live performance – Page 9 – Atlanta Radio Theatre Company

Posted on September 11, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

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!

Posted on September 11, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

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.

Brad Strickland disapproves of this egregious oversight.

And after the writing is done, it’s time for the rest of the team to swing into action!

The cast warms up for the performance. — First, warmups.

Vocal warmups are vital to a good performance. Here you can see the ‘huddle’ style.

Brad Weage and Joel Abbott go over the musical score before the show. — Music is important, too.

Music and tech work closely together to ensure everything is plugged in and functional.

Foley artists creating live sound effects. — Foley gets into the mix.

It’s not a radio show without Foley!

David Benedict and Jack Mayfield perform. — And then it’s showtime!

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!

Posted on September 4, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

30 Years of ARTC: Dragon Con 2004 part 2

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!

Jewel Staite appears in 'The Menace From Earth' — Jewel Staite! …with Tamara Morton.

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 Staite, Jack Mayfield, and Sarah Taylor.

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.

Cast photo from 'The Menace From Earth' — Cast photo from *The Menace From Earth*

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!

Alton Leonard and Brad Weage accept the Thomas E. Fuller Lifetime Achievement Award

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!

Posted on August 28, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

30 Years of ARTC: Dragon Con 2004 part 1

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.

Full stage shot of the cast for — The Cast of *The Shadow Over Innsmouth*

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!

Posted on August 21, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

30 Years of ARTC: An Atlanta Christmas 2005

We’re back with another round of pictures from An Atlanta Christmas!

The holidays are a serious time. A time for reflection. A time for self-assessment.

Colin Butler looks serious at the microphone. — Colin Butler. Serious.

It’s a time for somber contemplation of…aw, who are we kidding? The holidays are a ton of fun! In this installment, we feature some of the goofier moments in An Atlanta Christmas.

Daniel W. Kiernan in a Santa hat with ears. — Daniel W. Kiernan. Reflective.

The play being a series of short subjects has the advantage of being able to swing through a wide range of emotions. There are very serious pieces, such as O Tannenbaum and Civil War Triptych, but the overall feel tends to convey the lightheartedness of the season. It’s a time of hope.

A time of giving.

Clair W. Kiernan rolls her eyes as Daniel W. Kiernan wears a blinking red nose. — Clair W. Kiernan wanting someone to give her a break.

A time of anticipation.

Sorry for the blurriness on that last picture. We just couldn’t resist that expression.

It’s also a time for family and gatherings.

The ARTC Chorus gathers around the microphones. — A gathering. Or a police lineup. Your choice.

And through it all we somehow manage to have a good time. Every year for the last 15 years! Be sure to come see us this December! We’d love to have you be a part of our family. Details coming soon.

Clair W. Kiernan at a microphone that's too tall for her. — Just out of reach…

Posted on August 14, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

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).

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.

Posted on August 14, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

30 Years of ARTC: Halloween 2004

This week we bring you our appearances at Onstage Atlanta and Stone Mountain Park for Halloween 2004. Check out all the pictures on our Flickr album.

A plastic pumpkin graces the ARTC stage at Stone Mountain Park — ARTC’s Halloween stage decorations

We love Halloween. Love it. It’s seriously our favorite time of year. The cool fall weather, the colorful leaves on the skeletal trees…and the eerie atmosphere it brings with it. October seems to be a natural month for audio drama, and with our emphasis on horror and science fiction we are right at home.

Brad Weage, David Carter, Cyd Hoskinson, and Tracy Wilson make up the tech crew for this show.

As is often the case in the arts, the performers tend to garner most of the accolades. They’re the ones up front, visible, and vocal. But in our case the tech and Foley crew are the real stars. It’s been said that if the show is going well, you don’t even notice the tech crew is there, and that’s pretty much the case. We’ve been very lucky to have a lot of great people on tech over the years and we’re always looking for more!

Megan Tindale holds up the 'Yay!' sign for Rory Rammer, Space Marshal. — Megan Tindale is thrilled that we remembered this sign for this show.

The fact is that most people don’t always know about all the opportunities available in ARTC. Sure we love voice actors and we always need more techs, Foley artists, and musicians. We can even teach you how to do some of those things if you’re interested in learning and have a little patience. But did you know we also have all the same needs and roles of any non-profit? Marketing, fundraising, public relations, graphic design…you name it, we’ve got an opportunity for you.

Jack Mayfield and Clair W. Kiernan perform as Daniel Taylor provides Foley sound effects.

But back to the show. This year we took the unusual step of having Halloween shows in two venues. Onstage Atlanta graciously hosted us, as well as Memorial Hall in Stone Mountain Park. It involved a lot of shuffling of equipment back and forth, but our audiences had a great time.

