2017 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 8th - Saturday, June 10th
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A Celebration of Mark Twain! is hosted by Bob Kaliban
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Thursday, June 8, 2017:
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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 6/8/17
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Robert Alvey as Mark Twain
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Featured Narrators:
Robert Alvey (Long Island, NY)
Presenting Twainitis Syndrome True story but 'tongue in cheek' public service health announcement on the transformation of a normal person into the appearance of Mark Twain. Symptoms and other victims afflicted with the syndrome are described. Rob Alvey has a unique and uncanny resemblance to the elder version of Mark Twain and has performed original material on Mark Twain in humorous and entertaining lectures for charitable events over the last decade in NY. His commentaries include personal perspectives on being mistaken for Samuel Clemens as well as observations Mark Twain would make on today's society. Rob IS a scientist with the USEPA and an adjunct professor with York College in NYC. |
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Rozanne Devine (Kansas City, KS)
Reading from A Dog's Life In A Dog's Tale, a dog relates her life story and an incident in which she was unfairly accused and later hailed as a heroine. Rozanne narrates audiobooks and writes, produces and performs in a radio theatre ensemble, Shots in the Night, on KKFI 90.1 FM Radio. On a personal note, I am rehabbing a house and I live with Sophie, a Schnauzer mix and Claude, my 19 year-old a tuxedo cat. |
Rozanne Devine
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Mary Gerlt
Mary Gerlt (Kansas City, KS)
Reading from The Innocents Abroad
The Innocents Abroad is a humorous travel log written by Mark Twain during his 1867 trip to Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land. This journey becomes a hilarious study of human nature, including Twain's reflections on his own American arrogance and ignorance of foreign customs.
Mary is a voice over artist with Kansas City's local, radio theater group, Shots In The Night, on local radio station KKFI 90.1 FM. She enjoys creating myriads of audio characters for comedy and also enjoys performing improv and volunteering with the Osage Trails Chapter of the Missouri Master Naturalists.
Reading from The Innocents Abroad
The Innocents Abroad is a humorous travel log written by Mark Twain during his 1867 trip to Europe, Egypt and the Holy Land. This journey becomes a hilarious study of human nature, including Twain's reflections on his own American arrogance and ignorance of foreign customs.
Mary is a voice over artist with Kansas City's local, radio theater group, Shots In The Night, on local radio station KKFI 90.1 FM. She enjoys creating myriads of audio characters for comedy and also enjoys performing improv and volunteering with the Osage Trails Chapter of the Missouri Master Naturalists.
Photos by Jessica Albina, Robert Alvey, and Mary Mitchell
Friday, June 9, 2017:
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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 6/9/17
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Featured Narrators: Sallie Downing (Kansas City, MO) Reading from A Fable Mark Twain's, A Fable, is a satirical short story written in the tradition of Aesop's Fables with a nod to Rudyard Kipling's, Jungle Book. It was written and published in 1909, shortly before Twain's death. All fables come with a moral of the story. The moral of this fable is provided by The Cat. Sallie is a professional actress who has been telling stories for a long time. She hails from Kansas City, MO but spent much of her childhood in rural Oklahoma and southern Missouri on her grandma’s farm without electricity or plumbing. Summers were spent reading and doing manual labor in the gardens. One summer, granny won three big boxes of books at an auction – many Louis L’amour westerns, romance fiction, text books and teaching manuals. Sallie read every one of those books, most of them aloud. Today, Sallie brings to life the characters and stories you want to hear through audiobooks. |
Sallie Downing
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Coy Dugger
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Coy Dugger (Kansas City, MO)
Reading from Roughing It Roughing It tells the true-ish escapades of Twain in the American West. Although he clearly "speaks with forked tongue," Roughing It is informative as well as humorous. From stagecoach travel to the etiquette of prospecting, the modern reader gains considerable insight into that much-fictionalized time and place? Coy will be reading from CHAPTER LVI: Off for San Francisco—Western and Eastern Landscapes—The Hottest place on Earth—Summer and Winter is good. Coy is a weekend announcer and board operator for KCCV 92.3 FM. He also works part-time for the NPR Affiliate KCUR 89.3. Growing up in Kansas City, Missouri helped foster his appreciation for the arts — especially painting, theatre and works of literature. |
