Blumhouse’s latest project is aiming to scare the headphones right off of horror fans.
iHeartPodcasts, Realm and Blumhouse Television announced the spooky new scripted podcast “Dream Sequence” on Monday. The show is set to launch on Aug. 5, with new episodes every Monday, available on the iHeartRadio app and all major platforms.
Per the official synopsis, “‘Dream Sequence’ will tell the story of two sisters and the nightmare that brings them back together. Kay Craft hasn’t spoken to her sister Sadie since the tragedy that tore them apart seven years ago. But now Sadie’s resurfaced with her new invention, a machine that can record nightmares, and a new theory – that something’s alive within them. Whatever it is, Kay will have to confront it to survive.”
“Dream Sequence” was created by Andrew Robinson and directed by Dave Beazley and John Brooks. Molly Barton, Brooks, Marci Wiseman and Beazley are executive producing for Realm; Alex Williams and Trevor Young for iHeartPodcasts; and Chris Dickie and Noah Feinberg for Blumhouse Television. “Dream Sequence” is the fourth scripted series in a previously announced slate of co-produced podcasts by Blumhouse Television and iHeartMedia.
“Our slate of scripted shows with Blumhouse TV has captivated listeners and we’re excited to continue this journey with the introduction of ‘Dream Sequence,’” president of iHeartPodcasts Will Pearson said in a press release. “The new series will explore the realm of dreams and offer a chilling exploration of the darkest corners of the mind.”
“It has been a joy to extend our track record of producing high-quality and immersive content for partners while also contributing to Blumhouse’s run of horror hits with iHeartMedia,” CEO and co-founder of Realm Molly Barton also said in a statement. “We’re excited to join them in introducing the world to Andrew’s visionary, horrifying new take on the dream dimension.”
Sam Mowry has passed. I’m beyond saddened at this redwood of a talent in our forest of audio drama. Bob Hicks from Oregon Artswatch says it best in this article A giant falls: Sam Mowry, 1959-2024
Theater legend Sam A. Mowry, who died June 20, 2024. Photo courtesy Cindy McGean
Sam A. Mowry, a beloved Portland actor and director known both for his personal gentleness and generosity and for his deep, profoundly captivating onstage speaking voice, died on Saturday morning, July 20, 2024, at Kaiser Sunnyside Medical Center in Clackamas. He suffered massive cardiac arrest while being prepared to undergo emergency surgery for severe blockages in his arteries. He was 64.
“For those who do not know, my beloved Sam died this morning. His heart gave out,” Cindy McGean, his wife and theatrical partner, announced on Facebook. “Find each other and share stories and hugs and maybe a glass of whiskey or some bacon. I am heartbroken.”
Mowry was born in Pittsburgh, Pa., and moved to Portland in 1979, where he quickly established himself as a rising young star and eventually as a leading figure in the city’s theater scene both onstage and behind the scenes, lending a guiding hand to the late Heart Theatre and several other theater companies. In 2001 he added radio drama to his theatrical projects as one of the founders and leading lights of Willamette Radio Workshop.
Over the years onstage he played roles as diverse as Bertram in All’s Well That Ends Well, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, King Lear, a Willie Award-winning performance as Clark in Miguel Pinero’s prison drama Short Eyes, the teacher of deaf students in Mark Medoff’s Children of a Lesser God, a nefarious Professor Moriarty in a musical version of Sherlock Holmes, and even a couple of imposing theatrical lions: Shere Khan in The Jungle Book and the lion/god Aslan in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.
Sam A. Mowry (center) as King Lear, with Megan Murphy Ruckman as Goneril and Tom Beckett as Kent, in a 2010 production at Mt. Hood Community College.
Mowry was an actor of impressive range and subtlety, but his deep and agile voice was his calling card. It provided him a career as an active voice actor, doing roles in, among other things, video games such as Beastmaster, Clockwork, Warlock, and Necrophos.
