Give Camp Memphis

 

As promised, I've spent the weekend with the good folks of Give Camp Memphis. We've been holed up in the Emerge Memphis building downtown since 5:00 on Friday. The bravest among us (not me) are even sleeping here -- hence the "camp" in Give Camp.

Give Camp is a national initiative that has been popping up in an increasing number of cities. This weekend marks Memphis's second event. The group's slogan is "Coding for Charity," and that pretty much sums it up. Give Camp recruits volunteer tech professionals ("from designers, developers and database administrators to marketers and web strategists") as well as nonprofits in need of technical help, then puts them all in the same place, divides them into project teams, and gives them one solid weekend to complete a tech project.

Most of the projects at this year's Memphis event involve constructing websites, and Chatterbox's is no exception. As I wrote last week, we requested help building an online home for our ongoing Spoon River Anthology project. As of this writing, we're three hours away from the end of the event. The prototype site is shaping up, and though it won't be ready to share for a while (I still have lots of work to do on the content), it will be fully functional and will serve as a fantastic interface for the fantastic poems we're recording.

We pulled an incredible team in Sarah, Matt, George, Jeff, and Jason. Frankly, I'm amazed at all the professionals who turned out to volunteer their time and talent in exchange for nothing more than a thank-you and some (admittedly excellent) food. For my part, all I've really had to do is be around, answering the occasional question, tossing out the occasional idea, and providing the occasional file. Not a bad trade-off at all.

If you're a small nonprofit in a city where Give Camp has a presence, I highly recommend submitting an application. And if you're a technology professional with a penchant for charitable work, I'm sure they'd be thrilled to hear from you.

First Look: The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Caligari opens tonight! To whet your appetite, here are some photos from the performance by the multi-talented Nan Hackman.

Inside The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

Original artwork by Andrew Chandler

We've been working so hard on our upcoming live soundtrack of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari that I've been remiss in posting about it. The show will be performed at The McCoy Theatre at Rhodes College in Memphis on March 22, 23, and 24. Ticket and other information is available on our Facebook page.

Caligari is a seminal, iconic film, and if you haven't seen it, you owe it to yourself to do so. Fortunately certain versions of it are in the public domain, so even if you can't attend the performance, you can stream the entire film online. (After our performance is recorded, we plan to post it to the Chatterbox website synced up with the film. So you'll be able to enjoy our interpretation no matter where in the world you are.)

"Pick you up at 7:30?"

The bizarre, compelling look of the film complements its bizarre, compelling story. The mad Doctor Caligari arrives in a small town with his mysterious cabinet, in which lives the sleepwalker Cesare. Cesare awakens only long enough to tell fortunes as part of Caligari's act at the fair. At night, however, Cesare remains under Caligari's command, and the two commit a series of shocking crimes that bring our hero Francis to the edge of sanity.

Caligari has a strong reputation among cinema buffs and has inspired several generations of filmmakers. (Look at any still of Cesare, for example, and you'll recognize Tim Burton's inspiration for Edward Scissorhands.) Yet it remains relatively little-seen.

Several live soundtracks have been created for the film, but as far as I know they're all purely instrumental. Audio theater icon Yuri Rasovsky adapted the story to audio back in 1998, but while the production is worth hearing, it's independent from the film and its approach is substantially different. In short, then, I don't know of anyone who has attempted a full-length, full-cast soundtrack like the one Chatterbox is producing.

So don't miss it! I'll be proud if our show introduces people to this amazing film -- not to mention the intricate, high-energy performance we're developing to accompany it. Come on out, and bring your friends. We'd love to see you there.

This Week in Listening: The Intergalactic Nemesis

Over the weekend, my girlfriend and I traveled to Longview, Texas to enjoy a visit with her family and to catch a performance of The Intergalactic Nemesis. The show, which is touring internationally (though not yet intergalactically), has generated an impressive amount of attention in recent weeks, appearing on both Conan and NPR. Some friends saw it a few years ago and recommended it highly. When we heard that it was touring, we decided it was something we couldn't miss.

The Intergalactic Nemesis is a "live-action graphic novel" that combines voice acting, sound effects, music, and artwork. The production began in Austin, Texas as a live radio play, then expanded to include more than 1,200 illustrations penciled by Tim Doyle. As the illustrations cycle by on a large screen, three voice actors, a pianist, and one intrepid sound effects artist work together to create a fully soundscaped multimedia experience.

The story is set in 1933 and follows tough-as-nails reporter Molly Sloan and her sidekick Timmy Mendez as they investigate a mesmerizer named Mysterion the Magnificent. Their meddling brings them into contact with assassins, a heroic librarian, and a race of gooey, many-eyed aliens called Zygons. It's a two-fisted adventure serial welded to a sci-fi yarn, with plenty of action, humor, and weird creatures along the way.

