Happy Christmas Eve! As promised, the Narada Radio Co. proudly presents a recording of a recent live performance -- a remake of the 1947 broadcast of "The Lux Radio Theatre: 'It's a Wonderful Life'"! We performed at the Rialto Theater in Aransas Pass, Texas, over two weekends in December 2018, to small, yet appreciative audiences. (Some lines from a 1947 "Camel Screen Players" radio broadcast were added to this production.)

Please do your best to overlook the technical and sound anomalies present in this recording. They couldn't be helped, and couldn't be removed fully in post-production. 

As I indicated in yesterday's post, we really had a wonderful year! We created new audio dramas in 2018 for Pulp-Pourri Theatre, for Jake Dimes Range Detective, for Sonic Summerstock, and for 11th Hour Audio, and we brought live audio drama to three venues in South Texas. What will 2019 bring? Tune in and find out!

CAST OF "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE":

Pete Lutz as GEORGE BAILEY and MR GOWER 
Jessica Mathews as MARY BAILEY, UNCLE BILLY and ZUZU 
Michele Barnett as CLARENCE 
Gene Giggy as JOSEPH and THE SMOKER
Jason D. Johnson as POP BAILEY, MR. POTTER, MR MARTINI and NICK
Tamara Merson Wren as DR. CAMPBELL, TOM, MR WELCH and COUSIN TILLY 
Teddy Giggy as THE OLD MAN, MRS. HATCH and BERT THE COP
Russ Walker as ANNOUNCER 1, HARRY BAILEY, EUSTACE and the ANGRY MAN
Geneva Aubrey as YOUNG GEORGE, MRS THOMPSON, and JANIE and PETER BAILEY
Chuck Wilson as ERNIE THE TAXI DRIVER, A. DAWG, and ED
Lisa Espinoza as MRS. BAILEY, THE BRIDGEKEEPER, and THE WORRIED WOMAN
Royce Harrell as ANNOUNCER 2, SAM WAINWRIGHT, RANDALL, and the SHERIFF 
Ross Bernhardt as HORACE and MR. CARTER

JINGLE SINGERS: Ross Bernhardt, Chuck Wilson, Teddi Giggy, Geneva Aubrey

MUSIC BY: Dr. Ross Bernhardt

SOUND EFFECTS BY: Various members of the Cast

DROMEDARY CIGARETTES commercials and jingles written by Pete Lutz

The Narada Radio Co. proudly presents a recording of a recent live performance -- The Christmas Eve 1948 broadcast of "The Jimmy Durante Show"! We performed at the Rialto Theater in Aransas Pass, Texas, over two weekends in December 2018, to small, yet appreciative audiences. 

Please do your best to overlook the technical and sound anomalies present in this recording. They couldn't be helped, and couldn't be removed fully in post-production.

Thanks for a wonderful year, listeners! We are proud to have created more than one dozen audio dramas for you to enjoy in 2018, and to have performed live in three local venues. The new year promises to be just as successful, so stay tuned!

CAST OF "THE JIMMY DURANTE SHOW"

VERNE SMITH (Announcer): Royce Harrell

JIMMY DURANTE: Pete Lutz

ALAN YOUNG: Geneva Aubrey

CANDY CANDIDO: Ross Bernhardt

ROSE MARIE/RUBY DANDRIDGE: Jessica Mathews

ARTHUR Q. BRYAN: Chuck Wilson

ALAN REED: Jason D. Johnson

FLORENCE HALOP: Lisa Espinoza

NARADA QUARTET: Teddi Giggy, Ross Bernhardt, Geneva Aubrey, Chuck Wilson

MUSIC: Dr. Ross Bernhardt

SOUND EFFECTS: Various members of the cast

NEW COMMERCIALS AND JINGLES by Pete Lutz, from a suggestion by Todd Faulkner and additional assistance from Steve Blizin

**DON'T MISS PART 2 OF OUR CHRISTMAS OFFERING, COMING TOMORROW (12/24/18)! "IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE"!**

*ptoo* Waal, howdy thar, ya li'l ol' owl-hoots! I reckon yuh didn't expect another excitin' chapter of "Jake Dimes" so quick-like, did yuh?

In this penultimate chapter, our hero is on trial for his life in the makeshift courthouse in Prickly Pear, Arizona! Who will testify in his defense? And who will be against him? Will the scales of Justice weigh in his favor...or is he lost? TUNE IN AND FIND OUT!

