Sandbox Radio Live!: Episode 5, “An Unexpected Twist”
recorded at West of Lenin on July 23, 2012
Download here.
@2:35 “Markehim: Episode 5″ by Paul Mullin
@16:58 “A Work of Art” adapted from the story by Anton Chekhov
@ 26:00 PSA – Little Bit Theraputic Riding Center by Elizabeth Heffron
@ 28:25 “Sound Thieves” by Emily Conbere
@ 42:09 “Au Fond Du Temple Saint” by Georges Bizet
@ 47:08 PSA – World Arts Access by Scot Augustson
@ 50:56 “Rally” a poem by Reginald André Jackson
@ 58:21 “Lactar” by Elizabeth Heffron
@ 1:12:12 “A Sousa Salsa” arranged by John Engerman
@ 1:15:38 “The Bleak End of the Woods” by Scot Augustson
@ 1:30:36 Finale/Credits
Every time the podcast of a Sandbox Radio Live! episode drops, I write a little blog about it. And every time I do, I say something like, “This episode is the best one yet.” And every time I say it, I believe it. But I fear that you’ll stop believing me if I keep saying so. So… what’s the solution?
Unsure, I press ahead.
Well, here’s one pretty objective way we get better. Each episode we try to fold a new writer or two into the mix. This time, with our episode “An Unexpected Twist” we presented a new play by relative newcomer-to-Seattle, Emily Conbere, and a poem by long-time local actor Reginald André Jackson. Speaking as someone who has written for Sandbox Radio since its inception, it’s a little unnerving when a newbie like Emily so masterfully makes her debut. Her “Sound Thieves” leverages all the peculiarities, good and bad, of crafting stories for the fecund darkness of the mind. (I know, because our July show was completely sold-out. So without a single spare seat for a freeloading playwright, I sat under the risers, my view of the stage totally blocked by audience legs. I swear this is the very best way to experience radio theatre: live but blind.) My favorite moment: Annette Toutonghi as Gloria, a mom trying to convince a shopkeeper who illicitly fences stolen sounds, to sell her some zoo noise to cheer up her son.
SHOPKEEPER: Individual zoo animals are twenty-five. A cacophony is fifty.
GLORIA: I only got twenty dollars.
SHOPKEEPER: Prices are prices.
GLORIA: And I’ve… I’ve got my dignity.
SHOPKEEPER: I don’t know what that means.
GLORIA: I’ll give you my … (much huskier voice) dignity.
SHOPKEEPER: Ah! You don’t say!
Other favorite moments include Leslie Law and Heather Curtis Mullin singing “Au Fond Du Temple Saint” by Georges Bizet, Jim Gall as the title role in Elizabeth Heffron’s “Lactar”, and of course, Scot Auguston, gift-wrapping the evening with the final offering, “The Bleak End of the Woods”, a stark noir detective story for forest animals. (See if you can spot my wife’s radio acting debut cameo as Charday the Squirrel’s mom.) As always, I listened with unbridled envy as Scot tossed off comic brilliance as easily as peeling bananas.
CHARDAY THE SQUIRREL: So, who’s missing?
JOE THE POSSOM: Clementine.
CHARDAY: Clementine? Let that old windbag stay missing.
JOE: Charday!
CHARDAY: She’ll turn up like the bad penny she is.
JOE: I went to look for her and she wasn’t home.
CHARDAY: Wasn’t home?
JOE: Was not home.
CHARDAY: That doesn’t make sense. She’s a turtle. She’s always home.
So how do I convince you that while each episode is great in its own right, each one is better than the ones that precede it?
Aha! I know the solution! Go listen to the podcasts and decide for yourself.
PS: Advance reservations for our next episode, “Something Wicked this Way” become available tomorrow, September 14, at Brown Paper Tickets. Click here.
PPS: Per my tradition, I’m posting the transcript of Markheim: Episode 5 below the fold.
