In a back back back door meeting in the White House, the President and his most trusted advisors discuss a new conflict which is unavoidable, absolutely essential to America (at least insofar as justifying the ballooning Department of Defense budget).

This new conflict, nay, War, will be a War fought against one of the most pervasive ills that has cursed civilization since the beginning. A War on… Poverty.

Wait. Poverty? How do you attack poverty?

This tongue in cheek 5 minute treat was produced for an audio engineering course Fred recently took with Dave Moulton (a Grammy nominated engineer) with the University of Maine in Augusta.

Voted most likely to get Fred on an FBI watch list!

Credits:

• Written, directed and produced by Fred Greenhalgh
• Dave Marshall – The Man in Black
• Bill Dufris – The President
• Burke Brimmer – The General
• Hannah Kramer – The Analyst
• Johnny Speckman – The Pilot
• Joe Duley – Co-Pilot
• Emily Burnham – Anchorwoman
• Philip Hobby – Anchorman
• Original music – Barb Truex

This production was recorded in-studio at Mind’s Eye Productions for a University of Maine Augusta audio engineering class, Spring 2010.    Sound effects and additional music courtesy of Sounddogs.com and Soundrangers.com.

Special thanks to the UMA Audio 319 class for the spring of 2010.

This show is part of the open-source early works!

Access this show’s script

(Adventure/Fantasy)
Written, Directed and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh

What would happen if a troll still lived in the diminishing wild around us?

To explore that question comes FinalRune’s environmental fantasy, The Troll of Stony Brook.

An awkward teenager, Jamie, is driving home one night from a party when he hits something – something big. His pushy co-worker, Rick, talks him into going back to the scene of the accident… and what they find will change them both forever.

Download “The Troll of Stony Brook” (MP3 Download)

Cast

• Philip Hobby as Jamie
• Bill Dufris as the Troll
• Hannah Kramer as Margo
• Johnny Speckman as Rick
• Joe Duley as angry customer and radio DJ
• Paul Drinan as manager
• Chris Newcomb as Officer 1
• Emily Myshrall as Dispatch
• Christine Marshall as TV reporter
• Christopher Price as Sgt. Dailys
• Charly Duley as the housewife
• Ed Patterson as Officer 2
• Dave Marshall as pilot
• Janice Gardner as the trollette

Crew

• Field recordist – Randall Farr
• Mixing engineer – Tony Marino
• Original musical score – Barb Truex
• The song “Quantum Jesus” – Big Coffin Hunters
• Additional sound effects courtesy of Mind’s Eye Productions.

Recorded on location in South Portland and Alfred, Maine the spring of 2010. Additional studio recording courtesy of Mind’s Eye Productions.

Learn more about this show (including a wacky documentary!) by seeing our accompanying Behind the Scenes page:

Behind the Scenes – The Troll of Stony Brook

As Featured in the Wall Street Journal: Open Season, A Joe Gunther Novel.

An old lady tormented by lewd phone calls blasts a man with a shotgun as he walks in through the door, and Brattleboro’s everyman detective, Joe Gunther, is called out to investigate.

It’s clear that not everything is as it seems – the description of the phone calls and the dead man outside don’t match up.

And even stranger, the dead man and the old lady were jurors on the same controversial trial three years ago.

So begins “Open Season,” the inaugural Joe Gunther novel from Archer Mayor (THE PRICE OF MALICE, OCCAM’S RAZOR), an author who has earned lofty praise from The New York Times and Chicago Tribune.

Listen to the first episode of OPEN SEASON:

Credits:

Written by Archer Mayor, audio adaptation by Fred Greenhalgh. Produced and Directed by Fred Greenhalgh.

• Bill Dufris as Joe Gunther
• Christopher Price as Patrol Officer, Patrolman, and JP
• Philip Hobby as Katz and Gould
• Burke Brimmer as Sergeant
• Kym Dakin as Reitz
• Christine Marshall as Mrs. Philips

Field recording by Randall Farr, original score by James Munro. Holiday music by Kevin Macleod.

Behind the Scenes of Open Season

(Suspense/Horror)
Written by George Toudouze, adapted for radio by James Poe

Part of the FinalRune/Mad Horse Old Time Radio on Location Project

Three men who tend the light at a reclusive island off the coast of French Guiana see a rogue ship adrift in the Atlantic. The reason for the derelict ship soon becomes obvious – it has been overrun by hundreds of thousands of ferocious ship’s rats.

The rats land on the isle and soon we are in for a claustrophobic tale of terror as the three men struggle to keep their minds from cracking under the pressure of thousands and thousands of squeaking, scratching, hungry rats.

Running Time: 24 minutes

“Three Skeleton Key” is among the most famous of old time radio tales, and making something anew here was a challenge. FinalRune’s approach was to take a group of talented actors from the Mad Horse Theater Company and recording them in and around a real lighthouse to enhance the acoustic reality and physicality of the performance.

