It’s the future. The cities are flooded. Certain words are forbidden. The doomed Earth has become united under a global totalitarian regime. But two eccentric outliers who refuse to follow the rules may be the Tellestian Empire’s only chance for a hopeful future. (Running time: 37 minutes, 21 seconds.)

Written and directed by Edward Champion

CAST:

Ramirez:  Charly Saccocio
Harris: Michael Saldate
The Instructor:  Rachel Matusewicz
The Voice:  Carol Jacobanis
The Guard:  Graham Rowat
Classmate #1:  David Perez-Ribada
Classmate #2:  Sam Mercer
Classmate #3:  Emmanuel Webb
Scientist #1:  Glenn Bulthius
Scientist #2:  Liz Fodor
Scientist #3:  Alistair Mackey
The Demon:  Pete Lutz
The Rebels:  Glenn Bulthius, Liz Fodor, Alistair Mackey, Melissa Medina, Dylan Reed, and David Sinkus

Associate Producers: Morgan Corcoran and John Osborne

Sound design, editing, engineering, and mastering by a bald man in Brooklyn with a bowling average that is too embarrassingly low to report to the general public.

Music licensed through Neosounds and MusicFox.

Image licensed through Getty.

This story was inspired by Gene Wolfe’s The Book of the New Sun. Please be sure to listen to the excellent podcast, Rereading Wolfe, an excellent show devoted to analyzing this amazing work of literature.

Thanks 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:

(The following song had to be cut for length. We originally had a Tellastian State Anthem for this story and we did record it!)

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Today I recorded with the terrific @lehcarraquel, who beat out dozens of talented actors to land this role and, unlike everyone else, really saw the complicated personality and the thwarted passion deeply buried in this seemingly authoritarian character. Rachel, who is incredibly fun and kind and is truly a born actor, and I got along instantly. She even inspired me to perform a bit of Ricardo Montalban from STAR TREK II: THE WRATH OF KHAN while conveying a note. I was so happy and delighted with her performance that I kept feeding her little ideas to flesh out. So we ended up with tons of fun subtext. There was one point where I needed her to be more authoritative. So I handed her a roll of paper towels (Rachel is pictured during one such moment) and I said, "Okay, this is your gavel. I need you to beat it before this line. You're a judge before a court." Sure enough, this worked beautifully and it really helped Rachel to anchor this character in something very real. This did not stop us, however, from pursuing a few high pulp moments! You will, of course, have to wait for the finished product to learn what these entail! #audiodrama #recording #acting #character #gavel #papertowels

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