All posts by jtimothyquirk

J. Timothy Quirk is a writer, broadcaster and cartoonist. Since March 2018, Quirk has written, created and produced an audio theater radio program called Nutmeg Junction. Nutmeg Junction currently (as of this update) airs in 14states and online on 27 stations. Quirk also produces an interview radio program called Nutmeg Chatter.

Episode 29: The Good News Report

episode 29 title card 1

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Nutmeg Junction News Anchors Deborah Goodman and Dan Willey begin to host an election special report when breaking news of a different sort changes the coverage.

Then the mystery solvers with their elephant friend Packy-Dermy-Poo try to solve the mystery of the Capitol Ghost!

Episode 29 of Nutmeg Junction features an all star cast  Darcy Abbott, Kurt Boucher, Nick Bourne, Rich Cyr, Robert C. Fullerton, Deborah Goodman, Jandi Hanna, Lana Peck, Jeff Savage, Sharon Waagner, Olivia Wadsworth, Dan Willey with Packy Dermy Poo as himself.

SHOW NOTES

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With an election coming up as the time of the writing of the episode there was consideration to write something loosely related to that event but the news in recent weeks has been utterly horrifying and depressing.   The idea of doing a show about good news came from Lana Peck. She shared a story of a woman who waves and smiles to commuters every morning.

Then after posting about the idea online, we heard from photographer Sheila Ivain who shared the story about a person sharing a grocery cart with a stranger. Stories of random acts of kindness were plentiful,

We were lucky to have Dan Willey and Deborah Goodman come in to anchor the news report. Deborah will be directing Dan in an upcoming one-act play for the Phoenix Stage Company  so we got them at the right time!

For inspiration I shared with them the Monty Python election coverage segment from a youtube to show the sense of “urgency” they needed to convey.

This was a show that had a lot of roles and was one of the largest cast for any single episode and even so we had some actors take on dual roles.

Jandi Hanna portrayed the economics analyst and ad libbed some mathematical components to her analysis which gave it a nice realistic feel. She also portrayed Ms. Gleamer, a CEO who was lobbying a state senator in the Packa-Dermy-Poo story.

Robert C. Fullerton took on the dual role of Robert Sinnick, the analyst who is always interrupted and Senator Stimpleton in the Packa-Dermy-Poo segment (which I’ll discuss later.

Nick Bourne took on two roles as well, as the reporter Mike Rafone and as the politician’s assistant Chad Wormly.

Jeff Savage ALSO does a dual role, as Phil R. Material in the news segment and then returns for a tour de force performance as Red Herring in the Packa-Dermy-Poo segment. I could write Red Herring all day long.

Sharon Waagner returns to Junction as the eye witness. Sharon voiced the doctor on Space Sentries where she has a one word catchphrase “Ooops” ! Here she has more to work with and it’s lots of fun-but dont worry, the doctor will return in Space Sentries when we return to that storyline!

Darcy Abbott is the host of “The Hot Spot with Darcy” on WAPJ Mondays 4-7pm. I had the pleasure of interviewing Darcy regarding the Still River Music Festival and as a colleague she has recommended so many musicians and performers for me to interview on the companion Nutmeg Chatter interview show.   We record Nutmeg Junction at WAPJ but the timing varies depending on the availability of the cast and the availability of the studio> We record many episodes Monday night after 7pm. I asked Darcy if she would be interested in voicing a character and I’m so happy she agreed!

Now Packa-Dermy-Poo (friends may call him packy-dermy-poo or PDP) Mystery Squad was a feature that came about during one of our most popular episodes (episode 20: Looking Forward To It) and we wanted to bring them back. It’s a parody of another cartoon mystery solving squad with an animal but the problem is that most of those stories (the classic ones we’d want to parody) are essentially the same story just at a different location.  But the idea of a Senator refusing to steal votes in a bag because they have other legal ways of stealing votes was appealing and so this story worked out well.

Jeff Savage was “Redmond Herring” in the first PDP story and we absolutely needed him to return to reprise the role.

