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

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.

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.

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

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”)

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.

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.

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.