2018 HEAR Now Festival Featured Programming:
Thanks to all the guest narrators and host Bob Kaliban.
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A Celebration Of Mark Twain! Thursday, June 7th - Saturday, June 9th
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Each night, beginning on Thursday, June 87th, from 5:15pm-6:00pm, and running through Saturday, June 19th, guest narrators read selections from Mark Twain at Prospero's Books (1800 W 39th St, Kansas City, MO) in Cafe' Caliban - their 2nd floor Readers’ Room.
With support from SAG/AFTRA, 2018’s A Celebration of Mark Twain! is free and open to all and includes a slice of d'Bronx Pizza nightly for all audience guests and Mark Twain narrators.
With support from SAG/AFTRA, 2018’s A Celebration of Mark Twain! is free and open to all and includes a slice of d'Bronx Pizza nightly for all audience guests and Mark Twain narrators.
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A Celebration of Mark Twain! is hosted by Bob Kaliban
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Thursday, June 7, 2018:
Alice Anne English
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Featured Narrators:
Alice Anne English (Bethesda, MD)
Reading from Eve's Diary What if Eve, the mother of all humankind, had blogged? What if she had shared her discoveries of the newly formed world, her experiments as the first scientist, and her travels as the first explorer? What if she shared the secrets of assisting the first man without damaging the first fragile male ego? What if we could enjoy with her the first falling in love? Perhaps she did. Perhaps we can. Perhaps somehow Mark Twain plucked that first "blog" out of the cosmic ether... Alice Anne English is delighted to be part of Celebrating Mark Twain 2018. Relatively new to audiobook narration she is a “long time listener” and an experienced actor. Favorite stage experiences include playing Gertrude in Hamlet, Annie Wilkes in Misery, and the opportunity to originate roles in new plays in both New York City and the Washington, DC area. She recently recorded “Eve’s Diary” and released her first full length narration, Crisis Shot by Janice Cantore. Alice Anne looks forward to starting recording its sequel as soon as she returns to the booth after the HEAR Now Festival. |
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Lauri Jo Daniels (Bartlesville, OK)
Reading from Speech on a New England Weather In 1876 at the New England Society’s 71st Annual Dinner in New York City where a toast was given to "The Oldest Inhabitant--The Weather of New England." Samuel L. Clemens replied with this speech, which coined the idiom “If you don't like the weather in New England now, just wait a few minutes.” Lauri Jo Daniels is an audiobook narrator and voice actor from Northeast Oklahoma, but will be relocating to Kansas City this summer. |
Lauri Jo Daniels
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Kris Keppler
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Kris Keppler (Seattle, WA)
Reading from Nevada Funeral Nevada Funeral (or Scotty Briggs and the Clergyman). Mark Twain uses humorous misunderstandings in this 1800's Southwest tale. It was published in 1873 and based on his living in the Nevada Territory for many years. Mature, wise and a bit quirky are used to describe Kri's voice. She's narrated and produced over 30 audiobooks and was nominated by SOVAS for outstanding storytelling best performance. |
Friday, June 8, 2018:
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Featured Narrators: Katherine Littrell (Sydney, Australia) Jeff Kraus Performance Scholarship Recipient Reading from Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism Mark Twain's, Some Thoughts on the Science of Onanism, is a satirical speech by Twain delivered in Paris at the Stomach Club in spring, 1879 about masturbation’s impact on society. The Stomach Club was a collection of U.S. expatriate writers and artists. Katherine is a Sydney-based voice over artist. She is a dual citizen, with working rights in both Australia and the US. She worked and lived for several years in the United States, including studying English Literature at Bryn Mawr College, and acting of all sorts with courses at Bryn Mawr College, UPenn, Yale and RADA, before returning to Australia, where she enjoys knitting, making furniture, and talking out loud to herself in small spaces. |
Katherine Littrell
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Carla Mercer-Meyer
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Carla Mercer-Meyer (Los Angles, CA)
Reading from The Diary of Adam and Eve Carla will continue the exploration of Twain's Diary of Adam and Eve in her reading. Carla Mercer-Meyer is an Audie-nominated and Earphones Award-winning narrator. In addition, Carla has a strong musical theater background and a passion for reading. |
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Joshua Malsick (Kansas City, MO)