His 1985 performance for Heart Theatre in the title role of Brecht’s The Life of Edward the Second of England, I wrote at the time, was “a tour de force. … His resonant voice, commanding appearance, kingly charisma and ability to grow old and feeble as the part demands, yet remain fiery to the end, would make this a play to remember even if all the other characters were duds,” which they were not.
In 1987 his vocal cords were paralyzed during surgery for thyroid cancer. He recovered fairly quickly. That same year he was “a deep-voiced prophet of doom,” as The Oregonian’s review put it, in the Ancient Greek Theater Festival’s Antigone. The following year I reviewed his memorable performance for the old New Rose Theatre in the children’s play Wiley and the Hairy Man, based on the old tall tales from the backwaters of Alabama and Mississippi: “As the Hairy Man, Sam A. Mowry is a raspy, threatening, slobberingly disgusting lout: a bad guy with style and a mighty strong roar.”
As impressive as Mowry’s vocal skills were, he had much more going on as an actor. Reviewing a 1987 performance with Warren Harshbarger in Edward Albee’s two-hander The Zoo Story, I wrote: “For much of the play, Mowry’s role is to shy away, be politely diplomatic, respond with composure to an interesting but unnerving situation. Mowry handles it with humor and subtlety, playing well (as basketball aficionados put it) without the ball.”
Still, bigness was part of what Mowry was about. Sam idolized the larger-than-life Orson Welles, as a performer and director unafraid to think and act in a deep and oversized manner. And in 2010, for a holiday season performance at Tapestry Theatre of 1945 Christmas From Home, he got to play him, as Marty Hughley noted in The Oregonian: “Also striking is a cameo performance by Sam A. Mowry, who does a dead-on impression of radio showman Orson Welles.”
Intriguingly, Mowry’s acting career brushed close to the deities and their hangers-on on more occasions than his portrayal of the lion/god Aslan. In 1984, he played the Archangel Lucifer in Portland playwright Doug Watson’s The Creation. Phil Hunt reviewed the show for The Oregonian: “Lucifer is the strong member of this cast, bold one moment, sly the next, angelic at times, yet ready to get caught up in the same sin that he is promoting among the humans on occasion. … (the role is) done to near-perfection by Sam A. Mowry.”
In 1990 Columbia Theatre produced Bruce Graham’s Early One Evening at the Rainbow Bar and Grille, in which God and the bartender are sitting and having a beer after the humans have pretty much blown the planet to smithereens. Sam played the bartender. “As Shep, the intellectual bartender who writes trashy sex novels, Sam A. Mowry has the easygoing manner of a guy who can handle any trouble that walks through the door,” I wrote. “What with the world blowing up and all, he finds himself the target of two beautiful women out for a last-minute fling.”
And in a 1992 interview about Phoenix Theatre’s production of Christopher Fry’s The Lady’s Not for Burning, in which he starred as the doleful romantic hero, Thomas Mendip, Mowry noted: “Punishment back then was almost as much an entertainment as it was a punishment. If you’ve got a witch-burning or a hanging, it’s kind of like a double-header.”
A 2019 group reading of “A Christmas Carol” at the Mowry/McGean house. Cindy McGean and Sam Mowry are third and fourth from the left.
As formidable as Mowry’s acting and directing skills were, they did not entirely account for the deep affection with which he was regarded in Portland’s theater community. In person, Sam was simply a lovely person. He was genuinely friendly: His voice, so dominating onstage, took on a softer eloquence as he spoke with you, and it usually seemed to be accompanied by a glint of humor, a kind of wrapping-up with warmth. “Sam said you should always tell someone you love that you love them, because you never know what’s going to happen,” his wife, Cindy, said.
His close companionship with Cindy, his wife of 30 years, and with his son, Atticus, were apparent, and they seemed to spill over to his large circle of friends and fellow workers, too. He and Cindy would host formal and informal gatherings at their Northeast Portland home, sometimes casual gatherings in what they called “the casbah,” sometimes group readings/slash/parties inside their house of the annual A Christmas Carol. He loved to be a mentor, McGean said — “he took that very seriously” — and if you were a newcomer to the theatrical circle, he would go out of his way to bring you in from the fringes. He loved collaboration. “He created this magical cathedral of community,” McGean said. “That was like a superpower.”
