Programs
The following is a simple breakdown of the Festival's daily activities and does not include ALL sessions. The schedule is subject to change.
Programs
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Thursday, June 6 - Saturday, June 8
10am - 5pm: Workshop 101 THE DRAMATIC PODCAST: PERFORMANCE AND PRODUCTIONS Workshop 101 is a crash course in audio theater. In three and a half days, HEAR Now's instructors take participants through the basics of writing, directing, producing and performing audio theater works. Participants review a script that will be performed, directed and acted by the Workshop 101 participants and enjoyed by all on the final day of the festival. Participants get the opportunity to interact with their accomplished teachers while also getting to meet many professionals throughout the field, who can become valued contacts.
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Featured Narrators Thursday, June 6, 2019
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Robert Alvey (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Presenting How Samuel Clemens Became Mark Twain How was it that Samuel Langhorne Clemens became well known as the writer Mark Twain, especially given the variety of odd jobs he held, including piloting a steamboat up and down the Mississippi River. 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 WAS a scientist with the USEPA and an adjunct professor with York College in NYC. |
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J Rodney Turner (Nashville, TN)
Presenting Following The Equator: A Journey Around the World Following the Equator, the classic travelogue by Mark Twain, was written when having fallen upon hard times financially, he found himself compelled to take a tour of the British Empire in 1895 and write about it. This is that account, published in 1897; it is a classic example of Twain's ever vigilant observational wit. He addresses such important and still ever timely topics as racism, imperialism, and religion. After having served in the Navy and in the FAA as an air traffic controller for more than 30 years, J Rodney Turner retired and began lending his voice to audiobooks. His natural southern accent fits well within the western genre and to other genres where the south, or characters from the south, is the centerpiece. He has completed over 100 titles to date and lives in a small farming community north of Nashville, Tennessee with his wife of 22 years, Julie, and their 11-year-old daughter, Rylie – two Bull Mastiffs – Dawson and Macy and a number of chickens, that, in trade for free room and board, have agreed to supply the family with eggs. |
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Karen Krause (Denver, CO)
Presenting Jim Baker's Blue Jay Yarn Jim Baker's Blue Jay Yarn, by Mark Twain, is a yarn (or fable ) that first appeared in 1880 in A Tramp Abroad. Yarns and tall tales were popular in Twain’s day. While prospecting for gold with his friend Jim Gillis in the winter of 1864-65, Twain heard the story and transformed this campfire tale into a satire of human perseverance and social behavior. Karen grew up in a musical family, singing with her daddy’s band when she was knee-high to a grasshopper, as they say in her native Ozark Mountains, and has been performing ever since. When she wasn’t demanding to be the center of attention, she was high in her backyard tree reading just about anything she could get her hands on. Her love of theatre and the stage grew from school plays and backyard shows to a college degree and regional theatre. She began listening to audiobooks when they really were books on tape and transitioned into audiobook narration in 2012. |
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Rozanne Devine (Kansas City, MO)
Presenting Is Shakespeare Dead? Is Shakespeare Dead? is a short, semi-autobiographical work by American humorist Mark Twain. It explores the controversy over the authorship of the Shakespearean literary canon via satire, anecdote, and extensive quotation of contemporary authors on the subject. Rozanne narrates audiobooks and writes, produces and performs in a radio theatre ensemble, Shots in the Night, on KKFI 90.1 FM Radio. |
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Larry Oliver (St. Louis, MO)
