Private Eye Harriet Holmes continues to investigate the charismatic Congressman Jack Vindle. Her client, wealthy socialite Muffy Danvers, believes Vindle is having communications outside of the public schedule and she wants to know what they are. Holmes attempts to unlock the mystery that includes discovering the motives of her client.
Starring Olivia Wadsworth as Harriet Holmes with Nick Bourne as Congressman Jack VIndle. Also starring Jandi Hanna, Robert C. Fullerton, Dan Willey and J. Timothy Quirk.
LISTEN HERE:
SHOW NOTES
This series features the original music by Robert C. Fullerton who composed and performed the Harriet Holmes theme. Musician Robert C Fullerton also acts as Mr. Pierce in our story.
This story is a departure from the usual parody story we often share, it is a darker story and has elements of the Raymond Chandler/Dashiell Hammet school of detective/noir thrillers. With Nutmeg Junction, we celebrate the world of Old Time Radio (audio theater) and there are a plethora of genres that entertained the listening audience. We’ve focused on the comedic aspects of the medium but we can do stories of all varieties and we decided to flex our dramatic muscles with this three part story.
The story was intended to be shared in four or five segments but when our lead actor Nick Bourne had an opportunity to head to the Big Apple, we decided to put the entire story in three episodes. This is why this particular story is only 20 minutes (and we added “Thoughts before Brunch” as a bonus to the episode, but the final chapter (chapter 3) will be the full 30 minutes.
Nick Bourne as Congressman Jack Vindle and Olivia Wadsworth as Harriet Holmes
LISTEN HERE
Private Eye Harriet Holmes takes a case to document the comings and goings of a popular Congressman for a mysterious client. Following a car from the Congressman’s home, Holmes and her assistant Otis discover there may be more to the case than meets the eye in this noir style thriller.
Olivia Wadsworth as Harriet Holmes with Hunter Reese as Otis
In this episode we present the first part of a ‘noir” inspired narrative “Harriet Holmes and the Sleep of Angels. This story is a departure from our usual lighthearted fare.
The story was intended to be a three chapter arc but we found that one of the key actors in the story, Nick Bourne who portrays Congressman Jack Vindle, will be pursuing theater in the city that never sleeps (and we’re rooting for him!) so we will share the part two of the story next week.
Starring
Olivia Wadsworth as Harriet Holmes
NIck Bourne as Congressman Jack Vindle
Hunter Reese as Otis
with Jandi Hanna, Dan Willey and J. Timothy Quirk
We begin Season 2 of our audio theater golden-age-of-radio style program by paying homage to the work of the great humorist PG Wodehouse in our loving parody that posits the question, how would the aristocratic world of a gadfly nephew and his gentleman’s gentleman handle an apocalyptic world filled with vampires, werewolves, zombies and more. The answer is found in our two part episode entitled “Giles and Brewster and the Monster Apocalypse” This is PART ONE
CREDITS
Giles and Brewster and the Monster Apocalypse was written, created and produced by J. Timothy Quirk
The program was recorded at WAPJ, Torrington Community Radio
The program starred:
David Macharelli as Woodrow Brewster
Josh Newey as Giles
Lana Peck as Gloria Chennington
Shannon Sniffin as Gwenivere Chuttle
Jandi Hanna as Aunt Agnes
Kurt Boucher as Toppers
Olivia Wadsworth as Lady Chennington
Robert C. Fullerton as Lord Chennington
And J Timothy Quirk as Butterby and Gussie Knitfottle
Additional music and sound courtesy of youtube royalty free music
Please tune in next time for the conclusion, part two of Giles and Brewster and the Monster Apocalypse
Season 2 we will continue to bring you more unique adventures including more of The Grey Whisper, Space Sentries, Tex Bijou and all of your favorite characters.
Until next time, we hope you enjoyed the ride and may all of your journeys bring you back to a happy home.
Inspector Trompe-Loeil and her able assistant Mademoiselle Quosonnt receive an telegram invitation to a dinner party at a strange house above the cliffs of the Wasteland Hills over Smugglers Bay where five furtive strangers who have received the same invitation are gathered. A note is discovered that threatens the guests “one by one”. ill anyone get out alive?