“He was also an AIDS buddy before that was a term,” Sam’s sister Judith Mowry said. “He loved and supported Peter Fornara so much.” Sam was the prime AIDS caretaker for Fornara, the legendary Portland actor and director who had been a mentor to him, and to fellow actor Richard Avila, McGean said.
Cindy McGean and Sam Mowry. Photo courtesy Cindy McGean.
For more than 20 years, Mowry and McGean have been active in reviving radio drama as a form of theater. In a 2019 ArtsWatch feature, John Longenbaugh wrote that in 2001, Mowry attended a meeting about forming a new audio drama company:
“’There was a notice in the paper saying that there was an informational meeting at the library about starting up a radio drama group,’ the veteran actor recalls. ‘I’d loved the form since I was a little kid, and had listened to it my entire life, through re-broadcasts. At the meeting there were 10 other people who I knew from here, and a couple that I hadn’t met but had been doing audio drama in Florida. …
“This plan evolved, and quickly, into the Willamette Radio Workshop, where after a few meetings it was decided to jump right in with an inaugural performance on October 30 at the CoHo Theater, with the most famous script of all, The Mercury Theatre’s production of The War of the Worlds. Like many ‘staged radio shows,’ the microphones were fake and the staged sound effects a rough approximation of the original, but the audiences were real enough. ‘There were people lining up as we were loading in, and it was completely packed.’”
McGean, who in the years since has written many of the scripts for Willamette Radio Theatre, remembers that opening War of the Worlds vividly. “It was after 9/11,” she says. “And let me tell you, that show felt very different under the circumstances.”
In addition to his wife, Cindy McGean, and his son, Atticus Mowry, Mowry is survived by his sisters Judith Mowry and Jane Galloway, and brother Paul Mowry.
Word of Sam’s death spread quickly on social media, and many friends and fellow theater workers commented. Among them:
— Actor Kevin-Michael Moore: “Today’s news of the unexpected death of Sam A. Mowry has completely knocked the wind out of me. I have known this man my entire adult life. He was the performer that I wanted to be when I was a young man. He was a mentor, a colleague, and just a very good soul. We are all less without him. My heart hurts today.”
— Actress Clara-Liis Hillier: “I’m heartbroken. He was such a presence in my early acting years in Portland and I loved the time we spent together. He was such a force.”
— Actor, writer, and sketch comedian Ted Douglass: “… a gentle lion of a man and a constant, lovely fixture in the PDX theater scene. Rest in peace, good sir.”
— Playwright Steve Patterson: “Portland theatre lost a legend today: producer, director, voice talent, writer, radio impresario, and—especially—actor Sam Mowry has passed on. I lost a beloved friend of at least 30 years, which is nothing compared to what his family has lost. … If I learned anything from Sam’s life, it’s this. When you’re hanging out after a play or at an after-party or in the bar, and somebody comes up with an idea that you and your colleagues and friends think is great, and you all talk about how you should do it … do it. Especially if the idea comes from someone like Sam. Just do the damned thing. If it flies, it will forever remain a high point in your life. And if it falls, learn to smile and shrug.”
Actor and director Tony Sonera put it succinctly: “When Giants fall, it shakes the earth, and the world is changed forever. A Giant of Portland theatre has passed. Sam A. Mowry has fallen, and I am shaken.”
And on Sunday morning, after a surprise thunder and lightning storm shook the city like a dog tearing a stuffed toy to shreds, McGean wrote: “Can you hear him in this completely uncharacteristic Portland thunderstorm? ‘Blow winds and crack your cheeks! Rage, rage you cataracts and hurricanos!’”
Sam A. Mowry, it turns out, does not leave the stage quietly.
With a brand new year, and our continued focus on bringing more to you, we now have a Mutual Reddit thread. If you’re a fan of reddit and need another place to talk about Audio Drama you have found or hope to find on Mutual please join us and tell us your thoughts!
From our first post:
Nearly six years ago, I had gotten off a plane from Texas.
