Theatre New Brunswick will present an audio production of Fortune of Wolves produced by Big Noise Audio Collective. Series launches January 28.
(Fredericton) As the pandemic continues to keep theatre stages dark the world over, Theatre New Brunswick has announced plans to share a brand new, multi-episode podcast production of Fortune of Wolves, the epic Canadian apocalyptic adventure story by New Brunswick playwright Ryan Griffith. This new series produced by Fredericton based audio theatre start-up Big Noise Audio Collective, presents Griffith’s play in its entirety as read by a cast of 66 artists from various backgrounds, 65 of whom call New Brunswick home.
“Ryan [Griffith] and I dreamed up the idea of creating an audio version of Fortune of Wolves right around the time the pandemic began,” said Matt Carter, who co-produced the series. “The play explores our shared humanity using apocalyptic and supernatural themes and seemed to be an ideal complement to all the changes we were seeing in our world at the time. Plus, much of the story takes place in New Brunswick.
“There are a lot of unknowns in Fortune of Wolves, so it feels fitting to share this story now, during a pandemic.”
Fortune of Wolves made its world premiere on the TNB stage in 2017 and has since been published by Playwrights Canada Press. The play was written in such a way that no two onstage performances would ever been the same. There are 66 characters and actors are asked to role dice before each performance to determine which of the many characters will appear that night.
“For our audio production, we chose to use every character in the book,” said Carter. “Our idea was to create a project that could involve artists from all over New Brunswick. At the time we started work on the series, many artists found themselves without stages to perform on, or galleries to show their work, or any of the other facilities many artists rely on for their craft. We wanted to create a project that would bring as many people together as possible. This series was very much an act of community, when we needed it the most.”
The series features performances by actors and writers from the theatre community, but also comedians, photographers, teachers, musicians, and visual artists from Fredericton and around the province.
“I’m really happy with how it all turned out,” said Carter. “We’ve been working on it for about 18 months now so I’m happy to finally get the chance to put it out into the world. We received a lot of support from the community to make this show happen and we couldn’t have done it without the help of the whole team at Theatre New Brunswick who let us turn their wardrobe department into a makeshift recording studio. They helped us along the way from getting the idea off the ground to hosting dozens of morning recording sessions.”
Fortune of Wolves launches as a thirteen-part podcast series on January 28 and is being presented by Theatre New Brunswick. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts or on Spotify. Each new episode will also be shared at tnb.nb.ca.
Produced by Big Noise Audio Collective
Presented by Theatre New Brunswick
Director: Ryan Griffith
Assistant Director: Jillian Hanson
Recording, Editing and Sound Design: Matt Carter
Music by Eric Hill (Counting on Downstairs)
Original Artwork by The Details Design+Branding
Cast (in order of appearance):
Kat Hall, Jason McIntyre, Devon Luke, Scott Shannon, Len Falkenstein, Anthony Bryan, Elizabeth Goodyear, Megan Murphy, Jake Martin, Abby Paige, Sidney Hallett, Ryan Griffith, Darryl Mesheau, Thandiwe McCarthy, Kathy Mac, Jeremy Gilmer, Gilbert Boyce, Dillon Anthony, Annie Mulholland, Lisa Anne Ross, Ian Goff, Amanda Thorne, Natasha MacLellan, Robbie Lynn, Alexa Higgins, Julie Johnson, Ian Murphy, Ben Harrison, Victoria Urquhart, Natalie Sappier, Ryan Tapley, Brianna Parker Tarasco, Pierre Huard, Gary Weekes, Greg Shanks, Jason Roy, Maggie Estey, Naomi McGowan, Saa Andrew, John Ball, Bet O’Toole, Greg Everett, Matt Spinney, Kaitlyn Adair, Alex Rioux, Rebekah Chassé, Michael Holmes-Lauder, Ilkay Silk, Thomas Fanjoy, Jilly Hanson, Mark Kilfoil, Jennifer Houle, John Rairdon, Matt Carter, Clarisa Hurley, Mark Jarman, Josh Linton, Sharisse LeBrun, Marc-André Charron, Rebecca Tremblay, David R. Maracle, Scott Harris, Tania Breen, Hailey Trifts and Nikki Vigneault.
