2017 HEAR Now Festival Featured Programming:
Photos by Jessica Albina and Robert Alvey.
Enjoy listening to 1917 from the HEAR Now Festival at the National World War I Museum and Memorial
1917
It is not an army we have to shape for war, it is a nation…
Woodrow Wilson
The year 1917 was a watershed year for the United States -- and the world. Huge, disastrous battles in Europe left the Western Allies in desperate straits, and the revolution in Russia took her vast armies out of the fight. The American declaration of war on Germany gave the Allies hope, but before our country could really help, we had to make profound changes -- nationwide. This program will take you back to that momentous year, using the art of audio theatre, augmented by selected sounds and images from a hundred years ago. Join us, and remember the year America abandoned isolationism and became one of the world's Great Powers.
It is not an army we have to shape for war, it is a nation…
Woodrow Wilson
The year 1917 was a watershed year for the United States -- and the world. Huge, disastrous battles in Europe left the Western Allies in desperate straits, and the revolution in Russia took her vast armies out of the fight. The American declaration of war on Germany gave the Allies hope, but before our country could really help, we had to make profound changes -- nationwide. This program will take you back to that momentous year, using the art of audio theatre, augmented by selected sounds and images from a hundred years ago. Join us, and remember the year America abandoned isolationism and became one of the world's Great Powers.
Richard Fish
Rich Fish (Author, Director, & Co-Producer 1917)
Richard has worked in audio theatre since 1970. He’s an actor and musician who became a writer, producer, director, teacher, engineer, Foley artist, journalist, broadcaster, publisher, and salesman.
He helped found the National Audio Theatre Festivals organization, and WFHB Community Radio in his hometown of Bloomington, Indiana. Richard has worked with the leading figures in audio theatre from coast to coast, including The Firesign Theatre and the legendary American grand master of the art, Norman Corwin.
Born in New Jersey, he settled in Bloomington after graduating from Indiana University. His advertising work won awards from the Clios, Addys, and One Show Awards, and the Society of Professional Journalists has twice named him Best Consumer Reporter on all radio stations in Indiana. He is heard weekly over WFHB as host of
"The Firehouse Theatre," presenting old and new audio theatre, and as writer and presenter of "Better Beware," a weekly feature on scams and swindles. He also writes and performs in "The Firehouse Follies," a live
variety show offered four times a year. All these broadcasts are streamed and archived on the station's website, http://www.wfhb.org.
Richard has worked in audio theatre since 1970. He’s an actor and musician who became a writer, producer, director, teacher, engineer, Foley artist, journalist, broadcaster, publisher, and salesman.
He helped found the National Audio Theatre Festivals organization, and WFHB Community Radio in his hometown of Bloomington, Indiana. Richard has worked with the leading figures in audio theatre from coast to coast, including The Firesign Theatre and the legendary American grand master of the art, Norman Corwin.
Born in New Jersey, he settled in Bloomington after graduating from Indiana University. His advertising work won awards from the Clios, Addys, and One Show Awards, and the Society of Professional Journalists has twice named him Best Consumer Reporter on all radio stations in Indiana. He is heard weekly over WFHB as host of
"The Firehouse Theatre," presenting old and new audio theatre, and as writer and presenter of "Better Beware," a weekly feature on scams and swindles. He also writes and performs in "The Firehouse Follies," a live
variety show offered four times a year. All these broadcasts are streamed and archived on the station's website, http://www.wfhb.org.
Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart (Co-Producer)
Ellen has spent a lifetime as a theatre director/producer/actor in Sonora, California where she was Artistic Director for Columbia Actors’ Repertory and Mountain Actor’s Conservatory. She is a professor emeritus of theatre and speech at Columbia College where she taught audio theatre.
She served as producer for the first two “live” shows for HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival in 2013 and 2014; in 2016 she produced the WWI production Oh! What a Poetical War. This year at HEAR Now, she is co-producing 1917.
For the past several years, she has been developing a new community radio station, KAAD-LP, where she serves as Programming Director. The new station began broadcasting and streaming this year.
Ellen has spent a lifetime as a theatre director/producer/actor in Sonora, California where she was Artistic Director for Columbia Actors’ Repertory and Mountain Actor’s Conservatory. She is a professor emeritus of theatre and speech at Columbia College where she taught audio theatre.
She served as producer for the first two “live” shows for HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival in 2013 and 2014; in 2016 she produced the WWI production Oh! What a Poetical War. This year at HEAR Now, she is co-producing 1917.
For the past several years, she has been developing a new community radio station, KAAD-LP, where she serves as Programming Director. The new station began broadcasting and streaming this year.