I had met up with three other people to scatter the ashes of Bill Hollweg (Broken Sea Audio) a pioneer in the Modern Audio Drama movement.
By that time, I had spent nearly a decade and a half making audio drama- writing, producing and acting in hundreds of various shows many of my own. I had hosted and created the world’s largest collection of modern audio drama/audio fiction showcase- The Sonic Society. I had created the Audio Drama Rating System which dozens of companies have kind adopted to help provide a clearer perspective of age expectations for listening. I had begun the first audio drama script writing annual event (NADSWRIM- National Audio Drama Scriptwriting Month of February) and I had begun the process of putting together the world’s first convention of modern audio drama (MAD-CON). I had put my tent poles down, not because I wanted to be the face of this medium but rather to help raise of those who, like me, loved telling stories and wanted to have those works out there. I made it a point to interview some of the important innovators of the day, found new friends, and spent a lot of time writing about the various “Ages” of the audio drama movement, but still I had found so much more to be engaged with. Audio Drama has become like every other community. Folks find their own “tribe” and create their own stories and often times stovepipe from each other opportunities to grow and find new listeners. We see this in different tenors in different social media platforms. Reddit users are different people from X/Twitter users, from Facebook users, and especially Discord users.
I had seen people put together networks but found little benefit for me, as the people in my network would be the people I would connect with always. So what kind of network would I want to be a part of? I wanted a group of artists (a United Artists of Audio one might say) where we were inclusive based on ideas alone. Where someone regardless of their station in life could say, “Cool. I love that” and jump on board. When I considered names, one kept coming up to me: MUTUAL. Not only did I want our love of Audio Drama to be mutually beneficial, but the Mutual Broadcasting System was one of my favourite sources for radio drama of the past. The Shadow, The Mysterious Traveler, Arch Obeler, Captain Midnight, even Superman were all gifts to the future from the MBS.
And the rest is history. The Mutual Audio Network now has eight podcasts- seven daily podcasts dropping audio dramas based on the various genres (Monday Matinee, Tuesday Terror, Wednesday Wonders, Thursday Thrillers, Friday Follies, Saturday Story Circle, and Sunday Showcase) along with the full Mutual Broadcast Feed. There are other podcasts as well including Role Playhouse, Story Circle Theatre, and the Mutual Book Club. Coming soon there will be several more that will at least have monthly if not bi-monthly releases. This reddit thread is meant for people who LOVE Audio Drama and/or would LOVE to see their works replayed on Mutual’s feed where we reach a wide audience of folks who may not be able to find your works. Our purpose, like the Sonic Society, is strictly to bring Audio Drama to the world, and hope that your audience finds YOU and supports you to make more.
We at Mutual love this medium and are working to see it grow beyond those who have already found it. We have always insisted there are new listeners out there just waiting to find us, and old fans of radio drama who have difficulties just using the technology to make it happen.
Welcome. Whether you’re new here, or your new to Mutual, or you’ve been a long-time listener, we’d love to talk to you.
Saturday, August 19, 2023, 1:00 to 2:30 pm EST / Online / $15 CAD In support of MAD-Con Toronto 2024 Up your audio fiction writing game! Using fun improv games (don’t worry, no improv experience is required) we’ll show you how to: • Give your characters character • Make your dialogue sing by ditching obvious exposition and focusing on emotion • Find out “What’s next?” in your story • Generate ideas fast • Challenge your Inner Critic and have fun writing Limited to 15 participants to ensure everyone gets time to participate. Fees from this workshop go directly towards funding MAD-Con Toronto 2024, a modern audio drama conference with performances, workshops, and meet-ups, bringing together audio fiction creators, writers, producers, performers, and audiences. Register here: https://improvyourwriting.com/upcoming
As Jack J. Ward basks in one of his finest moments- that being in the very chair that Robert E. Howard wrote not only Conan- The Barbarian, but all his great works… He was asked recently to provide a list of all the scripts he has written for all his various incarnations and basic times. As we’re coming close to the 20th anniversary of The Sonic Society (Put it on your calendar folks- it’s September 1st, 2024, Jack has provided the list so far with some tantalizing suggestions of what you can expect now that he’s completed his masters’ degree:
The Sonic Society Collection:
The Sonic Society-The World’s Largest and Longest-Running showcase of modern audio drama
Pre-Mutual Audio Network Feed (The Radio Memories Network 2005-2019): https://sonic.libsyn.com/sonicsociety/2008/06
The Mutual Audio Network Feeds (2019 and Onwards): The Broadcast Feed (on Sundays and Mondays) https://feeds.megaphone.fm/mani Monday Matinee weekly (2015 onwards replays) https://feeds.megaphone.fm/MUTUAL5370851038 Sunday Showcase weekly (Current releases from 2019 onwards) https://feeds.megaphone.fm/MUTUAL9188504915
Sonic Echo– Conversations with Lothar Tuppan and Jeffrey Billard – The Amigos! with guests looking at the very best of old time radio.