Robert C. Fullerton was all-in on Senator Stimpleton and the team of Stimpleton with Nick Bourne’s Chad Wormly works really well.  Lana Peck wrote a great line about Hanging Chad (How’s it Hanging, Chad?” delivered with relish by Rich Cyr’s Beau.

All in all it’s a fun episode and I’m sure the news team and PDP will return!

CREDITS

Nutmeg Junction: Episode 29-the Good News Special Report

Was directed by J. Timothy Quirk and recorded at WAPJ Torrington Community Radio

It starred

DAN WILLEY AS NEWS ANCHOR AND SECURITY GUARD

DEBORAH GOODMAN AS NEWS ANCHOR

with

NICK BOURNE AS STREET REPORTER MIKE RAFONE AND CHAD WORMLY

ROBERT FULLERTON AS ROBERT SINNICK AND SENATOR STIMPLETON

SHARON WAAGONER AS THE WITNESS

: JANDI HANNA AS PENELOPE ROLLS AND MS. GLEAMER
OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS PROFESSOR CALDWELL:

DARCY ABBOTT AS JANET ABDERDEEN:

JEFF SAVAGE AS PHILIP R. MATERIAL AND REDMOND HERRING

 

THE PACKA-DERMY POO MYSTERY SQUAD WAS PERFORMED BY

KRISTINE: OLIVIA WADSWORTH

VAL: LANA PECK

BEAU: RICH CYR

SIMON: KURT BOUCHER

PACKA-DERMY-POO AS HIMSELF

Nutmeg Junction theme and Packa-Dermy-Poo theme was written and performed by Robert C. Fullerton ©2018 and used with permission

We hope you enjoyed the ride on Nutmeg Junction and may all your journeys bring you back to a happy home.

Episode 28: Nightmare Junction III

 

Episode 28 features an HP Lovecraft inspired story written by Lana Peck, the Corpse Conductor written and performed by Josh Newey and The Snarflepoofs return!

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The Corpse Conductor introduces us to the stories and provides a wonderful bookend to the episode. For the third and final installment of Nightmare Junction (The October Halloween episodes) Josh brings it home for us and deserved a week off to rest the vocal chords!

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The Call of the Trolley is the first full  story segment written by a cast member and it’s wonderful. Created by Lana Peck, it was pitched at the time we were discussing ideas for the Nightmare Junction stories.  David Robinson was cast to portray the character (a stand-in for Lovecraft) and Lana’s script gives two nods to two prior Nutmeg Junction stories.

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We then conclude with Snarflepoofs-Snarfleween, the mandatory holiday special. Snarflepoofs are “America’s Most Recent Toy Branded Children’s Entertainment Product” and the idea makes fun of the types of shows that only serve to sell toys by having stories and situations that actually discuss concepts of substance.  So Snarfleween allows us to talk about climate change and the environment by talking about an Apple bobbing competition all while the characters maintain their philosophical inclinations. We introduce Nick Bourne into the Junction team. Nick and Lana had worked together under the direction of Keith Paul for a staged reading show at the Warner! (note: I had the opportunity to work for Keith in a staged reading many years ago with, among many others, Lana and Kurt Boucher!)  Nick will return next week with two roles as he acts in both story segments we present!

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Once again, Jandi Hanna is the narrator for the Snarfle-poofs and has a few fun commercials for “Flattread Tires” and “Greedymine Bottled Water”.  Melissa Gabehart returns as “Sneetchey” (Nietzsche) and Jeff Savage is Plato!  The first joke in this story pays homage to a famous Jack Benny line (we just did it in our own way). Kurt is Renny (Rene Descartes), Olivia is Wollstonecraft and Lana is Simone. We decided not to keep the “Princess” joke going as it had been done already and it would be cumbersome to continue it.  The actors like these roles so much, we might have to do a Thanksgiving special, a “not as loved as Halloween or Christmas but still mandatory viewing holiday special”.  And Rich Cyr becomes a Snarflepoof-which one? Listen to find out!

