Tag: dragoncon

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30 Years of ARTC – Throne of Shadows, Dragon Con 1999

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!

ARTC has been priveleged to perform at every single Dragon Con since the very beginning back in 1987. In 1999 we debuted the audio version of Thomas E. Fuller’s Throne of Shadows: The Last Relic of the Empire. It’s a complex story involving the Emperor of Mexico, an actress pushed to her limits of sanity, and an alternate history of the way things really went in 1867. But leaving geopolitics aside for a moment, the story is really about the love that Maximilian shared with his wife Carlota and how that love transcended death and madness.

The cast of
The cast of “Throne of Shadows”

In this photo we see an extremely young Sarah Taylor as the fictional Sofia, along with several other members of the cast of the production. We managed to get Sarah into the studio to record her lines while she still sounded like a girl instead of the young woman she has grown up to be. Also pictured, Trudy Leonard as Carlota, Dena Friedman Williams as the actress Victoria Forell, and Thomas E. Fuller as Emperor Maximilian.

Foley for
Foley for “Throne of Shadows”

Foley for Throne of Shadows was fairly involved. There was lots of walking around on castle floors when the scenes were set in Bavaria, but when the scenes magically shifted to the Mexican Empire in 1867, it was occasionally necessary to have dense foliage available. One side set in winter, the other in a glorious Mexican spring.

Brad Weage at the keyboard
Brad Weage at the keyboard

Brad Weage composed the haunting score, including the essential “Imperial Waltz”. For the final studio production, Joel Abbott provided a good deal of a replacement score, due to Brad’s original compositions being unavailable, but the “Imperial Waltz” lives on!

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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 1 of 3

Size: 8.1M Duration: 17:23

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The War of the Worlds: The Untold StoryThis month we bring you The War of the Worlds: The Untold Story by Ron N. Butler, based on the original novel by H. G. Wells, performed live at Dragon Con, September 1, 2013.

Making the decision to commission Ron to write this adaptation wasn’t easy. We’d sworn for years that despite our many adaptations, including a bunch by H. G. Wells, that we would never do this one. It seemed too risky to try to follow in the footsteps of St. Orson Welles.

But in the end, the allure of commemorating the 75th anniversary of the most famous radio broadcast of all time proved too much for us, and so we went for it. We think the result was very much worth it. Be sure to let us know what YOU think!

 

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The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 5 of 5

Size: 5.7M Duration: 12:11

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This week we conclude our five part presentation of H. P. Lovecraft’sThe Shadow Over Innsmouth, adapted for audio by Thomas E. Fuller and Gregory Nicholl.  It features the voice of legendary writer Harlan Ellison, as well as anime voice actor Michael Brady.

This was performed live at Dragon*Con 2004 and was part of our celebration of our 20th anniversary!

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The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 4 of 5

Duration:  17:47   Size:  8.3M

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This week we continue our five part presentation of H. P. Lovecraft’sThe Shadow Over Innsmouth, adapted for audio by Thomas E. Fuller and Gregory Nicholl.  It features the voice of legendary writer Harlan Ellison, as well as anime voice actor Michael Brady.

This was performed live at Dragon*Con 2004 and was part of our celebration of our 20th anniversary!

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The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 3 of 5

Size: 8.7M Duration: 18:37

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This week we continue our five part presentation of H. P. Lovecraft’sThe Shadow Over Innsmouth, adapted for audio by Thomas E. Fuller and Gregory Nicholl.  It features the voice of legendary writer Harlan Ellison, as well as anime voice actor Michael Brady.

This was performed live at Dragon*Con 2004 and was part of our celebration of our 20th anniversary!

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The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 2 of 5

Size: 8M  Duration: 17:13

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This week we continue our five part presentation of H. P. Lovecraft’sThe Shadow Over Innsmouth, adapted for audio by Thomas E. Fuller and Gregory Nicholl.  It features the voice of legendary writer Harlan Ellison, as well as anime voice actor Michael Brady.

This was performed live at Dragon*Con 2004 and was part of our celebration of our 20th anniversary!

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The Shadow Over Innsmouth part 1 of 5

Size: 8M Duration: 16:54

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This week we are pleased to begin a five part presentation of H. P. Lovecraft’s The Shadow Over Innsmouth, adapted for audio by Thomas E. Fuller and Gregory Nicholl.  It features the voice of legendary writer Harlan Ellison, as well as anime voice actor Michael Brady.

This was performed live at Dragon*Con 2004.