Sonic Speaks– Jack interviews the makers and shapers of the audio drama world
Sonic Summerstock Playhouse– The summer season of the Sonic Society where producers from the modern audio drama community recreate old time radio scripts for fun with their contemporary acting troops!
Sonic Retrospectives– Our tribute summer series for those who have left the modern audio drama community too soon (SADLY ONGOING) Bill Hollweg Mark Bruzee
The Sonic Cinema Production Classic Series: 2003-2005 The Shadowlands– Shadowlands Theatre was the premiere original anthology series from Jack J. Ward. Combining Suspense and Dark Fantasy, this exciting series became the basis for the Deadly Sins Series and other compelling tales of mystery, and horror.
The Seven Deadly Sins- A seven-part series of original tales from dark comedy to darker horror, plays of the past to terror of the future exploring the turning parts of the soul. Six parts completed: (Pride: And Low, Thou I Walk, Envy: Completion, Greed: Ghosts of the Present, Gluttony: Soul Survivor (Ogile Award Honorable Mention), Lust: Spin, Spin, Spin, Wrath: The Hitchhiker)
Graves’ Shift Starring Phillipa Graves– “Open for Business” The pilot first audio drama script written by Jack Ward from his time in university exploring the noir tales of his female detective
Biff Straker and the Spaceways(Old World)– The one-shot pilot episode of Jack’s parody of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon with his own pulp hero, Biff!
Remotely Possible– A single Shadowlands episode exploring remote viewing and the depths of fear
Hill Manors- “More Action than a Burma Railroad” A live tribute to the great “Fawlty Towers” series by John Cleese & Connie Booth
Firefly- Old Wounds– The Internet’s first fan fiction of the science-fiction classic “Firefly”.
The Dead Line Anthology- Tales of crime drama inspired by Alfred Hitchcock Presents (Initial run included: Goth Girl, Jeremiah Crandal- Funeral Detective, Messages, Right Number Wrong Party, The Replacement Show, Rule of Three)
The Dead Line Shorts Anthology- less than a half hour presentations of this series (Initial run included: Anniversary, Choice, Deathbed Confessions, Duel, Fiend to the Old, John, Lighter, Night Driving and Sherry)
Electric Vicuna Productions: 2006-2021
Firefly- Old Wounds “Wedding Day” – The much demanded follow up to the Internet’s first fan fiction of the science-fiction classic “Firefly”.