Nutmeg Junction: Nightmare Junction Special #3

Was directed by J. Timothy Quirk and recorded at WAPJ Torrington Community Radio

The Corpse Conductor was written by and starred Josh Newey

Call of the Trolley was written by Lana Peck

It starred

David Robinson

With Kurt Boucher and J. Timothy Quirk

Snarfle-ween

Was written by J. Timothy Quirk

It starred

Jandi Hanna as the Narrator

Lana Peck as Simone

Nick Bourne as Calvin

Rich Cyr as Walden

Kurt Boucher as Renny

Olivia Wadsworth as Wollstonecraft

Melissa Gabehart as Sneechey

Jeff Savage as Plato

The Snarflepoofs theme was written and performed by Lana Peck and Mik Walker © 1998

Nutmeg Junction theme was written and performed by Robert C. Fullerton ©2018 and used with permission

We hope you enjoyed the ride on Nutmeg Junction and may all your journeys bring you back to a happy home.

Episode 27: Nightmare Junction II: The Sad Case of Dr. Horace Wells

 

In the second Halloween special for Nutmeg Junction (Nightmare Junction) the corpse conductor introduces us to the strange case of Dr. Horace Wells, which is based on a true story of a Dentist in Connecticut and may have been the inspiration for the story “Dr. Jeykll and Mr. Hyde”.

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The second tale is a fun story of a poetry reading gone wrong! This one we plan to do LIVE for an audience very soon!

And as a bonus, there’s a wonderful original song by Lana Peck called “Sweet Severed Head” which works perfectly for the Halloween special!

The tale of Dr. Horace Wells was offered first by Conrad Sienkiewicz and followed up by Lana Peck, both of whom shared insight into the piece.

The role of Dr. Wells was portrayed by award winning Atlanta actor Danny Cook, our first “remote actor” for the show (as we record in Connecticut).

 

Thoughts before Breakfast was specifically created for a live event which will occur in the near future!

Nutmeg Junction: Nightmare Junction Special #2

Was written by J. Timothy Quirk

The sad case of Dr. Wells was Based on the ideas suggestion by Conrad Sienkiewicz and Lana Peck

With input on the Corpse Conductor by Josh Newey

It starred

Danny Cook as Dr. Wells

Josh Newey as the Corpse Conductor and Professor Colton

Olivia Wadsworth as Elizabeth

Kurt Boucher as Riggs

Rich Cyr as Samuel Cooley

Jandi Hanna as Morton

Melissa Gabehart as the patient

 

The song sweet severed head written and performed by lana peck © 2013 lana peck music used with permission all other rights reserved to the artist

Thoughts Before Brunch

Written by J. Timoty Quirk

Starring
Rich Cyr as Brad

Kurt Boucher as Brian

Jandi Hanna as Marcia

We hope you enjoyed the ride on Nutmeg Junction and may all your journeys bring you back to a happy home..

Episode 26: Nightmare Junction 1

SHOW NOTES

Daphne’s Inferno was a script I had written in the early months of the program but found a home during the month of Halloween. The story was my take on Dante’s Inferno.

There’s a lot of foreshadowing in the piece-the “That was a HELL of a thing to do”…the fact they didn’t have good reception in the station, etc..lots of pieces in the beginning that set up the story that follows.

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I think the script has the potential to be reworked at some point to bring some foreshadowing in about who Carl is (or his part in the story) but Dante’s Inferno itself is an allegory with tangents and explorations etc and so my piece doesn’t require more than what I wrote but someone down the road may decide that it might work in a different way and that’s understandable.

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I sent the script out to the cast to see if there was interest in recording it and there was, so we set about the rehearsal and recording time. Originally I had the character of Carl and Drew being acted by the same person but it works better separate and Dan Willey was outstanding as “Drew” (T’sup, Drew).

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Josh Newey plays both Virgil and the Corpse Conductor and it’s a real tour de force!  What’s even cooler is that Josh wanted to write the intro for the story as The Corpse Conductor, which was fantastic. Josh is an amazing cast member for Nutmeg Junction, taking on role after role with positive energy and voices that serve the characters in surprising and wondrous ways. And it should be noted that on our show many of our actors have a character (or two) that’s their recurring headlining role, and the Corpse Conductor is definitely a recurring role that’s all Josh’s.

