Category: Podcast

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Dash Cardigan part 4 of 4

Size: 9.3M Duration: 16:24

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We now bring you the concluding chapter of the short version of Dash Cardigan!

It’s been a pleasure bringing you another year of free audio drama! Don’t forget us when it comes time for gift-giving and those tax-deductible charitable donations. You do know we’re a 501(c))(3), right? Lots of options on our donate page, so pick the method and the budget that’s right for YOU.

Thanks for listening! We’ll see you all again in 2015!

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Dash Cardigan part 3 of 4

Size: 11M Duration: 19:19

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In the “better late than never” category, this month we present Dash Cardigan part 3 of 4, by Thomas E. Fuller.

We’d like to offer some standard advice to our fine listeners – take care of yourselves! Being sick is no picnic, and it’s what caused this episode to be delayed a bit. So take it from the fine folks at ARTC: get plenty of rest, wash your hands frequently, take your vitamins, and stay healthy!

If you’re enjoying the podcast, why not head on over to Patreon.com/artc. and lend us your support? You can also see other ways of ensuring the podcast keeps coming with a few other donation options. Thanks!

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Dash Cardigan part 1 of 4

Size: 11.5M, Duration: 19:33

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Welcome again to the podcast! This month we bring you…

Dash Cardigan title cardNow…here’s where things are going to get confusing. Dash Cardigan was originally written as a 13-part serial. So why is this just part 1 of 4? Because what you’ll hear on the podcast is the hour-long version.

We get some of our best audiences at conventions. LibertyCon, Dragon Con, 221B Con, and a great many others have all welcomed us. A convention appearance, however, has to work within the convention’s schedule, and panels are almost always an hour long. So that’s how long our shows have evolved to be over time.

We’ll be breaking out of that a little as we continue our work in the studio (the full 13-part series of Dash Cardigan as well as Nairobi Jack Rackham: The Lost Gold of the Atlantimengani are both on the slate and we already have the 5-part The Dancer in the Dark), but you can always count on us having shorter versions of longer stories at conventions!

 

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The Doom of the Mummy part 4 of 4

Size: 10.3M Duration: 17:37

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And now we arrive at the conclusion of our 2008 Dragon Con performance of The Doom of the Mummy. At this time we felt it would be appropriate to highlight William Alan Ritch, the writer, producer, and director of this performance.

William Alan Ritch at the tech table.
William Alan Ritch at the tech table.

Bill (as he is commonly known) has been with ARTC for as long as anyone can remember. He is a tireless force in the organization, contributing time and money when necessary to ensure that shows go off without a hitch. He is a skilled director and has helmed the vast majority of ARTC productions, especially in recent years, and is also a competent technician, working in less-than-ideal conditions to give us the best sound we can get out of venues that aren’t designed for what we do (and let’s face it, very few venues are designed for what we do).

Bill Ritch takes the stage to read the credits for his play.
Bill Ritch takes the stage to read the credits for his play.

He writes, he directs, he soundscapes, he runs the mixing board…you name it, Bill has probably done it at one time or another. But he is more than that. He is one of the foundations upon which ARTC rests. He is a driving force and helps keep us on our path. And The Doom of the Mummy is destined to make its way into ARTC Studio so that it can take its place alongside our other classic monster stories…just as soon as he’s finished with one last rewrite.

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The Doom of the Mummy part 3 of 4

Size: 12M, Duration: 20:52

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This month we continue with 2008’s presentation of The Doom of the Mummy by William Alan Ritch, performed live at Dragon Con.

Lori Emerson, Floor Manager extraordinaire.
Lori Emerson, Floor Manager extraordinaire.

We’d like to take a moment to highlight one of the roles in the company that isn’t often appreciated by the audience, but is crucial to a successful performance, and that is the role of Floor Manager/Stage Manager. These days that vital function is fulfilled by Patti Ward (who will get her own feature posting soon!), but in 2008 and for many years before and after it was Lori Emerson.

Lori’s moved on to bigger and better things, but she did a stellar job for us as Floor Manager.

For those of you who might not know, the Floor Manager’s job is to be the primary liaison between the actors, the director, and the technical staff. They herd cats (aka wrangle actors into position), convey messages between groups, do a little script supervision, and provide timing cues to actors.