Then a short poem by Sunshine the Cat as voiced by Lana Peck
SHOW NOTES
This episode was a send up of Agatha Christie’s work, most notably a certain French speaking detective matched with an “And Then There Were None” set up.
The concept was initially conceived for our actors who would be available for a live show which will occur this Sunday 12/2/2018. Just as we recorded “Thoughts Before Brunch” with three members of the cast, this piece would feature other members of the cast. This live event at the SpeakEasy on Dec. 2nd would then be the precursor to a full live show in February and then a gala event in April, our first anniversary as a radio show/audio theater company.
I also wanted to write these characters and “try them out” because I planned to write a script for Connecticut’s The Lipstick Project (CT) for their company to record our New Years Eve episode, that would be our first joint venture with another theater company. I wanted Trompe-loeil and Quosonnt to be the featured characters for that New Years Eve story.
So after writing this script, I did write a Trompe-Loeil full episode mystery entitled “Three Hours to Midnight” that is a New Years Eve mystery that takes place at a jazz supper club called “Nothing But Treble” and that will be recorded in mid December and will air as the last show of the year for us.
I was feeling under the weather and so I did not take numerous photos in the recording studio but Kurt Boucher took some extraordinary photos with the green screen and I could not imagine a more fun promo-title card for the characters.
I’m going to hold most of those photos back so that we can use them when we return to those characters again with OUR cast.
Additionally Lana Peck, who has been cast in an upcoming Warner Stage Company production of “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder’ was able to record the narration and then a separate poem I had written, or transcribed really, based on my cat Sunshine’s unhappiness upon finding food late to the bowl and then, horrors of all horrors, the food was a new brand.
CREDITS
This has been episode 30 of Nutmeg Junction which was created, written and produced by J. Timothy Quirk copyright 2018 and rehearsed and recorded at WAPJ studio in Torrington, CT.
And Then There Was One, an Inspector Trompe-Loeil Mystery
was narrated by Lana Peck
and starred
Jandi Hanna as Inspector Trompe-Loeil
Olivia Wadsworth as Mademoiselle Quosonnt
With
Kurt Boucher as Carlyle
Nick Bourne as Pennimere
Rich Cyr as Chexington
David Robinson as Gadfly
Jack Sheedy as Couplet
A Poem by Sunshine the Cat
Was transcribed on behalf of the feline by J. Timothy Quirk and performed by Lana Peck.
Nutmeg Junction theme was created and performed by Robert C Fullerton c 2018
Additional music and sound courtesy of Youtube royalty free music and we thank them for that.
If you have comments or suggestions you are welcome to share them with the creators or with the station airing the program.
Nutmeg Junction can be found online at www/nutmegjunction.com
And is found on facebook, twitter and instagram.
We hope you enjoyed Nutmeg Junction and may all your journeys bring you back to a happy home.
Professor A‘s adventures continue in Chapter Five: Borrower of the Night! Professor A and Ms. Gentry escape to the planet of an alien world in a mini-universe while Dr. Robere remains imprisoned in the “Welcome Center”,distracting the guard, “Officer Funston” for as long as he can.
SHOW NOTES
We continue the story of this multi-episodic Professor A adventure. Last week’s episode of Nutmeg Junction was Chapter Four and it ended on a cliff hanger. So does this episode!
The premise was established in Chapter Four-that the Uni-Ones came from a different universe and took over this world and began extracting its natural resources and then restricted all access to it from anyone else who tries to visit through the dimensional corridor.
In this episode we learn more from the native inhabitants of the world how the current state came to be.
Our principals (Lana Peck as Professor A, Kurt Boucher as Dr. Robere and Tiffy McKay as Ms. Gentry) return and they are joined by David Robinson, Conrad Sienkiewicz and Olivia Wadsworth.
Olivia was not present at the time of the original recording so Tiffy provided two voices, Ms. Gentry’s and B1067. We recorded Olivia after we had edited the show for radio release so there are actually two versions of this episode, the one with Tiffy playing B1067 and one with Olivia portraying the character. As the character will continue in the storyline, we’ve updated/edited the show with Olivia’s voice but Tiffy’s voice is preserved in case we do a “making-of” episode at some point!
