olivia wadsworth – Nutmeg Junction

Show Notes

“Tex Bijou: Cinema’s Singing Cowboy ™” was one of the original character creations that the came straight from the idea of doing a new “golden age of radio” style program in the first place. Westerns have a long and storied history in entertainment in all forms (novels, comic books, radio, tv and film) and the “singing cowboy” idea was a special form of that sort of hero. The two singing cowboys I always enjoyed were Gene Autry and Roy Rogers. Oh, the “tm” portion pf Tex Bijou: Cinema’s Singing Cowboy ™ is part of the joke of the character and show, we’re not trying to be precious here!

The rehearsal for Tex Bijou. On stairs: Kurt Boucher (Sheriff) Josh Newey (Jesse) Olivia Wadsworth (Jess) Jandi Hanna (Deputy Jones) Rich Cyr (who rehearsed on the subsequent episode) Below: Robert C Fullerton (Tex Bijou), Joel Benson (Bobby Gutcheck) and Conrad Sienkiewicz (Pecos Sam and Narrator)

Robert C. Fullerton, a founding cast member of Nutmeg Junction, is not only a voice actor but is our primary musician on the show. He created the Nutmeg Junction theme, the Mr. JT theme and numerous other songs already on the show. So I thought it would be fun for his primary character to portray “Tex Bijou: Cinema’s Singing Cowboy (TM)” and the wanted Tex to be a surprising creation as the story unfolded. I wrote the Mise En Scene lyrics and he put those lyrics to music and improvised the theme to Tex Bijou. I added my whistling to that number!

IMG_5443 (2) — Robert C Fullerton as Tex Bijou: Cinema’s Singing Cowboy ™

As Sheriff and Deputy, the team of Kurt Boucher and Jandi Hanna was a joyous discovery and their characters eventual contempt of the Hollywood status of the main character grows funnier with every listen.

Jess and Jesse are the PAs portrayed by Olivia Wadsworth and Josh Newey. They have to carry the show’s premise and I enjoy how they succeeded in that task. Both Josh and Olivia brought nuances to the roles that improved the words on the page. For instance every time the Deputy wishes to chastise the PAs, Josh Newey’s Jesse always redirects back to the Sheriff. As memory serves that was not an intentional aspect of the script but Josh brought it to life and it works very well.

Josh Newey as Jesse with Jandi Hanna as Deputy Jones

This episode was Olivia’s first real foray into our world of audio theater (she did play a minor role in the Professor episode with two lines but this was the first script that really showcased her talent). Her portrayal of Jess as an efficient PA who provides the list of options for the star of the show is a lot of fun!

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And what can I say about Joel Benson! Joel had a few lines (just like Olivia had a few lines her first time out with us) but he sold every one of them! What makes this character work is how completely opposite his voice is to Tex Bijou’s (and Joel plays his stunt double. With Joel’s sense of humor, we’re lucky we have him in a subsequent episode (The Grey Whisper Returns) and we’ll have him come back for more! Joel has a radio show on WAPJ called “Unhinged” which airs Thursdays noon to 2pm.

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CREDITS

Episode 8 in recording and release

The Program Was Created/Written/Produced/Edited by J. Timothy Quirk

Musical Guest: Robert C. Fullerton as Tex Bijou

Starring:

ROBERT C.. FULLERTON AS TEX BIJOU

KURT BOUCHER AS SHERIFF/KENT FLASHMAN

JANDI HANNA AS DEPUTY JONES

OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS JESS

JOSH NEWEY AS JESSE/BAXTER

CONRAD SIENKIEWICZ: AS ANNOUNCER

DIRECTED BY CONRAD SIENKIEWICZ

Rehearsed at Trinity Episcopal Church in Torrington

Recorded at WAPJ Torrington Community Radio

MUSIC:

Additional music and foley courtesy of Youtube royalty free music or otherwise obtained in the environment by J. Timothy Quirk

Nutmeg Junction: Josh Newey, Kurt Boucher, Olivia Wadsworth, Conrad Sienkiewicz (front), Lana Peck, Tiffy McKay, Jandi Hanna Rehearsal of Professor A

Listen to the episode HERE!

http://nutmegjunction.buzzsprout.com/168185/691446-episode-5-professor-a-adjunct-professor-to-the-multi-verse

Show notes/photos

30125662_1225107794289201_265485920_o — Tiffy McKay with Lana Peck recording “Professor A”

This was an exciting episode and it’s a wonder as it was only the 7th episode that we worked on but it’s very complex and the editing was challenging and ultimately thoroughly rewarding. The end result is a program that took our show to the next level. We released this one as episode as Episode 5 because the lead actor, Lana Peck, has a starring role in Young Frankenstein at Theatreworks New Milford so we wanted to time the release of the show to coincide with that auspicious occasion.

Our episode has a VIP vocal actor Tiffy McKay, who is a children’s book author. McKay’s enthusiasm and professionalism performing as “Ms. Gentry” (and as the passenger who discovers the Prof. A book) ensured her a permanent recurring role in the Prof A stories.

