Jared in PMRP!

The Post-Meridian Radio Players just announced their cast lists for their Summer Radio Mystery Theater! I am very proud to say that Jared will be playing not one but two parts across the three pieces featured in this show. In the production of "Gracie Takes Up Crime-Solving," drawn from the Burns and Allen show, he will be playing the womanizing charmer Bill Goodman. Personally I thought his reading at the audition for that part was phenomenal, so I'm really glad he got it. This piece will be directed by usernamenumber, and I'm so happy for him that he'll get a chance to work under Brad's direction. Additionally, the other day he was offered the role of Sir Henry Baskerville in another of the three pieces The Hound of the Baskervilles. I am a huge fan of that novel, so that's really cool. He'll be in excellent company, too. Congratulations to rigel for getting the lead in Sorry, Wrong Number, directed by the awesome audioboy. And most of the other cast members are names I recognize from previous productions Jared did with Theatre@First, such as the amazing Leslie Drescher, who was Rosalind and Caroline Bingley. Jared's wanted to get into voice acting for a long time now, and I know he loves working with this group, so I'm extremely happy for him. It makes me so proud to see his name on the cast lists here on the show website.

Jared and went to see the last production that PMRP put on, when they did an episode of Red Shift and a reading of The Day the Earth Stood Still. I'd never been to an audio drama performance before, so I didn't know what to expect. They lined the edge of the stage with microphones and had a row of chairs along the back where the actors waited until it was their time to move up and speak. The sound effects were handled by the techies over the sound system, like in a regular play. The actors were sort of in costume too, which was interesting. I was impressed to learn that oakenguy* was one of the writers of well-written and hilarious Red Shift script. All the actors were very funny and did a great job, but the highlight of the show for me was lediva, talking in the WEIRDEST sort of strangled-off nerd voice, playing a violently obsessed fan from a race of acid-spitting aliens. It was an interesting experience, and one I will be repeating when I attend the Summer Radio Mystery Theater. It will be July 27th and 28th, both nights at 8PM and then a 2PM matinee on Saturday. I hope you'll join me there for Jared's PMRP debut!

The scandal in Bohemia

If you are familiar with the fabulous Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia, the only one to feature Irene Adler and one of the stories to inspire the show I am in, you know that Irene Adler was in possession of a photograph of herself with the King of Bohemia. The two of them carried on a whirlwind affair, and when he broke it off so that he could marry some Scandinavian princess, she threatened to ruin that marriage by sending the photograph to his bride's father on the day of the wedding. This image above is what we're using for that photograph in the show, and I must say that the two of us do making a charming couple, as they say in the show, "the very picture of love."

With my modern sensibilities, I find it absolutely hilarious that such a tame picture of a man with his ex-girlfriend could be the cause of so much shame and distress. Our director Matt, who took the picture, joked that he should be doing a line of coke or something off my stomach, except that in Victorian times cocaine was a lot more acceptable than dating an opera singer, apparently. I am curious exactly what the nature of the issue is supposed to be. Is it that the highborn king of Bohemia would be degraded to be known to have carried on an affair with a lowborn adventuress from New Jersey? Is it that it is evidence that Wilhelm is going to his marriage less pure and virginal than the driven snow? If that's it, well, at least I am pleased at the lack of a double standard, as I'm sure dear Princess Clothilde is expected to be.

As I mentioned, when we realized the audience is not going to be seeing this picture given how small the prop is, we took silly ones after.

( These are my favorites. )