CAST:

Dana Gonsalves as JAKE DIMES

Austin Beach as BRIAR BUCK

Victoria Fancki as CHRIS GREENSLATE

Nancy Bueler as MOLLY SUTCLIFFE

Jeff Niles as SHERIFF CONROY

Glenn Hascall as SLIM SUTCLIFFE

Joe Stofko as FRED GREENSLATE

Kristy Glick as BETTY JO

David Ault as SPICER

Mark Hacala as THE JUDGE

Jordan J. Scavone as THE PROSECUTOR

Jack Ward as THE DEFENSE

Glenn Higbee as U.S. AGENT

Viktor Aurelius as THE BAILIFF

ADDITIONAL VOICES: Teddi Giggy, Gene Giggy, Lisa Michaud and various members of the Narada Radio Company

Your announcers were Glenn Higbee and Darren Rockhold

"Jake Dimes Theme" composed by Pete Lutz, arranged and performed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt

Our 12th and final chapter will be issued this month, hopefully before Christmas! 

 Coming up next: Chapter 11 of Jake Dimes!

Here's another re-release from our recent 11th Hour Audio line-up for World Audio Drama Day 2018: "A Little Bedtime Gory", written by yours truly. Directed by Karim Kronfli. Recorded by Christopher Jarvis at the Radio Theatre Workshop (Hinckley, UK) and edited/mixed by me. Music by Dayn Russell Leonardson. Originally released 10/30/18.

CAST:

Holly Golding as Tiffany
Karim C. Kronfli as Daddy
Layla Katib as Princess Peppercorn

Announcer: Pete Lutz

COMING NEXT: Chapter 10 of "Jake Dimes"!

Here's a re-release from our recent 11th Hour Audio line-up for World Audio Drama Day 2018, one which the Narada Radio Company and I helped to make: "The Opportunist", written especially for 2018 11th Hour by Steve Schneider. Directed and recorded by yours truly, and edited/mixed by MJ Cogburn of Darker Projects. Music by Ross Bernhardt. The folk song "Knoxville Girl", sung with very little skill by the director, is in the public domain. 

The Cast:

Jason D. Johnson as GRAVES 
Alan Clower as NORTON
Nick Wommack as HENRY
Dana Gonsalves as DEACON
Pete Lutz as LUCKY
Russ Walker as ROY
Ross Bernhardt as MORTY
Mark Rigsby as MacCLELLAN
Alisha Strand-Mueller, Jessica Mathews and Lisa Ayala as THE WRAITHS
Darren Rockhold as CREDITS ANNOUNCER

Art by Kessi Riliniki

Next week: Another 11th Hour bonus!

Greetings, fellow Wellesians, Wellsians, OTR-lovers, Mars-lovers (not Bruno), historians, and seekers! Today, in honor of World Audio Drama Day (observed annually, every October 30th) 2018, 63audio is proud to present a special panel discussion featuring the following friends and fellow audio drama makers (in alphabetical order):

Ed Champion of "The Gray Area" podcast

Joe Griffin and Ele Matelan of Wildclaw Theatre Chicago

Jeff Niles of 4077th Productions

Aimee Pavy of "12 Chimes, It's Midnight" podcast

We're discussing the historic and fateful "War of the Worlds" radio program from the Mercury Theatre on the Air, first broadcast on CBS on 10/30/38. Then we're playing the 50th anniversary tribute-remake first broadcast on NPR on 10/30/88. Then we come back and talk about that, comparing it to the original. Fun, freewheeling discussion abounds! So what are you waiting for? Start listening, eh? And enjoy!

Welcome back! If you've been here for the three previous weeks, you know that we're re-releasing our four 2018 "Sonic Summerstock Playhouse" festival offerings. We hope you enjoyed last week's presentation "ESCAPE: THE ADAPTIVE ULTIMATE". And now it's time to enjoy our fourth and final one, an episode of the "Arch Oboler's Plays" series, entitled "Rocket From Manhattan". Originally broadcast on September 20, 1945, I believe on NBC. 

The play and the point of view was written and cast all-male. I decided to go against type and cast every single role with a woman. I changed the genders in the dialog as well, for the most part (except when they spoke of "mankind"; I left that alone). I believe it works very well this way, and further, that Mr. Oboler would approve. 

