The Mask of Inanna

PMRP presents the video of our live show from the convention Arisia 2011 – Doctor Who and the Starship of Madness, written and directed by the same author as The Mask of Inanna:

Arisia 2011-Dr. Who: The Starship of Madness from sydweinstein on Vimeo.

UPDATE – This show will be performed again at the Long Island Doctor Who Convention on Saturday, November 9th, at 9:30PM EST.
Details here.

PMRP on the guest list.
 

Episode 5 was delayed slightly due to this live show we put on at Arisia 2011:

Written, directed and special-effected by lil old Whovian me (Alicia E. Goranson), with  awesome audio programming and soundtrack by Neil Marsh, this was our blurb:

Suffering Shoggoths! The Roaring Twenties have just begun! Flappers! Gin joints! Deep Ones? The Doctor joins forces with H.P. Lovecraft to investigate attacks in Boston by monstrous entities, and the eccentric Professor Whiteman who appears to be behind it all! What is the secret of the Professor’s amazing chair that can seemingly cure the insane? What is “Miskatonic University”? What will happen to the world when C’thulhu rises?

Presented by The Post-Meridian Radio Players, the cast included:
Andy Hicks as The Doctor (go check out his fantastic musical 2010!)
Alyssa Osiecki as Violet Brooks
Andy Lebrun as H. P. Lovecraft (yes, that’s our Leonard Allen!)
and Special Guest Star Ron Lacy as Nyar la’Hotep
with
Tom Champion, Mindy Klenoff, Michael McAfee and Brad Smith

The Boston Phoenix enjoyed it:

Friday night, I attended Dr. Who: The Starship of Madness, a live radio play by the Post-Meridian Radio Players about H.P. Lovecraft meeting Dr. Who. The rest of the characters were original — as far as I know — and the whole thing was hilarious. I’m a pretty casual Dr. Who fan, but I still got all of the jokes, and the Lovecraft interludes were a nice touch.

Also ToasterLabs enjoyed it as well:

…for those in the Boston area, The Post-Meridian radio players are putting on two performances of their radio play The Starship of Madness, March 25th and 26th. I saw this group at Arisia and they were incredible, very talented. I highly recommend you go. How can you beat seeing a live Doctor Who radio story!?

We had two additional performances of this show on Friday March 25th at 8:00pm and Saturday March 26th at 3:00pm.

Urban Promise Church, 52 Russell St, Somerville, MA 02144 (across from the Domino’s by Davis Square)

Next time on The Mask of Inanna, Season 1, Episode 5, the Speed Bump goes crazy and all the mysteries of The Mask of Inanna are explained – save one.

Size: ~2MB \ Running Time: 2:33

This episode is scheduled for release on/near February 13, 2011.

[display_podcast]

In which Allen is rescued from certain danger, twice – in 1950’s Hollywood and again in 2008, on the island.

This episode’s After Dark tale: “I Was A Communist for the CIA” – In which Mike Svelte saves us all from the horrors of Godless Communism in Sarah Palin’s backyard – Alaska!

Size: ~78MB \ Running Time: 1:25:38

[display_podcast]

Alternative download link: here

Also, thanks to Jacob Sommer for “additional voices” in this episode.

Fred Greenhalgh has featured our epic audio drama The Mask of Inanna on his Radio Drama Revival show, available as a podcast and played weekly on Portland, Maine’s community radio station WMPG, 90.9/104.1 FM. Even better, we are the feature on Episodes 199 and 200 of his show!

Episode 199:
http://www.radiodramarevival.com/episode-199-the-mask-of-innana-goes-after-dark/

Episode 200:
http://www.radiodramarevival.com/episode-200-leonard-allens-wants-to-have-it-your-way/

As well, Fred interviewed Neil Marsh and myself last week, and this interview will be released in an upcoming episode of his show. Thanks Fred!

You can check out the Radio Drama Revival podcast here.

Next time on The Mask of Inanna, Season 1, Episode 4, Leonard Allen gets rescued from certain danger – twice. And in After Dark – Mike Svelte saves us from the Red Menace in “I Was A Communist for the CIA!”

Size: ~2MB \ Running Time: 2:19

This episode is scheduled for release on/near Sunday, December 12, 2010.

[display_podcast]

The Post-Meridian Radio Players, the folks who do The Mask of Inanna, present The Big Broadcast of 1946, a live Halloween tribute to the Golden Age of Radio! Featuring The Sirens of War, a short play by the author of The Mask of Inanna herself!