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This episode  marks a great turning point for the series because many on our team are now working on writing scripts or portions of scripts. Now it should be noted the first co-writing experience was in Doctor Keen and the Phenomenal Fifty in The Wizard of Gallows Hill where Lana Peck’s father wrote the story initially and Lana and I re-imagined it for our show. This is the first time a cast member penned their portion completely of the story start to finish and with one minor point, their script was the complete version that was recorded. There’s more of that to come!

 

EPISODE 26: NIGHTMARE JUNCTION 1

WAS WRITTEN BY J. TIMOTHY QUIRK AND JOSH NEWEY

DIRECTED BY CONRAD SIENKIEWICZ

STARRING

JOSH NEWEY AS CORPSE CONDUCTOR AND VIRGIL

OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS DAPHNE

LANA PECK AS THE BECCA/THE DEVIL

RICH CYR AS CARL

DAN WILLEY AS DREW

 

ENCORE PRESENTATION OF SERENDIPHISTORY-EDGAR ALLAN POE AND WASHINGTON IRVING

STARRING JANDI HANNA, RICH CYR AND JOSH NEWEY

 

THEME MUSIC WRITTEN BY ROBERT C. FULLERTON ©2018 AND USED WITH PERMISSION

 

Episode 25: Harriet Holmes-Search for the Lost Episodes III (Trace Duggins:Crime Illustrator)

Intrepid private eye Harriet Holmes meets an iconic detective duo to conclude her search for the Lost Episode of Nutmeg Junction. She locates the story of Trace Duggins: Crime Illustrator in a send-up to the golden age of radio.

SHOW NOTES

There used to be an old time radio program called Casey: Crime Photographer which was nothing more than a detective show with the protagonist who was a photographer for a newspaper.  When creating a parody of that show, Kurt Moffett, who is himself a reporter for a newspaper as well as an integral part of the WAPJ radio station family, was tapped to play the lead.

That being said didn’t want to do a photographer and thought a crime “illustrator” had more appeal especially as the character to wax philosophically about the art choices and bake in to the story line a specific reason why the perpetrator would be caught through art. Since I wasn’t going to use “case-y” and thought Trace would be a great name for an artist.

Occasionally we’ll leave some moments of behind the scenes humor/reactions in the show itself. We do that at the very end of the episode courtesy of Rich Cyr!

The Trace Duggins story line is introduced as part of the Harriet Holmes mythology, or rather trilogy for this is the third and probably final part of the “Search for the Lost Episode” saga. To be sure, we’ll have Harriet Holmes in many more adventures but we’ve done three “lost episodes” shows and as it says in the script, three is a magic number. Olivia Wadsworth is wonderful in the role and her monologues have some of the better one-liners.

I’m excited that the show reintroduces Netta and Nathaniel Chance, our tip of the hat to the Thin Man series, and I absolutely love the way Lana Peck and Kurt Boucher channel the iconic era. These characters were recorded on our very first recording day (ever) of Nutmeg Junction and they deserve some more adventures!

The location of the Harriet Holmes section is in Broughton’s Meadow which was the original name for Florence, Massachusetts area in the Pioneer Valley. Their library is Lilly Library and the iconic and wonderful public park is Look Park. See if you can hear the references to these locations!

Also there are a few shout outs to Leominster Massachusetts! The show is heading to Leominster’s WLPZ on October 20th!

We continue our new way of creating Episode art-with photos taken via Kurt Boucher and myself (not sure who took which photos but it was a collaborative effort on the team). Jandi Hanna located a magnifying glass which we used during the photo shoot and in future episode covers it will probably be seen!