Many people have chronicled how much this story scared the bejesus out of theme when they were young. Learn much more about its history on the Escape and Suspense! Blog.

Credits:

Producer and Director: Fred Greenhalgh

Cast:

• Burke Brimmer as Jean
• Craig Bowden as Louis
• Philip Hobby as Auguste

Field recordist Randall Farr, Musical Score by Barb Truex.

Recorded on location at Goat Island Lighthouse off the coast of Cape Porpoise, Maine. Special thanks to the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust and lighthouse keepers Scott and Karen for use of the facility.

To learn more about the Mad Horse Theater Company, visit their website, www.madhorse.com

Behind the Scenes of the FinalRune/Mad Horse Old Time Radio on Location Project

(Suspense/Horror)
Written by Lucille Fletcher (Who Else?)

Part of the FinalRune/Mad Horse Old Time Radio on Location Project

A retelling of the classic from Suspense!

A bedridden neurotic woman dials a number and is accidentally connected to a call between two men who are plotting a murder. She becomes increasingly frantic as no one takes her fright seriously and time begins to run out.

Prepare to be spooked all over again in this thrilling adaptation!

Producer and Director: Fred Greenhalgh

Cast:

• Christine Marshall as Mrs. Stevenson
• Tootie Van Reenen as Operator
• Craig Bowden as Man 1 and Man 3
• Philip Hobby as Man 2
• Burke Brimmer as Chief Operator and Cop
• Barb Truex as Information and Nurse

Field recordist Randall Farr, Musical Score by Barb Truex.

Recorded on location in the Greater Portland Maine area the summer of 2009.

To learn more about the Mad Horse Theater Company, visit their website, www.madhorse.com

Behind the Scenes of the FinalRune/Mad Horse Old Time Radio on Location Project

(Adventure)
Written by Richard Connell, New Audio Adaptation by Fred Greenhalgh

Part of the FinalRune/Mad Horse Old Time Radio on Location Project

Adapted anew from the short story – a retelling of the story heard in the 1940s on Escape and Suspense!

Wealthy big-game hunter Sanger Rainsford falls off his boat in the middle of the Caribbean and finds himself on a curious island. He finds the mansion of General Zaroff, a Cossack who has a taste for the hunt, and will go to any extreme to keep himself entertained.

A thrilling tale with a lot of history (thank you Wikipedia)

Producer and Director: Fred Greenhalgh

Cast:

• Burke Brimmer as Whitney
• Craig Bowden, as Rainsford
• Brent Askari, as General Zaroff

Field recordist Randall Farr, Musical Score by Barb Truex, Classical Music by Kevin MacLeod

Recorded on location in the Greater Portland Maine area the summer of 2009.

To learn more about the Mad Horse Theater Company, visit their website, www.madhorse.com

Behind the Scenes of the FinalRune/Mad Horse Old Time Radio on Location Project

(Comedy-Drama)
Written and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh

An unexpected storm throws Norman D. Waits off his course to… somewhere.

The island where he lands is nice enough, with old sea salts that welcome him with open arms and a bar that’s always open. But as it becomes increasingly clear that no one ever seems to leave the island, Norman finds himself in a fight to get moving to some distant shore or remain trapped in this half-baked paradise forever.

Cast:

• Ed Patterson as Norman
• Bill Dufris as Rob
• Philip Hobby as Bob
• Joe Duley as Davey
• Charly Duley as Molly
• CarlaRose Dubois as Woman
• Kristi DeVille as Suzy
• Chris Newcomb as Patron 1 and Man
• Toby Paradis as Patron 2
• Adam Ferguson as Patron 3
• Wayne De Jagger, Rebecca Titcomb and Amy Titcomb as members of the bar

Original Music Composed by Barbara Truex

Audio Engineering by Randall Farr

Additional Production Assistance by Adam Ferguson

Sound recorded on location in and around Portland, Maine.

Special thanks

• • To Roger Gregg and Tom Lopez for inspiration and insight
  • To WMPG for use of talent and broadcast resources

To Port Harbor Marine and The Bloody Marble Collective for use of their space. To all of the other friends, family, comrades and creditors who made this production possible.

Behind the Scenes – Waiting for a Window

(Fantasy)
Written and Produced by Frederick Greenhalgh

Sir Grace was the most valiant of all knights, decked in glorious armor that glowed in the sun and a record of dragon-slaying and maiden saving on par with none. But a battle with a renowned wizard with ambiguous ambitions forces Sir Grace to consider things he never imagined, and face his greatest enemy yet: himself.

Cast:

• Narrator: Ian Carlsen
• Sir Grace: Philip Hobby
• Squire: Fred Greenhalgh
• Roland D’Arcanus, Imp: Corey Anderson
• The Maiden: Mia Perron
• Voices: Andriana Colucci

Sound Effects:

• Record on-location
• Supplemental effects courtesy of Sounddogs.com

Music:

• Original Music by Michael Beaudoin

Behind the Scenes of Fall of the Hero

This show is part of the open-source early works!

Access this show’s script