Location: The Somerville Theatre in Somerville, MA (Directions)

Dates:
October 28-30, 2010 @ 7:30
October 31st, 2010 @ 2: PM

The Big Broadcast of 1946 showcases local actors and artists performing an old-time radio-style show featuring two programs:  The Frank Cyrano Byfar Hour and Tomes of Terror. Presented first is the October 27th, 1946 episode of The Frank Cyrano Byfar Hour, a Boston-based comedy/variety series from the 1930s and 40s, directed by Somerville resident Rob Noyes. This “rediscovered Boston radio classic” features a colorful cast of local characters including a crimson-dyed-in-the-wool Harvard man and a rootin’ tootin’ cowgirl from the Old West End. The program, performed in the style of radio comedians Jack Benny and Fred Allen, will feature a “Special Guest Appearance” by Hollywood horror legend Boris Karloff, played by Somerville’s own Tom Champion.

An episode of the chilling radio horror series Tomes of Terror will follow, hosted by the charming-yet-creepy character, The Bookkeeper, and her beleaguered assistant, Giles. Set in the mysterious Library, the program features two macabre tales. The first is But Oh, What Happened to Hutchings!, a dark tale of Victorian medical malpractice, written by Canadian playwright Roy Sallows and directed by Somerville resident Gilly Rosenthol.  The second tale is The Sirens of War, a wartime thriller set on the Missouri River, written by Franklin resident Alicia E. Goranson and directed by Jess Viator, another Somerville resident.

Live music for the show will be provided by members of the well-known Somerville troupe, Emperor Norton’s Stationary Marching Band and others, including an occasional appearance by a Theremin and other electronic instruments.

“We are thrilled to have been asked back to the Somerville Theatre this year.” said Neil Marsh, Founder and Artistic Director of PMRP. “Last year’s show, which featured a Boston-based adaptation of Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds broadcast, was a huge success, bringing in over 1100 people. The folks at the Somerville were delighted!”

More information at the website: http://bb1946.pmrp.org

Order your tickets today: Tickets

In which we follow Allen’s amazing adventures in 1950’s Hollywood after leaving “After Dark”, while in the present day, the contractors arrive to repair the lighthouse.

This episode’s After Dark tale: “His Mother’s Voice”

Size: ~70MB \ Running Time: 1:15:01

[display_podcast]

Alternative download link: here

My first, and last, session in a Call of Cthulu game was a disaster. Sure, all us players had the tools necessary to prevent the other inmates at our asylum from wandering in the ocean and emerging as a massive tentacled horror whose very appearance made your unborn children insane. The GM assured us, post-game, that we had all the oil, gasoline, lighters, pitchforks and automobiles with blades attached to the front to solve the mystery and kill off enough of the inmates to prevent the Thing That’s A Lot Scarier If We Don’t Describe It Or Make Plush Dolls Out Of It from gaining critical mass.

So what was the problem? We all spent the game bumbling around on our own, trying to figure out what to do. Our characters had no reason to get to know one another. We had no party coherency.

Episode 2 “Anything You Want” is all about party coherency. Len, David, Scottie and all the islanders will be put through some highly stressful adventures. Their faith in one another will be shaken and put to the test. There has to be a reason for them to stick around and deal with one another, instead of packing up and moving off the island ASAP.

Heh heh heh.

Episode 2 also includes a few plot points which were previously in the (now cut) Episode 5, which was a Scottie solo episode. I cut Episode 5 and the original Episode 7 (the history of David and Jessie from the 50’s to the present day) from the current recording schedule because, when I was getting the current schedule together, I wasn’t even sure we’d make it to Episode 5. I may make the Episode 5 script available on salable versions of the show (i.e. CDs and such). We may record the Episode 7 story after the show is over and we’re feeling nostalgic, but seeing as how these shows take me two non-stop months to record and edit, I wouldn’t hold your breath. Plus I’m developing two new audio shows as well.

Chris is a real person and is a lot crazier than Brad portrays him. I showed Brad some footage of Chris acting in a college film I made. If you’re reading this, Chris, you know my email – I’d be glad to catch up sometime! Also you’re going to show up again a couple times before the show is over!

Jessie McAlister has her debut as well. I wanted to contrast David Lewis’ more practical use of magic with someone who really rides it like a bucking bronco – someone who sees the strangeness of the many underlying realities which we might interpret as magic, and who is completely comfortable in them.

The minisode “The Heart-Shaped Box” was written as a request from Neil Marsh. It is a retelling of the episode “The Repossession” from the CBC radio series Nightfall (broadcast in 1980). Neil is, perhaps, the world’s biggest Nightfall fan and “The Repossession” is one of his favorites. He wanted to see what I could do with it. Its ending is infamous as the foley team recorded themselves sticking their hand in a deboned chicken and making gushy noises with it.

(Yes, the title is a Nirvana reference. You’re lucky at how much restraint I have by not peppering the whole show with XTC, Deltron 3030 and Talking Heads lyrics.)