 

trace duggins

CREDITS
EPISODE 25: HARRIET HOLMES AND THE SEARCH FOR THE LOST EPISODE III WITH TRACE DUGGINS: CRIME ILLUSTRATOR

WAS WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY J. TIMOTHY QUIRK (C)2018

STARRING:

OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS HARRIET HOLMES/MS. SUSPECTON/MRS. GRIMLEY

KURT MOFFETT AS TRACE DUGGINS: CRIME ILLUSTRATOR

LANA PECK AS NETTA CHANCE/NARRATOR

KURT BOUCHER AS NATHANIEL CHANCE/MR. GRIMLEY

MELISSA GABEHART AS STRANGER ON A TRAIN/MAUDE PATTERSON

JANDI HANNA AS ROBYN THE REPORTER/LIBRARIAN

JOSH NEWEY AS POLICE OFFICER

RICH CYR AS THE BUTLER CHADWICK

Episode 24: Professor A: Chapter 8: The Conclusion of “Universe, Mine”

In the thrilling conclusion of the story arc “Universe, Mine”, Professor A and Ms Gentry must break into the detention center to save Dr. Robere and Bear before helping the Vigents fight for their freedom. Not everyone survives.

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TIFFY MCKAY AS MS GENTRY

SHOW NOTES

This concludes the first multi-episodic series of stories within the Nutmeg Junction universe. Professor A’s first story (Chapter One: The Fair Trade) was self-contained. A second story (Chapter 2: The Copenhagen Principle) was also relatively self contained even though the Chapter 3: My Brother’s Keeper” followed it loosely.  We learned how best to present this material because we released the first two parts of the story and then we did one-shot stories until we had recorded the continuation and then conclusion to the stories. In future, when we have a multi-episodic adventure, we will release them all successively until the conclusion, so listeners can expect the continuation of the story instead of having to wait a month for the end. So the last three weeks (episodes) finish the Professor A: Adjunct Professor to the Multiverse story arc and we’re extremely excited about how they came out.

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KURT BOUCHER AS DR. ROBERE

So the story began with:

Chapter 4: The Welcome Wagon.  (Episode 16)

Chapter 5: Borrower of the Night (Episode 17)

and then we decided to put the remaining episodes back to back every week until the conclusion so Chapters 6 through 8 were as follows:

Chapter 6: Bold Plans  (Episode 22)

Chapter 7: Resist!  (Episode 23)

Chapter 8: Universe, Mine (Episode 24)

The title “Universe Mine” makes so much sense that I recognize the entire story arc will use that title.

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DAVID ROBINSON AS “BEAR”WITH JOSH NEWEY IN BACKGROUND

The cast did not read the script until the day of rehearsal and for some, they had no idea how the story would end until we read it during rehearsal. The resolution of one character was an emotional one for many.

For the students, Ms. Gentry and Dr. Robere, there is growth which I felt was important for the evolution of the show. Ms. Gentry grows from a somewhat passive bystander of events, chronicling it but not really playing a part (especially in Chapter One) to a heroic participant in events, taking action-she’s an action hero by the end.  Further, Dr. Robere at the beginning is somewhat of a novice intellectually at the beginning of the Professor A series, for true he is a Professor at a University but the smartest intellectual in our world still has much to learn from Professor A from the multi-verse. But by the end Dr. Robere has not only used his cunning to stay alive, he is recognizing and understanding fundamental aspects of the multiverse.

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DEBORAH GOODMAN AS B1067 WITH OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS SA-RAH

Some of the most cinematic lines are said by the supporting cast. Olivia Wadsworth as Sa-rah has my favorite line in Chapter 8. “You can blame me” which in the context of what occurs is quite powerful.

David Robinson comes in as Bear and his dramatic scene of ” I stand for my people, I can do no other” has shades of Martin Luther in it.

It was wonderful working with Deborah Goodman again (she was in Battle of Elsenorift) and we’ll be bringing her back very soon!

Josh Newey once again plays “everyone”.  An accomplished actor, he took on the world building aspect of our show and fans of his work can look forward to October for he will be the featured host of our “Nightmare Junction” series.