Presenting Essays and Sketches of Mark Twain Essays and Sketches of Mark Twain, is a compilation of seven of Mark Twain’s books, each of which is an anthology of many of his varied articles and essays. “The Invalid’s Story” is a stunning representation of Twain’s inimitable literary style. His wry sense of humor, helps spin this tale to its quirky conclusion. Larry Oliver has been a working professional Voice Over and Narrator for nearly 10 years. He has done e-learning, training and documentary narration as well as commercial projects and explainer videos for many clients who are household brands here and abroad. He can be heard in various audio-drama/podcasts, and video games. Learn more at LarryOliver.net |
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Suzan Lorraine (Concord, CA)
Presenting Twain's Essay - A Presidential Candidate - (1879) It's that time for campaign promises with one party having an abundance of candidates and the other . . . well. And is anybody telling the truth? Mark Twain has a solution in his essay - A Presidential Candidate from 1879. After spending time directing over 50 plays in community theatre (and finding that directing was more fun than memorizing lines), Suzan looked around for something new to do with her acting skills and found audiobooks. She also found NATF and the HEAR NOW Festival. She has produced 25 books through ACX and is now performing YA audiobooks for Learning Ally and still directing Agatha Christie plays each summer. With her husband, Bill Chessman, she is also producing, acting and performing live sound effects for their radio play program production group, Four-Eyed Jacks Productions at local San Francisco Bay Area venues. Too much fun is NOT a problem – it’s a lifestyle!! |
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Featured Narrators Saturday June 8, 2019
5:15pm - 6:00pm: Celebrating Mark Twain at Prospero's Books. |
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Curt Bonnem (Los Angeles, CA)
Kraus Performance Scholarship Winner Presenting Those Blasted Children A darkly comic and somewhat violently sarcastic article chronicling Twain's disdain for the children inhabiting the Lick House Hotel where he was staying in San Francisco. Those Blasted Children, which original appeared in the New York Sunday Mercury/February 24, 1864, is both a stab at genteel society's sentimental idealization of children and childhood, as well as a knock at the melodramatic sensationalism of certain literary genres and their implied genteel social attitudes. Curt is a multi-media performer with over 36 years of experience. Originally from the Windy City, he recently relocated to ATL after 30 years in LA. From portraying Frank Sinatra in a hit musical to a twisted serial killer on Criminal Minds; entertaining crowds with his champion juggling skills to fronting a rock band, Curt's love of performance of all kinds has been unshakable since he stepped onto a stage in the 5th grade. Curt began narrating in 2018 and recently had his 27th audiobook title released on Audible, and is honored to be this year's Kraus Performance Scholarship recipient. |
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Lauri Jo Daniels (Republic, MO)
Presenting Is Shakespeare Dead? Part 2 & 3, from The Autobiography of Mark Twain” In his autobiography Twain dedicated a full chapter to his firm belief that Shakespeare did not write his own plays. In this section, Twain recalls research he had done to write a biography of Satan and comments on the parallels between the lack of information available both about Satan’s and Shakespeare’s lives. Lauri Jo Daniels has had her nose in a book since before she was a toddler and has been reading stories out loud to anyone who would listen ever since. It was this love of reading that inspired her to major in English Lit and later to become a Young Adult Librarian where she was introduced to the wonder of audiobooks. She has a very versatile sound and a knack for character voices, both skills that truly bring a story to life. Those skills and her passion for storytelling have made her dream a reality. Lauri Jo grew up in Northeastern Oklahoma and spent the majority of her adult life in New England. She now lives in Republic, MO with her husband, 2 teenage daughters, 4 pretentious cats, and 2 very spoiled dogs. |