The Wave Front Anthology- a science fiction collection that explores futuristic societies, distopic nightmares, technological travesties and bleak tomorrows. (Initial run includes: Borrowed Time, Black Knight, Alone in the Night (Mark Time Silver award winner), Voting is Anonymous
The Wave Front Shorts Anthology- less than a half hour presentation of this series (Initial run includes: Acquisitions, Alien Invasion Cancelled, Distant Voice, Galaxy Master versus the Varn, Name Please, Nanites, Pets, Reservations, Spring, Trans-Humanity, Voices)
The Dead Line Anthology- (Continued run includes: “Faith” also as the final Deadly Sins Script for “Sloth”, Daybreak, Coach #6, Clay Pigeon Shooting)
The Dead Line Shorts Anthology- (Continued run includes: I’m Home)
Darker Musings Anthology Series- an anthology series of fantastical mystery and terror. Inspired by Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone, Darker Musings always includes an air of another world that may be an alternate universe, or a terrifying nightmare, one in which the characters can not wake up.(Initial run includes: Breathing Space (one-man show), Muse of Madness, One by One, and Phil Morris~ Celestial Lawyer
The Darker Musings Shorts Anthology- less than a half hour presentation of this series (Initial run includes original and original adaptations of: Barney, Bravery. Plague Studies, The Chaser, The Monkey’s Paw, and Tulpa)
Gate, a coming of age fantasy series in 10 parts; Gate McNeil, a young girl, discovers she is the one person in the world who can challenge the darkness and demons threatening to take over the world
The Jack and Shannon Show- in an homage to great sit-coms of old, two hosts of the Sonic Society fictionalize their life and friends (3 Seasons)
Spaceways Starring Biff Straker (New World)– imaginary pulp hero Stephen “Biff” Straker takes part in a secret experiment to prove Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relative Time. The experiment goes wrong and Straker is thrown from the 1990s into the 31st Century! – STILL IN PRODUCTION The reboot fun action series, no longer a straight parody. (Initial 5 episode run: Year Zero: The Future is Now, The Haunted World, The Fallen Angel, The Pool of Death, The Man Called Methuselah – STILL IN PRODUCTION
Consortium Comics Anthology- is a collective series of superhero shorts by Jack J. Ward (Initial run includes: Blue Defender, Any Man) – STILL IN PRODUCTION
Action Adventure Audio Theatre, pulp-pounding adventures inspired by the OldTime Radio series Escape (Initial episode: The Most Dangerous Game) – STILL IN PRODUCTION
The Sonic Cinema Production Returns Series: 2022-
Retro Rockets Anthology- From the far-flung silver age of science fiction, comes a new anthology. (Initial episode: Spirit Drive) – STILL IN PRODUCTION
The Wave Front Anthology- (Series continues with: Market Crash) – STILL IN PRODUCTION
The Christmas Wreath- Seasonal stories to touch the heart and delight the ear (Initial release: The Gift of the Magi) – STILL IN PRODUCTION
Jack Ward adaptation Scripts Produced for Colonial Radio Theatre:
Dead Ahead– On a restless ocean, a group of weary survivors contemplate their grim fortune: What had started out as a fun little fishing trip soon turns into a nightmare of damnation, trapped on a floating prison.
Vincent Price Presents Volume 3– “The Best in the Universe” Dramatized by Jack J. Ward, from a story by Paul J. Salamoff. Assignments on frontier planets always irritate intergalactic mob hitman Randall Stiles and his partner Jake Mackey, and this mission would soon prove why.
New Series Currently in Production (Unreleased):
Prairie Fire- an audio drama Weird Western 10 part series
Flight of the Airmen- At the turn of the 20th century who are the protectors of the skies for this strange modern age? Canada’s The Airmen!
Wingman– Ripped from the archives of the fictional radio theatre of the 1930’s. Wingman and Fly Boy save the world from Nazis infiltrators and evil criminals in America!
Adventures by North!- In the early 20’s in Canada, a group of adventurers found their way exploring every mystery this vast country concealed!
The Fates of Mace Windu- By mass request this audio Star Wars fan fiction six-part series explores what happened to Mace Windu at the end of George Lucas’ prequel
John Carter- A Princess of Mars- The original Science Romance of the first of the pulp space heroes is explored through the first full-audio drama adaptation of the best-selling novel by Edgar Rice Burroughs!
Proximity– A Third Age (First Person) account of humanity’s attempt to reach the Proxima star system.
Other things to look for. Script collection books on many of these series, and upcoming work through The Mutual Audio Network.