Jack Mayfield, Megan Tindale, Geoffrey Brown, and David Benedict address the microphones

We also changed up the show we were doing, depending on where we were at the time. A bit more adult fare at Onstage Atlanta, a bit more family-friendly at Stone Mountain Park. That’s the flexibility of ARTC. You can check out the playbill for these shows here!

Posted on July 24, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

30 Years of ARTC: Sci Fi Summer 2004

The convention scene has always been kind to ARTC. We get our biggest audiences, attract our most fervent fans, and have our biggest sales. We also have our best guest stars, and in 2004 we had the honor of performing alongside Lisa Getto at Sci Fi Summer.

Bill Ritch and Lisa Getto do a quick sound check.

Lisa was a great guest star. We actually don’t really know what she’s been up to lately, but if anybody has any info we’d love to catch up with her. She brought a talent to the show that really enhanced everyone’s performances and was a pleasure to work with!

Clair W. Kiernan preparing to sing bad karaoke in *Rory Rammer, Space Marshal: Luna Shall Be Dry!*

For our show selections, we went back to an old concept of Thomas E. Fuller’s, which was the idea of having a fictional radio network that broadcast old-time radio shows that were all in a similar vein. Occasionally one show would have a vague reference to another just to imply they were all in the same universe, but they didn’t really overlap. The concept was called the WOLF Broadcasting Network and we hope to get a bunch of these series into the studio very soon!

Phil Carter, Clair W. Kiernan, Megan Tindale, and Sketch MacQuinor in an episode of *Terra Tarkington: Interstellar Nurse’s Corps*.

Among these shows were Terra Tarkington: Interstellar Nurses Corps by Wendy Webb, adapted from a story by Sharon Webb. This series tells the story of the intrepid Terra Tarkington and her adventures in the outer orbits with her beloved Dr. Brian-Scott.

We also included an episode of The Crimson Hawk. One of the great things about these kinds of shows is that they tend to be heavy on Foley. Some of our more elaborate productions make extensive use of recorded sound effects in order to keep the atmosphere more real, but in these shows we’re hearkening back to the days of old-time radio and so a little extra Foley is completely appropriate.

Cast members hold a makeshift sign that reads — The infamous “Yay!” of Rory Rammer.

Two episodes of Rory Rammer, Space Marshal were included. You can always tell when we’re doing Rory because of the infamous “Yay!” You can also tell when we forgot the sign and had to make a new one on the spot. Hey, give us a break. If you could see how much stuff we have to bring to a show, you’d be surprised we don’t forget more stuff.

Join us again next week for more 30th anniversary fun!

Posted on July 17, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

30 Years of ARTC: Costume Con 2004

Y’know, a few posts ago we said that we didn’t do shows in costume very much. But the 2003-2004 time period was an exception to this rule, as Costume Con 22 was hosted in Atlanta. And when you perform at Costume Con…you gotta be in costume!

This year we performed Fiona K. Leonard’s play, Kissed by a Stranger.

Phil Carter, Megan Tindale, and Geoffrey Brown in Kissed by a Stranger — Phil Carter, Megan Tindale, and Geoffrey Brown in *Kissed by a Stranger*

When you’re in a radio group, you don’t always think about costumes. But sometimes you do. We’ve got a wide range of talents in ARTC and costuming is a passion for several of our members. Others, not so much. So what you get is a fairly diverse selection in terms of quality of workmanship. The above picture represents three of the really good ones.

This performance also represented one of our best audiences. They really got into the performance, even going so far as to hiss at the villain.

Sonya with Sarah Taylor at the Foley table.

In some of our horror and science fiction pieces, we rely fairly extensively on recorded sound effects to achieve a certain atmosphere. People often ask us how we decide, and it’s a bit of a process, actually. First we decide what kind of piece are we doing and how much realism we need the audience to experience. Comedies use more Foley, serious horror uses more recorded SFX. But we also look at how much is going on at the Foley table at any given time. Already doing footsteps, dropping some tin cans, and opening the door? That thunder is more likely to be recorded. If nothing else is going on and the piece calls for it, we might use the thunderball (a punch balloon filled with BBs).

In Kissed by a Stranger Foley played a big role.

Joel Abbott and Bill Ritch at the tech table.

If you were at this show, you may remember a recorded sound effect that went off at the wrong time. Let’s just say a clock chiming creates a much different effect than a gunshot! But the correct effect was triggered and all was well.

Alton Leonard, Clair W. Kiernan, and Megan Tindale address the microphones.

This convention was a ton of fun. If they ever come back to Atlanta, we’d be glad to perform for them again!

Fiona K. Leonard and Jack Mayfield demonstrate the gravity of the situation.

Be sure to see the rest of the pics on Flickr!

Posted on July 10, 2014November 5, 2019 by David Benedict

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.

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!

There Is Adventure In Sound

Tag: live performance