Pulp-pourri Theatre Audio Drama

Here's a re-release from our recent 11th Hour Audio line-up for World Audio Drama Day 2018, one which the Narada Radio Company and I helped to make: "The Opportunist", written especially for 2018 11th Hour by Steve Schneider. Directed and recorded by yours truly, and edited/mixed by MJ Cogburn of Darker Projects. Music by Ross Bernhardt. The folk song "Knoxville Girl", sung with very little skill by the director, is in the public domain.  The Cast: Jason D. Johnson as GRAVES  Alan Clower as NORTON Nick Wommack as HENRY Dana Gonsalves as DEACON Pete Lutz as LUCKY Russ Walker as ROY Ross Bernhardt as MORTY Mark Rigsby as MacCLELLAN Alisha Strand-Mueller, Jessica Mathews and Lisa Ayala as THE WRAITHS Darren Rockhold as CREDITS ANNOUNCER Art by Kessi Riliniki Next week: Another 11th Hour bonus!

Greetings, fellow Wellesians, Wellsians, OTR-lovers, Mars-lovers (not Bruno), historians, and seekers! Today, in honor of World Audio Drama Day (observed annually, every October 30th) 2018, 63audio is proud to present a special panel discussion featuring the following friends and fellow audio drama makers (in alphabetical order): Ed Champion of "The Gray Area" podcast Joe Griffin and Ele Matelan of Wildclaw Theatre Chicago Jeff Niles of 4077th Productions Aimee Pavy of "12 Chimes, It's Midnight" podcast We're discussing the historic and fateful "War of the Worlds" radio program from the Mercury Theatre on the Air, first broadcast on CBS on 10/30/38. Then we're playing the 50th anniversary tribute-remake first broadcast on NPR on 10/30/88. Then we come back and talk about that, comparing it to the original. Fun, freewheeling discussion abounds! So what are you waiting for? Start listening, eh? And enjoy!

Welcome back! If you've been here for the three previous weeks, you know that we're re-releasing our four 2018 "Sonic Summerstock Playhouse" festival offerings. We hope you enjoyed last week's presentation "ESCAPE: THE ADAPTIVE ULTIMATE". And now it's time to enjoy our fourth and final one, an episode of the "Arch Oboler's Plays" series, entitled "Rocket From Manhattan". Originally broadcast on September 20, 1945, I believe on NBC.  The play and the point of view was written and cast all-male. I decided to go against type and cast every single role with a woman. I changed the genders in the dialog as well, for the most part (except when they spoke of "mankind"; I left that alone). I believe it works very well this way, and further, that Mr. Oboler would approve.  CAST: Announcer 1: Ele Matelan Announcer 2: Alisha Strand-Mueller MAJOR RUSSELL: Geri Elliff DOCTOR CHAMBERLAIN: Lori Bryant LIEUTENANT REYNOLDS: Victoria Fancki Produced & directed by Pete Lutz

Welcome back! If you've been here for the two previous weeks, you know that we're re-releasing our four 2018 "Sonic Summerstock Playhouse" festival offerings. We hope you enjoyed last week's presentation "ARSENIC AND OLD LACE". And now it's time to enjoy our third one, an episode of the great radio series "Escape", called THE ADAPTIVE ULTIMATE! Originally broadcast on CBS, March 26, 1949. Our cast of this radio remake is made up of members of the new Empire Audio Network. All of us are actors and producers in our own right. Here are our players: VOICE 1 – Mike Janson ANNOUNCER – Orlando Segarra DR. DANIEL SCOTT – Gabe Templin DR. BACH – Pete Lutz KYRA ZELAS - Rachel Craig OFFICER – Will Snyder PROSECUTOR – Austin Beach SALVATORE – Jack Ward DEFENSE ATTORNEY – Boyd Barrett JUDGE – Pete Lutz MRS. GETZ – MJ Cogburn 1ST COMMENTATOR - Jeremy Hennessy 2ND COMMENTATOR - Drew Profit JOHN CALLAN – Jack Ward VOICE 2 - Pete Lutz MUSIC BY Dr. Ross Bernhardt

For competition consideration, here is the the theme from PPT S4E8, The Eyes of Thar, composed and performed by Tom Rory Parsons.