Special Thanks to Lothar Tuppan (The Ninth Tower Productions) and Jeffrey Billard (Audio Groove Cats Productions)- THE AMIGOS!, David Ault co-host and the “Kevin Bacon” of 6-Degrees of separation in Audio Drama (David Ault Actor, Narrator, and Science Communicator), and the rest of the United Artists of Audio from Mutual- Pete Lutz (Narada Radio Company), John Bell (Bell’s in the Batfry), JV Torres (The Rise of King Asilas), Scott Mosher (CNY Table Reads). Joshua Price and the Queen of Audio Drama herself Tanja Milojevic (LightningBolt Theater of the Mind), Richard Frohlich (Texas Radio Theatre), Richard Summers (aka Captain Radio!) and Austin Beach (Broken Bard Studios) who constantly and eternally inspire, collaborate, and support his work!
Dr. Mark Dreisonstok is back reviewing Sonic Society’s Christmas submissions with Sonic Cinema’s adaptation of “Gift of the Magi” and Markiewitz Audioworks production of “Three Christmas Trees”!
“Post Christmas” is how the Mutual Audio Network describes its January offering of a dramatized version of O. Henry’s classic Christmas tale, “The Gift of the Magi.” This story is a very familiar staple of American literature. A young couple of very modest means in circa 1905 New York City, Della and James Dillingham Young, aspire to give significant Christmas presents to each other. What sacrifices are they willing to make to accomplish this?
…the warmth of Christmas festivities and traditions which the two productions evoke lovingly and convincingly.
This familiar tale is dramatized for audio with aplomb, with Jeffrey Billard and Tanja Milojevic who are very good in their roles as the financially-strapped but loving couple. Producer Jack Ward, founder of the Mutual Audio Network and of a series of Christmas tales called “Christmas Wreath Anthology,” desired to adapt this O. Henry story—filled with description in its original literary form—to work well as an audio drama. To do so, Mr. Ward has expanded the role of one character in the story, Madam Lucyna Sofronie, now owner of a wig shop, and added one character, Mr. Kent Wilkins, who repairs clocks. These two interesting individuals, presumably in middle age, are performed adroitly by David Ault and Erika Sanderson as they help us reflect on the nature of young love, family relationships, and, of course, how the young couple’s gift exchange might play out at Christmastime. O. Henry was a master of the surprise ending, and this version has the famous short story author’s dénouement. While this portion of the ending is retained from O. Henry, the audio drama concludes not with the master storyteller’s ruminations about the meaning of gifts and the original Magi from the nativity narrative in Scripture, but rather on the budding romance between Madam Safronie and Mr. Wilkens, a bold but interesting change of focus.
O. Henry’s “The Gift of the Magi” is an extremely well-known Christmas tale—there is even a Disney cartoon adaptation, with Mickey and Minnie Mouse standing in as the young couple. The same level of fame cannot be claimed for “Three Christmas Trees“ by Juliana Horatia Ewing, another tale newly premiering on the Mutual Audio Network. This one is produced and directed by Jason Markiewitz who decided on a very different approach than the Jack Ward “Magi.” Instead of adding scenes and characters to make this a radio-style audio drama, he embraces the narrative of the original 1800s English short story, using voice actors mainly to highlight key portions of the story. The performance combines elements of both audio book and audio drama, perhaps slightly favoring the former.
The story follows the perspective of a person reaching the end of his earthly life, reflecting on how three Christmas trees have shaped his experience of Christmas, both as a child and as an adult. This is an interesting and unusual production of a Christmas-tide story which, in the opinion of this reviewer, should be better known. Mr. Markiewitz, who also serves as the congenial narrator, uses sound choices—especially some magnificent Christmas carolers (Sharon Grunwald, Lessa Nosko, and Kyle Wright) to help render this story from the past more accessible to audiences of today. Such is the case with his choice of a Christmas carol which is sung in two of the three vignettes, “While Shepherds Watch Their Flocks By Night”—a hymn which is used in the production movingly to bind the Christmas of the protagonist’s youth to the Christmas of his old age.
Both “The Gift of the Magi” and “Three Christmas Trees” are well worth a listen, even in this “post-Christmas” season. They are reminders that we might return to the holiday spirit and once again bask in the warmth of Christmas festivities and traditions which the two productions evoke lovingly and convincingly.