CAST:

Announcer 1: Ele Matelan

Announcer 2: Alisha Strand-Mueller

MAJOR RUSSELL: Geri Elliff

DOCTOR CHAMBERLAIN: Lori Bryant

LIEUTENANT REYNOLDS: Victoria Fancki

Produced & directed by Pete Lutz

Welcome back! If you've been here for the two previous weeks, you know that we're re-releasing our four 2018 "Sonic Summerstock Playhouse" festival offerings. We hope you enjoyed last week's presentation "ARSENIC AND OLD LACE". And now it's time to enjoy our third one, an episode of the great radio series "Escape", called THE ADAPTIVE ULTIMATE! Originally broadcast on CBS, March 26, 1949.

Our cast of this radio remake is made up of members of the new Empire Audio Network. All of us are actors and producers in our own right. Here are our players:

VOICE 1 – Mike Janson

ANNOUNCER – Orlando Segarra

DR. DANIEL SCOTT – Gabe Templin

DR. BACH – Pete Lutz

KYRA ZELAS - Rachel Craig

OFFICER – Will Snyder

PROSECUTOR – Austin Beach

SALVATORE – Jack Ward

DEFENSE ATTORNEY – Boyd Barrett

JUDGE – Pete Lutz

MRS. GETZ – MJ Cogburn

1ST COMMENTATOR - Jeremy Hennessy

2ND COMMENTATOR - Drew Profit

JOHN CALLAN – Jack Ward

VOICE 2 - Pete Lutz

MUSIC BY Dr. Ross Bernhardt

For competition consideration, here is the the theme from PPT S4E8, The Eyes of Thar, composed and performed by Tom Rory Parsons.

(Orig. rel. 7/31/18) You may know already that the Narada Radio Co. has participated in Jack Ward's annual "Sonic Summerstock Playhouse" festival since 2015, and has produced at least one Old-Time Radio remake per year in support of same. This year, however, we were quite prolific, creating a total of four remakes (count 'em! FOUR!) for this very worthy event. We hope you enjoyed last week's entry, THE ADVENTURES OF NERO WOLFE: 'STAMPED FOR MURDER', and hope you'll come back over the next two Sundays to hear the last two. These final three, it's been explained, were already released during the summer of '18; but if you're not a Sonic Society subscriber, you might have missed 'em, so here's our next entry: NBC BEST PLAYS: "ARSENIC AND OLD LACE"!

Our cast of this radio remake is the same cast used for the stage production of Arsenic and Old Lace, which I directed in 2017 at Harbor Playhouse, Corpus Christi, Texas. We recorded it on that very stage, too! Here are our players:

ABBY BREWSTER - Michele Barnett

THE REV. DR. HARPER - Michael Pierce

TEDDY BREWSTER - Chuck Wilson

OFFICER BROPHY - Leo Longoria

OFFICER KLEIN - Richard Robinson

MARTHA BREWSTER - Aileen Corpos

MORTIMER BREWSTER - Peter M. Howard

ELAINE HARPER - Shannon Bladow

MR. GIBBS - Rick Yellen

JONATHAN BREWSTER - Jason D. Johnson

DR. EINSTEIN - Joe Martinez

OFFICER O'HARA - Bobby Vela

LIEUTENANT ROONEY - Larry Hutchison

MR. WITHERSPOON - Gene Giggy

You may know already that the Narada Radio Co. has participated in Jack Ward's annual "Sonic Summerstock Playhouse" festival since 2015, and has produced at least one Old-Time Radio remake per year in support of same. This year, however, we were quite prolific, creating a total of four remakes (count 'em! FOUR!) for this very worthy event. Now these that you're going to hear over the next four weeks were already released during the summer of '18; but if you're not a Sonic Society subscriber, you might have missed 'em, so here they are, starting with the first of the four: THE ADVENTURES OF NERO WOLFE: 'STAMPED FOR MURDER'!

This is a recording of a live performance in March '18, in Port Aransas, Texas. Here's our Narada Radio Company cast:

ANNOUNCER: Tamara Merson Wren

ARCHIE GOODWIN: Ken Yarbrough

NERO WOLFE, the detective: Pete Lutz

GLORIA, the client: Aileen Corpos

RODMAN: Micah Blain

CROSS, swindler: Nora Gutierrez-Perez

HALLECK, swindler: Lisa Espinoza

SANFORD, document forger: Gene Giggy

INSPECTOR CRAMER: Jason D. Johnson  

With commercials performed by Merilee Robinson, Michele Barnett and Teddi Giggy

Howdy, buckaroos! Welcome back, an' here's the ninth chapter of the Jake Dimes saga, "Suspected of Murder!" After Jake is found unconscious alongside three dead payroll riders, the whole town is clamoring for justice -- but is our hero guilty of this heinous crime? Listen now an' find out!

