Halloween 2019

Creepy things are afoot at the Tucker Rec Center in October!

The Island of Dr. Moreau - digital coverThis show, intended for audiences that can really take a scare, will feature The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells, adapted by Thomas E. Fuller.

Also included in this lineup will be Haunter Hunters by Thomas Berry, Unresolved Mysteries Solved While U Wait: UFO Abductions by Ron N. Butler, The Crowded Graveyard by Doug Kaye, Angelic Exchange Program by Elisabeth Allen, and the current installment of Mercury: A Broadcast of Hope.

Tickets at artc.org/campfire

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2018 HEAR Now Festival

We’re pleased and proud to announce that we have been selected to perform at the HEAR Now Festival’s Audio Tonight presentation! Atlanta Radio Theatre Company will travel to Kansas City, MO, to perform an episode of our fan-favorite series Rory Rammer, Space Marshal: The Colour of the Shadow of the Outsider Over the Mountain of Madness Out of Space. 

 

 

 

 

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31 Years of ARTC: The Last Dragon to Avondale 2010

Continuing our look back at ARTC’s 31 years (thusfar!) with photos from our live performances. You can get a look at our whole history of combining adventures in sound with the thrill of live performance in our Chronology!

In this installment we bring you our appearance at the Academy Theatre in October 2010 where we performed The Last Dragon to Avondale along with The House Across the Way, featuring music by Brad Weage and Paul Mercer, and Rory Rammer, Space Marshal: The Colour of the Shadow of the Outsider Over the Mountains of Madness Out of Space. This performance was a benefit for Georgia Aquarium (it was one of our first benefit performances, in fact!) and also included special musical guest Rooke! Check out all the pictures on our Flickr album.

In 2010 we debuted our Partners in Imagination program, which strives to harness the power of multiple non-profit groups into something stronger by raising awareness amongst our various audiences and maybe even a little money as well.

Megan Tindale and Brian Troxell
Psst…there’s not a lot of money in this…at least not yet.

We had originally wanted to do this benefit for Georgia Aquarium with Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, but it became apparent very quickly that the script wouldn’t be ready in time, so we switched gears to The Last Dragon to Avondale. We felt that its focus on an “endangered species” made it a great fit.

Andrew Chiang and Sonya Arundar
“You keep telling yourself that, ok?”

Plus, we’d been performing at the Academy Theatre in Avondale Estates for a while at this point and to NOT perform this piece there would have been a crime against … well, a crime against something. Dragons, maybe.

The audience for
We got a good turnout, too!

We also had the privilege of working with some amazing musicians on this piece. There was Brad Weage.

Brad Weage
The very serious Brad Weage

Paul Mercer on violin. This was Paul’s first appearance with us!

Paul Mercer
The equally serious Paul Mercer

And our special musical guest, Rooke! Rooke has been around since the late 1980s and play a kind of (in their words) acid folk. We couldn’t quite get the whole band for this show, but we were thrilled to get Steven Sams, David Cater, and Keena Graham!

Steven Sams, Keena Graham, and David Cater
The not-quite-so-serious Rooke!

Rooke actually released an album of the recordings from this performance, so go get some great music!

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31 Years of ARTC: Dragon Con 2010 part 2

Continuing our look back at ARTC’s 31 years (thusfar!) with photos from our live performances. You can get a look at our whole history of combining adventures in sound with the thrill of live performance in our Chronology!

In this installment we bring you our appearance at Dragon Con 2010 (Sunday night edition) where we presented Time and Time Again by H. Beam Piper, adapted by Ron N. Butler and At the Mountains of Madness by H. P. Lovecraft, adapted by Thomas E. Fuller, and featuring music by The Ghosts Project. Check out all the pictures on our Flickr album.

It’s a short update this week, folks, as I am flying out to Kansas City, MO, later today to attend the HEAR Now Festival. But this was a momentous show because it marked the beginning of our long-standing relationship with The Ghosts Project, who have since gone on to play with us on several other productions, including The Shadow Over Innsmouth, The Dunwich Horror, The Island of Dr. Moreau, and The Rats in the Walls!