 

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LANA PECK AS PROFESSOR A WITH JOSH NEWEY

CREDITS

EPISODE 24: PROFESSOR A: CHAPTER 8: UNIVERSE MINE

written and directed by J. Timothy Quirk (c)2018

STARRING

LANA PECK AS PROFESSOR A/OFFICER FUNSTON

KURT BOUCHER AS DOCTOR ROBERE

TIFFY MCKAY AS MS. GENTRY

WITH

DEBORAH GOODMAN AS B1067/DEE-NAH

JOSH NEWEY AS SUPERVISOR FRIENDLY/MINER/UNIONE2

J. TIMOTHY QUIRK: AS SECURITY DETAIL

DAVID ROBINSON AS BEARNARD SABLE

OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS SA-RAH

PROFESSOR A THEME MUSIC WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY LANA PECK (C)2018 AND USED WITH PERMISSION

NUTMEG JUNCTION THEME AND END CREDITS WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY ROBERT C. FULLERTON (C)2018 AND USED WITH PERMISSION

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Episode 23: Professor A. Chapter 7: RESIST!

Professor A and her students Dr. Robere and Ms Gentry travel to a planet in the multi-verse run by an outside authoritarian regime that is extracting the natural resources. In this chapter, Dr. Robere interrogates “Bear” under the direct supervision of the deadly Uni-One “Supervisor Friendly”, Professor attempts to enlist a Representative of the Vigent government to the cause of freedom and Ms. Gentry makes a startling discovery after saving the life of the Guard tasked with bringing her in!

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I’m uploading this episode on a momentous occasion for last night we recorded the conclusion (Chapter 8) of this story and  find that the entire work came together wonderfully and with each chapter, the stakes became greater and greater and the elements in the earlier parts of the story pay off at the end. This actual story arc will be entitled “UNIVERSE, MINE” and represents Chapters 4-8 in the Professor A saga.

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This is the first time we have successfully serialized a character within our Nutmeg Junction world in a multi-part, multi episode (more than 2 episodes) way. The promise of the characters in this series keeps expanding and I’m excited for listeners to hear the story in its entirety. The work of the vocal talent is extraordinary.

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PROFESSOR A: CHAPTER 7: RESIST

WRITTEN/CREATED/PRODUCED BY J. TIMOTHY QUIRK (C)2018

STARRING

LANA PECK AS THE PROFESSOR/OFFICER FUNSTON

KURT BOUCHER AS DR. ROBERE

TIFFY MCKAY AS MS. GENTRY

WITH

JOSH NEWEY AS SUPERVISOR FRIENDLY

DAVID ROBINSON AS BEARNARD “BEAR” SABLE

OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS THE GUARD SA-RAH

J. TIMOTHY QUIRK AS SECURITY DETAIL

 

PROFESSOR A THEME CREATED AND PERFORMED BY LANA PECK (C)2018 USED WITH PERMISSION

NUTMEG JUNCTION THEME CREATED AND PERFORMED BY ROBERT C. FULLERTON (C) 2018 USED WITH PERMISSION

ALL CHARACTERS AND STORIES ARE WORKS OF FICTION UNLESS OTHERWISE SPECIFIED.  ANY RESEMBLANCE OF ANY PERSON OR SITUATION LIVING OR DECEASED IS COMPLETELY COINCIDENTAL.

Episode 22: Professor A: Chapter 6-Bold Plans

IMG_6500 (2) rehearsal[/caption]

CREDITS

EPISODE 22: PROFESSOR A: CHAPTER 6-BOLD PLANS

WRITTEN/DIRECTED BY J. TIMOTHY QUIRK

STARRING

LANA PECK AS THE PROFESSOR AND OFFICER FUNSTON

KURT BOUCHER AS DR. ROBERE

TIFFY MCKAY AS MS. GENTRY

JOSH NEWEY AS SUPERVISOR FRIENDLY AND REPRESENTATIVE

DAVID ROBINSON AS BEAR

OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS GUARD\

PROFESSOR A THEME WRITTEN/PERFORMED BY LANA PECK (C)2018 USED WITH PERMISSION

NUTMEG JUNCTION THEME WRITTEN/PERFORMED BY ROBERT C. FULLERTON (C) 2018 USED WITH PERMISSION

 

 

Episode 21: Doctor Keen and the Phenomenal Fifty in “The Wizard of Gallows Hill!

