The First Season (Holiday Travel Remix)

We’ve released a nearly three hour remix of the first season that contains the entire ten episodes, including some new material, new cues, new sound design, and a few other modest bells and whistles. Consider this the “movie” version of the first season designed for listeners who may be stuck in an airport or those who haven’t yet taken the full plunge. Happy holidays! (Running time: 2 hours, 40 minutes.)

6. Buddies for Hire

In our season finale, a once celebrated and now fading actor Jack Penderton desperately needs a job. His agent, Jill Swanson, lands him a strange gig involving a lonely scrapbook-loving eccentric, an unusual approach to free trade, a sinister salesman who moves uncommonly fast, America’s Next Top Model, and an odd scam that causes Jack to reconsider his long abandoned principles about friendship, loyalty, and connection. (Running time: 25 minutes)

Written and directed by Edward Champion

CAST:
Jack: Gore Abrams
Jill Swanson: Ingeborg Reidmaier
Venall: Adriano La Rocca
Harold: Carl Zurhorst
Gordon: Michael Smith
The Receptionist: Zachary Michael

Sound Design and Editing by Edward Champion
Image: Firat Sola (CC)

Thanks for listening!

Behind the Scenes:

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Here is the incredibly kind and very funny @larocca_cola during the "Buddies for Hire" recording sessions! I met Adrian in a UCB improv class. In fact, he was the first person I talked with! And when I first heard his marvelous voice, which carries a bit of a 20th century comic leading man quality, I knew I had to work with the guy. Fortunately, Adrian was kind enough to appear as a character that played to his strengths and that almost seemed written specifically for him! One of those lucky situations where you write a character and the right actor materializes instantly! We had a lot of fun with this role. At one point, I did some spastic physical movement and asked him to put his arm around my shoulder just to make sure he could find his way into the rather crazy lines. It worked! And Adrian proved to be very funny. Who does he play? Well, you'll have to wait until the first week of October to find out! #voiceover #improv #acting #audiodramasunday #audiodrama #movement #recording

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Our season finale, "Buddies for Hire," will be airing soon. To whet your appetite, here is the great @carlgzurhorst playing one of the most unusual characters in the entire series. I go out of my way to be as actor-friendly as I can, encouraging all sorts of invention. But Carl really went to town on the voice in a way unlike any other actor I've worked with, really giving this character the warmth and the humanity AND the strangeness I needed. Carl was an expert interpreter and an absolute pleasure to work with, cracking me up well into the editing. (The story is a bit of a screwball comedy. And I needed top-notch comic actors for this.) We established a vocal vocabulary for this character with YouTube clips and various recordings, which actually worked very well because the character has learned how to behave from the strangest sources. #acting #voiceover #audiodrama #radio #drama

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4.5. The Waiting Room

Virginia Gaskell finds herself on the other side of the portal that lured her in, greeted by an extremely exuberant (and strangely familiar) receptionist, some squawking avians that aren’t quite okay with her love of chicken fajitas, and further mysteries about how the universes rupture into each other. (Running time: 7 minutes)

Written and directed by Edward Champion

CAST:

Virginia Gaskell: Chris Smith
Receptionist: Zachary Michael
Demon: Pete Lutz
Ed Champion: Edward Champion
Bird People: Fiona Thraille, Benjamin Macon Fort
Sound Design and Editing by Edward Champion

Foley Sources: Edward Champion

Special thanks to Sacha Arnold, Austin Beach, Matthew Boudreau, Jason Boog, Christopher Byrd, Jen Elyse Feldman, Claudia Berenice Garza, Pam Getchell, Jen Halbert, Gabriella Jiminez, John Osborne, Tom Parsons, Michael Saldate, Marc Anthony Stein, Georgette Thompson, and many others I may have inadvertently forgotten for their invaluable help, feedback, kindness, inspiration, and support during the production of this episode.

Thanks for listening!

Behind the Scenes:

1.5. Dissociation

Greg Sutton, a fidgety young man who is a little too fixated on selling himself, sees his psychiatrist for the first time in months, hoping to find answers about his lost childhood and how to get back the woman he loves. But his own quick fix solution to his problems is not quite what the psychiatrist had in mind. (Running time: 6 minutes)

Written and directed by Edward Champion

CAST:
Greg: Charlie Harrington
Emma: Colette Thomas

Edited by Edward Champion
Foley: Edward Champion
Art: id-iom (CC)

Special thanks to Sacha Arnold, Austin Beach, Jason Boog, Christopher Byrd, Claudia Berenice Garza, Jen Halbert, Gabriella Jiminez, Pete Lutz, John Osborne, Rina Patel, Michael Saldate, Paul Sating, Marc Stein, Georgette Thompson, Jack Ward, and many others I may have inadvertently forgotten for their invaluable help, feedback, kindness, inspiration, and support during the production of this episode.

Behind the Scenes: