Category Archives: 2004 Season

Ogle Awards 2004 WRW Wins Twice!

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Well it’s that time of year again.

The Workshop has scored two Ogle Awards at this years CONvergence Convention. Last year we won an Honorable mention for A Murder of Crows. This year we won the Gold for Heather Breeden’s Next Year’s Girl and a Special Award for best Adaptation for Cynthia McGean’s Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, recorded live at McMenamins Kennedy School last Halloween.

We are busting our buttons to receive this honor and to be in the company of such wonderful audio producers is a great compliment. The full list of awards follows and the judges are listed at the end. Congratulations to Heather and Cindy especially for their wonderful scripts. I can’t wait to see what comes out of this years Writer’s on the Air Workshop.

MARK TIME AND OGLE AWARDS FOR BEST SCIENCE FICTION AUDIO AWARDS

The Ninth Annual Mark Time Awards for the Best Audio Science Fiction of the Year were presented at the CONvergence Science Fiction Convention at the Sheraton Hotel South in Bloomington, MN on July 1st, 2005.

The Mark Time Award is named after the character created by the Firesign Theatre in the 1970s. The Ogle Award is named for Charles Ogle, who played the Frankenstein monster in Thomas Edison’s 1910 film of the Mary Shelley novel. The Mark Time/Ogle Awards are the only awards given in this country that are solely for audio theater.

The winners of the Ogle Fantasy Audio Awards and Mark Time Science Fiction Audio Awards for the production year 2004:

GOLD OGLE AWARD

Next Years Girl By Heather Breeden

Willamette Radio Workshop, Portland, OR. Sam A. Mowry and Cynthia McGean, producers.

SILVER OGLE AWARD

No Award given

SPECIAL AWARD – BEST ADAPTATION

Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein By Cynthia McGean

Willamette Radio Workshop, Portland, OR. Sam A. Mowry and Cynthia McGean, producers.

HONORABLE MENTION

“Three Skeleton Key”

One Act Players, San Mateo, CA. Glenn Carlson, producer.

GOLD MARK TIME AWARD

No Award given

SILVER MARK TIME AWARD (Tie)

“Paradox”

Strange Interludes, Fort Worth, TX. Stephen Couch , writer/producer.

“Snowbank”

Icebox Radio Theater, International Falls, MN. Jeffrey Adams, writer/producer.

HONORABLE MENTION

“Rod Renegade: Chaos for Hire”

Texas Radio Theatre, Arlington, TX. Shannan and Rich Frohlich, producers

SPECIAL AWARD – BEST ADAPTATION

The Menace From Earth

Atlanta Radio Theater Company, Atlanta, GA. William Alan Ritch, producer. Story by Robert Heinlein.

David Ossman described the genre at the first Mark Time Awards ceremony this way: “The best special effects are the ones inside your head. The best aliens are the ones that only you can see, and you only see them in your own mind. Science fiction is one of the largest genres in the whole world of audio publishing anyway, mostly because people love to listen to it. It’s movies in your mind.”

You can find more information about the CONvergence convention on-line at http://www.convergence-con.org/.

CONvergence is a project of MISFITS, the Minnesota Society For Interest in Science Fiction and Fantasy.

Judges for the 2004 Mark Time and Ogle Awards were:

  • Simon Jones – “Arthur Dent” in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
  • Kris Markman – National Audio Theatre Festivals
  • Brian Price – Great Northern Audio Theatre
  • Philip Proctor – The Firesign Theatre
  • Jerry Stearns – Great Northern Audio Theatre

Fall of the City

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Fall of the City
by Archibald MacLeish
October 25th, 2004

Broadcast on WMNF in Tampa, FL, the broadcast was also streamed at their website.

Fall of the City is a seminal piece of radio theater, originally presented in 1937 by the Columbia Workshop, with a cast of 200, including Orson Welles, Burgess Meredith and Paul Stewart. As The Fall of the City begins, a dead woman who has appeared in the town square for 3 days saying nothing finally speaks and she tells of the arrival of a mysterious conqueror, warning “The city of Masterless men will take a master, there will be shouting then, blood after.”

A debate ensues where the people must decide how much of their freedom they are willing to risk for a sense of security from a mysterious conqueror. The Fall of the City is a wonderful radio piece, speaking directly to the issues and political choices we face today. The timeless power of poetry and the spoken word meet in this verse drama written especially for radio by this Pulitzer Prize-winning author.

The timely nature of this story inspired us to re-imagine the piece, using the entire script and a brilliant modern sound design by Marc Rose we feel this is our best work to date. Watch for more MacLeish to follow next year.

Willamette Radio Cast and Credits

Original Music by Marc Rose
Recorded by Robert Kowal

Produced and directed by Sam A. Mowry

Starring:
Sam A. Mowry, Chris Porter, Linda Goertz, William S. Gregory, Holly Spenser, Tim McKennie, Ricardo Delgado, Mark Homayoun, Adam S. Moore and Atticus Welles Mowry

Sound Design and engineering by Marc Rose
Recording by Robert Kowal and Michael Gandsey
Foley conductor Martin Gallagher
Assistant Director William S. Gregory
Produced by Sam A. Mowry, Robert Kowal and Marc Rose
Co-Producer Cynthia McGean

Fall of the City was recorded at PCC Sylvainia in Portland, OR.

