Episodes
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LAKE SONG makes its debut today on the Tribeca Audio Premieres podcast! Listen here.
Starting on October 13, listen to LAKE SONG on its own podcast feed.
Available everywhere, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and on the web at lakesong.fm.
Follow or subscribe to LAKE SONG to hear new episodes as they appear each week.
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Lake Song co-creator Nate Marshall talks about what Chicago poets have always done. . . and what they're *going* to do.
Lake Song, the epic new audio-drama series from Make-Believe Association, will debut October 12 as an official selection of Tribeca Audio.
For more, visit lakesong.fm.
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Missing episodes?
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OFFICIAL SELECTION - Tribeca Festival Audio Premieres. It's 2098 and the Republic of Chicago has what the world needs: fresh water. But with new opportunities come new threats, especially for a pair of siblings on the South Side. Can the people come together to save their city--and each other?
LAKE SONG is the joint creation of seven multidisciplinary Chicagoans. Combining sci-fi and music, politics and poetry, it's a collective response to our times, and a shared dream of our future.
Go to the new LAKE SONG feed to subscribe. Coming in mid-October.
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Following the cancellation of Shakespeare in the Park, Oskar Eustis talks about a utopian story in one of Shakespeare's plays. A practical guide to what a vision of the future can do--and what it can't.
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Hosted by Jeremy McCarter
Music, mixing, and mastering by Mikhail Fiksel
Graphics and social media by Carly Pearlman
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Can a new society arise from a cataclysm? Does humanity deserve a second chance? Chicago author and journalist Natalie Moore joins a virtual audience to explore utopia, dystopia, and the radical imagination while discussing the great Chicago dramatist's "What Use Are Flowers?".
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Listen to Lorraine Hansberry’s What Use Are Flowers?:
https://makebelieve.fm/flowersListen to Natalie Moore and Jeremy McCarter’s City on Fire: Chicago Race Riot 1919:
https://makebelieve.fm/city-on-fireCredits for this episode:
Hosted by Jeremy McCarter
Music, mixing, and mastering by Mikhail Fiksel
Graphics and social media by Carly Pearlman
Credits for What Use Are Flowers?:
Directed by Daniel Kyri
Music by Mikhail Fiksel
Sound by Erisa Apantaku and Mikhail Fiksel
Production manager - Madeleine Borg
Stage manager - JC Widman
Cast:
Hermit – Billy Branch
Charlie – Daniel Kyri
Lily – Khloe Janel
William – Tevion Lanier
Narration read by Kiayla Ryann
Thank you to the Lorraine Hansberry Literary Trust for allowing us to produce the audio drama; and to the Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Foundation and the Poetry Foundation for making season one possible
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To tide us over until baseball returns, sportswriter Will Leitch breaks down the most famous athletic contest of all time, and a lively virtual audience debates its moral today.
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Subscribe to Will Leitch's newsletter:
https://tinyletter.com/williamfleitchConsider an actual tortoise vs. an actual hare:
https://metro.co.uk/2016/10/15/someone-staged-an-actual-race-between-a-rabbit-and-a-tortoise-6194091/Hosted by Jeremy McCarter
Music, mixing, and mastering by Mikhail Fiksel
Graphics and social media by Carly Pearlman
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The sky might or might not be falling, but the story that gave rise to that phrase is everywhere. In episode two of our series inspired by Boccaccio, Stephanie Ybarra and a group of fascinating people from all over the country reconsider the tale of the moment.
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Hosted by Jeremy McCarter
Music, mixing, and mastering by Mikhail Fiksel
Graphics and social media by Carly Pearlman
Join the conversation - @MakeBelieveFM
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Inspired by Boccaccio, a new series of conversations in which we share a story and invite a fascinating person to talk about what it means. In episode one, Martin Edlund of Malaria No More interprets the Zen fable about the tiger and the strawberry.
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Hosted by Jeremy McCarter
Music, mixing, and mastering by Mikhail Fiksel
Graphics and social media by Carly Pearlman
Special thanks to Maria Tatar
Join the conversation - @MakeBelieveFM
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A docudrama about the summer that ravaged a city--and remade it. Co-produced with WBEZ.