CAST:

JAKE DIMES: Dana Gonsalves

BRIAR BUCK: Austin Beach

SHERIFF CONROY: Jeff Niles

BETTY JO: Kristy Glick

CHRIS GREENSLATE: Victoria Fancki

FRED GREENSLATE: Joe Stofko

LUPE: Debby Leal-Ramirez

HICKAM: Tommy Gragg

JOE: Mark Kalita

BRAX: Lothar Tuppan

OPENING ANNOUNCER: Glenn Higbee

ANNOUNCER: Darren Rockhold

"Jake Dimes, Range Detective" was written, produced and directed by Pete Lutz.

The Jake Dimes Theme was composed by Pete Lutz, and arranged/performed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt. 

IN OTHER NEWS: I hope you have subscribed to "The Sonic Society", and have been listening to this year's Sonic Summerstock Playhouse". Some very talented producers have been working hard to bring you a vast selection of Old-Time Radio remakes. The Narada Radio Co.'s first (of four) for this year was "Stamped for Murder", an episode of The New Adventures of Nero Wolfe; coming this Tuesday is our production of NBC Best Plays' "Arsenic and Old Lace"; and last week's selection was produced by our very own Lothar Tuppan, "A Comedy of Danger", an historical and important piece, in that it was the first-ever English-language radio drama, from the 1920s! There's lots more in store, so go to iTunes or sonicsociety dot org, and subscribe!

How-do, li'l Mavericks! It's yur ol' pal again, with a brand-new chapter o' yur fay-vo-right cowboy detective, Jake Dimes! Take a load off an' have a listen to "Bloody Business", chapter 8 of our 12-chapter saga.

Jake's relationship with Hickam seems to be taking a friendlier turn, while his injured pal, Briar Buck, is recovering from his injuries caused by two members of the payroll-robbing gang. Listen now and find out what happens next!

CAST OF CHARACTERS:

Dana Gonsalves as JAKE DIMES

Tommy Gragg as HICKAM

Austin Beach as BUCK

Nora Estela Gutierrez as MOLLY SUTCLIFFE

Mark Bruzee as DOC BURNSIDE

Jeff Niles as SHERIFF CONROY

Russell Gold as MR. LEMMON

Mark Kalita as JOE

and Lothar Tuppan as BRAX

With additional voices by Pete Lutz

Announcers: Glenn Higbee and Darren Rockhold

"Jake Dimes Theme" composed by Pete Lutz, arranged and performed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt. The series was written, directed and produced by Pete Lutz, and stars the Narada Radio Company.

Our next chapter will be released soon, and is called, "Suspected of Murder"!

Voice reel for Pete Lutz, Voice-Over Talent.

Snippets of commercials for fictitious products. All scripts written and produced by Pete Lutz

Contact Pete at f6point3@gmail.com

Or on Twitter at @PulpPourriThtr

PRESENTING...our Pulp-Pourri Theatre S4 and Series Finale!

RATED R. "The Bird and the Snake" comes from a 1959 issue of Adam Magazine, a slick "girlie-mag", so not technically a pulp story, yet Clem Hanlon's tale of a Polish-American cop in Chi-town really smacks of the pulp style. It took a long time to get us to this point, but I'm proud of this episode, and feel that we're sending Pulp-Pourri Theatre out with a real bang, and not a whimper. I hope you feel the same after hearing it.

Our theme, and transitional music, for this episode was specially composed by Katharine Seaton. I hope you listened to the theme when we posted it as a teaser earlier -- I absolutely love what she did for this episode. Find more of her music here: 

https://soundcloud.com/katie-seaton-565873597

HERE'S OUR CAST:

SOPHY SIENKIEWICZ: Geri Elliff

JERCZY “SINK” SIENKIEWICZ: Pete Lutz

JANI YANKOWSKI: Nick Wommack

LENA MARKOWA: Rachel Craig of Evil Kitten Productions

POLICE LT.: Kevin Schuster

DOORMAN: R.C. Lutz

HOODS: Christian Ferris, R.C. Lutz

MAN: George Hatfield

WANDA MARKOWA: Ebony Rose

ALICE YANKOWSKI: Jessica Matthews

ANNOUNCER: Lisa Ayala

INTRO BY: RHIANNON MCAFEE of "Rex Rivetter, Private Eye" audio drama series

COMING SOON: Four special entries in the Sonic Summerstock Playhouse series -- Old-time Radio re-creations.

AND AFTER THAT: Our new horror series, "THE CELLAR"!