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Robert Alvey (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Presenting The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine Ending the 2019 HEAR Now Twain Celebration, Robert reads from The Purloining of Prince Oleomargarine. Clemens was known for sharing bedtime tales with his daughters. One evening in 1879, at a hotel in Paris, Clemens made up a fairy tale for his young daughters. Later, he scribbled 16 pages of explicit notes, but never finished the story. In 2011, a scholar discovered the notes among Twain’s papers at the University of California at Berkeley. Philip C. Stead completed the tale of gentle Johnny, whose heart is pure despite his bleak surroundings and cruel grandfather. A magic flower gives him the power to understand the speech of animals, and a menagerie of kindly creatures helps him win the reward for finding the kingdom’s lost Prince Oleomargarine—an insufferable twit, as it turns out. |
THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2019
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Thursday, June 6, 2019
7:00pm - 8:15pm: Innovations Festival Opener: – Dr. Beau Lotto Perception and Story-Telling Kansas City Park Plaza Library Truman Auditorium. Dr Beau Lotto is a globally renowned neuroscientist whose studies in human perception have taken him well beyond the scientific domain and into the fields of education, the arts and business. |
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8:45pm - 10:15PM: ED WOOD THE MUSICAL! - Bragg Auditorium
ED WOOD THE MUSICAL! The story of a non-conformist who followed his dream to become a Hollywood director against all odds! Discover untold secrets the Johnny Depp movie never revealed. All original score. Help us create this iconic musical. THINK “ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW” for the new millennium. PULL THE STRING! |
FRIDAY, JUNE 7, 2019
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9:00am - 5:00pm: NATF Playhouse:
Pilgrim Art Center (3807 Gillham Rd, Kansas City, MO 64111) A sampling of this year's newest and BEST audio fiction. Along with presenting submitted works throughout the day, there will be special presentations. BUS SERVICE will be available from 8:45am - 5:00pm to take Festival attendees from the Holiday Inn Country Club Plaza to the Pilgrim Center. Supported by audible Entrance with Festival Pass or Ticket |
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9:00am - 10:05am
The Incident by Larry the O (Fictional, CA) The Incident, is a true story in nine parts. It is the second episode of the storytelling-meets-sound-art series Ears Hear Now (EHN), which tells stories in a different way. While many other storytelling relies exclusively on narration and dialogue to tell a story, using music to frame it and sound effects to illustrate it, EHN’s approach is more akin to film or video game sound, where music and sound design go beyond those roles to be active storytelling partners. The Incident significantly develops techniques pioneered in the first EHN episode, Out of Body, Out of Mind, which was a Platinum Selection at the 2017 HEAR Now Festival. The story told in The Incident concerns a near-fatal car crash that befell the narrator (Larry) and his wife without their ever being aware it had occurred until they awoke in the Emergency Room. Hump Day by Young Park and Victor Liu (Bloomington, ID) Ken Thompson went to sleep last Tuesday and woke up Thursday morning with a screaming migraine. He has no memory of what happened during the missing day, but it soon becomes clear that he cannot have slept the whole day through. In his search for the truth, Ken learns there are serious consequences for skipping Hump Day. This production was produced as a final project as part of Indiana University's undergraduate Sound Design class led by Russell McGee. |
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10:15am – 11:30am
Licorice from KAAD-LP radio and Ellen Stewart (Sonora, CA) Licorice was adapted from an original story set in the early days of the California Gold Rush. The story teller is the local padre in a mining camp who makes an unhappy discovery when a disagreeable man turns up swinging in the hanging tree. What could be the motive and who could have done the deed? Screaming With the Cannibals by MountainWhispers.com This production of Lee Maynard's Screaming with the Cannibals is the second book in the Crum trilogy. The story, set in 1950's Appalachia, follows Jesse Stone, a young often confused man, as he works his way to manhood. Jesse encounters a variety of colorful characters, both friend and foe, as he moves from one wild adventure to another usually escaping with his life by the narrowest of margins. |
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11:40am - 1:10pm