Fiona K. Leonard
It’s completely mind-blowing
Paul Mercer and Davis Petterson
The Ghosts Project, Paul Mercer and Davis Petterson
Brian Troxell
“Don’t forget, you can own this recording of this historic performance.”
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31 Years of ARTC: Blues for Johnny Raven 2009

Continuing our look back at ARTC’s 31 years (thusfar!) with photos from our live performances. You can get a look at our whole history of combining adventures in sound with the thrill of live performance in our Chronology!

In this installment we bring you our appearance at the Academy Theatre in Avondale Estates, which featured our 2009 performance of Blues for Johnny Raven by Thomas E. Fuller. Check out all the pictures on our Flickr album.

This was our 25th Anniversary performance, and so we really went all out, as they say.

Bill Kronick and Alton Leonard
Bill Kronick and Alton Leonard going “all out”.

Y’know, we talk about how surprising it is that we’ve lasted so long. But the truth is that good storytelling is and has always been valued, so it really shouldn’t be that surprising.

Mary Buchanan and Megan Tindale backstage.
Ok, maybe it’s a little surprising.

This performance featured some of our favorites, some blasts from the past, and was a ton of fun. We got to see our founder William Brown take the stage again to recite The Mountain Whippoorwill by Stephen Vincent Benet…

William Brown on stage.
You don’t often see someone playing the “air violin”.

…as well as one of our favorite Rory Rammer episodes: The Asteroid of Love.

Fiona Leonard, Megan Tindale, and Ariel Kasten sing with Ethan Hurlburt observing.
Featuring the beautiful Android Sisters!

We were also treated to Brad Strickland’s An Arkham Home Companion.

Brad Strickland
Brad Strickland, just telling a regular old story about a tentacled monster trying to steal an eldritch book.

We were also joined by our frequent musical guest Juliana Finch!

Juliana Finch
Juliana rocks harder than you.

And, lest we forget, the main attraction, Blues for Johnny Raven!

 

Fiona Leonard and Daniel Kiernan
Raven (Daniel Kiernan) listens to the case brought to him by Gloria Kinsolving (Fiona Leonard).
Brad Strickland and Daniel Kiernan
Raven (Daniel Kiernan) consults with his friend and informant, Benny the Gospel (Brad Strickland)
Mary Buchanan
Mary Buchanan takes a break from playing the sax.
Ariel Kasten and Megan Tindale
We have no idea what’s going on in this picture.

Blues for Johnny Raven is in the final stages of post-production now and will be available soon, first by download and later on CD!

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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
Jonathan Strickland

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
Sketch MacQuinor

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
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!

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30 Years of ARTC – Camp Wak-N-Hak 2002

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!

In 2002 we were privileged to perform at Camp Wak-N-Hak, a summer camp for children with cystic fibrosis run by Camp Twin Lakes. This was a richly rewarding performance for us, and the kids really got into it. What did we perform? Well, that’s been lost to the sands of time, but we had a blast and that’s what’s really important.

Audience at Camp Wak-N-Hak
Our appreciative audience at Camp Wak-N-Hak

Acoustically, this spacious basketball court was challenging with its high ceilings and hard walls and floor, but once this great audience got seated they soaked up the audio extremely well!

Thomas Fuller and David Benedict look on as Colin Butler addresses the microphone.
Thomas Fuller and David Benedict look on as Colin Butler addresses the microphone.

It’s a pretty good bet that we did an episode of Rory Rammer, Space Marshal.

Phil Carter and Colin Butler perform as the rest of the cast looks on.
Phil Carter and Colin Butler perform as the rest of the cast looks on.

The stage setup was extremely nice. We perform in a wide variety of venues and often don’t get to see the actual performance space until we arrive to set up. We’ve worked around some rather interesting challenges with other people’s sets, cramped stage space, low doorways leading onto the stage itself, and a lack of any discernable stage whatsoever. But Camp Wak-N-Hak had a quality, picturesque space that it was a pleasure to perform on!