David Robinson joins us for the first time and portrays “Bearnard (Bear) Sable/C9359).. Robinson is no stranger to stage and screen, and he was most recently in The Post (2017)
Conrad directs the episode and returns as a voice actor for the neighbor role which is nice because Conrad and I are neighbors in real life too! Conrad will lend his voice to a Harriet Holmes episode within the next few weeks.
The letters and numbers actually correspond to elements of the story
CREDITS
EPISODE 17: PROFESSOR A (CHAPTER FIVE: BORROWER OF THE NIGHT)
CREATED, WRITTEN AND PRODUCED BY J. TIMOTHY QUIRK
DIRECTED BY CONRAD SIENKIWICZ
PROFESSOR A THEME MUSIC WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY LANA PECK (C)2018 AND USED WITH PERMISSION
NUTMEG JUNCTION THEME WRITTEN AND PERFORMED BY ROBERT C. FULLERTON (C) 2018 AND USED WITH PERMISSION
STARRING:
LANA PECK AS THE PROFESSOR AND OFFICER FUNSTON
KURT BOUCHER AS DR. ROBERE
TIFFY MCKAY AS MS. GENTRY
DAVID ROBINSON AS BEARNARD (BEAR/C9357) SABLE
OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS B1067
CONRAD SIENKIEWICZ AS THE NEIGHBOR
REHEARSED AND RECORDED AT WAPJ TORRINGTON COMMUNITY RADIO
SHOW NOTES
Professor A: Chapter Four-The Welcome Wagon is part of a multi-episode story that ends on a cliffhanger and continues until the next episode (which also ends on a cliff hanger-slightly spoiler alert!)
The topic of “immigration” and detention was prevalent on the minds of the American conscience in July 2018 and I had proposed a story that was, in hindsight, incredibly dark however not as dark as the reality that some in the country faced for the story I proposed was still only about adults and not children who were detained, imprisoned and separated from their loved ones.
I received feedback from the actors that the concepts would work if kept within the prism of the Professor world. At their recommendation, I believe specifically Lana Peck’s (Lana portrays the Professor), I wrote a story that did not take place in America or even Earth but rather on a different world within the multi-verse.
It was the correct decision.
The response back when the script was presented was extremely favorable as it hit the right tone while still presenting difficult and complex themes in a powerful way. The continuation of the story (which is in Episode 17) delves deeper into these dark themes while still keeping the essence of a Professor A story in Nutmeg Junction.
This is a three-actor episode. Lana portrays both the Professor and Officer Funston and her vocal work as Officer Funston is not to be missed. With the echo (reverb) on the vocal track there is an eerie quality in the seemingly gracious words Funston is saying to the visitors. As always Kurt Boucher portrays Dr. Robere and Tiffy McKay portrays Ms. Gentry.
We recorded this episode on the same day as Space Sentries II and was directed by Conrad Sienkiewicz.
We recorded Lana’s Officer Funston voice separately from her Professor A performance and then edited it together.
The quote from Sir Isaac Newton is real.
I am extremely proud with how Episodes 16 and 17 came out and I can’t wait to explore this story further in August.
CREDITS
Episode 16: Professor A: Chapter Four-The Welcome Wagon
Written by J. Timothy Quirk (c)2018
Directed by Conrad Sienkiewicz
Professor A Theme written and performed by Lana Peck (c)2018
Starring:
Lana Peck as Professor A and Officer Funston
Kurt Boucher as Dr. Robere
Tiffy McKay as Ms. Gentry
Rehearsed and recorded at WAPJ studio in Torrington CT
Additional music and foley sourced by Youtube Royalty free music or otherwise located in the field by J. Timothy Quirk
In which the crew of the space ship “Salisbury” arrives at the Vermilion system to pick up First Op. Gillard who had been on shore leave. But how will the Space Sentry Central Command rocket powered transport vessel dock with the Salisbury’s docking station if there’s no engineer to guide the way? Can Ensign Puffle learn the assignment in time?
SHOW NOTES
In Episode 6 we introduced the idea of Space Sentries which is loosely based/parody of the old sci fi shows that had to substitute techno-babble jargon in the place of a budget for appropriate sci-fi ambiance. Additionally there is one golden age of radio program that certainly hawked a number of products and incorporated them into the stories.