You may know already that the Narada Radio Co. has participated in Jack Ward's annual "Sonic Summerstock Playhouse" festival since 2015, and has produced at least one Old-Time Radio remake per year in support of same. This year, however, we were quite prolific, creating a total of four remakes (count 'em! FOUR!) for this very worthy event. We hope you enjoyed last week's entry, THE ADVENTURES OF NERO WOLFE: 'STAMPED FOR MURDER', and hope you'll come back over the next two Sundays to hear the last two. These final three, it's been explained, were already released during the summer of '18; but if you're not a Sonic Society subscriber, you might have missed 'em, so here's our next entry: NBC BEST PLAYS: "ARSENIC AND OLD LACE"! Our cast of this radio remake is the same cast used for the stage production of Arsenic and Old Lace, which I directed in 2017 at Harbor Playhouse, Corpus Christi, Texas. We recorded it on that very stage, too! Here are our players: ABBY BREWSTER - Michele Barnett THE REV. DR. HARPER - Mi

You may know already that the Narada Radio Co. has participated in Jack Ward's annual "Sonic Summerstock Playhouse" festival since 2015, and has produced at least one Old-Time Radio remake per year in support of same. This year, however, we were quite prolific, creating a total of four remakes (count 'em! FOUR!) for this very worthy event. Now these that you're going to hear over the next four weeks were already released during the summer of '18; but if you're not a Sonic Society subscriber, you might have missed 'em, so here they are, starting with the first of the four: THE ADVENTURES OF NERO WOLFE: 'STAMPED FOR MURDER'! This is a recording of a live performance in March '18, in Port Aransas, Texas. Here's our Narada Radio Company cast: ANNOUNCER: Tamara Merson Wren ARCHIE GOODWIN: Ken Yarbrough NERO WOLFE, the detective: Pete Lutz GLORIA, the client: Aileen Corpos RODMAN: Micah Blain CROSS, swindler: Nora Gutierrez-Perez HALLECK, swindler: Lisa Espinoza SANFORD, document forger: Gene Giggy INSPECTOR CRAME

Howdy, buckaroos! Welcome back, an' here's the ninth chapter of the Jake Dimes saga, "Suspected of Murder!" After Jake is found unconscious alongside three dead payroll riders, the whole town is clamoring for justice -- but is our hero guilty of this heinous crime? Listen now an' find out! CAST: JAKE DIMES: Dana Gonsalves BRIAR BUCK: Austin Beach SHERIFF CONROY: Jeff Niles BETTY JO: Kristy Glick CHRIS GREENSLATE: Victoria Fancki FRED GREENSLATE: Joe Stofko LUPE: Debby Leal-Ramirez HICKAM: Tommy Gragg JOE: Mark Kalita BRAX: Lothar Tuppan OPENING ANNOUNCER: Glenn Higbee ANNOUNCER: Darren Rockhold   "Jake Dimes, Range Detective" was written, produced and directed by Pete Lutz. The Jake Dimes Theme was composed by Pete Lutz, and arranged/performed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt.    IN OTHER NEWS: I hope you have subscribed to "The Sonic Society", and have been listening to this year's Sonic Summerstock Playhouse". Some very talented producers have been working hard to bring you a vast selection of Old-Time Radio remakes.

How-do, li'l Mavericks! It's yur ol' pal again, with a brand-new chapter o' yur fay-vo-right cowboy detective, Jake Dimes! Take a load off an' have a listen to "Bloody Business", chapter 8 of our 12-chapter saga. Jake's relationship with Hickam seems to be taking a friendlier turn, while his injured pal, Briar Buck, is recovering from his injuries caused by two members of the payroll-robbing gang. Listen now and find out what happens next! CAST OF CHARACTERS: Dana Gonsalves as JAKE DIMES Tommy Gragg as HICKAM Austin Beach as BUCK Nora Estela Gutierrez as MOLLY SUTCLIFFE Mark Bruzee as DOC BURNSIDE Jeff Niles as SHERIFF CONROY Russell Gold as MR. LEMMON Mark Kalita as JOE and Lothar Tuppan as BRAX With additional voices by Pete Lutz Announcers: Glenn Higbee and Darren Rockhold "Jake Dimes Theme" composed by Pete Lutz, arranged and performed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt. The series was written, directed and produced by Pete Lutz, and stars the Narada Radio Company. Our next chapter will be released soon, and is calle

Voice reel for Pete Lutz, Voice-Over Talent. Snippets of commercials for fictitious products. All scripts written and produced by Pete Lutz Contact Pete at f6point3@gmail.com Or on Twitter at @PulpPourriThtr