Deck The Halls: The Runaway Bride by Sassquach Radio (North Hollywood, CA) Episode 1, season 3 of Deck the Halls (with Matrimony!) --The Runaway Brid Jackie braves a singles' trivia night at a sports bar... and one of her teammates looks oddly familiar. Directed by Paula Deming, written by Ashley Quach. Sound design by Kevin Rosen Quan. I Got Your Back & Front by Armand Jennings (Bronx, NY) Zuri Valerez is a 26 year old woman reminiscing about her friendship with her long time friend, Nathan Jones, leading up to the days of her marriage. She recalls memories and their many shared experiences. Created in surround sound, Zuri's story begins with her bachelorette party. |
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1:20 -2:00pm
HEADS WILL ROLL by Kate McKinnon and Emily Lynne Along with enjoying a portion of the Queens' Day episode from Heads Will Roll, Director Eric Martin and Audible's Jessica Mozes will share a 'behind the scenes look' at how this original fantasy-comedy, created by and starring “Saturday Night Live” mainstay Kate McKinnon and her sister, stand-up comic Emily Lynne, was produced. Featuring an all-star cast: Kate McKinnon, Emily Lynne, Meryl Streep, Tim Gunn, Audra McDonald, Andrea Martin, Carol Kane, Peter Dinklage, Aidy Bryant, Alex Moffat, Heidi Gardner, Chris Redd, Steve Higgins, Esther Perel, Bob the Drag Queen, Jonathan Van Ness, Antoni Porowski, Tan France, Bobby Berk, Karamo Brown, Becky Abrams, Anna Drezen, Alon Elian, Sudi Green, Sam Jay, Huck Milner, Randy Rice, Gary Richardson, Jim Santangeli, Morgan Smith, Jen Spyra, Alexandra Carillo Vaccino, Thomas Whittington |
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2:10pm- 3:15pm
Salmon's Run - Episode 3 by Nick Messitte (New York, NY) Salmon’s Run asks a simple question: what would happen if an innocent man appeared, for all the world, to be a terrorist? The story centers on a hapless, sweet soul named Salmon Warzynski. He never meant to hurt anyone. He just wanted to toss his cigarette in a trashcan. He didn’t think it would explode, setting lower Manhattan ablaze in the process. Now, with the CIA, the FBI, the NYPD, the mainstream media, and some home-grown terrorists in hot pursuit (they think he’s their leader), Salmon must run…run for his life… In this episode, we meet Douglas Mitchell Sargento, a Republican senator from Pennsylvania. The powers that be want him to advocate for war with Iran—but he has other ideas. Meanwhile, Salmon Warzynski goes to great lengths to disguise his identity. Lake & Logan In The Dimensions of Liquid by Locked into Vacancy Entertainment (aka L.I.V.E.) (Chicago, IL) It's the ladies turn in the spotlight on the wacky supernatural misadventures of Lake & Logan. Katie and Daphne are set to perform on the largest cruise ship to ever sail on a lake, the Titanish. However, also on board are Mrs. Wilhelm and an assortment of other individuals, all with their own agendas keen to make the cruise considerably more eventful. Missing jewelry, family grudges, and a love that we'd rather not think about all collide in... "The Dimensions of Water!" Locked into Vacancy Entertainment brings 1940s style radio plays into the 21st century. |
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3:25pm – 4:25pm
BS de Résistance Episode 12 - Rabbit Redux Deluxe by Dale Leopold (Manakin Sabot, VA) BS de Résistance is a deliciously irreverent, deliriously immersive scripted, fully-produced political satire podcast. Vera enlists some old friends to avoid a Middle Eastern meltdown. Trump looks for a scapegoat for his French faux pas. Canada has to deal (politely) with a caravan of Americans. And the Purple Avenger raps! Written by Lyssa Graham and Dale Leopold. WILD BILL’S GHOST: The 30th ANNIVERSARY WILD BILL'S GHOST, sees Oliver North visited by Bill Casey's Ghost. Produced in Columbia, Missouri in 1989, after the Iran- Contra hearings. What Wild Bill shows us that in thirty years not much changes in Washington D.C. Created when Siri and Alexa were pipe dreams, Ollie had a state of the art bio-metric security system but ghosts have a access all areas status. In 1989, the producing team had to use the full power of a "Commodore 64 personal computer" to help in the automated mix down of the 2 inch Otari 8 track recorded. |
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4:30pm – 5:00pm
