Born to Teachers and Amateur Audio Enthusiasts in the small rural community of Belwood, Jack's first love was stories- writing, reading, telling, and singing. He developed his acting skills through High School, University, and through film and community theatre.
Jack writes the lion's share of Sonic Cinema Production's (previously Electric Vicuna) Audio Drama scripts and has his own writing site at www.jackjward.com. Jack also is the middle of book writing, screenplay production, and is the CEO of the Mutual Audio Network- where he and the best people in the world Listen & Imagine, Together!.
He's thrilled to co-host the Sonic Society with his wonderful, talented, friend David Ault as they enter their second decade in the medium!
This week Jack and David swear themselves to secrecy as the discover story of the world’s most secret agents…the backups. Mission Rejected is created, produced and written by Pete Barry, J. Michael DeAngelis and John P. Dowgin and from The Porch Room!
Our missing Amigo would be hitting my mailbox with joy at this latest turn of the audio drama world. Mark Dreisonstok from The Sentinel posted this lovely gem about Dark Shadows gaining new life in the audio drama world.
The gothic serial “Dark Shadows” has had various incarnations over the years. Starting as an original television soap opera of the 1960s and 1970s, it became a comic book series, a big-budget 1991 primetime series, and several movies. The most recent adaptation was a Tim Burton film, which is both an homage and a spoof of the original series.
For more than a decade now, the original series has also been continued with original cast members and new storylines in a series of audio productions by UK-based Big Finish Productions.
Fans of the series will, of course, remember Barnabas Collins. Turned into a vampire by the witch Angelique, Barnabas is undoubtedly the most charismatic “Dark Shadows” character, killing mortal after mortal as a vampire but showing great pathos and remorse as well as fierce loyalty to his family. Collins appears in the Big Finish audio dramas, though less prominently, perhaps because Jonathan Frid, the original actor from the TV show, passed away soon after the audio series began. Nonetheless, Frid performs with cast members in one of the Big Finish productions, “The Night Whispers.” Frid is later replaced by the aptly named actor Andrew Collins in “The Curse of Shurafa,” in which he helps counter an ancient Egyptian curse.
Being from Canada, most of us never watched Dark Shadows when it was on. But I can absolutely, 100% guarantee Bill. We’d love to listen to it with you now.
Jack and David take a cruise this week with Barjory Buffet Cruise Detective. One last holiday before getting ready for the Mutual Audio Drama Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia July 24th-26th!
The 4077th Productions and All Better Audio have been stalwarts on the ramparts of the audio drama landscape for more than a decade. Last year we lost Viktor Aurelius, and this past February, his partner in the sublime, Jeff Niles. Jonathan Patrick Russell from Dreamrealm Enterprises provides this moving tribute to his friend and collaborator…
Jeff Niles, founder of The 4077th Productions, has died. That’s a shattering sentence to type, as well it should be. Jeff would probably like me to throw a gag in this bit, because he always liked me to throw more gags into things, but I can’t find one. My friend is gone, and the gags aren’t there for me now.
His voice lives on, in the many productions he was involved with, and in our hearts and memories. Jeff was well-loved – nobody had a bad word to say about him. He was kind and funny and engaging – and he was always, always doing things. Lots of things, often all at once. “Hey, Jeffster, how’s it going?” I’d ask, over some internet messenger service. “Pretty good,” he’d reply, “just got back from drum circle to grab a bite to eat before heading over to rehearsals for the Radio Players. Spent all morning recording lines for Robotz of the Company, MOSH, Dr Who, a fantasy epic series, a political thriller, a sitcom about clowns, and a 15th Century dark romance set on the high seas, involving penguins.” “Cool,” I’d say, wondering where he got the energy and the enthusiasm. Because he was always enthusiastic, always seeing the positive side of things, forever singing the praises of the people he worked with and the projects he was involved with. I sometimes wondered if he was just being polite about sub par scripts (and I’ve written enough of those), but I think he genuinely loved acting and producing, and just being involved. To him, the good bits in anything always outweighed the bad bits, meaning he would invariably be prone to judge a work favourably. His enthusiasm was infectious. He rescued lots of things from the dustbin of ideas, gave them a smile and a good talking to, and released them into the world.
Someone soon should try to compile a list of all the performances he gave. That would be an awesome thing to read through. Because he could play anything. He did play anything. His range was enormous. He’s been Doctor Who (and The Master), Sherlock Holmes, Mycroft Holmes, Professor Moriarty, various robotz (including the wonderful Zim Tron), sundry demons, Shakespeare’s King John, Edgar Allan Poe, Ebenezer Scrooge, Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, Robin Hood, Faust, hard-boiled noir detective Lance Hardwick, Count Dracula, Tomás de Torquemada, and many, many, many more. So many more! He’d often be cast in several parts in the same thing, because no role was too small for him. I swear he did a MOSH single-handedly once, playing every character in a variety of accents. When we last spoke in December, I’d asked him to play the Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, and I was greatly looking forward to hearing him play the part. Damn you, Jeff, now I’m going to have to recast! (That gag was for you, old friend)
Aside from being so busy and enthusiastic, he was always surprising. One day he told me he was producing audio campaign adverts for politicians. Another time he told me he had a whole other life as a pirate – he even had photos to prove it. That was another thing about Jeff – he was always in photos with people. There he is with an arm around Peter Davison. Here, he’s smiling at Nichelle Nichols. And here he is sat playing drums aboard a spaceship. That moustache! Those glasses! That twinkle in the eye.
We talked about producing a final MOSH story in the spring, with Holmes and Watson in their dotage, solving a case in their retirement home. The villain was going to be Moriarty’s daughter, now a Nurse Ratched type character. He wanted to call it Holmes Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, but I talked him out of it. I’m going to write it anyway, and set it at Holmes’s funeral. And, Jeff, yes that’ll be the title.
My friend has died, but I’m still writing gags for him.
Goodbye, my friend.
The Amigos are back and saddled up to ride down the trail with westerns for Season 4! They begin their journey with the classic western favourite- Gunsmoke!
David comes back from the “No Sleep Podcast European Tour” to talk about his experiences, and we share the inaugural episode of “Of Fae and Fiends” from Fred Greenhalgh and FinalRune Productions!
Jack fulfills his birthday wish this day by going back to the original opening episodes of “The Account” from Teknikal Diffikulties’ incredible audio genius, Cayenne Chris Conroy!
This week David and Jack return with another incredible look at the sci-fi sonically magical “Tin Can” by David Devereux!
This week David and Jack contemplate Jack’s love of science fiction at this time of the year as they feature two episodes of “Copperheart” from Rigg Stories!
This week David and Jack this week have a look-see at another incredibly popular new series “How I Died” by Vincent Dajani with episodes one and two!
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