Tonight in a double-frighture for Halloween Night we present the last performance of Chatterbox Audio Theater with “The Cask of Amontillado” and “Faith” by Electric Vicuna Productions starring the incredible Tanja Milojevic and produced by Scott Mosher.
Author: Jack (Page 80 of 179)
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!
As David rehearses in Toronto for the No Sleep Live show, he and Jack present the hillscarious show Attention Hellmart Shoppers from Fatecrafters.
Virginia’s, New Vienna Community Center will help light up their 2017-2018 season with an evening of live radio dramas “In Living Sound – Back Home” for the end of October.
Check out the Connection article on the upcoming performance:
In its first show of the 2017-2018 season in the newly renovated Vienna Community Center, the Vienna Theatre Company is presenting the live radio drama, “In Living Sound – Back Home,” this coming weekend, Oct. 27-28, at 8 p.m.
#Directed by Patricia Kallman, the ensemble of six actors is performing four scripts from the Golden Age of Radio during the 1930s and 1940s – one humor, one crime, one sweet tale from the Depression and one horror. The ensemble cast includes: Stuart Fischer, Terry Mason, Jay T. Stein, Jocelyn Steiner, John Totten and Kathy Young.
#The first show, “Popeye – Visiting the Zoo,” which is replete with live sound effects by Sherry Kaiser and Roy Kallman, was an episode that aired in the 1930s. In this play, Popeye, Olive Oyl, Wimpy and Matey, the newsboy, visit the zoo in search of adventure.
#Kallman said she paid particular attention to the voices to get them down just right. “They are so distinctive for Popeye and they were so popular. So I thought that would be the interesting vocal part for this,” said Kallman, 70, of the Greenbriar community who co-founded the Alliance Theater in Centreville with Elaine Wilson in 2000.
#HER CHALLENGE was to make the sound effects interesting, she said. “We debated animal sounds. We tried a lot of different things. We tried all kinds of things for the hyena. It would be fun if there were actual animal noises but we did the best we could with them. There weren’t any in the original radio play; we thought we would add something to it.”
#The second play, “Boston Blackie – Blackie and the Fur Trade,” which aired in 1945, was created by Jack Boyle, a newspaper reporter and reformed opium addict while serving a term in San Quentin for robbery. Blackie started out as a jewel thief and safecracker, but then became a detective. The radio series spawned 14 films for Columbia Pictures. In this play, Janet and Harry are fur thieves, and are apparently getting assistance from Boston Blackie. But the hare-brained Inspector Faraday is in hot pursuit and we learn that crime doesn’t pay.
#Kallman said she was trying to recreate a film noir kind of feel to it – “the mystery and the grit,” she said. “I was really amazed when I started researching it; I didn’t know there were 14 Boston Blackie movies,” she said.
#The third play, “The Fleischmann’s Yeast Hour – The Church Mouse” first aired on Dec. 19, 1935. Also known as the Rudy Vallee Show, it was a musical variety show on NBC from 1929 through 1936, and into 1939 when it was renamed The Royal Gelatin Hour. In its prime, it was second only to “Amos ‘n Andy” for popularity and showcased many stars of the future. In this play, a meek but scrappy unemployed secretary lobbies for a job in a bank in a creative and unconventional way.
#Kallman said she was trying for something a bit lighter. “It was three times made into a movie and it was on Broadway as a play first,” she said. “I guess it ends up being a love story. I forgot that people were desperately hungry in the middle of the depression. People were trying to get by, so it’s amusing to hear her talk about dividing up a sardine.”
#The final play, “Lights Out – Knock at the Door,” first aired on CBS in 1942. This tale begets the supernatural, when an overly protective mother is done away with by her new daughter-in-law. Arch Oboler took over Wyllis Cooper’s series in 1936 when it had 600 fan clubs. Rod Serling counted the duo as his inspiration for “Twilight Zone,” which was to TV what “Lights Out” was to radio.
#“We all said Halloween is coming and we ought to end up with something scary,” said Kallman. “We read a number of scripts and thought somebody coming back from the dead was interesting.”
#The Vienna Theater Company is presenting the live radio drama, “In Living Sound – Back Home,” Oct. 27-28 at 8 p.m. Tickets are $14. The venue is located at The Vienna Community Center, 120 Cherry St., SE, Vienna, VA. Visit the website at http://www.viennatheatrecompany.org.
Tonight Lothar Tuppan leads the Amigos- Jeff Billard and Jack Ward in a discussion about the classic horror “Valese Triste” from Arch Oboler and Lights Out!
This week Jack and David explore the world of the podcast Rabbits Podcast with Carly Parker, and talk about the upcoming No Sleep Live show in Toronto.
Tonight on the Sonic Society we begin our double-feature with Chatterbox Audio‘s “Marjorie and the Magic Words” by Robert Arnold, and finish with a tale of fright from Room 503 Productions with “Just a Campfire Scare”. Because, IT’S AUDIO DRAMA TIME!
It is no secret that I have always loved Orson Welles. One of the great compliments I had was back in Teacher’s college when someone saw me on the stage and remarked later that I would take this compliment too far but I had indeed resembled the great man in her mind.
I was humbled. Of course, there never was, and never will be a man like him. This interview was said to be his last, and perhaps even on the day of his death. What charm. What panache. What a man. Here on the anniversary of his death we remark his passing. 32 Years without Welles.
Tonight we complete the epic fantasy Ancestry: Book One from Dayn Leonardson and Koach Studios! IT’S AUDIO DRAMA TIME.
Tonight we continue with part two of Koach Studios epic Ancestry: Book One from the mind of Dayn Leonardson! IT’S AUDIO DRAMA TIME.
Someone wise once said, ‘If your life is worth living, it’s worth writing down.”
I think similarly if your audio has value to you, it’s worth preserving. That’s why when Gregg Taylor of Decoder Ring Theatre said in one of our interviews that he’s been uploading his shows to archive.org it made me consider that it’s probably time to do the same with the Sonic Society. It’s a large process to go back and even upload Season 12, but that’s been accomplished. We’ll go backwards and fill in the last couple years for sure.
There’s untold generations that should have a real understanding where and who started this amazing movement- the modern audio drama medium. And we’ve had front row seats in the past decade. Thank you everyone for your encouragement through the years!