With that in mind, this show is dedicated for the story tellers who learned to utilize the gift of storytelling through toys and imaginative play. The visual on the episode picture is loosely based on old action figure sets of the 80’s so it gives the impression of them without actually looking like any of them.
Once again Space Sentries stars Rich Cyr as Ensign Puffle, Kurt Boucher as Commander Alx and Phil Hall as Admiral Complication. Joining the episode is Dan Willey as First Op. Gillard.
And for a fun treat we also had three more actors join the cast as the voice of their respective “action figures”, Lana Peck voiced “Laurel (Locksmith) Yannie, Tiffy McKay voiced “Jenny Snips the hair stylist” and Sharon Waagner voiced the enigmatic Dr. Woolf saying the character’s most popular catchphrase.
This episode was tricky to edit as there were four separate audio tracks.
Dan and Sharon both rehearsed with the team on rehearsal night but unfortunately had other obligations for recording day so we recorded them separately (on a Wednesday night).
Then I recorded Lana and Tiffy separately as their action figures only had a few phrases. Well technically Lana’s toy only says one phrase and Tiffy’s figure says one phrase but at the hair salon play set there’s an additional sound that has Jenny Snips say “I’m going to need a bigger comb!”
In my formative years I enjoyed the Star Wars action figures and I can assure you, Hammerhead had greater adventures in my charge than he ever got in the movies.
But in this episode there’s a reference to the old MEGO toys because I refer to a vinyl play set like I used to have with the Star Trek bridge and my sister had with a Wizard of Oz play set.
On the day of recording Rich came off work later than expected so i had to record HIM separately.
So this is one episode where during recording, to help everyone know the pacing of their lines, I voiced every single character from the announcer (Conrad) to Puffle, Alx, Gillard, Complication as well as Yannie, Snips and Woolfe and yet no one will ever hear my versions of these characters as I edited myself out and put in the proper voice in.
In total the editing process had four separate vocal tracks then I added the music and sound effects.
For the main recording day, I had help as Rich Boucher manned the controls and ensured the levels of the performers were in the correct range. We look forward to his work in the future if he chooses to join us on future adventures!
Side note: in the future no one will really get the Laurel Yannie reference. Suffice it to say that for a minute in 2018 facebook blew up with people hearing either Laurel or Yannie in an audio file. Given what we were doing with audio files, I felt this is entirely appropriate to name the character Laurel Yannie.
So we will continue to tell Space Sentries stories and build the crew of the “Salisbury”. The ship is named for a town in the broadcast range of WHDD which plays our program Nutmeg Junction on the multiple stations of the robinhood radio network.
Everyone who was involved in this particular episode enjoyed working on it. We’ll be bringing Dan and Phil back on more adventures in different roles.
We have a big summer planned.
CREDITS
EPISODE 15: SPACE SENTRIES II (c)2018
created, written and produced by J. Timothy Quirk
Directed by Conrad Sienkiewicz
Sound Production by Ray Boucher
STARRING
RICH CYR AS ENSIGN PUFFLE:
KURT BOUCHER AS COMMANDER ALX:
PHIL HALL AS ADMIRAL COMPLICATION
CONRAD SIENKIEWICZ AS THE ANNOUNCER
DAN WILLEY AS FIRST OP GILLARD:
TIFFY MCKAY AS JENNY SNIPS
LANA PECK AS LOCKSMITH LAUREL:
SHARON WAAGNER AS DR. WOOLFE
Nutmeg Junction theme song by Robert C. Fullerton all rights reserved to the performer and used with permission.
Foley and additional music courtesy of Youtube royalty free music
The Battle of Elsenorift features an all female cast and female director in honor of our VIP guest, Marilyn Olsen who is a Board Member of The Lipstick Project (CT) that serves the purpose of supporting women artists especially in Theater.
Olivia Wadsworth and Jandi Hanna reprise their roles as Ava and Evelyn and conducted an interview with our guest in the same way that they conducted the interview with Nancy Sasso Janis in episode 11.
Jandi Hanna was an assistant director during a show I acted in (Twelve Angry Jurors in Goshen). Jandi stepped into the role of director and did a wonderful job working with our actors who had a wide range of theater experience.