I used to work with a Mr. Blecharczyk and a Ms. Turla – Annette Turla actually. The most rockingest old school dyke I know – like 1940’s-50’s old school. She’s been a huge inspiration to the sort of characters I like to create.

Oh yeah, and there’s the Speed Bump. Its introduction in the script is titled “Rover from the Pit”. You’re going to learn a lot more about it in the episodes to come – what its motivations are, how it perceives the world and who it used to be.

–Alicia E. Goranson, Show Author

Next time on The Mask of Inanna, Season 1, Episode 3, we follow Allen’s amazing adventures in Hollywood after leaving After Dark, while in the present day, the contractors arrive.

Size: ~2MB \ Running Time: 2:16

This episode is scheduled for release on/near Oct. 3, 2010.

[display_podcast]

This has nothing to do with the show, and yet, it has valuable lessons to teach us all!

Lance R. Shinkle is a professional artist from Falmouth, MA whose works range from stunning paintings (as seen here), to amazing full-scale carved merry-go-round horses. He is a member of the American Society of Portrait Artists. He also is the artist for The Cape and the Cod.

It was 1988 (ignore the “Cape Cod Comics 1990” logo, I’ll explain later), and Mr. Shinkle and performer Allan Moniz (who now teaches at the Cape Cod Conservatory) decided to put out their own indie black-and-white comic, as was the style at the time. The idea – co-developed with Dennis F. Rogers – was to promote Cape Cod (Falmouth specifically) with a superhero comic.

Let’s see where it began to go wrong.

For those of you who didn’t grow up on Cape Cod, I need to explain something. First, our hero is named “Dr. Brewster Jones” because Brewster is a town on the Cape.

I probably need to do some more explaining – I keep forgetting that you all weren’t born on the Cape… The Boston Celtics are a basketball team native to Massachusetts. Garbage collectors are often known for their disrespectful treatment of the very expensive cans we leave out for them. Taxi drivers are helpful and attractive!

Now the biggie – Dr. Jones works at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute (or WHOI), which is an internationally-known research organization and The Official Smartest Thing in Falmouth, Nay, The Entire Cape. They brought you ALVIN and Bob Ballard, who found the Titanic for James Cameron. They research all forms of marine life, including soopah-fish.

Note that there is no Woods Hole lab in Brewster – Brewster has a lab in Woods Hole!

Now, pertaining to the Evil Toxic Waste Dumpers. Where I come from, Cape Cod, we call them Otis Air Force Base. It seems that dumping oil, jet fuel and explosives in the ground for several decades has created a massive toxic plume which filters into the ground water. Residents of Sandwich and Mashpee have been warned.

Get it? The Latin name for cod is Gadus morhua! But as David Bowie would say, you’ve got to get ready for the Gadus superior!

As for the name of the mini-sub SIGY – I don’t get it. It’s clearly the sub ALVIN. Mr. Moniz or Mr. Shinkle, if you’re reading this, you can email me at readalicia [at} gmail {dot] com to explain this joke.

Oh yeah, SoopahCod… gonna get it o-o-onnnnn……

But no! They bred and they bred and they bred the Gadus superior and they still couldn’t keep it from getting caught in a net with holes large enough for it to swim out of. I think Dr. Jones just likes to watch cod do… private things.

I would have had Dr. Jones say, “Oh, spermaceti,” but that’s just me.

Yup.

Was it good for you, too?

Houston, we have a catchphrase.

If hurricanes won’t stop windsurfers from surfing the waters off Cape Cod, toxic waste won’t either.

IMMINENT!

Dr. Jones is truly the Master of Disaster after getting into an unnatural embrace with a cod.

And now the thrilling, we-ran-out-of-pages conclusion:

Mr. Moniz, I see what you did there with that “Fin?”

Also, note that the copyright is 1988 at the end – such is the way of publishing.

So there you have it – “The Cape and the Cod” indie comic! The only one of its kind. If you check the side of the above page, you will see exactly who to blame for this:

“This publication is supported, in part, by the Massachusetts Art Lottery, as administered by the Falmouth Arts Lottery Council.”

Yep. Funded by the state lottery.  “To stimulate awareness of the lottery and help ensure its ultimate success, arts councils and potential recipients of Arts Lottery funds are encouraged to support the Arts Lottery in all appropriate ways.” You can read more about the Arts Lottery here (PDF).

While there never was a sequel, Mr. Moniz and Mr. Shinkle did pen another comic called “The Knife”, about a man who becomes two-dimensional and is able to slip through cracks and cut things with his sharp edges. I didn’t pick it up at the time. Sorry guys!

–Alicia E. Goranson, show author