, and the Narrator, whose voice of authority conceals a soul all too human.

We hear 3 of the 28 episodes today – more coming next week.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast207.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 207

Episode 200 – Leonard Allen Wants to Have it Your Way

Fred — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 15:01:58 +0000

Holy crap! It’s episode 200! After nearly 4 years of radio drama podcasting we hit another round of triple digits. A pretty cool milestone and a great program to share to celebrate.

We’re featuring another installment of The Mask of Innana, an original mystery series by the Post Meridian Players who you probably have heard about through their live shows in the Boston area.

The Mask of Innana, I’ve learned, was inspired in part but the uncompromisingly creepy Nightfall series which aired on the CBC (Innana series creator Neil Marsh, in fact, created the best online resource for the show out there).

Like a The show follows aging radio star Leonard Allen, whose series After Dark ended abruptly after a betrayal from a trusted friend. Now, years later, a stranger comes offering Allen a most unusual role.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast200.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 200

Bonus!

Did you produce audio from 1995-2005 or know a bunch of people who did? Then contact Scott Hickey, who wants to put together a compendium of the producers in the “early days” of internet audio drama. Scotthickey [at] comcast.net

Please nominate/vote for Radio Drama Revival in the 2010 Blubrry Podcasting Awards!

Roger Gregg Serves Up a Delicious “Seven Deadly Sins”

Fred — Tue, 19 Oct 2010 11:30:59 +0000

Fresh from the Emerald Isle comes this new treat from Roger Gregg, a scene from a new production of Faustus… Roger has been talking about his desire about doing Faustus since I visited back in 2008, and it’s thrilling to see it becoming a reality.

Here is a scene from the new show which will run in Dublin from November 18 to the 26th in Smock Alley Theatre:

I asked Roger whether there will be an audio adaptation of this work, similar to what he did with The Stuff of Myth. Roger says:

Yes … In fact one of the central tenets of the stage show is have an on-going live sound score being performed on stage by all the demons. Using no pre-recorded material, very little amplification and employing many ‘OTR’ type sound effects gadgets in with the musical instruments.

There are many imagistic scenes in which very little is said and the story is conveyed through the movement and actions of the actors and the sound-scape and music.

So the audio version will be a ‘Concept Album’ with alot of musical passages.

This new show is so exciting that I’m tempted to cash in some frequent flyer miles to see the show myself. Share new Crazy Dog’age with your friends!

Episode 190 – BBC Radio’s The Handmaid’s Tale

Fred — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 22:30:44 +0000

Oh, dear listeners, today we have a treat for you! It’s a story commissioned by the the gold standard in audio drama – the BBC!

The show is producer John Dryden’s inspired adaptation of The Handmaid’s Tale, by Margaret Atwood. The story tells of a dismal future where the lines between church and state are no longer distinguishable, and the nature of femininity has been revised to fit a more religious bent.

Free young women are conscripted to become “handmaid’s” – women used as stand-ins for infertile wives in a world where sterility seems rampant… And this is the story of one of those Handmaids.

Part 1 of 3.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast190.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 190

Episode 180 – FinalRune’s Stony Troll, and ZBS’ Brass Fantabulous

Fred — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 02:50:46 +0000

Well, call it a festival of short-form audio fiction. This week we hear the first serialized episode of FinalRune’s new tale, The Troll of Stony Brook, an exciting completely original audio drama that makes it out to the world and to your ears first.

Stay tuned all this month for additional episodes of the new show, or head to FinalRune to purchase the whole show now (for the ridiculously low price of $2.99).

We follow up with two parts of ZBS’ steamy new show, Lady Windermere’s Brass Fantabulous, which you saw earlier in the YouTube form and with a really bad ass mug.

So, let’s enjoy this excellent work. Just don’t ask me about the mysterious latin music in the background.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast180.mp3)
Download Radio Drama Revival – Episode 180

Episode 167 – Zombies Return for “War,” Creators of We’re Alive Chat

Fred — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 18:24:34 +0000

At last! We kick off the audio serial series on Radio Drama Revival, starting with an excellent show we featured back in November – We’re Alive, A Story of Survival.. AKA “The Zombie Podcast.”

