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This month we continue with Dash Cardigan by Thomas E. Fuller. If you’re enjoying the podcast, please let us know!
Tag: dragoncon
30 Years of ARTC: Dragon Con 2005 part 2
This being our 30th anniversary, we thought we’d dip back into the past and recap some of our previous performances, triumphs and tragedies, in a series of posts. And don’t forget our Chronology! It’s not as detailed, but it really shows the growth of ARTC over the years. You can see all of the photos in their full size on our Flickr album!
Continuing our Dragon Con theme, we now present The Weapons Shop by A. E. van Vogt. This was a great year for ARTC as we got to perform alongside Battlestar Galactica star Richard Hatch and we also announced a new imprint that will hopefully see its first title released next year, The Sound of Liberty!
In 2005 ARTC created the Sound of Liberty project, a unique initiative to identify and adapt works of classic science fiction that put a focus on freedom and liberty. In the intervening time we’ve been busy finding suitable titles and negotiating with the authors. We hope to have the first title on this exciting new category for sale by next year, but the first title to be performed was The Weapons Shop by A. E. van Vogt.
We were pleased to have been granted the rights for this performance by his widow, Lydia van Vogt.
We’re really looking forward to diving into some of these amazing stories!
A great performance with a stellar cast! This one’s headed for ARTC Studio very soon!
We also got to honor one of our longtime writers, Gerald W. Page. You can hear his work in our catalog on The Assassins and The Happy Man! Thanks for all the great stories, Gerry!
Dash Cardigan part 1 of 4
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Welcome again to the podcast! This month we bring you…
Now…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!
30 Years of ARTC: Dragon Con 2005 part 1
This being our 30th anniversary, we thought we’d dip back into the past and recap some of our previous performances, triumphs and tragedies, in a series of posts. And don’t forget our Chronology! It’s not as detailed, but it really shows the growth of ARTC over the years. You can see all of the photos in their full size on our Flickr album!
We’re still on a Dragon Con high (or still getting over con crud, your choice), so this week we bring you the 2005 edition! Hey, they’re our biggest audiences of the year, I think we can be forgiven for spending some extra time on these great fans!
If there’s one thing we know for sure at ARTC it’s that we’re nothing without our writers, and we’ve been very lucky to have worked with some of the best. Writing audio drama isn’t done much anymore, and finding someone who can write it well is uncommon. We have an extensive workshopping process to make sure that our scripts are their very best before we present them to our listening audience.
At this Dragon Con, we featured several of our newer writers, who have since gone on to write some really incredible stuff!
Jonathan Strickland has written a lot, but for this performance we featured an episode from his Mildly Exciting Tales of Astonishment (META) series.
Sketch MacQuinor seems to write all the time, although sometimes he only writes it in his head. For this performance we showcased the Brotherhood of Damn Sassy Mutants (work out that initialism on your own, kids), but he’s also created The Game is Afoot!, Blue Hannukchristmas Carol, and lots of other stuff too numerous to mention here.
We also performed Rory Rammer, Space Marshal and The Adventure of Brave Ragnar, but somehow managed not to get a picture of Ron N. Butler or Kelley S. Ceccato this year.
And after the writing is done, it’s time for the rest of the team to swing into action!
Vocal warmups are vital to a good performance. Here you can see the ‘huddle’ style.
Music and tech work closely together to ensure everything is plugged in and functional.
It’s not a radio show without Foley!
We still aren’t sure what Jack Mayfield is looking at in this picture.
We’ll be back next week with part 2 of Dragon Con 2005!
30 Years of ARTC: Dragon Con 2004 part 2
This being our 30th anniversary, we thought we’d dip back into the past and recap some of our previous performances, triumphs and tragedies, in a series of posts. And don’t forget our Chronology! It’s not as detailed, but it really shows the growth of ARTC over the years. You can see all of the photos in their full size on our Flickr album!
Last week we talked about having Harlan Ellison perform The Shadow Over Innsmouth with us, and that was definitely exciting, but it was only the beginning of the festivities. We also had on the schedule The Menace From Earth by Robert A. Heinlein with a special guest!
For those of you who don’t know (and we’d be interested to know how many of our fans don’t know this), Jewel Staite is probably best known as Kaylee from the short-lived series Firefly. We were thrilled to have her be a part of this show.
Jewel was a delight to work with. Many of our guest stars are given the opportunity to be in an episode of Rory Rammer or some similarly comedic or light-hearted piece. The Menace From Earth isn’t super-serious, but it does require an emotional range that we don’t often subject our guests to, and Jewel turned in a spectacular performance on very little rehearsal.
We’d love to have the opportunity to work with her again! So, Jewel, if you’re reading this and wondering when you can get back in for some audio drama fun, just give us a call! 🙂
But that’s not all!