Production is underway for our Pulp-Pourri Theatre series (and S4) finale, "The Bird and the Snake", a hard-hitting cop drama set in Chicago, in the late 50s. I wanted this episode to have special music to reflect the changing times and the excitement of the era. Noir movies of that time had jazzy, hard-hitting, gritty, moving themes with avant-garde, abstract, animated titles. I wanted music like that, so I turned to Katharine Seaton, a very talented composer from England, and asked her what she could do for me. Well, she came back with this, and I was blown away. I think you will be, too, and like me, you'll be able to see the abstract animation of a film's opening credits running through your head as this fantastic piece plays out.

"The Bird and the Snake" will feature a special introduction from Rhiannon McAfee of the "Rex Rivetter, Private Eye" audio drama podcast series, plus excellent performances from the Narada Radio Company troupe. We plan to release it before the end of February, so watch for that and keep your fingers crossed!

Find more of Katie Seaton's music here: https://soundcloud.com/katie-seaton-565873597

Here is our penultimate episode of Pulp-Pourri Theatre: "The Cask of Amontillado", by Edgar Allan Poe, followed by the poems "Annabel Lee" and "The Raven". Adapted, produced and directed by Pete Lutz.

Today's release date, 1/29/18, is the 173rd anniversary of the original publication date of "The Raven". It also happens to be my 55th birthday. :-) If you want to give me the perfect gift, please listen and enjoy, and share with your friends!

CAST OF "THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO":

MONTRESOR: Jason D. Johnson

FORTUNATO: Pete Lutz

INTRODUCED BY: Ele Matelan of Wildclaw Theater, Chicago, Illinois

Music sourced from 16th & 17th Century Italian compositions

"ANNABEL LEE" recited by Jackie Ayers

"THE RAVEN" recited by Pete Lutz

MUSIC FOR POEMS BY: Tom Rory Parsons

ANNOUNCERS: Lisa Ayala, Gareth Severn

PULP-POURRI THEATRE THEME: Rich Wentworth

OPENING ANNOUNCER: Gene Lutz, Rich Wentworth

Our final episode will be "The Bird and the Snake", adapted from a story by Clem Hanlon. Music specially composed for this episode by Katherine Seaton. Don't miss it -- coming soon!

----------

2024 NOTE FOR THIS 2018 PRODUCTION:

Our announcer, Lisa Ayala, states plainly in the closing announcements that the two poems included at the end of this production are presented in their entirety, with no alteration. Up till today, 5/21/24, that statement was an inadvertent lie. I discovered some time ago that I had accidentally omitted one verse from The Raven, but I didn't fix it till last year (with Tom Rory Parsons providing additional music for that missing verse) -- and then I didn't get around to adding it to this production until now. You, dear listener, probably didn't notice, and I received no angry letters from Poe fans, but it bothered me, and now Lisa's words ring true.  Thank you -- Pete Lutz

Welcome to our 2nd of two teasers for Episode 9 of Season 4 of Pulp-Pourri Theatre's fourth and final season! The Raven is perhaps the most famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe, and one of the most famous in poetry history. It's the tale of a lost soul desperately trying to forget his lost love, while at the same time trying to deal with a recalcitrant raven who just so happens to drop by. Coincidence? We hardly think so. But we do hope you enjoy it!

THE RAVEN by Edgar Allan Poe was first published in January 1845. This reading is by Pete Lutz, and music was specially composed and performed by Tom Rory Parsons.

Episode 9, Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", will be launched no later than January 29th, 2018, the 173rd anniversary of The Raven's original publishing date.

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2024 NOTE FOR THIS 2018 PRODUCTION:

I discovered some time ago that I had accidentally omitted one verse from The Raven, but I didn't fix it till last year (with Tom Rory Parsons providing additional music for that missing verse) -- and then I didn't get around to adding it to this production until now. You, dear listener, probably didn't notice, and I received no angry letters from Poe fans, but it bothered me, and now Lisa's words ring true.  Thank you -- Pete Lutz

Here's one of two teasers for Episode 9 of Pulp-Pourri Theatre's fourth and final season: Edgar Allan Poe's classic poem "Annabel Lee", recited by Narada Radio Company member Jackie Ayers, with music specially composed for this piece by Tom Rory Parsons. Enjoy!

Episode 9 is Poe's short story, "The Cask of Amontillado", featuring the voices of Jason D. Johnson as the narrator/protagonist, Montresor, and Pete Lutz as the fat, foolish, unfortunate Fortunato.

Our next teaser will be Poe's dark classic, "The Raven", also with music by Mr. Tom. Don't miss it!