Butterbird Christmas Debuts Live at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts

On December 7, 2015, we put on our first radio play, Butterbird Christmas.  This inaugural performance was given at the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts to a standing room only crowd.  (Click here to view the performance on our YouTube channel.)

With scripts in hand, the players read their parts aloud into wireless mics, accompanied by the Calumet Jazz Duo and our foley artists.  The gallery was decorated with 1950’s newspaper advertisements and photographs of mid-century scenes from Northwest Indiana, in particular, the Grandfield family (the inspiration of Butterbird Christmas).

           

The Family Folklore Players took a cue from the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Senior Players and set up their stage to mirror the radio plays that these pros perform regularly at the Chicago Cultural Center. Additionally, Koni Shaughnessy (of 90.9 FM), took us under her wing and explained the whys and hows of creating sound effects, she read our play and made recommendations for sound effects.

Members of Family Folklore Foundation Inc. and the Marshall J. Gardner Center for the Arts worked together on this mutual labor of love.  The sound system was fine tuned, decorations for Christmas and Hanukah decked the hall, Addycake’s baker, Mallory Keller, brought designer cupcakes in the seasonal colors represented in our inter-faith tale, the band set the mood, and the foley artists lined up their sound gear.  

The play began on time at 4 o’clock and the whole cast and crew did a wonderful job!  The audience was friendly and seemed to enjoy the humor and mini tragedies featured in the story. Sue Ross of the Post Tribune reported and photographed the playand the article appeared December 19th.  A great time was had by all and the event was a success. We were able to raise funds to support other arts endeavors for our community and very humbled by the out-pouring of support we received in the planning/ execution of this program. Now, we’re focusing on finishing the post-production on our documentary of the making of this project.

 If you would like to listen to our fully mastered radio play mix click here.

Radio Play Sneak Peak

We're so excited about premiering our first radio play! We'll be performing it live this Sunday 12/7/14 in the Marshall J. Gardner Center in the Miller Beach Arts & Creative District.

Here is a "Butterbird Christmas" Sneak Peak to wet your whistle. Our lead, Maggie, meets her terror of a 1st grade teacher, Miss Sespal.

(production services provided by Almost Fairytales )

Our founder, Dr. Meg G. DeMakas, was interviewed recently on PBS's "Eye on the Arts" program. She discussed "Butterbird Christmas at length with the host, John Cain. View their entire interview here.

You can RSVP for our Sunday premiere via Facebook at this link.

Announcing Our Cast & Crew

We are so happy to be working with such a great cast and crew! Look for these Family Folklore Players at their first performance on Sunday, December 7, 2014 from 3-5PM at the Marshal J. Garden Center in the Miller Beach Arts & Creative District in Gary, Indiana.

                                    Introducing the Cast for “Butterbird Christmas”:

                                               The Cast of the Family Folklore Players

Narrator                                                 Shavon King

Mom                                                      Beckey Swerdon                             

Dad                                                        Clarence Knight

Katie                                                      Lilly Haddox

Maggie                                                  Jianna Harrison

Sam                                                       Ethan Elliott

Nina                                                      Sydney King                      

Miss Sespal                                          Mandi Renslow                  

Susie Zipperfield                                  Lilly Haddox

Mrs. Zipperfield                                   Janine Harrison

Announcer/ Gramps                             Ron Nichols

Gammie                                               Connie Nichols                 

Grandma                                              Darlene Martinez

Grandpa                                               Ron Nichols

Dougie                                                 Gabe Messer

Puppy                                                   Promise Joy Renslow-Wiler

Sound Effects                                       Dawn Haddox

                                                              Seth Odenthal

These awesome folks performed their parts for us in August. We had to do it ADR style. ADR is short for Audio Dialogue Rerecording. Normally radio plays are performed with a group of actors meeting up together. Each actor gets his/her own microphone and it is done in a fancy studio. However, our budget didn’t all that for us. So, instead we recorded everyone individually. This means that our sound editor, Jessica Renslow, will go into each file and manually piece it together like a giant jigsaw puzzle! (We’ll explain the ins and outs of post-production in a later update.)

 

Casting Callout

Now it was time to market the idea and buy some much needed equipment.  Along with doing an email blast of the flyer to many community websites, the Family Folklore group went door to door plastering the community with the flyers.  A two week contract for advertising on the Miller Marquee helped bring in local voice actors!   

To learn more about making a radio play our Executive Director had lunch with a producer from the SAG-AFTRA Senior Radio Players who explained how to set up, practice and present a radio play. Then On Tuesday July 22nd at 7 p.m. two of our board members took the South Shore train to Chicago to the Chicago Cultural Center and enjoyed a radio play, entitled “Radio as You May Remember It!” 

Inspired and recharged we were ready to start our auditions. Family Folklore held them in late July. Several people came and auditioned. They also consented to being interviewed for our documentary. After filling out permission slips, they were videotaped being interviewed with our freshly purchased light kit brightening the room.