PRESENTING...our S4 and Series Finale! RATED R. "The Bird and the Snake" comes from a 1959 issue of Adam Magazine, a slick "girlie-mag", so not technically a pulp story, yet Clem Hanlon's tale of a Polish-American cop in Chi-town really smacks of the pulp style. It took a long time to get us to this point, but I'm proud of this episode, and feel that we're sending Pulp-Pourri Theatre out with a real bang, and not a whimper. I hope you feel the same after hearing it. Our theme, and transitional music, for this episode was specially composed by Katharine Seaton. I hope you listened to the theme when we posted it as a teaser earlier -- I absolutely love what she did for this episode. Find more of her music here:  https://soundcloud.com/katie-seaton-565873597 HERE'S OUR CAST: SOPHY SIENKIEWICZ: Geri Elliff JERCZY “SINK” SIENKIEWICZ: Pete Lutz JANI YANKOWSKI: Nick Wommack LENA MARKOWA: Rachel Craig of Evil Kitten Productions POLICE LT.: Kevin Schuster DOORMAN: Derek Lutz HOODS: Christian Ferris, Derek Lutz MAN: G

Production is underway for our Pulp-Pourri Theatre series (and S4) finale, "The Bird and the Snake", a hard-hitting cop drama set in Chicago, in the late 50s. I wanted this episode to have special music to reflect the changing times and the excitement of the era. Noir movies of that time had jazzy, hard-hitting, gritty, moving themes with avant-garde, abstract, animated titles. I wanted music like that, so I turned to Katharine Seaton, a very talented composer from England, and asked her what she could do for me. Well, she came back with this, and I was blown away. I think you will be, too, and like me, you'll be able to see the abstract animation of a film's opening credits running through your head as this fantastic piece plays out. "The Bird and the Snake" will feature a special introduction from Rhiannon McAfee of the "Rex Rivetter, Private Eye" audio drama podcast series, plus excellent performances from the Narada Radio Company troupe. We plan to release it before the end of February, so watch for that

Here is our penultimate episode of Pulp-Pourri Theatre: "The Cask of Amontillado", by Edgar Allan Poe, followed by the poems "Annabel Lee" and "The Raven". Adapted, produced and directed by Pete Lutz. Today's release date, 1/29/18, is the 173rd anniversary of the original publication date of "The Raven". It also happens to be my 55th birthday. :-) If you want to give me the perfect gift, please listen and enjoy, and share with your friends! CAST OF "THE CASK OF AMONTILLADO": MONTRESOR: Jason D. Johnson FORTUNATO: Pete Lutz INTRODUCED BY: Ele Matelan of Wildclaw Theater, Chicago, Illinois Music sourced from 16th & 17th Century Italian compositions "ANNABEL LEE" recited by Jackie Ayers "THE RAVEN" recited by Pete Lutz MUSIC FOR POEMS BY: Tom Rory Parsons ANNOUNCERS: Lisa Ayala, Gareth Severn PULP-POURRI THEATRE THEME: Rich Wentworth OPENING ANNOUNCER: Gene Lutz, Rich Wentworth Our final episode will be "The Bird and the Snake", adapted from a story by Clem Hanlon. Music specially composed for this episode

Welcome to our 2nd of two teasers for Episode 9 of Season 4 of Pulp-Pourri Theatre's fourth and final season! The Raven is perhaps the most famous poem by Edgar Allan Poe, and one of the most famous in poetry history. It's the tale of a lost soul desperately trying to forget his lost love, while at the same time trying to deal with a recalcitrant raven who just so happens to drop by. Coincidence? We hardly think so. But we do hope you enjoy it! THE RAVEN by Edgar Allan Poe was first published in January 1845. This reading is by Pete Lutz, and music was specially composed and performed by Tom Rory Parsons. Episode 9, Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado", will be launched no later than January 29th, 2018, the 173rd anniversary of The Raven's original publishing date. ---------- 2024 NOTE FOR THIS 2018 PRODUCTION: I discovered some time ago that I had accidentally omitted one verse from The Raven, but I didn't fix it till last year (with Tom Rory Parsons providing additional music for that missing verse) -- and then

Here's one of two teasers for Episode 9 of Pulp-Pourri Theatre's fourth and final season: Edgar Allan Poe's classic poem "Annabel Lee", recited by Narada Radio Company member Jackie Ayers, with music specially composed for this piece by Tom Rory Parsons. Enjoy! Episode 9 is Poe's short story, "The Cask of Amontillado", featuring the voices of Jason D. Johnson as the narrator/protagonist, Montresor, and Pete Lutz as the fat, foolish, unfortunate Fortunato. Our next teaser will be Poe's dark classic, "The Raven", also with music by Mr. Tom. Don't miss it!