The story of this episode starts with Lana Peck, an original cast member and essential member of the Nutmeg Junction theater company.

Lana’s father Shelby Peck was a teacher and fiction writer with an interest in a particular pulp novel hero and he wrote fan fiction for a fanzine that discussed their favorite hero.

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As we created Nutmeg Junction, Lana noted that the genre of audio theater we were creating fit her father’s stories very well so we set about putting them into our own world, in our own way. We changed names and added comic elements that her father would have approved of.  We created “Golden Age Budget Conscious Adventures of…” as an interesting way to tell a story but in reality our show is at its best when there are more sound effects and music so as we continue to tell Doctor Keen stories, we’ll continually add more elements every time. This week had no music for the main story. When we return, we are thinking of bringing kazoos into the equation. By the time we do the character five times or so we may have the full orchestra style program.

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Lana Peck in the foreground with Josh Newey preparing his lines in the back

This episode brought back nearly every member of the original cast (we were missing Conrad and Caroline Sienkiewicz) but we look forward to another opportunity to bring the whole original cast together soon!

 

 

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This is the top of the author’s head; apparently we needed to show this. 

Jandi Hanna portrays Michelle Smalls and Rich Cyr portrays Long John. We also had Kurt Boucher as “Knuckles” though he is the one taking the photos and not any of the at-microphone shots.

The villains of this story are portrayed by Josh Newey and Robert C. Fullerton

 

CREDITS

EPISODE 21: DOCTOR KEEN AND THE PHENOMENAL FIFTY IN THE WIZARDS OF GALLOWS HILL

STORY BY SHELBY PECK

WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY LANA PECK AND J. TIMOTHY QUIRK

CAST:

LANA PECK AS THE NARRATOR AND SAMANTHA THE CAT

J. TIMOTHY QUIRK AS DOCTOR KEEN

KURT BOUCHER AS KNUCKLES

RICH CYR AS LONG JOHN

JANDI HANNA AS MICHELLE SMALLS

JOSH NEWEY AS PRINCE ASMODEOUS/SAM LORD AND SILENT LESTER

ROBERT C. FULLERTON AS THE WIZARD/MR. SEWELL

DOCTOR KEEN WILL RETURN NEXT MONTH FOR THE CONCLUSION OF “THE WIZARD OF GALLOWS HILL!”

Episode 20: “Looking Forward To It”

A delayed trolley allows a father and son to reconnect over the memories of Saturday morning cartoons.

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Jeff Savage and David Macharelli as “Dad and Jake” in “Looking Forward to It”

Jeff Savage and David Macharelli helm this featured episode hearkening back to when Saturday mornings were meant for a bowl of cereal and cartoons on the television. The story is really a contemplation about “time”. Starting out the second half of our inaugural season of audio-theater, Nutmeg Junction presents an episode that takes the anthology series to a different level.

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Director Jandi Hanna, Lana Peck and Kurt Boucher in “Looking Forward to It”

Directed by Jandi Hanna (her prior directorial work for the show was episode 18 “Battle of Elsenorift”) this talented cast all have moments in the spotlight.

MUSIC

Of particular interest for this show is the music. Robert C. Fullerton, the official troubadour of Nutmeg Junction show, creates a special theme for Packy-Dermy-Poo, our miniature Elephant mystery.

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Kurt Boucher created an ode to tort law the way “schoolhouse’ style public service announcements might present the topic with contributions by Lana Peck and Nicole Boucher.

Lana Peck and Mik Walker’s 1998 “Jellybean Stomp” was the perfect theme for the SNARFLEPOOFS!

And apologies all around to anyone who has the “Snarfleday Song” still stuck in their heads. It was created and performed on guitar by J. Timothy Quirk and sung by the whole cast.