Running time: Each production runs 30 minutes.
The Jack Ward “Christmas Wreath Anthology” series installment “The Gift of the Magi” can be found here. The Markiewitz Audioworks production of “Three Christmas Trees” may be heard here.
A Sound Effect Blog has a very interesting post on how to create horror sound effects.
It’s a detailed discussion from sound designer/re-recording mixer Joe Dzuban who has worked with some great horror masters of film today like James Wan and Guillermo del Toro.
While I bristle at the word “foley”- a term that’s used for movies and not really applicable for the sound effects we develop in audio drama, its great to have access to it. After all, foley is created to provide sound to coincide with footage shot with film. Audio Drama SFX are used live, as well as in post-production but created not to represent the sounds in visuals but rather to build story from the acting and the script. I’m known for not “crossing the streams” of my artistic endeavors even though I appreciate each and every form. But, if our medium matters, it’s important to give Audio Drama it’s due. You wouldn’t call the pages of your best-selling novel, “slides”, so why “foley” instead of “SFX”?
It is true that many people come to Audio Drama being visual consumers of story first, and that explains why so many think of foley as being the first term that comes to mind, but what’s more important is that we can find some crossover with the mediums, just like we do with live stage plays, comics, or audiobooks. Audio Drama is the most flexible of artistic mediums as it can wander across all others (except perhaps Miming!).
The key element is that generated sound in audio drama requires the listener to understand what the producers and writers are marking as important. While film can contrast foley against images to provide discordant tones and even moods, Audio Drama requires accuracy so that a fluency of sound creates a congruent understanding of the full setting and meaning of the story.
So, check out what tricks and tips in the above article might work well in an audio drama sound effect library, and bring your thoughts into the comments.
We already identified The Three Ages of Modern Audio Drama and now it would be best to identify a fourth. The third age roughly started in 2012 and can be definitively seen as ending in 2019. In 2020, as COVID-19 reintroduced the world to the term- pandemic, a number of professional actors, writers, and producers found themselves with a lot of time on their hands and a lot of creative thoughts bulging in their brains.
The Faustian Nonsense Network soon found creative outlets in A Midsummer’s Quarantine and producer, writer, and actor extraordinaire, Tom Konkle from Mindstream Players found new life in reworking Old Time Radio scripts and new originals on YouTube. And they are not alone, many groups around the world unable to launch stage productions have worked together to create online audio drama shows. Quarantine Radio Theater out of St. Louis even considered that a part of their name. Here in Halifax, Keith Morrison from Lion’s Den Theatre has also reworked popular theatre productions into online audio theatre equivalents.
With an influx of so many professionals from both Little Theatre and Hollywood engaging in the world of audio drama. How will this change the landscape of stories that are produced? Will we see more classics launched? Or will there be a number of new original plays taking flight on RSS feeds and video channels near you?
Dr. Mark Dreisonstok posted another stunning review in MD Theatre Guide focusing again on Rachel Pulliam’s significant works in this year’s Sonic Summerstock Playhouse!
Many of us travel to vacation destinations during the summer months. Audio plays are a wonderful way to pass the time, and two excellent, full-cast audio dramas from Sole Twin Audios fit the bill. “Short Order” is an exciting drama, somewhat in the style of film noir, and “2462” is a dystopian view of the world’s future. Both are recreations of classic radio plays from the long-running classic series, “Suspense.”
”Short Order” includes brilliant re-creations of the sounds of a fast food, casual restaurant in the 1940s, complete with bells which ring when customers enter, small paper ketchup containers on the tables, and a talkative short order cook. A customer with a severely disfigured face (expertly portrayed by Robin Robbins, who even imbues lines like “lots of ketchup” with menace) suddenly becomes a regular. The man exudes such a malevolent presence that business at the restaurant drops off considerably. Meanwhile, bad luck intrudes more and more in the home life of the restaurant’s owner, Mr. Bailey (convincingly acted by Joe Stofko). Is the worrisome customer somehow connected with Mr. Bailey’s troubles at home? If so, how?