Reading from A Yankee in King Arthur's Court King Arthur and his men are about to be executed for claiming falsehood of being said king in Chapter 38 of A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Things are looking grim, but with the aid of Terrance, 500 knights on bicycles come to the rescue and save the day. Joshua attended the University of Missouri, Kansas City (UMKC) earning an undergraduate degree in English literature and a minor in classic studies. He has a passion for acting, writing and helping others. Currently, he is a student at the regional Actor Training Studio where he is pursuing a career as a voice over artist. He was recently in the original production Radio Free Cowtown produced by a local Kansas City radio station. He has also recently been involved with the production of several student films through the UMKC film department. |
Joshua Malsick
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Saturday, June 9, 2018:
Andrea Emmes
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Featured Narrators:
Andrea Emmes (San Jose, CA) Reading from Personal Recollections Joan of Arc Regarded by many as the most luminous example of Twain's work, this historical novel chronicles the French heroine's life, as purportedly told by her longtime friend — Sieur Louis de Conté. A panorama of stirring scenes recount Joan's childhood in Domremy, the story of her voices, the fight for Orleans, the splendid march to Rheims, and much more. An amazing record that disclosed Twain's unrestrained admiration for Joan's nobility of character, the book is matchless in its workmanship — one of Twain's lesser-known novels that will charm and delightfully surprise his admirers and devotees. Audible Best Selling Narrator & 2018 Audiobook Reviewer's Listener's Choice Award Finalist, Andrea Emmes was born in Hollywood, FL and grew up in both Tennessee & Rhode Island, started her career in musical theater and has a Bachelor degree in Game Art & Design. A total Book Nerd, now enjoys narrating audiobooks at her home studio in San Jose, California. Her wide range of character voices and dynamic/emotionally invested performances has reviewers and listeners alike commenting on how she effortlessly pulls listeners in, and has versatility and charisma. Andrea is a proud member of SAG-AFTRA & APA. |
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Ellen Stewart (Sonora, CA)
Reading from Innocent’s Abroad The Innocents Abroad or, The New Pilgrims’ Progress, is a humorous travel narrative by Twain, published in 1869 and based on his letters to newspapers about his 1867 steamship voyage to Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land.The Innocents Abroad sharply satirizes tourists who use guidebooks to learn what they should see and feel while traveling. Twain alternates serious moments —containing history, statistics, description, explanation, argumentation—with more absurd ones through this story. 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 Actors’ Conservatory. She is a professor emeritus of theatre and speech at Columbia College. Ellen is the Program Director for a new radio station in her community, KAAD-LP, which has been on the air for over a year. In San Francisco, she improvised with Bay Area Theatre Sports Sunday Night Players. She served as producer for the first two “live” shows for HEAR Now: The Audio Fiction and Arts Festival in 2013 and 2014, and in 2016 directed Oh! What a Poetical War. She has participated with the National Audio Theatre Festivals as actor and director for numerous audio productions since 2001. This year at HEAR Now, she is co-producing and performing in the HEAR Now Festival's Closing Brunch and Awards Ceremony. |
Ellen Stewart
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JJ Reap
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JJ Reap (Elmsford, NY)
Reading from Huckleberry Finn JJ is reading a passage from Chapter 19 in Huckleberry Finn which is between Huck, Jim, and the Duke and the Dauphin from Huckleberry Finn JJ is a professional actor, voice talent, writer, teacher, and director working in New York City and Great Britain. He is especially gifted at bringing the written word to life: Fiction, Non-Fiction, Children's Books, Biographies, Self-Help, Medical, Devotional, How-To, Radio Plays, Pod Casts and Commercials, this is the spoken word professional you want to work with. |
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Mary Mitchell
Event Coordinator / Site Producer Mary has been involved with the NATF for almost a decade. She began working in the Festivals' vendor area and has gone on to work in many administrative areas over the years. "My husband Kerby introduced me to this world, and I have never looked back. I love having the opportunity to learn more and meet the great people of the audio world!" This will be Mary's second year as The Mark Twain Event Coordinator / Site Producer |
Mary Mitchell
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Support for this program made possible in part by SAG-AFTRA
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Thanks also to d'Bronx Pizza
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