William Alan Ritch and Joel Abbott on the technical side of the show.
William Alan Ritch and Joel Abbott on the technical side of the show.

One challenge we sometimes face is placement of the tech. A lot of theatres rely on monitors or booths that are off to the side. Some are so small that they don’t have a designated place for tech at all – they do everything with vocal projection and don’t have any sound cues at all. We do as much live Foley as we can in a show, but we also run recorded SFX when necessary and our experience is that it sounds weird when you play a recorded sound to go with an unamplified voice in a radio play setting. So we always just set up the whole shebang every time and being able to be centered on the stage really helps the techs get a good mix.

Lili at the Foley table.
Lili at the Foley table.

Speaking of live Foley, here we see master Foley artist Lili showing off the tools of her trade. Foley is one of the most charismatic parts of radio theatre and we love to showcase it. We were lucky to be able to have the table up a little closer to the front for this show. Foley is awesome to see, but the space they take up and the sensitivity of the microphones we use usually make placement a bit of a strategic decision.

Ron Butler and Colin Butler in a bit of pre-show prep.
Ron Butler and Colin Butler in a bit of pre-show prep.

Big thanks to Ron Butler for helping set up this amazing show!

You can see the rest of the pictures on our Flickr album!

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30 Years of ARTC – All Hallows’ Moon, Dragon Con 2000

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 annual appearances at Dragon Con, and 2000 was a real doozy. First, it included one of Thomas E. Fuller’s best original pieces, All Hallows’ Moon. But we were also priveleged to perform an episode of Ron N. Butler’s Rory Rammer, Space Marshal series, The Queen of the Spaceways with Ted Raimi, Alexandra Tydings, and Claire Stansfield! All that plus Zap thy Neighbor by James P. Hogan, and you’ve got a stellar lineup!

Doug Kaye, Fiona K. Leonard, and Thomas E. Fuller set the scene in
Doug Kaye, Fiona K. Leonard, and Thomas E. Fuller set the scene in “All Hallows’ Moon”

ARTC doesn’t normally do costumes. It’s actually a long-running debate within the company – how to create visual appeal for a medium that doesn’t normally rely on visual appeal at all! But when you’re performing live, the audience expects to be able to see something and asking them to close their eyes can lead to inopportune snoring, so occasionally we give costumes a try.

David Benedict, Ron N. Butler, William L. Brown, Doug Kaye, Fiona K. Leonard, Daniel W. Kiernan, and Thomas E. Fuller portray the inhabitants of Mother Lode, New Mexico.
David Benedict, Ron N. Butler, William L. Brown, Doug Kaye, Fiona K. Leonard, Daniel W. Kiernan, and Thomas E. Fuller portray the inhabitants of Mother Lode, New Mexico.

Here’s another example of the costuming work for this piece. We have been very lucky to have a number of professional costumers work with ARTC in the past to help us on occasions such as this.

William L. Brown accepts the first ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award
William L. Brown accepts the first ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award

In 2000 we also debuted the ARTC Lifetime Achievement Award for excellence in audio. Presented first to ARTC founder William L. Brown and informally known as the “Brownie”, the award was renamed as the Thomas E. Fuller Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003.

Ted Raimi, Karen Barrett, and Claire Stansfield perform in
Ted Raimi, Karen Barrett, and Claire Stansfield perform in Rory Rammer, Space Marshal: Queen of the Spaceways as Alexandra Tydings waits for her cue.

We also had the great honor of performing with three of the stars of Xena, Warrior Princess that year. Ted Raimi hammed it up as Rory Rammer, turning in an uproarious performance…that also happened to be about half an hour longer than we’d scheduled it for! Claire Stansfield and Alexandra Tydings were also spectacular in the roles of Michiko Sakai and Aphrodite DeHavilland.

Alexandra Tydings and Ted Raimi
Alexandra Tydings and Ted Raimi

This performance is still recalled fondly by those members of ARTC who were lucky enough to be present.

We hope you’re enjoying this look back at ARTC! If so, let us know! And don’t forget that your support is extremely important. Tell your friends! Tell your family! Buy a CD or make a donation!