Jandi also portrayed the Queen and Olivia portrayed the part of Barbaria. When Olivia put on her voice of a slightly stuffy nosed (pretend cold) Barbaria we all cracked up. It worked so perfectly and I wasn’t expecting it.
For some background I had the enormous pleasure of seeing a production of Master Class about the life of Maria Callas starring Marilyn Olsen and which featured Deborah Goodman in a wonderful role as a student. This episode was a marvelous opportunity to reunite these actors.
Here’s Marilyn making Jandi laugh!
I had just interviewed Marilyn for the Nutmeg CHATTER program where she discussed the Lipstick Project (CT) and asked her if she’d be interested in doing the Junction program. Fortunately she said YES!
Deborah Goodman was on board and immediately “got” the Python-esque feel to some of the repartee between her character and Marilyn’s “Valkyria”.
Poet Patricia Martin was also a newcomer to the Junction team but she has an extensive resume of vocal work especially as an author/poet and the creator of the Speak-easy poetry reading series. So I had her character as “The Scribe” but it was almost unfair as her character has to set up the entire backstory with, as a hallmark of our show, some ridiculous words and phrases to say but with Jandi’s direction and with Patricia’s professionalism it worked out well and Jandi and Patricia had a nice ad-lib moment which made it into the final cut of the show.
Shannon Sniffin joined us as The Page and made remarkable work of a character who might have just slipped into the background in lesser hands. Her deadpan style of answering “I shall not tarry, my liege” was a better delivery than my script deserved. I enjoyed her work in Landmark Community Theatre’s production of “The Game’s Afoot” and it was great to have her join us and there will be more opportunities for Shannon and for all of the wonderful actors who worked on the show.
It was an honor to be in the room as they worked on this show and I thought how wonderful it would be if others could be there to see the show performed live for it was a rare treat.
I will absolutely ask each actor to come back and certainly, if they work together that theatrical alchemy that was created will be magical once again.
CREDITS
EPISODE 14: THE BATTLE OF ELSENORIFT (c) 2018
written, created, produced by J. TIMOTHY QUIRK
NUTMEG JUNCTION THEME MUSIC BY ROBERT C. FULLERTON (C)2018
STARRING
MARILYN OLSEN as VALKYRIA and as herself
DEBORAH GOODMAN as SUSAN
JANDI HANNA as THE QUEEN/EVELYN
OLIVIA WADSWORTH as BARARIA/AVA
PATRICIA MARTIN as SAGOPAZ
SHANNON SNIFFIN as THE PAGE
DIRECTED BY JANDI HANNA
Additional foley and music by YOUTUBE royalty free music or otherwise found in the field by J. Timothy Quirk
All characters and situations are completely fictional. Any similarities between anyone living or dead is completely coincidental.
This was a fun episode as we return to the idea of serendipitous moments in history otherwise known as “Serendip-History”. Our guest was Nancy Sasso Janis, the theater reviewer. As an interesting side note, when Conrad Sienkiewicz, Robert C. Fullerton and I met at WAPJ and sat at the table discussing the ideas for Nutmeg Junction the radio show, Nancy arrived at the tail end of that discussion as she and I had scheduled a Nutmeg CHATTER radio interview and she was early. So she got to witness the birth of the Nutmeg Junction radio show when it happened.
And I knew from our interview that Nancy had acted before but most of her time was spent reviewing and with such a schedule it would be difficult for her to take on a full production of a show but our show was different, needing a rehearsal and a recording time and they’re usually during off times (as often our cast are parts of other local productions! So I asked if she was interested in participating and she was and I had the perfect role for her: Harriet Beecher Stowe!
In addition I had the idea of a public relations person trying to sell Louisa May Alcott on a sequel to Little Women. I reached out to my friend, comedienne KJ Johansen who was my co-host on a prior radio program to see if she was interested in being the PR person and she was!
Olivia Wadsworth and Jandi Hanna were slated to be part of the show as Ava and Evelyn and I knew Olivia could portray Louisa May Alcott and Jandi’s character in Serendip-History is the narrator. This left only Samuel Clemens. Fortunately we have a Southern gentleman of distinction in our cast; Robert C. Fullerton!