It's the best time of the year! And here is our holiday gift to you, our listeners, a minisode of comedy, some in a Christmas theme, some, admittedly not. But all of it is genuine comedy, fresh and lively, and enjoyable at any time of year. What's on the table? See below, and happy listening! Thanks for your support in 2017 and we hope you'll come back for more next year! 1. SAYONARA, CHUPACABRA! A message from our newest sponsor. (Pete Lutz as Ridgely Riggs) 2. BIX BIXBY BOOK REVIEW #7: Bix and his Art Players dramatize a scene from a book that's been quite a popular holiday gift for many generations. (Nick Wommack as Bix Bixby and Brakeman, Pete Lutz as Philboyd Studge and Engineer) 3. MAN-VOICED BABY: A preview of the newest program being offered on the Turnbuckle Television Cartel. (Derek Lutz: Hoyt Streibeck; Drew Profit: Man-Voiced Baby; Nora Estela Gutierrez: Mother; Edward Champion: Dry-Cleaning Man; Pete Lutz: Father)

WELCOME BACK, PULPATEERS! It's been several months since we launched the last new episode of Pulp-Pourri Theatre, and it's good to be back! For this episode we journey to the Red Planet for a weird sci-fi adventure that takes place both under the surface and in a completely different universe. It's called "The Eyes of Thar" and was penned by the prolific pulpster, Henry Kuttner. Kuttner lived a short life, dying in 1958 at the age of 42, but in that time he published dozens of short stories for the pulps, 18 or more novels, and just as many stories for the Golden-Age Green Lantern comic book series. If you haven't heard of Kuttner, perhaps you've read a story published under one of 17 different pseudonyms; his contemporaries felt he'd been cheated out of his well-deserved fame, because his fans didn't know he'd written so many stories under so many names. "The Eyes of Thar" was originally published under the Kuttner name in the Fall 1944 issue of Planet Stories. The adaptation was written by Pete Lutz in 201

Howdy, pard'ners! Here's the first new chapter of our award-winnin' Western saga since June, and we hope you enjoy it. Jake finds himself out of the fryin' pan an' into the fire in this installment, which we call "Joining the Gang!"  CAST OF CHARACTERS: JAKE DIMES: Dana Gonsalves BIRCH HICKAM: Tommy Gragg CHRIS GREENSLATE: Victoria Fancki BETTY JO HICKAM: Kristy Glick FRED GREENSLATE: Joe Stofko BRAX: Lothar Tuppan JOE: Mark Kalita LUPE: Debby Leal-Ramirez ANNOUNCERS: Glenn Higbee and Darren Rockhold "Jake Dimes Theme" composed by Pete Lutz, arranged and performed by Dr. Ross Bernhardt. The series was written, directed and produced by Pete Lutz, and stars the Narada Radio Company. Keep an "eye" out for our next new episode of Pulp-Pourri Theatre, "The Eyes of Thar", an exciting sci-fi pulp adventure, coming very soon! The next chapter of Jake Dimes, Range Detective should be ready sometime in December, and it's called "Bloody Business!"

Since 2013, World Audio Drama Day -- October 30th -- has been calling our attention to the existence, and the creation, and the preservation of audio drama. Not only the old stuff your grandparents talked about: new programs as well, that are being created every day by modern-day producers. Some are brilliant; others are barely listenable. But all of them contribute to the genre, and all are worthy of some kind of recognition. That's why W.A.D.D. was created. It's no coincidence that it's tied in with the anniversary of Orson Welles's "War of the Worlds" broadcast -- and I hope, if you're here and reading this, that you already know the significance of Orson Welles in my life.  But enough about the Day. Here's our offering for W.A.D.D. 2017, a live recording of my adaptation of Robert Bloch's short story, "Return to the Sabbath", performed at Pulpfest '17 in Pittsburgh. We hope you enjoy it. Our show is significant in that it brought together three independent audio drama producers: Austin Beach, of Audiobli

Here's another "lost" episode from the vault, a baseball yarn just in time for the World Series 2017! ANYTHING TO OBLIGE was a story penned by Samuel G. Camp, published in the June 19, 1920 issue of All-Story Magazine. I adapted it and released it the first time at archive dot org on June 19, 2014.  Our cast includes Bob Caro, Dana Gonsalves, Nancy Bueler, Gene Giggy, Kevin Schuster and Derek Lutz, with a cameo by the director. Enjoy! (Even non-sports fans will enjoy this one!)