Creator and producer Jason Neulander has wisely kept the show family-friendly; the performance we attended drew a large number of kids (and not all boys, either). The script and the performances are certainly tongue in cheek, but thankfully the show goes beyond self-aware camp. The Nemesis team has crafted an original and enormously entertaining theatrical experience. It's complex and fully realized, and, as all live radio shows should be, it's great fun to watch.

As a regular creator of audio productions, attending the show was especially fun for me. One of the first things that struck me was how familiar their sound effects kit looked. There was the wind machine, the crash box, the door unit, the various noisemakers and kids' toys, and many of the other mainstays of Chatterbox productions. Nemesis makes creative use of these tools, of course, and there were several effects I will happily steal for our own purposes. But in general, it was nice to see this group successfully touring the globe with the same basic materials and approach that we use.

More than that, though, it was a thrill to be part of an audience that was clearly having so much fun with the production. The three voice actors were terrifically versatile, handling the fast pace and numerous characters with great skill. (Often, one actor would play both roles in a two-character scene, and the interactions were never less than clear.) The show's sound effects artist and musician  got just as much of a workout, each helping maintain a quick pace while adding the layers of sound that really brought the story to life. The energy coming off the stage was infectious, and when the lights came up for intermission, the (large) audience already seemed eager for more.

Anything that helps bring live radio back to the mainstream already has my support. But The Intergalactic Nemesis has the added perk of being slam-bang entertainment and a great time at the theater. If the show comes anywhere near your area, don't miss it. Part One is touring now, and I believe Part Two will follow suit after its debut this summer.

Treats, tricks, etc.

Some seriously spooky artwork by Derrick Dent, from our 2010 show.

It's October, which means Chatterbox is gearing up for its annual Halloween Show on WKNO-FM. This live broadcast has become a tradition since we first started it in 2008. And it's one of the most fun things we do all year.

The 2011 show will consist of four original horror stories. Scripts were written by myself and the talented Deborah Hyatt, who penned our adaptation of Jack London's "Moon-Face" as well as two previous Halloween stories: "Burning Cold" in 2010 and "Boil" in 2009. (I just noticed that both of those stories have temperature-related titles, a streak that Deborah will break in 2011 unless she opts for some creative last-minute renaming.)

Naturally, the less you know about the scripts, the more likely you are to be horrified, so I'll stay tight-lipped. But I can tell you we've got some really intense stuff planned for this year, and that the stories will range from subtle and eerie to squirm-inducing and over-the-top. Remember: we're trying to give you nightmares. So if you have young kids, don't let them listen unless you want them to have nightmares.

Casts for our Halloween Show are always hand-picked. The stakes are high on live radio, so I like to work with seasoned performers whom I trust implicitly. I got a bit of a late start on casting this year, so we still have a few roles to fill -- but I can already say with confidence that we're going to have a great lineup of voices, including a few newcomers to Chatterbox. As with all shows, casting is half the battle, and with the right team on board rehearsals go a lot more smoothly.

Later today I'm meeting with producer Eric Sefton, musician Cheri Hughes, and SFX designer David Barton to go over the scripts and brainstorm ideas for music, sound, and production choices. There, we'll think hard about how to create some really gruesome sounds and a really unsettling atmosphere. Then rehearsals start next week!

The show will air live on 91.1 WKNO-FM in Memphis at 7:00 CT on Monday, 10/31. You can listen from anywhere in the world through WKNO's website. It will also be rebroadcast that same night as part of the Transcontinental Terror event. If you like horror audio, I highly recommend you tune in to as much of this event as you can.

More updates coming soon! In the meantime, mark your calendars for the show.

Report from the Open House

Like most of us, Aiden got into audio theater for the babes.

Earlier this week, we hosted our second Open House in the Chatterbox Studio. It was great fun, with a crowd of about 60 friendly faces. Everyone had a chance to get on mic and to play with sound effects equipment (which was especially fun for the young'uns who attended). And of course there was food and drink and great camaraderie throughout the evening. You can see photos from the Open House on the Chatterbox website.

Events like these remind me how much Chatterbox depends on its community in order to succeed. Our little theater requires directors, actors, writers, musicians, sound effects artists, sound engineers, visual artists, Board members, administrators, donors, and of course listeners. Without every single one of those elements in place, we couldn't do what we do.

If I weren't busy with Chatterbox, I like to imagine I'd spend my free time hunkered down in a basement somewhere, working on a the Great American Novel. Which would be fun, sure -- if nothing else, I could smoke a pipe and wear jackets with elbow patches -- but would also be a fairly solitary endeavor. Meanwhile, in four years of Chatterbox, we've worked with about 220 people in the creation of our shows, and thousands more listen in each month. I'm certainly the richer for it, and I hope all our participants can say the same.

So, no matter how you participate in Chatterbox, thank you! And whether or not you made the Open House, mark your calendar for our next event: a live Halloween broadcast on WKNO-FM, part of the Transcontinental Terror collaboration. More details soon.