We’re Alive is now reaching its season 1 finale, and it is a blast (literally and figuratively). Zombies assault the tower and our beleaguered characters need to make a stand… So starts “War,” episode 1 of 4.

Following the teaser season finale, we have an interview with show creators Kc Wayland and Shane Salk, who talk about their background in audio and media, and why creating a zombie podcast makes such great sense.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast167.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival – Episode 167

New Dramatized Poetry by Roger Gregg – And Comments on BBC Radio Drama

Fred — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 02:29:19 +0000

Fresh from Ireland, a cool new video from a new show, ‘THE BEE-LOUD GLADE: A Living Anthology of Contemporary Irish Poetry,’ with music by Roger Gregg & Crazy Dog Audio Theatre.

Meanwhile, I solicited some pretty candid comments from Roger about the news regarding BBC radio drama:

Behind all this is the well-entrenched paradigm which has been embraced since the year dot over here.

Namely that ‘Radio Drama’ is Theatre on the radio and that ‘theatre’ must always come in the form of ‘plays’.

‘Plays’ are presented in long formats, 90 minutes, an hour, 45 minutes.

Half hour things are ‘Light Entertainment’ or half-hour or less slot ‘Serials’ such as the Archers [which I think is around the 15 minute mark]. … The Radio Networks do the research and time and time again it comes back to them that relatively NO ONE listens to the long-form ‘drama’ – go over half an hour and the numbers go down…down…after 45 minutes down…down…over that .. down …down… gone.

But since ‘Theatre’ and ‘Drama’ MUST always in their paradigm be about presenting ‘Plays’ they are stuck.

I don’t know how many times I’ve banged the drum for SHORT slots citing the wonderful success Dirk Maggs achieved with
so much of his BBC Radio 2 adventure series. Daily in short segments, an omnibus on the weekends and if and when a CD is released or it’s put up on the internet, then you can connect all the daily segments together with discrete track i.d.s between each segment for easy cueing. I have said this in writing to RTE and Radio 2 as well as suggested in writing to a couple of the independent stations,
but NO ONE is interested.

The emprical marketing and listening pattern research is there. Time and time again the statistics and conclusions therefrom are plain to see. Station Programmers meticulously study this data and have adapted old and created new highly successful programming and
styles and modes of presentation.

YET the bastion of ‘Radio Drama’ remains impervious to this. This is one reason why they do themselves no favours and are often regarded as the hindbound nuisance in stations compelled to produce drama.

Youch! Hard truths but worth meditating on. I know that plenty of people listen to long-form drama – on demand – but on broadcast radio it’s a whole different beast.

Roger’s comments bring Tom Lopez’s work on 2 Minute Film Noir, indeed, his work with Ruby and Jack Flanders being released as ongoing serialized shorts. In an environment where attention spans are short and time is precious, less is more.

Episode 165 – What Would You Do With Just Five Minutes?

Fred — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 22:55:09 +0000

You have minutes to tell a story… Go!

So was the challenge presented by Lance Axt in his contest “You Have Five Minutes.” What follows is a thirty-minute show of dazzling diversity, showcasing what unique things can happen in short-form sound!

Get it while you can, as we’re posting it for only two weeks and then it will only be available as a pay-per-download from the Spoken Network.

Also! Don’t forget to pitch in to help Radio Drama Revival. Please donate 5 bucks to WMPG and voice your support for this podcast. Just click the Paypal link below:

COMMITTED TO THE RADIO DRAMA REVIVAL ARCHIVES! Details on when you can purchase this show will go up as they are available…

Episode 162 – Wall Street Journal Featured Radio Play: Joe Gunther Audio Pilot

Fred — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 03:46:12 +0000

Phew, so, if you looked at The Wall Street Journal yesterday, you would’ve seen an article about FinalRune Productions and our newest project we’re announcing to the world: the serialization of the novel Open Season by Archer Mayor.

Today we feature this very exciting, on-location recorded audio drama. Yes, the snow you hear is snow!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast162.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 162

Wall Street Journal Features FinalRune Productions!!!

Fred — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 07:00:19 +0000

What can I say, I’m giddy beyond words.

My own audio drama group, FinalRune Productions, was featured in the Wall Street Journal on February 25, 2010.

The article, entitled “Return With Us to the Thrilling Days Of Yesteryear—Via the Internet,” heavily focused on FinalRune’s signature field recording style and director Fred Greenhalgh’s passion for reviving audio drama in an age of the iPod.