Special Thanks to Dan Hayes and Mike Chapman, Mary Kowal, Rob Cannon, Transdemsional Media, T2 Audio, Dry Smoke and Whispers, Dmae Roberts, The McMenamins Empire, XM Satellite Radio, Marge Lunan, Tom and Doris McGean, Margaret Howland and Orson Welles.

In loving memory of Dick Mowry

Fall of the City is a copyrighted work produced with the permission of the Estate of Archibald MacLeish.

Hiro and Liling

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Hiro & Liling is inspired by Japanese folklore, this original love story by Kristina Armetta unfolds as an old man teaches his grandchild the legend of an ancient rock formation. In Armetta’s simple, lyrical language the grandfather traces the relationship between a war-hardened Japanese General and a young Chinese girl orphaned by his troops. At once poignant and hopeful, potent and reflective, the piece represents some of the best work to come out of WRW’s 2004 Writers On-the-air Workshop.

Willamette Radio Cast and Credits

Chris Porter, Janet Penner, Genevieve Winters, David Loftus, Atticus Welles Mowry and Sam A. Mowry.

Little One / Old Lady Nara – Laura Faye Smith

Written by Kristina Armetta

Original Music by Peter Armetta

Recorded by Robert Kowal

The Writers on the Air Workshop is directed by Cynthia McGean

Produced and directed by Sam A. Mowry

Special Thanks: KBOO, broadcast at 90.7 on your FM dial and is simulcast over the World Wide Web at http://www.kboo.fm/index.php.

Flash Gordon 1935 and Dry Smoke & Whispers Holodio Theater

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Where: Mack theater
When: 2:30pm Saturday, May 15th, 2004.

The Willamette Radio Workshop is proud to return to McMenamins UFO Festival for its 5th year. Last year we presented Orson Welles’ War of the Worlds, this year, join us for two new productions from the Workshop. First on the bill Flash Gordon 1935: Episode #3, join Flash, Dale and Dr. Zarkov as they travel to the planet Mongo. Live sound effects and music will take you back to those thrilling days of yesteryear, when all you needed for a trip to Mars was a glowing Philco and a rug in front of it to dream on.

Next the present state of Science Fiction is represented by Dry Smoke & Whispers Holodio Theater: The Jewel, featuring Emile Song, Special Detective. Dry Smoke & Whispers has been broadcast across the country on more than 100 public radio stations for the last 20 years and is now beginning a new series of adventures on XM Satellite Radio. WRW is lucky to have partnered with Marc Rose and Jerrel McQuen To create the first live production of Dry Smoke & Whispers.

Dry Smoke and Whispers Holodio Theatre sweeps you into the interstellar intrigue of another dimension. Emille Song, Special Detective, a Telepath living on the vigilante fringe of a Future Society, battles the hitmen of a technopolis underworld, heartless galactic corporations, and ruthless Secret Societies. With his trusted partner, Prof. Durrick Henchard, weapons expert, they face a bewildering gauntlet of foes, in cinematic adventures that will entertain, surprise and mystify. DSW currently airs on XM Radio, and community radio stations across the country. Past seasons are available via its website: www.drysmoke.com

This is a special world premiere presentation called The Jewel, transmigrating you to a misbegotten corner of an alien universe, to bear witness to a thought-provoking drama of naked avarice and noble sacrifice.

We close our program with Flash Gordon 1935: Episode #4, this gives you the feel of an actual serial, cliff hangers and payoffs for everyone as Flash Meets Ming the Merciless and Ming’s daughter falls hard for the adventurer from the distant planet Earth. If you’re a fan of Sci-fi, Old Time Radio or just need some serious fun to distract you from the more pressing issues of the day, check out Willamette Radio Workshop at the Mack theater Saturday, May 15th at 2:30pm following the most unusual parade you’ll see all year. The Mack theater is located in McMinnville Oregon, across the street from the Hotel Oregon. Visit the McMenamins Hotel Oregon 5th Annual UFO Festival website for more information.

Marc Rose
Producer and Creator of Dry Smoke, Marc is a collector of Psychotronic DVD’s and one psychotic three-legged Maine Coon. Voice Talent, Sound Designer and Musician for the Dry Smoke series, he also finds time to claim there have never been anything called dinosaurs, FireSign Theatre still reigns supreme, pop music should go “pop” once and for all, and is reassured by the fact that the FDA only allows .02% “retired” mafia hit men per baseball stadium hot dog. Marc has provided the pre-recorded Sound Design for “The Jewel”, and plays the role of Emille Song, the hero of Dry Smoke, in our live presentation.

Jerrel McQuen
Author of tonight’s play, and Writer and Illustrator for Dry Smoke, Jerrel is a total recluse who only goes outside during solar eclipses and impenetrable thunderstorms. Last seen muttering to himself about “@#$* deadlines”, Jerrel doesn’t believe there’s anything on the moon, that UFO’s are the product of Temporal/Electro/Magnetic technology pioneered by Tesla and exploited by various world governments, and that sheep should remain inside their pen, though many times they’ve seen the way to leave. Jerrel will attend the UFO Festival and the Willamette Radio Workshop Presentation via a telepathic trance while resonating in the Second Attention inside a secret recreation of a Tchotalan pyramid.

We are pleased to present our first partnership with these very talented gentlemen and look forward to many interstellar adventures to come.