We were also priveleged to be able to honor our longtime musicians Alton Leonard and Brad Weage with the Thomas E. Fuller Lifetime Achievement Award.
Music done right augments an audio drama in ways that are difficult to describe. It creates a mood, but doesn’t distract. Both of these two musicians have mastered the art and demonstrated tremendous flexibility. Whether we need an atmospheric bed under a tense scene or just a bit of jaunty music to transition from one scene to the next, Alton and Brad can provide. Even after his untimely passing, Brad’s music lives on through recordings, and we are the richer for it. And Alton is still chugging away, most recently providing amazing scores for our Direct to Digital releases The Mark of the Beast and Dr. Geoffry Stanhope, Investigator of Occult Phenomena: The Dweller in the Depths.
All in all, a landmark year for ARTC!
ARTC on AM 1690
At Dragon Con 2014, ARTC was pleased to be able to announce that on October 5, 2014, we will begin a weekly half-hour series on AM 1690, WMLB, The Voice of the Arts!
This series will air Sundays at 9:30pm and will be available to local listeners as well as streaming on the web through the station. More information will be coming soon, but we’re super excited about our return to the airwaves.
Initially we’ll be presenting a mix of live and studio recordings edited for radio, but we hope to shortly also be able to offer serialized content with Dash Cardigan and Nairobi Jack Rackham!
30 Years of ARTC: Dragon Con 2004 part 1
This being our 30th anniversary, we thought we’d dip back into the past and recap some of our previous performances, triumphs and tragedies, in a series of posts. And don’t forget our Chronology! It’s not as detailed, but it really shows the growth of ARTC over the years. You can see all of the photos in their full size on our Flickr album!
So last week we dipped into 2005, but now we’re back to 2004. This week is Dragon Con, so we thought we’d save these pictures from Dragon Con 2004 for now.
It was a banner year for ARTC for two reasons. The first was that we performed The Shadow Over Innsmouth by H. P. Lovecraft, which is always a crowd favorite, and we got to do it with Harlan Ellison, who is also a crowd favorite and puts on an amazing performance. The second…well, the second reason we’ll talk about next week in that update.
We’ve performed with Harlan a few times in the past. He was masterful as the Ringmaster in The Man Who Traveled in Elephants and also portrayed the crazed and troubled Delapore in The Rats in the Walls. His performance style is always energetic and really gets the most out of these characters.
In The Shadow Over Innsmouth, Harlan portrayed the town drunk, Zadok Allen, who warns our protagonist of the mysterious and deadly citizens of Innsmouth and their horrifying history.
And he did so with his usual style and energy!
We were also pleased to have Michael Brady share the stage with us again that year!
And let’s not forget the all-important sound effects! Some of the most mundane things go into creating an atmosphere of horror. Here we see the preparation of the thunderball, used to create impromptu storms and earthquakes.
We’ve got to run off now to get ready for this year’s convention. Hope to see you there, and we’ll be back next week with part 2 of Dragon Con 2004!
The Doom of the Mummy part 4 of 4
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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.
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).
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.
The Doom of the Mummy part 3 of 4
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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.
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!
30 Years of ARTC: Dragon Con 2003
This being our 30th anniversary, we thought we’d dip back into the past and recap some of our previous performances, triumphs and tragedies, in a series of posts. And don’t forget our Chronology! It’s not as detailed, but it really shows the growth of ARTC over the years. You can see all of the photos in their full size on our Flickr album!
We don’t often get a chance to show off our rehearsal process. Unless of course you’re interested in joining us, in which case feel free to come on by.
Here you see the state-of-the-art Ritch/Wilbanks Arts Center, where we do the majority of our rehearsals. In 2003 we performed The Island of Dr. Moreau and Can You Hear Me? at Dragon Con, so we had to kind of pack in the actors. Moreau in particular requires a big cast because of the chorus of beast men.
The chorus requires a rhythm and a leader, which in this production were provided by Matt Ceccato and Trudy Leonard. Wrangling beast men is hard work!
It’s serious work getting ready for a major convention. But it’s also a ton of fun. We couldn’t have done it for the past 30 years if it weren’t!
And before you know it, the day is upon you and you’re getting ready for the show! Our setup looks a lot different now, but there’s still just as many wires. If anybody knows how to make copper less heavy, please let us know!
The unsung heroes of the convention, the ARTC sales team. Please note the number of cassettes on that table. Oh, how far we’ve come! And at this year’s convention, not only will we have some new CDs, but we’ll also have some digital-only releases that you can buy on a flash drive!
We also welcomed special guest James Leary to the show! At the time, he was best known as Clem on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
And we awarded the Thomas E. Fuller Lifetime Achievement Award to Doug Kaye!
It was a great year! Be sure to check out the rest of the photos on Flickr!