This is the first episode where we do not have a musical guest or VIP interview and went straight for audio theater for the entire episode.

30223162_1225131444286836_2067854528_o — Josh Newey, Kurt Boucher and Jandi Hanna recording “Professor A”

The theme music was created by Lana Peck and it has a wonderful sound effect I used throughout the episode when the Vortex is created. In fact we actually rehearsed and recorded three “chapters” of the Prof A “book” but when music and sound effects were added along with “pregnant pauses” as best befits the storyline, we found only two of the “chapters” fit in the half hour story. Therefore we know we’ll be enjoying more adventures of Prof A, Robere and Ms. Gentry in the future!

Professor A pays homage to the time-traveling parallel world hopping adventures of… well, adventurers who do that sort of thing and certainly the accents used by all the performers identify the region of the world where some of the most prominent characters of that genre were created.

EPISODE 5 PROF WITH CREDIT

The show was directed by Conrad Sienkiewicz during the rehearsal but I took on “associate director” role during the recording and it demonstrated how much we value having a director separate from a sound engineer.

We had a guest during rehearsal, actor Olivia Wadsworth, who was to be our invited guest for the late April and May episodes. She added her voice along with Rich Cyr and Jandi to the “students” who run away at the beginning of the first chapter. Rich Cyr couldn’t be at the rehearsal but he was there for the recording and he took the photos of the recording that I’ve posted throughout these show notes.

30546663_1225106807622633_2078932214_o — J. Timothy Quirk reviewing the script as we record Professor A

Regarding the Writing:

I wrote the characters Prof A and Robere specifically for Lana and Kurt Boucher respectively. When the script was submitted to Tiffy, Lana and Kurt, I believe all of them individually asked if the roles could be performed in a particular accent and I knew Josh Newey (who portrays Chessman) could do one.

The first “chapter” I wrote as a stand alone and sent it to all of the actors and Director Conrad Sienkiewicz. The challenge there was to create an entire world point of view, the relevant characters and a story with a beginning, middle and end all in about twelve pages which I accomplished. When there was universal acceptance of that script, I took to writing a second and then a third chapter.

Jandi Hanna and Josh Newey (not as Chessman but as a different character) have a marvelous turn in the third chapter of this story which we found will have to be shared when Professor A RETURNS!

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For the character of “Chessman” the ultimate idea was to depict a protege of the main time-traveling heroic figure who had gone down what most would consider the wrong road but had his own point of view with a reason for doing the things he does. The backstory for this character was about as dark as I’ve gone thus far in writing. We’ll definitely see more of this character.

For the second “chapter”, note that as with anything, every idea’s already been done at least once. As it so turns out there is a Sci Fi show of a popular franchise which featured a “tardigrade” so it’s somewhat similar to using the “mite” I used for a Demodex Rex in a way but I had not seen the episode (I didn’t spring for the “all access” kind of platform that cost $ so I never saw it) and I wasn’t using the mite in the same way at all and ultimately my story boiled down to just the idea of evolution growing a large mite and the protagonist wanting the eggs of this creature to offer as a trade (which occurs in a third chapter of my story). Interestingly, the tardigrade from that franchise Sci-Fi show was argued as a controversy because of similarities between their use of that idea and a different “gamer” story-line? So my use of having a Demodex (Rex) wasn’t inspired by either item and I doubt anyone who listens to the story would believe it either.

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Bearing in mind our radio program pays homage to concepts of Old Time Radio but none of the ideas or stories or characters are copies of any specific character and at best any similarity between any particular character would be a parody.

On Editing

I relied extensively on the cinematic music found in youtube royalty free music and sound effects found myself and by Tiffy McKay.

I edited a rough draft of the first Chapter (The Fair Trade) and sent it to the group. I received valuable feedback from Lana and Tiffy and reworked some of the music and sound and Josh came in for a second read so I could get the volume more precise.

The second chapter I didn’t have the luxury of time to send out for feedback etc so this portion may or may not require some tweaking at some point but the ultimate idea of this one was fun.

CREDITS

The Program Was Created/Written/Produced/Edited by J. Timothy Quirk

Guest Actor: Tiffy McKay

Starring:

LANA PECK AS PROFESSOR A

KURT BOUCHER AS DR. ROBERE

TIFFY McKAY AS PASSENGER AND MS. GENTRY

JOSH NEWEY AS REGINALD CHESSMAN

J. TIMOTHY QUIRK AS “JT”

RICH CYR, JANDI HANNA, OLIVIA WADSWORTH AS STUDENTS

DIRECTED BY CONRAD SIENKIEWICZ

Rehearsed at Trinity Episcopal Church in Torrington

Recorded at WAPJ Torrington Community Radio

MUSIC:

PROFESSOR A THEME by Lana Peck

Additional music and foley courtesy of Youtube royalty free music or otherwise obtained in the environment by J. Timothy Quirk

Additional foley by Tiffy McKay

Tag: olivia wadsworth

Episode 8: Tex Bijou Cinema’s Singing Cowboy

Episode 5: Professor A-Adjunct Professor to the Multiverse