I’ll let the article speak for itself, and wait, there’s more… great video!!!

Episode 158: Sci Fi of a Darker Shade

Fred — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 03:02:01 +0000

This week we feature the work of Darker Projects, purveyors of audio drama of a darker shade.

And do they deliver! With more than a dozen podcasts covering werewolves, vampires, zombies, aliens, and much more, head over to their website to sate your taste for darkness.

Today’s double feature comes from their series of short original sci-fi, Dark Matter.

We hear the story of a society that refuses to accept an alternative view of mankind in “The Specimen,” then of a crew who has traveled outer space, only to learn that the greatest dangers they face are human alone, in “Heroes.”

Download audio file (rdr-podcast158.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 158

Episode 157 – These Jokes Get Spacey

Fred — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 01:33:25 +0000

This week, we feature the live Mark Time Award Radio Show from CONvergence 2009, put on by our friends, the Great Northern Audio Theater.

I was behind-the-scenes on this show and got an opportunity to speak with GNAT’s Brian Price, Jerry Stearns, and Kris Markman – you can listen to that interview on episode 130.

So, for the show itself, we don’t hear anything about Haiti, terrorists, or swing votes in the senate. Instead, we answer the pressing age-old question: What DID the orc get on his SATs?

Download audio file (rdr-podcast157.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival – Episode 157

Episode 155 – FinalRune Visits Three Skeleton Key

Fred — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 04:26:55 +0000

Today we feature the final installment in FinalRune’s 2009 project of old time radio re-creations with the Mad Horse Theater Company.

The tale is the classic “Three Skeleton Key,” recorded many times, no doubt, but never before (we suspect) in a genuine Maine lighthouse.

The tale? Three lighthouse keepers find themselves the prisoners of their charge once an ill-fated derelict vessel runs aground, unleashing a plague of devilish rats.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast155.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival – Episode 155

Episode 154 – Chatterbox Tells a Story of Those Dead and Gone

Fred — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:48:50 +0000

The writing of James Joyce is as much known for how challenging it is to decipher as for its portraits of humanity in a difficult world. Its hard enough to find audiobooks of his work (could you imagine a single-voiced reading of Ulysses?), and it seems that most audio dramatists have steered clear.

Not so for Chatterbox Audio Theater, who bring us a profoundly moving story of people reflecting on the simple challenges of life. The story, Dead and Gone, is based on James Joyce’s story of The Dead – but the setting, rather than Ireland, is the American South.

I gushed about this inspired retelling in a review a few months ago – now, enjoy the audio.

Ah, but first! A special treat – the Drabblecast audio fiction podcast reveals to us how close Santa Claus came to the edge – and who really saved Christmas.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast154.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 154

Episode 153: The Blue Carbuncle Finds Its Way Home… And Holmes’ Painful Predicament

Fred — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 15:04:19 +0000

This week we feature the conclusion to Quicksilver Radio Theater‘s adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes Tale, The Blue Carbuncle.

Last week we found a precious gem lodged in the gullet of a Christmas goose, which led Sherlock and Watson on a quest to find its owner – the goose that is, not the gem. The goose’s owner was happy with any cooked goose, making the detective duos realize they would need to hit the streets to learn the origin of this mystery foul…

Listen to the conclusion of this fun adventure, plus a bonus, the “Painful Predicament of Sherlock Holmes.”

Enjoy!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast153.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 153

P.S. – A reminder that Audiofile Magazine and Naxos Audiobooks are still offering three free Sherlock Holmes audiobooks until December 29… So go load up your new iPod with great tales of the detective!

Episode 152 – In Search of the Blue Carbuncle

Fred — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 17:28:51 +0000

This week we bring back the Quicksilver Radio Theater in a most peculiar of Sherlock Holmes tales set during the Christmas season.

A fat goose, a random mugging, and a precious gem. How do all three relate, and who committed this most unusual crime?

Enjoy!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast152.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 152

P.S. – If you enjoy tales of the great detective, Audiofile Magazine and Naxos Audiobooks have a wonderful Christmas gift for you: three free Sherlock Holmes audiobooks.