Featured In the Cast:
Sean Pratt
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Sean Pratt
Sean Pratt has been a working professional actor in theatre, film, TV and voice-overs for over 30 years. He holds a BFA in Acting from Santa Fe University, NM. He has been an audiobook narrator for 20 years (aka – Lloyd James), recording over 900 books in almost every genre and has received 8 AudioFile Magazine “Earphones” awards and 5 “Audie” nominations from the Audio Publishers Association. He narrates for such companies as Blackstone Audiobooks, Tantor Media, Gildan Audio, Hachette, Random House, Penguin, and Christian Audio. Notable titles include – A Death in the Family by James Agee, Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace, Elvis in the Morning by William F. Buckley and Lindberg by A. Scott Berg. Currently, Sean coaches performers on audiobook narration technique. Twitter - @SPPresents Facebook – Sean Pratt Presents www.seanprattpresents.com |
With Additional Voices By:
Sande Sherr
Founder of VoiceScapes Audio Theater, Sande received an M.A. in theater from Adelphi University and did post-graduate work in directing and puppetry at New York University. She studied at the Stella Adler Conservatory of Acting and the Lincoln Center Institute. Sande was a drama teacher and director in the New York City education system (she's listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, 1993 /1994), and created, and directed a traveling children’s theater company (Storybook Players) which performed for public schools in Queens, New York.
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Mac Chamblin
Teacher/director, stage and voice actor, and broadcaster from the St. Louis region Mac is a professor of speech/theatre/mass communication, and heads the Mass Communication and broadcast programs at Southwestern Illinois College.
For the past few years he has been busy managing the college’s award winning Internet radio station, Blue Storm Radio, which received an Intercollegiate Broadcasting System (IBS) Golden Microphone Award for “Best Radio Drama” this year at the IBS International Conference in NYC with Space Monster-Rama, by Bill Chessman. Mac has been a part of the NATF since 2003, and was a featured artist at last years HEAR Now, performing in Oh! What a Poetical War! and Celebrating Mark Twain! He is delighted to be a part of 1917. |
Jeff Hayes
Jeff is an audio book narrator and producer based in Kansas City, Missouri. His production style and in-depth characterizations blur the line between Audiobooks and audio drama. He connects with his listeners through his live streaming internet show, Soundbooth Theater Live, which features upcoming projects, auditions for new projects, and requests from the audience. Jeff has more than 70 books on Audible in almost every genre, and his fan base is expanding rapidly.
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Madeleine Jeremy
Madeleine is a versatile and passionate British audio performer, authors describing her narration as ' beautiful', ' excellent' and ' skilled'.
Her acclaimed debut at the Edinburgh Festival from Cheltenham Ladies College led to a Classical training at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama where she excelled at Shakespeare and radio. She then had a baby boy(now a fresh LSE law graduate!) which expanded her horizons also leading to wealth of experience in different media incl TV, radio, theatre and business; she also coaches young international students in advanced LAMDA examinations gaining many Distinctions. The discovery of audiobook narration in recent years through legend Pat Fraley is her natural dream platform harnessing all her skills and experience. |
Michael Donnici
Michael is a proud member of Kansas City's KKFI 90.1 FM Theater Troupe Shots In The Night, where he both writes and performs. He has also won a few Toastmaster Division awards for humorous speaking.
Michael aspires to be an active performer in any medium that will have him. Personally, he is a Schnauzer, Poodle and Persian daddy, with a great fondness for 50's and 60's 'B' Sci Fi movies. 
Emily McGee
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Mary Rogers
Mary has had a lot of fun appearing on many stages including the American Heartland and New Theatre and several shows at The Mystery Train, an interactive murder mystery dinner theatre which provided a wealth of experiences with the actor/audience relationship. She has also appeared in film, commercials, print, voice-overs, and music videos. Radio shows, audio books, voice-overs provide such great freedom to be whomever an actor desires with few restrictions!
Emily McGee hails from Bloomington, Indiana and has lent her musical, dramatic and design talents to numerous operas, plays, and films throughout the Midwest for the past 17 years. Currently, Emily is working as the resident costume designer and props master at The Phoenix Theatre in Indianapolis, a 34-year old equity company that specializes in producing 10 new plays each season. Emily also holds a Masters degree in vocal performance from Indiana University.
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Visual and Sound Design by Sound Effects by Master Mix by
 Russell McGee
Russell McGee is a producer, director, writer, and sound designer. He is currently working as the On-air Promotions Producer for WTIU and as a freelance sound designer on the Doctor Who audio plays produced by Big Finish Productions LTD. In 2007, he was awarded the Basile Playwriting Fellowship through the Indiana Theatre Association for his ten-minute play ‘The Clockwork Man’ and his play ‘Silent Cinema’ won the Artsweek Playwriting Competition. In 2013, his film ‘Funeral March of a Marionette’ won the Best Narrative category at the Iris Film Festival. In 2016, he wrote ‘Doctor Who - The Horror of Hy-Brasil’ for the Big Finish Productions as part of the Subscriber Short Trips. In 2017, he wrote ‘Doctor Who - The Spectre Of Gelsandor’ for Pencil Tip Publishing as part of the The Temporal Logbook II.
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Tony Brewer Sound Effects
Tony Brewer is a poet and sound effects artist from Bloomington, Indiana. He has taught and
performed for the National Audio Theatre Festivals since 2001, and has taught at Indiana University, Michigan University, and Kansas City Art Institute. He has performed with the Knoxville Opera, Otherworld Media, Stages Bloomington Youth Theatre, and many other orgs, from foley for film to costumed live theatre. Tony also plays live sound effects and field recordings with the improv ensemble Urban Deer. |
Renee Pringle
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Special thanks to Midsummer Sound Company for their support of this production.
