“Snow Globe” features the voices of Jennifer Henry, Allen Busby, Ann Sharp, and Greg Boller, with production by Eric Sefton, music by Katherine Whitfield, and original artwork by Shannon Sellers. The show is a Christmas fable for grown-ups; it follows an estranged daughter as she returns home after receiving what she believes to be a sign from beyond.

Chatterbox was founded in 2007 and has now produced 36 shows, all of which are freely available on our website. It’s theater for your ears, and it’s being created right here in Memphis.

“King Me” features Jason Spitzer and Michael Towle as two men who are… well, let’s just say they’re up to something. While they await a very important phone call, they fight over a game of checkers. “The Separate Self” features Lauren Rachel and myself. It’s a drama — based on a true story, believe it or not — about a man who is convinced he can stop machinery with his mind. But the power only works when he’s in mortal danger.

Both shows were produced by James Antoine. They feature original music composed by Matthew Crewse. Like all our shows, they’re available for free streaming and download through the Chatterbox website, www.chatterboxtheater.org.

Hope you enjoy them!

If you’re not in Memphis, or you find yourself in front of a computer, you’ll be able to listen through WKNO’s website. For more info, keep an eye on the Chatterbox website.

In a lot of ways, Chatterbox Audio Theater’s latest production is all about Memphis.

Dead and Gone is our Southern retelling of James Joyce’s The Dead, transplanted from turn-of-the-century Dublin to turn-of-the-century Memphis. While the characters and plot are largely unchanged, the new setting allows us to look at this classic story with fresh eyes.

In 1905, Memphis was as divided a city as Dublin (which was still under British rule when Joyce wrote The Dead). After being nearly wiped out by Yellow Fever in 1878 – 1879, Memphis experienced a population boom that included large numbers of rural workers and large numbers of freedmen, all lured to the city by the promises of industrialization. The resulting culture clash drove many whites to cling to Old South ideals. Racial tensions soared.

Dead and Gone is not explicitly about these tensions, but they are a constant backdrop to the story of an insecure Progressivist trying to endure his conservative family’s annual holiday party. Plus they are a nice parallel with the Nationalist/Loyalist tensions that underlie Joyce’s original. Listen for other Memphis touches as well, including mention of some local landmarks and historical events. Along the way, you’ll be pulled into a complex, funny, and ultimately heartbreaking story about the presence of the past.

Aside from its content, Dead and Gone is Memphis-centric in another important aspect: its execution. In addition to an extremely talented local cast and crew, the show relied on assistance and participation from many generous organizations, institutions, and individuals around town.

Thanks to Jerre Dye and Jenny Odle Madden, we were able to rehearse in the new Voices of the South space in First Congregational Church. Thanks to Bill Short, the recording took place in the Barret Library at Rhodes College. Chuck Taylor at Memphis Music / Yamaha Piano generously loaned us a digital piano — and Katherine, our musician, could not have been happier. I received insightful critiques of the script from Ed Frank, Curator of Special Collections at the University of Memphis’s McWherter Library; Barrett Hathcock, Assistant Professor of English at Rhodes College; and his colleague Brian Shaffer, Associate Dean of Academic Affairs and Professor of English at Rhodes, who also recorded a wonderful lecture on Joyce and The Dead. Thanks to Charlene Honeycutt and all the great folks over at 91.1 WKNO-FM, the show debuted over the airwaves in July.

So how can you hear it? Well, the next stop for our Memphis-based show is Albuquerque, New Mexico. KUNM-FM will be airing it on Sunday, August 16 at 7 pm CDT; you can stream the broadcast through KUNM’s website. A few weeks later, the show (along with Professor Shaffer’s lecture) will post to the Chatterbox website, and, like all our shows, will be freely available thereafter.

Chatterbox Audio Theater started in Memphis and has been producing shows here since 2007. Luckily there’s enough talent in the Bluff City to keep us busy for a good long while, and to keep pace with our ever-growing ambitions for the organization. At the same time, though, we’re already branching out.

Kyle Hatley, our Artistic Director, moved to Kansas City last year, where he’s enjoying great success as the Assistant Artistic Director of the Kansas City Repertory Theatre. Though several states away, Kyle remains an integral part of Chatterbox, and in fact has been producing work there for about a year now. I’m proud to say that one of his first undertakings in KC was to mount a live performance of the Chatterbox show “Six,” which ran during the annual Kansas City Fringe Festival; the show’s run was extended, and it was voted one of the “Best of the Fringe.” Kyle has since launched an ambitious three-part psychological horror series, “Surfacing,” and he has several other big projects brewing. As if that weren’t enough, he’s been able to align Chatterbox with the University of Missouri – Kansas City, where he now teaches a course on audio theater.

Dave Mickle, our Managing Director, is the third member of what I lovingly refer to as Chatterbox’s “Inner Sanctum.” Dave built our amazing website, which he now maintains and upgrades as necessary. He also takes the lead on a lot of business-related projects, including Chatterbox’s application for 501(c)(3) nonprofit status. So it was with great trepidation that I met with him over lunch a few weeks ago, after he confessed that he had “news.” His company was relocating him to San Francisco. (I guessed it was either that, or his wife was pregnant.) He’s since moved to the beautiful Bay City, but, like Kyle, he remains deeply involved with Chatterbox. In fact, he’s continued his work for us without missing a beat.

Sure, it’s a little different. We used to have Inner Sanctum meetings in my living room, talking for hours over beer and snacks. Nowadays, when the three of us meet, we’re each sitting in front of a computer in a different state — and, in Dave’s case, two time zones away. But it’s a minor inconvenience. Recent advances in technology (podcasting, digital recording, etc.) already underpin everything Chatterbox does. We’ve just added online meetings to the mix.

So is Chatterbox in danger of losing its Memphis-ness? Hardly. One of our upcoming shows, “Dead and Gone,” is set here; we collaborate regularly with area arts organizations (including Theatre Memphis, Germantown Community Theatre, and Voices of the South); we’ve conducted several projects in local schools; and we continue to offer a way for Memphis talent to be heard around the entire world. Collaborating across the country only expands our horizons. For example, Kyle and I are planning an ambitious Halloween project that will unite the troupe’s Memphis and Kansas City contingents. That way, Kansas City listeners will hear what Memphis can do, and vice versa. Everybody wins.

If you’re interested in keeping up with what Chatterbox is working on, you can sign up for our email newsletter on our website, and become a fan on Facebook.

Happy listening!