The Fringe Audio Intro - Cynthia Morrison, Shoestring Radio Theatre
Respondent: Cynthia Morrison – Playwright
Name of Show: AUTUMN WIND
Company: Shoestring Radio Theatre
"We need a Lady Pirate Captain. Seen enough Jack Sparrow."
1. Why should anybody listen to your show?
A. Because we’ve had enough of Jack Sparrow.
2. Why Atlanta?
A. I hear that its call name is “Hot Lanta”. Who could resist?
3. What inspired you to create this?
A. I was teaching stage combat at the Burt Reynolds Institute. We wanted to create a promo video for the class so I asked the leading actress what character she would like to portray. She chose “Pirate”. As a playwright, I took the concept by the reins. There was a small scarecrow in one of the scenes as background so I brought in the word “Autumn” in the title.
4. What’s your creative process for something like this? Are you approaching it differently b/c it’s a festival or is it just business as usual?
A. Business as usual.
5. When people finish your show, they’re gonna be saying,”….
A. Autumn Wind is awesome. We need a Lady Pirate Captain. Seen enough Jack Sparrow. The writer has a twisted sense of humor but great story all the same. The production team did a super job too.
6. Is this your first festival?
No.
7. If your show was an animal at the Atlanta Zoo, what would it be?
A. a three legged Crocodile
8. Will your show save mankind?
A. No, but if anyone crosses paths with any Pirates they’ll know how to talk their lingo.
9. Any Atlanta-based celebs you’re secretly (or not secretly) hoping will tune in?
A. All of them.
10. Random Atlanta Couple Who Doesn’t Ordinarily Listen To These Sorts of Things (RACWDOLTTTST, for short) wanders into your show blind. What happens to them? Are their minds blown? Are they freaked out? Are they seduced by your gentle artistry?
A. One will say to the other “ Wow I never knew they we’re still making Radio drama. A Lady pirate Captain. Cool concept!
Respondent: Jack Walsh, writer/performer/producer
Name of Company: Participant Trophy Acceptance Speech
Name of Show: Blood and Thunder. And Ducks.
"Looking back on the content of this show, I clearly had some baggage to unpack. I mean, my original title was “Fun with Resentment and Obsession.”
1. Why should anybody listen to your show?
Because this is an audio program on the web and not a theatrical performance, you can experience my show while at your desk at work. That’s right: instead of paying to see a show, you get paid to listen! It’s simple: just set it playing in the background, put on some ear-goggles, stare at a spreadsheet like you’re doing something, and thrill to humorous tales of slapsticky violence and the entertaining use of curse words. Middle-schoolers get beaten up. Ducks evaporate. Kraftwerk gets name-checked by a resentful drum machine. There’s an original score. It’s pretty rad.
Or, if your boss is watching you too closely, you can experience my show from the comfort of your own home. Open up a second browser window for porn. Do another one for an eBay auction you’re following. You do you. I just want you to be happy, buddy.
2. Why Atlanta?
I can’t legally leave the city limits for a while. I don’t want to talk about it.
3. What inspired you to create this?
Looking back on the content of this show, I clearly had some baggage to unpack. I mean, my original title was “Fun with Resentment and Obsession.” From latent junior-high embarrassment to run-ins with bullies to frustrations with my own marginal competence as a musician, I think I was able to deal with some of that by getting it onto the page. (Sorry. I don’t mean to sound like the guy from Smashing Pumpkins or something here. I’m slightly more self-aware than that, I hope.) And having the opportunity to perform, record, and score it for Fringe Audio allowed me to do some things that I couldn’t really get across in print. Especially the piece about the angry drum machine. I mean, typing out drum sounds phonetically just looks like nonsense.
4. What’s your creative process for something like this? Are you approaching it differently b/c it’s a festival or is it just business as usual?
All of the pieces in this show were written to be performed live, so on a base level, the storytelling was a familiar process. But, making the studio segments richer for the headphone experience was new for me. My day-job is in TV, so obviously there are some parallels, but I’m usually not working with my own voice and music. Making it all square-up with the way I heard it in my head was a challenge, especially with my tendency to self-critique. There was a lot of re-recording involved, and I spent way too much time making music I never ended up using. No doubt, I will retain these valuable lessons up until the point that I try this again, whereupon I will forget everything and do the whole self-lacerating trial-and- error process again.
5. When people finish listening to your show, they’re gonna be saying,”….
“I’ll bet that dork was so old by the time he lost his virginity.”
6. Is this your first festival?
I took top honors in the action-figure film-festival at the national GI Joe Convention one year, if that counts.
7. It totally does! If your show was an animal at the Atlanta Zoo, what would it be?
Definitely a panda, because since my audio piece is submitted, my work is done, so I can just laze about while massive crowds clamor to get a glimpse of how cute I am but then just end up talking about how I’m lazy and really like bamboo.
8. Will your show save mankind?
My show will lecture you about using outmoded, sexist terms such as “mankind” like it was a second-semester sophomore in a Women’s Studies course. Then it would move on to a preachy harangue about veganism before excusing itself to a candlelight vigil on the quad to stop something or the other. Or, possibly start. It will probably involve someone walking around with tape over their mouth, so something about repression or censorship, maybe? It’s so hard to keep track. Sounds like an awesome time, though, right? What was the question again?
9. Any Atlanta-based celebs you’re secretly (or not secretly) hoping will tune in?
I recorded a lot of 80s-style synth music to score one of the pieces, so I guess I secretly hope Outkast will sample it.
10. Random Atlanta Couple Who Doesn’t Ordinarily Listen To These Sorts of Things (RACWDOLTTTST, for short) wanders into your show blind. What happens to them? Are their minds blown? Are they freaked out? Are they seduced by your gentle artistry?
I like to think they’ll make out in the back row because of the explicit sexual content that I’ve embedded subliminally in the part of the Duckbusters segment where I talk about Huey Lewis. But, really, when you just say “Huey Lewis,” who’s not going to want to get it on just a little bit, anyway?
11. Describe your show in three words.
Can I do hyphenated words? How about “Synth-pop, duck-monster, mutherfuckin’-karate.”