You can also see behind-the-scenes YouTube videos and hear interviews with Holmes narrators. A holiday treasure! Hopefully AudioFile continues offering these great treats throughout the new year.

Episode 149 – The Big Dark, Audio Vampire Crime Drama

Fred — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:46:33 +0000

What are we thankful for here at Radio Drama Revival? Compelling, original audio drama… like what you’re about to hear today, the latest from 19 Nocturne Boulevard.

A tough southern belle dectective investigates a series of mysterious murders with her partner. But the motives of the killer and tastes of the good guys is all stranger than you’d expect in this twist on vampire mythology.

Enjoy, “The Big Dark”

Download audio file (rdr-podcast149.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 149

Episode 148 – The Zombies Are Coming… But We’re Alive!

Fred — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 11:16:26 +0000

Ahhh, the living dead. Just in case the onslaught of reanimated corpses in my Halloween special weren’t enough to suite your tastes for the undead, we’ve got a plentiful serving of more from our new friends Wayland Enterprises, a group of California-based filmmakers turned audio dramatists.

It’s “We’re Alive,” AKA the Zombie Podcast.

In this tight, action-packed serial, a group of Iraq vets become the inadvertant protectors of a motley group of civilians in downtown LA during a zombie outbreak. Human drama and action ensues.

Good stuff, hope you enjoy.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast148.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 148

Episode 147: Roger Gregg’s “Ghost Behind the Black Door”

Fred — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 21:10:38 +0000

Well, the dust is not yet settled on Halloween and the eeriness seeps into this month… Starting with the original “Ghost Behind the Black Door,” to contrast the same tale we re-told in my 2009 Halloween Live Radio Drama.

So, the story? A couple moves from the city to a remote mansion in Ireland, where every spooky story cliche is abused in this hilariously ghoulish half hour. From the Crazy Dog Live collection.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast147.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 147

Bonus! Quicksilver’s Frankenstein Stalks Again…

Fred — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 01:41:13 +0000

Art by Kerry Gammill

Trick or treat? No, treat!

Today’s bonus episode is from Quicksilver Radio Theater, a tremendously great group based out of New York City who have brought us such gems as Good Friday, 1865, Lincoln’s Last Day, The Speckled Band, Julius Caesar, and, of course, this one: a true-to-the-text version of Frankenstein.

Yes, it’s the classic tale of a creature that turns against its creator after the creator realizes the horror of playing god. Forget the movies, and give you ears a treat!

Download audio file (rdr-bonus-quicksilver-frankenstein.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival – Bonus Episode: Quicksilver’s Frankenstein

Credits:

Directed by JAY STERN (Independent Feature, “THE CHANGELING”), and faithfully adapted by Producer CRAIG WICHMAN from Mary Shelley’s novel, this drama explores the story’s themes of responsibility and obsession – perhaps even more relevant in our day than in the author’s.

JOSEPH FRANCHINI is Victor Frankenstein and MR. WICHMAN (“TWILIGHT ZONE” radio dramas) is his Monster, with (in alphabetical order), CLYDE BALDO, JODI BOTELHO, ROBERT HESS, VITO LaBELLA, SUSAN MUIR, and JOHN PRAVE.

Sound by DAVID NOLAN, with effects by MR. BALDO. Music is by TONY AWARD-Winner MARK HOLLMANN.

Episode 144: People From Away Get Lost on “The Nephews” and the Vault Keeper Makes an Appearance

Fred — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 13:45:46 +0000

This week we welcome the audio mastery of Bill Dufris and his Mind’s Eye Productions back to the show. We’ve heard him previously with his story “The Derelict” and the year before on our Halloween Special with the Lovecraft tale, “The Statement of Randolph Carter.”

Today we have two new tales that are new to the podcast world. ”The Nephews” is a new adaptation of a story by Rick Hautala, telling about a group of sea salts in coastal Maine who get mighty curious about the fate of a man from away who goes to investigate a derelict light house.

In “Hollywood Ending,” we welcome The Vaultkeeper, a sinister and ghoulish narrator for a tale of love that doesn’t go as plan… This is ghoulishly good, listen on!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast144.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 144

Adapted and Produced by William Dufris at Mind’s Eye Productions

Based on short story The Nephews by Rick Hautala (HOW tah lah)

CAST

Dave Marshall

Thomas Power

Jennywren Sanders

JP Guimont

William Dufris

Credits, “The Nephews”

Adapted and Produced by William Dufris at Mind’s Eye Productions
Based on short story The Nephews by Rick Hautala

CAST

Dave Marshall
Thomas Power
Jennywren Sanders
JP Guimont
William Dufris

Credits, “Hollywood Ending” from TALES FROM THE CRYPT

CAST

Dan Bernard
Kymberly Dakin
William Dufris
Christopher Price

Episode 143: Stoddesden Hall is Rather Grim…

Fred — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 17:56:55 +0000

This week our Halloween-inspired Ghoulishness continues its fervor and picks up the pace with a haunting tale of woe from the audio masters of The Wireless Theater Company.

In a remote, aging manorhouse in England, Edgar, the disaffected manor-keeper takes out his frustrations on the sickly owner of the mansion. But blood shed is hard to take back, and soon Edgar is forced to take more and more drastic measures to hid his evil deeds, and finds the escalating madness impossible to escape.

A gore-iously great tribute to Edgar Allan Poe that both lampoons and celebrates gothic fiction.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast143.mp3)

Written By: Stuart Price
Starring: Knight Mantell, David Beck, Jessica Dennis, Leonie Hill, Josh Cass and Andrew Glenn. Foley by Jack Bowman, Dean Elliott and Reuben Anderson.
Edited By: Scott Wiber
Directed By: Stuart Price
Music By: Michael Bruce

Fred’s Fuze: The Drabblecast (Podcast Review)

Fred — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 17:17:12 +0000

Title: Drabblecast
Author: Multiple
Producer: Norm Sherman
Type: Flash Fiction Podcast
Genre: Who Knows
Availability: Free Download (Podcast)

My Two Cents: Wow oh wow. Kevin Anderson gets a low and reverential bow for me for turning me on to the Drabblecast, and for that matter the whole universe of audio fiction podcasts — EscapePod, PodCastle, SteamPod, Dunesteef, Psuedopod, etc. This is the kind of stuff that I wish I were doing. Well, on top of running Radio Drama Revival. It’s what I originally had in mind for FinalRune. Sorta.

I’m going to review each of the other audio fiction podcasts in their own time, but I want to give a special bow to what Norm Sherman is doing with the Drabblecast. As someone who is lacking completely to an ounce any talent producing music, I was blown away by him throwing in absolutely stunning song about a mutant turtle in a recent episode. Presuming he does the music for the actual stories he reads, too, well that’s just damn good.

Norm’s show isn’t strictly audio drama but if you’re a fan of stories in sound you’ll like it. It’s the shortest of the audio fiction ‘casts — it rarely runs more than 15 minutes — so if you’re like me, and find brevity the heart of audio, then you’ll dig it. There’s never a dull moment on this podcast.

Some other time I might comment on specific episodes which I love – there are a bunch. For now I encourage you just to mosey over to the Drabblecast and start listening.

Episode 137: The End of the Sphinx Affair (For Now)

Fred — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 13:59:52 +0000

This week we conclude our run of episodes by Boston-based Colonial Radio Theater, the “Yankee Clipper and the Adventure of the Golden Sphinx.”

The third episode just gets us to the action as it’s heating up, but head over to Spoken Network to hear more.

Following up the episode is an exclusive interview with Colonial Radio’s Jerry Robbins… Stay tuned!

Download audio file (rdr-podcast137.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 137

International Mystery Writers’ Festival Celebrates Agatha Chrystie in Style

Fred — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:49:37 +0000

August has been a killer month for the Queen of Crime. She took main feature in Audiofile Magazine with their epic feature on the audio legacy of Agatha Christie, and no sooner did I finish reading the mag then did I hear that four — count ‘em four — of her plays were being produced in live performance at the International Mystery Writers’ Festival in Owensboro, Kentucky.

Those shows aired last week (August 15) on WNIN, and wow, what a doozy it was.

It kicked off with the previously unpublished “Butter in a Lordly Dish,” a tale of sweet revenge of Biblical scope, and easily my favorite play of the batch (and, unsurprisingly, the darkest). The show continued with “Three Blind Mice,” a tale of deception and murder that inspired the long-running theater production “The Mousetrap,” then “Personal Call,” of a wife ready to honeymoon with a husband who is not all that he seems, and finally concludes with “Yellow Iris,” an enchanting Hercule Poirot tale set in a London night club.