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Lauri Jo Daniels (Bartlesville, OK)
Reading from What Stumped The Blue Jays A miner who had lived in a lonely corner of California believed he could accurately translate what any animal said. He recounts a story to Twain about a blue jay, the most eloquent of all the animals, who finds himself in a predicament and calls on the other jays for assistance. Lauri Jo has been reading stories out loud to anyone who would listen since she was 3 years old. Her mom has always said that from the moment she was born she has never shut her mouth, so she decided to make a living out of it. When she isn’t busy trying to organize the chaos of 2 children and 6 animals at home, Lauri Jo is busy producing material from The Huffington Post, Slate, and Playboy for SpokenLayer’s news podcast, SpokenEdition. She is also currently working on the audio books for the Saddles N’ Spells romance series by M.R. Polish. |
Lauri Jo Daniels
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Photos by Natasha Rubinetti, Robert Alvey, and Mary Mitchell
Saturday, June 10, 2017:
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CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO 6/10/17
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Steven Jay Cohen
Featured Narrators:
Steven Jay Cohen (Easthampton, MA)
Jeff Kraus Performance Scholarship Recipient
Reading from How To Tell A Story
Twain expounds upon the development of the Humorous Story and how it differs from both its Comic and Witty brethren.
Steven has been telling stories his whole life. Professionally, since 1991.
Steven Jay Cohen (Easthampton, MA)
Jeff Kraus Performance Scholarship Recipient
Reading from How To Tell A Story
Twain expounds upon the development of the Humorous Story and how it differs from both its Comic and Witty brethren.
Steven has been telling stories his whole life. Professionally, since 1991.
Heather Farrar
Heather Farrar (St. Louis, M0)
Reading from The Aged Pilot Man
A poem Twain wrote about a boat being towed through the Erie Canal during a storm.
My focus as a voice actor is mainly in audio book narration, commercials, audio theater and voicing my own writings. Currently, I am working on the many unpublished manuscripts of the late poet, Sallie McCormick-Adams, as well as writing her biography.
Reading from The Aged Pilot Man
A poem Twain wrote about a boat being towed through the Erie Canal during a storm.
My focus as a voice actor is mainly in audio book narration, commercials, audio theater and voicing my own writings. Currently, I am working on the many unpublished manuscripts of the late poet, Sallie McCormick-Adams, as well as writing her biography.
Robert Alvey
Robert Alvey (Long Island, NY)
Reading from Was the World Made For Man?
Ending our Festival of Twain readings will be Robert reading (as Twain) from Was the World Made For Man?
This is Twain's sarcastic rebuttal to a claim in the book written by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1903, Man's Place in the Universe. Wallace asserted that there was proof that the universe was designed by an intelligent being, with the goal of producing organic life “culminating in man.” Twain's response was written about Apr 1903, but left unpublished in his lifetime. It was retained in his manuscript papers and first included in Bernard DeVoto's book, Letters from the Earth (1962).
Robert selected this because, " I am a professional geologist and even teach geology at a NYC college part time. I am comfortable knowing someday I may be a fossil again."
Reading from Was the World Made For Man?
Ending our Festival of Twain readings will be Robert reading (as Twain) from Was the World Made For Man?
This is Twain's sarcastic rebuttal to a claim in the book written by Alfred Russel Wallace in 1903, Man's Place in the Universe. Wallace asserted that there was proof that the universe was designed by an intelligent being, with the goal of producing organic life “culminating in man.” Twain's response was written about Apr 1903, but left unpublished in his lifetime. It was retained in his manuscript papers and first included in Bernard DeVoto's book, Letters from the Earth (1962).
Robert selected this because, " I am a professional geologist and even teach geology at a NYC college part time. I am comfortable knowing someday I may be a fossil again."
Photos by Natasha Rubinetti, Robert Alvey, and Mary Mitchell
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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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