      STORIES

Regarding the main story:

Jake and his father speak with an understanding of the other’s knowledgebase and not everything said is spoken with words. During rehearsal we discussed where the father was going and why and the performance by Jeff Savage and David Macharelli demonstrated deep insight into the characters. As the writer, I’m incredibly proud of this piece and thrilled it came to life the way it did.

Regarding Snarflepoofs 1 and 2

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It seemed there was a time when cartoons were created specifically to sell a line of toys. I won’t go into specific names. But whenever there was a large troupe of characters in a cartoon, it was usually (it seemed) because they were selling figures of each character and the cartoon was completely secondary to that effort. The cartoons usually told some generic and forgettable “lesson” about “friendship” or “sharing” or “being nice”.  I thought it would be funny if a cartoon was used to teach something a lot greater, like general philosophy. So that’s the idea of how Snaflepoofs was created. We make references to Rene Descartes (Day Cart says, “call me Cogito!” Plato (who wants to go into my cave and stare at the wall?” and Nietche (Sneetchey steals the show here-nice work by new addition to the team “Melissa Gabehart”)

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The song for the holiday song just made me laugh. It’s three chords, generic and infectious.  During editing I added in the jinglebells, then expanded the guitar-work to fit the narration so that at the end of each narrated segment, we came back to the refrain.

The largest segment of the show is Packy-Dermy-Poo, the homage to the “teen mystery solvers with an animal” genre. The story nearly wrote itself. I enjoyed immensely the idea of a character specifically named Redmond Herring (red herring).  Packy Dermy Poo may be a one-off parody but I loved the laughter at the end and included it in the audio. It fits within the framework of the cartoon but it also demonstrates the fun we have creating Nutmeg Junction.

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Mister Tort Law is wonderful, a creation from the mind of Kurt Boucher. I reached out to the musical cast members about what they wanted to create for the show, giving free reign. Kurt came up with the idea of teaching the concepts of torts in the PSA format. Fantastic. We may do an entire tort episode and base it in Winsted where the American Museum of Tort Law is located and we’ll use that song again.

We had a separate PSA that was non-musical and was a parody of the “ad for a TV disguised as a PSA but instead of saying a generic lesson, we taught Einstein’s law of relativity.  It was a good idea but there was no time for it once the foley was added to the other segments during editing.

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CREDITS
EPISODE 20: LOOKING FORWARD TO IT”

Written, created and produced by J. Timothy Quirk (c) 2018

recorded at WAPJ in Torrington, CT

Directed by Jandi Hanna

Starring Jeff Savage  as Dad in the main story, Plato in Snarflepoofs, Redmond Herring in Packy Dermy Poo

David Macharelli as Jake in the main story, Day Cart in Snarflepoofs and Chuck in Packy Dermy Poo

Kurt Boucher as Mister Tortlaw, Renny in Snarflepoofs and Simon in Packy Dermy Poo

Nicole Boucher as Mister Tortlaw’s friend

Rich Cyr as Beau in Packy Dermy Poo

Mellisa Gabehart as the Passenger, as Sneetchey in Snarflepoofs

Jandi Hanna the narrator in Snarflepoofs and Professor Culpritt in Packy Dermy Poo

Lana Peck as Chum in Mister Tort Law, Princess Simone in Snarflepoofs and Val in Packy Dermy Poo

Olivia Wadsworth as Princess Wollstonecraft in Snarflepoofs and Kristine in Packy Dermy Poo

J. Timothy Quirk as the conductor

Packy Dermy Poo as himself

MUSIC:

Mister TortLaw written and performed by Kurt Boucher with singing by Lana Peck and Nicole Boucher. © 2018 Used with permission.

Snarflepoofs theme/Jellybean stomp was written and performed by Lana Peck and Mik Walker ©1998 used with permission

Snarfleday written by J. Timothy Quirk and performed by all cast members of Episode 20 ©2018 and used with permission

Nutmeg Junction End Credits (c)2018 Robert C. Fullerton and used with permission

We hope you enjoyed the episode and may all of your journeys bring you back to a happy home.