Conrad Sienkiewicz directed and it was great that he had some “book end” narration which held the story together.
This was an episode that we rehearsed and recorded on the same day which, when we only have one episode to record, works out fairly well.
The story of Louisa May Alcott and Virginia Wyles worked as I already had the punchline in my head before I wrote it.
The Harriet Beecher Stowe and Samuel Clemens story was based on a recollection of a tour I had either at the Twain Center or at the Stowe center. I couldn’t find any reference to it online, but I recall hearing of a time Clemens met Stowe on the grounds and discussed something and then later sent up his suit. It’s a particularly peculiar idea that I do not know if it’s true or if my memory is flawed but I thought it was a story worth fictionalizing. The dialogue however are often quotes attributed to both authors at different times and contexts.
Credits
Episode 12: Serendip-History Part Two
Written and created and produced by J. Timothy Quirk (c) 2018
Directed by Conrad Sienkiewicz
Starring
Olivia Wadsworth as Ava/Louisa May Alcott
Jandi Hanna as Evelyn/Alice Dare Crook
KJ Johansen as Virginia Wyles/Waitstaff
Nancy Sasso Janis as Harriet Beecher Stowe and herself
Robert C. Fullerton as Samuel Clemens
Conrad Sienkiewicz as Announcer
Nutmeg Junction Theme written and performed by Robert C. Fullerton and used with permission.
All other music and sounds from youtube royalty free music or otherwise found in the field by J. Timothy Quirk
As it was mentioned in Episode 5, we had worked on three chapters of the Professor A: Adjunct Professor to the Multi-verse saga and of course we had the intention to do more. But I found when I edited the show that it sounded best with the chapters at approximately 15 minutes in length (at least for the first two) so we had an extra chapter recorded but not shared with our audience yet.
Secondly, when Olivia Wadsworth came on board I had pitched to her the idea for HER character to be Harriet Holmes. It’s always been my intention for each actor to have a signature role. Some actors may have more than one but I’d like each actor to have episodes where their character is the star. Anyway at the time I envisioned a London tale of Harriet being an actual sibling to Sherlock but found that the tv show SHERLOCK had already put out a story where there was a sister character for Sherlock and it would have seemed too derivative if I tried that too, no matter how I played it.
But as it turned out I also wanted to do a tough as nails Detective character. I have many uses for that character and certainly hard boiled detectives are so ubiquitous in Old Time Radio I’ll have many detectives on the show voiced by many different actors.
Ok, and here’s the thing. I wrote the detective story, finding the lost episode of Nutmeg Junction with a detective without a name. I wasn’t sure what we would call her.
I wrote the opening soliloquy the night before recording and posted it on facebook. This helped Olivia work on and find the voice for the recording session. I finished the story the following day, which was the day of recording, with the final pass completed 15 minutes before i left for the radio station. It’s a tight script that flows very well and there’s very little (if anything at all) I’d change about it.
I cast Jack Sheedy in the role of Lenny Snitchwell. Jack is a writer, an author and editor of a newspaper (Catholic Transcript), and the idea of an “English Major” is a call back to another show that for many years carried the torch of Old Time Radio. Jandi reprises her role of Nonna Hanna.
While we were at the table read, we discussed the fact that the detective didn’t have a name. I believe it was either Jandi or Olivia who brought up the idea of Harriet Holmes. i can not take credit for that at all. But the name fit perfectly and I asked Olivia if she wanted the detective character to be called that. She did.
So that’s how we have Harriet Holmes as a “modern” private eye, not beholden to any Sherlock but understood on her own terms.
Jack did a remarkable job as “Lenny”. He knew the character instantly and gave the right flourish.
The Professor Episode was a lot of fun. This one felt had a lot of comedy thanks to all of the actors in the cast. Everyone has a good line or two including Josh and Jandi as the two humans: Freddie and Alice (which they performed in a cockney accent).
There is only one slight editing mistake I missed in this portion of the show but I will fix it in future editions of the show.
Listeners can expect MORE of Harriet Holmes (she will undoubtedly return in Search for the lost episode part two, and more of the Professor. I plan to have scripts written and recorded this month.
Nutmeg Junction 