The Witch Of KC by Coy Dugger (Kansas City, MO) In an inverse of the classic Frank L. Baum book/movie "The Wizard of Oz," a Dorothy from a magical fantasy land suddenly finds herself in modern day Kansas City. With the help of a local department store clerk, she and her trusty companion Toto search for a way back home. Psycho Santa by Petaluma Radio Players (Petaluma, CA) Delusion and illusion hit a Christmas Eve cross-current, and Santa must face off with his conflicted reality in this comedy by award-winning Houston playwright, Vivian C. Lermond. |
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Podcasters Special ONLY - Frankenstein by Russel McGee (Bloomington, IL)
The name Frankenstein is world-renowned, but what do you really know of Shelley’s original vision? This faithful adaptation by Russel McGee presents the 'creature' as an intelligent being that has suffered the injustice of mankind. In celebration of the two hundredth anniversary of Shelley’s creation, with an emphasis on Shelley’s original text and to allow the creature to speak for itself, in Shelley’s own words, this production cast a female actor as the creature to help lift Shelley’s voice from the text. Originally presented for Halloween 2018. Enjoy listening to this online, or on Saturday, June 8, from 3:15pm - 4:30pm, join Russell and members of the cast in the Sennheiser Neumann Listening Room for a Producer's Discussion on the production of this contemporary adaptation. |
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7:30 - 8:15pm: Independent Audiobook Awards Cocktail Party - Simpson House Click here for details
8:15-9:45pm: Independent Audiobook Awards at Bragg Auditorium (in All Soul's) Click here for details Hosted by Jeff Strand -- with special presenters |
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10pm - Midnight: Second Night Festival AFTER PARTY - Simpson House
Celebrating Audio Fiction - Sponsored by National Audio Theatre festivals |
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12:00am - 1:00am MIDNIGHT LISTENING - Holiday Inn Country Club Plaza
The Call of the Flame: An Audio Play From the epic fantasy series, this is the journey of Bri, and her travels along with her Orc, Elvan, Dwarven, and Halfin companions as she seeks to redeem her father, for murdering the Chieftain of Gods, and restore the balance of magic in the world. Meet cast members Bonnie Bogovich (Bri) and Stephen Cumberworth (Villadius), and producer Kurt Peterson. Requires ALL ACCESS FESTIVAL PASS to attend. |
SATURDAY, JUNE 8, 2019
1:00pm - 2:30pm: National World War I Museum & Memorial - Prisoner 9653 For President - Eugene Victor Debs
Documentary film makers Yale Strom and Elizabeth Schwartz successfully produced "American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs," and now want to tell his story, and the story of socialism in America, via podcast and a radio play. Working from the source materials that made their documentary so powerful, they are focusing on how, even after being jailed for speaking out against World War I, Debs ran a successful bid for the US Presidency from jail and brought socialism to the US.
8:15-10:00pm: AUDIO Tonight! at Bragg Auditorium (in All Soul's)
10pm - Midnight: Third Night Festival DANCE & AFTER PARTY - Bragg Hall
Celebrating ALL HEAR Now Festival Artists -
1:00pm - 2:30pm: National World War I Museum & Memorial - Prisoner 9653 For President - Eugene Victor Debs
Documentary film makers Yale Strom and Elizabeth Schwartz successfully produced "American Socialist: The Life and Times of Eugene Victor Debs," and now want to tell his story, and the story of socialism in America, via podcast and a radio play. Working from the source materials that made their documentary so powerful, they are focusing on how, even after being jailed for speaking out against World War I, Debs ran a successful bid for the US Presidency from jail and brought socialism to the US.
8:15-10:00pm: AUDIO Tonight! at Bragg Auditorium (in All Soul's)
10pm - Midnight: Third Night Festival DANCE & AFTER PARTY - Bragg Hall
Celebrating ALL HEAR Now Festival Artists -
SUNDAY, JUNE 9, 2019
9:00am - 11:30am: Closing Brunch and Festival Awards
HEAR Now Festival Favorite (from NATF Playhouse) and Corwin Awards presented.
Fly home after 2pm from Kansas City Airport to ensure you can enjoy the closing Brunch and make it to the airport in time!!
9:00am - 11:30am: Closing Brunch and Festival Awards
HEAR Now Festival Favorite (from NATF Playhouse) and Corwin Awards presented.
Fly home after 2pm from Kansas City Airport to ensure you can enjoy the closing Brunch and make it to the airport in time!!