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CITY ON FIRE: CHICAGO RACE RIOT 1919
A co-production of WBEZ Chicago and Make-Believe Association
Written by Natalie Moore and Jeremy McCarter
Original music and sound design by Mikhail Fiksel
Executive produced by Cate Cahan for WBEZ and Jeremy McCarter for Make-Believe
Recorded at WBEZ Studios and The Revival, Chicago
CAST
Ayanna Bria Bakari - Mrs. Ellis, Witness
Brenda Barrie - Wife
Terry Bell - Ensemble
Eduardo Curley-Carrillo - Ensemble
Charles Andrew Gardner - Oscar Dozier, Eugene's Friend
Lawrence Grimm - Officer, Alderman, Minister
Francis Guinan - Motorman, The Chief
Sam Hubbard - George Stauber, Alderman
C. Anthony Jackson - The Reverend
Timothy Edward Kane - Eugene Temple, Dispatcher
Ryan Kitley - Homeowner, Husband, Minister
Tevion Lanier - Eugene Williams, Civic Leader
Al’Jaleel McGhee - Migrant, Son
Marcus D. Moore - Ensemble
A.C. Smith - Migrant, Father
Andre Teamer - Witness, Husband
Anji White - Migrant, Mother
Jacqueline Williams - Ida B. Wells
PRODUCTION STAFF
Casting director - Laura Alcalá Baker
Production manager - Madeleine Borg
Production coordinator - Erisa Apantaku
Stage manager - Heather Sparling
SOUND TEAM
Recording engineers - Adam Yoffe, DeShun Smith, Shelly Steffens, and J. Kyle White-Sullivan
Editing by Mikhail Fiksel
Mastering by Adam Yoffe and Shelly Steffens
Credits voiced by Melba Lara
Equipment provided by TechMagic Designs
Graphic design by Carly Pearlman
“St. Louis Blues” composed by W. C. Handy
SPECIAL THANKS
Adam Green; Liesl Olson; Cindy Abbott, Betsy Berger, Steve Edwards, Janet Gould, Alden Loury, Tracy Brown, Jennifer Bell and the staff of WBEZ; the Make-Believe Writers’ Room (Sydney Charles, Nancy García Loza, Nate Marshall, and Kristina Valada-Viars); Carolyn Casselman and Rima Pancholi of Paul Weiss; Catherine Allen of The Den Theatre; John Stoops of The Revival; Giselle Castro; and Robert HornbostelTo support Make-Believe with a tax-deductible contribution, please visit:
https://makebelieve.fm/support-us/
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Odysseus, the “man of twists and turns”, goes on five new adventures, portrayed by five amazing actors. Sing for our time, too.
To contact Make-Believe, email us at [email protected]
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Lost Books of the Odyssey
By Jeremy McCarter
Adapted from the novel by Zachary Mason
Music composed and sound team led by Mikhail Fiksel
Directed by Jess McLeod
Executive produced by Jeremy McCarter
Performed and recorded live at the Harold Washington Library, Chicago
CAST (in order of playing Odysseus)
Kareem Bandealy
Kristina Valada-Viars
Lily Mojekwu
Ian Paul Custer
Henry Godinez
SOUND TEAM
Sound designer - Mikhail Fiksel
Associate sound designer and audio technician - Robert Hornbostel
Recording engineer - Joe Palermo
PRODUCTION STAFF
Production manager - Madeleine Borg
Stage manager - Brennan T. Jones
Community manager - Kaitlin Fine
POST-PRODUCTION
Editing, mixing, and additional recording by Mikhail Fiksel
Additional sound design, final mixing and mastering by Joe Palermo
Graphic design by Carly Pearlman
Equipment provided by TechMagic Designs
Make-Believe theme music by Mikhail Fiksel
SPECIAL THANKS
Catherine Allen and The Den Theater; Brian Bannon and the staff of Chicago Public Library; Carolyn Casselman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison; Bill Clegg; Nancy García Loza; Nate Marshall; Kevin Reader, Max Temkin, and Cards Against Humanity; Chris Rooney; SAG-AFTRA.
PRODUCTION SPONSORS
The Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Family Foundation, for an essential launch grant
The Poetry Foundation, our lead season sponsor
Joyce Chelberg, whose generosity supports the work of Make-Believe’s actors
All our donors and supporters
To support Make-Believe with a tax-deductible contribution, please visit:
https://makebelieve.fm/support-us/
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Brer Rabbit, the iconic trickster of African-American folklore, returns in new tales by the poet Nate Marshall: It’s a whole new briar patch now.
To contact Make-Believe, email us at [email protected]
This program is dedicated to the life of George Terrell, a storyteller and enslaved man on the Turnwold Plantation in Eatonton, Georgia. He is one of countless storytellers with names that we will never know or get right.
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Bruh Rabbit
And the Fantastic Telling of Remington Ellis, Esq.
