Chelsea Needham was once among the foremost leaders in tech. But something happened involving a fire and a death. And it got in the papers. Rumor reared its ugly head and Chelsea lost everything she had, with only a few friends left. While recovering from alcoholism, self-destruction, and losing the love of her life, Chelsea meets an enigmatic gentleman from England and a strange fortune teller who may have the answers to how she can reclaim her identity. (Running time: 53 minutes, 42 seconds)

Written, produced, and directed by Edward Champion

CAST:

Chelsea: Katrina Clairvoyant
Thomas: Philip O’Gorman
Alicia: Elizabeth Rimar
Scarlett: Jessica Cuesta
Maya: Tanja Miljoevic
Bobby: John Anantua
Dave: Marc Eliot Stein
and Zack Glassman as The Receptionist

Sound design, editing, engineering, and mastering by a bald man in Brooklyn who tends to show up to the next bar mitzvah looking reasonably dapper.

The “Paths Not Taken” songs were written and performed by Edward Chmpion

Incidental music licensed through Neosounds.

The following songs were licensed through Radio Free Archive:

Mid-Air Machine, “Don’t Feel So Low”
Mela, “Horrible”
Mela, “Waltz for a Memory”
Prince Murphy, “Hey Mecy”
Zoambo Zoet Workestrao – “Heminguleja”
Truth Serum, “Gas Leak”
Cullah, “Italian Singing Hip-Hop”

Image licensed through Getty.

Thank you for listening!

If you’d like to support this independent audio production and learn more about how we made it, for only $20, you can become a Season 2 Subscriber! You’ll get instant access to all episodes as we finish them — months before release. Plus, you’ll get access to exclusive interviews and more than 400 minutes of behind-the-scenes commentary! Here are some behind-the-scenes photos and videos pertaining to this episode that we made during the more than two years of production we put into the second season.

Behind the Scenes:

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Today I had the great privilege of recording with @ogorman.pp, who soldiered on (and sang!) through heat, hammering from neighbors, and some unexpected construction that added delays to today's session. Nevertheless, we got the pages recorded! And I really loved working with Phillip! Like me, he has a very fastidious and serious-minded approach and his work ethic and approach reminded me of Christopher Eccleston. This resulted not only in a lengthy existential discussion about this new recurring character during the table read, but Philip's smart insights had me rewriting two lines on the fly. But Philip also has this very subtle comic side that I gently encouraged, especially with the streaks of dark humor. (Try as I might, I am apparently incapable of writing humorless characters.) While this enigmatic character has gravitas, Philip really got who this man was better than anyone who auditioned. It's extremely rare to find a person with big presence and nuanced comic timing, especially on the audio drama front. But Philip crushed it today, proving a formidable foil to the other character in the same scene. And I'm really looking forward to unpacking his character's complex story! Thank you so much Philip! #acting #recording #audiodrama #character #nuance #christophereccleston #yay #ww1

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Do you ever write a character who turns out to be so entertaining in execution that, when the session ends, you say to yourself, "Aw man! That's it?" Well, that's what happened today with @johnanantua, an actor with terrific instincts who I definitely want to work with again! I really go out of my way to make my supporting roles memorable. And John beat out dozens of people for this part because he intuitively grasped that I was writing a subtle authority figure with gentle comic undertones. He understood that this character, who has a relationship to another character in "Brand Awareness," was a dreamer and devised a backstory. As a result, this session was very fun and flew by far too fast! We were only just starting to know this character and now I'm going to have to figure out a way to work him back in for Season 3! Thank you so much, John! You were terrific! #audiodrama #acting #character #recording #fun

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A super fun recording session with @jessecuesta, who proved to be a subtly inventive actor this morning! We talked a lot about mysticism, rituals, and spirituality (even talking THE GOLDEN BOUGH, which, amazingly, Jesse knew!). And I think this very much helped to ground and round out the character! Jesse took me into a few weird places that I didn't expect (including adopting a very funny 1930s tone at one point) and I went with it! The goal with this character was to portray a realistic, three-dimensional introvert. Because we RARELY see introverts in drama as anything other than nerd stereotypes. And I didn't want to do that here. I know many introverts with rich inner lives. I wanted someone who laughs inside her own head, who is social on her own terms. And once Jesse got this, she started taking more chances with the character and we were both having a blast! Thank you so much Jesse! #acting #actors #audiodrama #recording #voiceover #character #introvert #spirituality #mysticism #ritual #goldenbough

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