All the tales were excellent, in no short part due to the exceedingly talented cast and crew, with such names as Phil Proctor, Gary Sandy, and Orson Ossman along with performers from across the country. Melinda Peterson gets special recognition for her marvelous portrayal of Christie herself – who was used as the narrator/MC of the evening – a delightful way to gain insights about the writer and to give continuity to the stories. Sound effects were by master Tony Brewer and Preston Ossman.

David Ossman directed the show, which again makes it no surprise that the performance was so exceedingly awesome. Finally, no short praise goes to Zev Buffman and Judith Walcutt for producing the show.

It’s not clear when a CD or digital version of this tale will be out, but keep checking out the International Mystery Writers’ Festival website. Also, WNIN also ran a summer mystery audio drama series, and you can hear several pieces from the previous years’ festival online: http://www.wnin.org/radio/summer-mystery-series.html.

This was the third year of the mystery writers festival, and it seems like they just keep upping the ante. Seeing such an audio drama emphasis at a non-audio specific conference is extremely exciting, and leads me to start researching fares to Kentucky for next summer…

Episode 134: Eric Bauersfeld and Jim McKee Discuss 40 Years of Radio Drama in the Bay Area

Fred — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:27:46 +0000

This week we talk to Erik Bauersfeld, a producer, director, and actor in audio drama for more than 40 years, and a figure who gets too little attention in the history of the art.

Erik started in the early days of KPFA with the Black Mass series, which is now widely circulated on the ‘net. However, that was only the roughest start of his career – he went on to produce for many more years with a variety of groups, including the founding of Bay Area Radio Drama, and the Horspiel-America project.

Chris Dueker has covered him in the Malleus series, talking about the Horspiel-America project and reviewing a work of Kafka’s Metamorphosis.

I had the opportunity to talk to Erik about four decades of radio drama in the San Francisco Bay Area, including early field recording pieces with Randy Thom and many more works produced with sound designed Jim McKee, who also joined us on the phone.

With no further ado, let’s get into the work of Erik Bauersfeld.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast134.mp3)

Radio Drama Revival – Episode 134

Episode 133: Joe Lansdale Joins Us for Halloween in July

Fred — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 21:59:32 +0000

This week is the “Halloween in July” episode, so named because we welcome back horror writer Joe R. Lansdale for an interview about his latest two books, Sanctified and Chicken Fried and Vanilla Ride. We talk to Joe about the joy of storytelling, how well stories can be told in audio, and what still intrigues him about the tough men of East Texas.

But before we get to all that, we spook you again with the dramatization of Joe’s story “God of the Razor” by our friends at The Grist Mill.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast133.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 133

Download audio file (rdr-bonus-joe-lansdale.mp3)
Bonus: Standalone Interview, Joe R. Lansdale

P.S. The phrase “Halloween in July” is snagged from a killer short story by Kevin Anderson. Kevin’s work frequently appears on two of my favorite podcasts, the Drabblecast and the Dunesteef Audio Fiction Magazine. He also has his own blog and runs the audio market list for writers seeking audio publication.

Episode 132: Behind the Curtain of “The Flickerman”

Fred — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 19:31:42 +0000

the flickerman is a cerebral, post-modern, interactive audio…. something. Is it a drama? Is it reality? The two seem to blur as we talk to the series’ producer – Lance Dann – who tells us how this intense audio conspiracy was re-created from tapes sent to him by his friend Cornelius, and how the very success of the series threatens its downfall.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast132.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 132

Episode 131: Mark Time Winner “The Outpost”

Fred — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 16:32:34 +0000

We wrap up our focus on the 2008 Mark Time Awards with the presentation of the Gold Mark Time winner, 19 Nocturne Boulevard’s “The Outpost.” We talked to the series’ diva, Julie Hoverson, back in December so we throw that interview in here for good taste.

In “The Outpost,” a woman from a matriarchal space-roving society finds herself on a distant space station with… *gasp* … men! What happens is an exploration of differing cultures, world views, and a little bit of good ol’ humanism.

Download audio file (rdr-podcast131.mp3)
Radio Drama Revival – Episode 131