By Nate Marshall
Music composed and sound team led by Mikhail Fiksel
Directed by Wardell Julius Clark
Executive produced by Jeremy McCarterPerformed and recorded live at the Harold Washington Library, Chicago
CAST (in order of appearance)
Interviewer/Mayor/Tar Baby - Sydney Charles
Remington/Fam Bear - Osiris Khepera
Fam Wolf - Charles Andrew Gardner
Fam Fox - Kiayla Ryann
Bruh Rabbit - Al’Jaleel McGheeSOUND TEAM
Sound designer - Mikhail Fiksel
Associate sound designer - Robert Hornbostel
Recording engineer - Steve Labedz
Audio technician - Maddie DoylePRODUCTION STAFF
Production manager - Madeleine Borg
Stage manager - J.C. Widman
Community manager - Arrion JonesPOST-PRODUCTION
Editing, mixing, and additional recording by Mikhail Fiksel and Robert Hornbostel
Mastering by Joe PalermoGraphic design by Carly Pearlman
Equipment provided by TechMagic Designs
Make-Believe theme music by Mikhail Fiksel
SPECIAL THANKS
Catherine Allen and The Den Theater; Brian Bannon and the staff of Chicago Public Library; Carolyn Casselman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison; Nancy García Loza; Chris Rooney; SAG-AFTRA; Maria TatarPRODUCTION SPONSORS
The Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Family Foundation, for an essential launch grant
The Poetry Foundation, our lead season sponsor
Joyce Chelberg, whose generosity supports the work of Make-Believe’s actors
All our donors and supportersTo support Make-Believe with a tax-deductible contribution, please visit:
https://makebelieve.fm/support-us/ -
A brave girl's journey through a land of many monsters, adapted from a Mexican folktale by Nancy García Loza. Performed and recorded live in Chicago, followed by audience conversation.
To contact Make-Believe, email us at [email protected]
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Brava
A folktale con música
Script and corrido by Nancy García Loza
Music direction and additional music by Eréndira Izguerra
Sound team led by Mikhail Fiksel
Directed by Laura Alcalá Baker
Executive produced by Jeremy McCarterPerformed and recorded live at the National Museum of Mexican Art in Pilsen, Chicago
CAST (in order of appearance)
Young Girl - Ilse Zacharias
Father/Patrón - Christian Castro
Viejita/Cook - Ana María Alvarez
Walking Stick/Servant - Brandon Rivera
Guard/Soldado - Carlos Rogelio Diaz
Prince/Bolumbí - Eduardo Curley-CarrilloBAND
Violin - Eréndira Izguerra
Guitarron - Jeanette Nevarez
Vihuela - Laura VelazquezSOUND TEAM
Sound designer - Mikhail Fiksel
Associate sound designer - Robert Hornbostel
Recording engineer - Steve Labedz
Audio technician - Maddie DoylePRODUCTION STAFF
Production manager - Madeleine Borg
Stage manager - Jaclynn Joslin
Community manager - Jennifer Aparicio
Folk music adviser - Juan Dies, Sones de México EnsemblePOST-PRODUCTION
Editing, mixing, and additional recording by Mikhail Fiksel
Additional recording by Robert Hornbostel
Mastering by Joe PalermoBased on a folktale in Tales from Jalisco, Mexico by Howard T. Wheeler, published by The American Folklore Society.
Casting by Paskal Rudnicke Casting
Graphic design by Carly Pearlman
Equipment provided by TechMagic Designs
Make-Believe theme music by Mikhail Fiksel
SPECIAL THANKS
Catherine Allen and The Den Theater; The American Folklore Society; Carolyn Casselman of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton, and Garrison; Erica Daniels and Victory Gardens; Maria Hinojosa; Nate Marshall; Chris Rooney; SAG-AFTRA; and Carlos Tortolero and the National Museum of Mexican ArtPRODUCTION SPONSORS
The Chauncey and Marion Deering McCormick Family Foundation, for an essential launch grant
The Poetry Foundation, our lead season sponsor
Joyce Chelberg, whose generosity supports the work of Make-Believe’s actors
All our donors and supportersTo support Make-Believe with a tax-deductible contribution, please visit: https://makebelieve.fm/support-us/
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How can creative artists make each other more creative? As we count down to the release of Make-Believe's first audio drama, we talk with Monica Beletsky, acclaimed writer for TV and film, about artistic collaboration, the highs and lows of the TV writers' room, and the fable of the Town Mouse and the Country Mouse.
See Monica's thread on storytelling:
https://twitter.com/MonicaBeletsky/status/946479909903282177
See @edithdrod's visualization:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/16AMvLZhqHvX9KpwLRYmFPhuJ_Ez4SpaP/view
Talk to Make-Believe: [email protected]
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A preview of the first audio drama in our season of Grown Folks Fables, a Mexican folktale con música by Nancy García Loza. A brave girl faces many monsters. #muchowowwow #muchoguaoguao
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Michael Sandel, philosopher and showman, helps us prep for Season 1 by showing how it's done. Plus: the art of listening, upstaging Matt Damon, and the case of Grasshopper v. Ant.
Want to talk with us? We're at [email protected].
Want to support our work? Please consider a tax-deductible contribution here.
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Welcome to Make-Believe Association, a Chicago-based company producing new audio dramas--recorded live--and conversations about how stories shape our world. It's independent. It draws from the breadth of our vibrant city. And it's coming very soon.