The presence of a good Floor Manager can literally be the difference between an amazing show and a sloppy show and we’ve been very lucky to have several work with us over the years. The Doom of the Mummy has so much going on with so many different musical instruments, a Floor Manager was absolutely essential.

Thanks, Lori! You’re welcome back with us if your path ever brings you back to this neck of the woods! And thanks also to all the Floor Managers everywhere!

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The Doom of the Mummy part 2 of 4

Size: 8.5M Duration: 18:03

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This month we continue with our presentation of 2008’s performance of The Doom of the Mummy, performed live at Dragon Con.

Regina Maniquis on cello for Dragon Con 2008
Regina Maniquis on cello for Dragon Con 2008

The music for this performance was particularly special. We had the incomparable Brad Weage, and we also added in the talents of Alton Leonard, who played the lyre and the ugab. But the star of this musical show was Regina Maniquis on the cello.

Bill Ritch wrote an ambitious script that called for all kinds of authentic Egyptian music with authentic Egyptian instruments, but integral to the plot was this all-important cello.

We hope you enjoy it!

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The Doom of the Mummy part 1 of 4

Size: 7.3M Duration: 15:39

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Bill Kronick as Dr Creighton AlastairIn 2008 we performed The Doom of the Mummy at Dragon Con. The performance was dedicated to Thomas E. Fuller, who had already provided us with retellings of the classic monster stories The Passion of Frankenstein and The Brides of Dracula (not to mention an adaptation of The Invisible Man). Although he’d never really talked about it, it seemed natural to assume that he would follow those up one day with more audio dramas in the vein of the Universal Monsters by also retelling the time-honored tales of the wolfman, the mummy, and several others in that same vein.

Unfortunately, Thomas passed away in 2002 and we were never able to see what his vision for these classic monsters might have been. We are forced to fill the void ourselves, and have begun to do so with The Doom of the Mummy by William Alan Ritch and The Wood-Bound Werewolf by Kelley S. Ceccato.

Now, here in 2014, we dedicate this performance again, this time to Bill Kronick, himself recently passed away. Bill was a marvelous voice talent, a skilled improviser, and a great friend to all who knew him. We are proud to present his work here as Dr. Creighton Alastair.

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The War of the Worlds: The Untold Story part 3 of 3

Size: 8.7M Duration: 18:32

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ARTC Studio in action!

And, at last, we reach the third and final installment of this retelling of the classic science fiction story that has inspired so many others throughout the ages.  Except…

There’s one more chapter left to go. And that’s the one where we go into the studio and make this sound as good as we possibly can. ARTC’s Podcast is a fine example of our work – as one of the few audio drama companies that we know of to perform live, we take pride in this work and want it to have a life beyond the one or two performances we are normally allowed to give it. It’s also a great example of what we do for people who may not be familiar with us.

But it’s just a sample. In the studio we can get rid of feedback, get the exact right inflection, eliminate awkward pauses, make sure the effects are at the correct levels, and the music can really soar!

So if your only exposure to ARTC is our podcast, why not try out a studio production? You can get them here on this website or at Audible.com or Audiobooks.com. We thank you for listening, and we’ll be back next month with another example of the excitement of live audio theatre!

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The War of the Worlds: The Untold Story part 2 of 3

Size: 8.5M Duration: 17:58

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Foley for War of the Worlds: The Untold StoryWe ended up performing The War of the Worlds: The Untold Story twice in 2013. The debut performance was, of course, Dragon Con, which is where this podcast performance came from.

But the second time was at the Marcus Jewish Community Center, and it was a blast. We cooked up a bit of new Foley since we weren’t going to have to work around convention crowds, and the MJCC sports a top-notch theatre space. We hope to get back there again some time!

In this photo, you can see Foley mixer Larrie Fisher (left), and Foley artists Anthony Fuller, Beth Braunstein, and Jason Boldt (left to right), plus cast member Clair W. Kiernan (downstage). Society has somehow come to the conclusion that the actors are the ones in a performance to be celebrated, but the fact is that without Foley, audio drama isn’t quite as magical and we spend a ton of time developing ours to be as good as we possibly can.