Tag Archives: Hell

Dante, Tigers, & Tap-Dancing Demons, Oh My! Listen to THE DANTE EXPERIENCE

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The Dante ExperienceDan Brown in his latest book, Inferno, thinks he knows Dante’s Divine Comedy.

I. THINK. NOT.

Inspired by Douglas Adams’ The Hithchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series and Monty Python, the entire award-winning unpredictable and bizarre radio comedy series The Dante Experience is available to listen to online via soundcloud. All freaking 10 episodes! If you don’t know this work of mine, you are in for a treat. Listen below!

Produced and directed by Mind’s Ear Audio Productions, The Dante Experience follows a badly-managed attempt to instill a fear of the afterlife in the next generation of man. Robert and his friends were definitely the wrong young adults to choose for the tour, as his girlfriend dumps him for Mephistopheles the devil, his friend Susan forms an army with Julius Caesar to argue for the deads’ rights, and Steve seduces famous women throughout history. The afterlife is never going to be the same.

I hope you enjoy listening to my comedy series!

Notes From THE HONEYMOON, What Would Have Been the Last Part of The Dante 3

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While creating the scripts for Time Out Of Mind, the proposed sequel to The Dante Experience, I began to take notes and scribble ideas for the third and final part, which had the working title of The Honeymoon.

I always knew I wanted the series to be a trilogy. Where I saw the first part being the afterlife and the second being time, I wanted the third to be a little more personal, and less large scale.  For some reason I became fascinated by the idea of putting as many of my characters as I could on a boat in the middle of the ocean… and seeing what happens.

After sending Time Out Of Mind to Mind’s Ear and realizing it was not going to happen, my notes and scenes for The Honeymoon became… well… history. Continue reading →

Episode Two: Time Out Of Mind

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Episode 2 of

Time Out Of Mind,

 the sequel to

The Dante Experience

“The Mission Begins!”

OPENING CREDITS

Scene 1

SOUND: Of Heaven.

SOUND: Of Angel flying in quickly and landing.

MICHAEL: (out of breath) Sorry God. I got back as soon as I could. It’s me, Angel Michael X34267-1, remember? Of course, you remember I was just here…. Sorry again about all that- Rushing off and all. Angel Jenkins is a little nervous. Whew! It’s understandable considering the circumstances. You know the possible end of reality and all and… Well, let me tell you at least what happened with Angel Jenkins after he dragged me from your throne room. He took me to the mission room where General Joseph and Dante were waiting. And then Angel Jenkins cried like a baby. Continue reading →

Episode One: Time Out Of Mind

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Episode 1 of

Time Out Of Mind,

the sequel to

The Dante Experience

“A Whole New Mess”

OPENING CREDITS

Scene 1

SOUND: Of God’s throne room.

MICHAEL: Good morning your holy sir. It’s me, Angel Michael X34267-1. I know, I know you banned me from your throne room after the, ahh, incident last year. I don’t know how I can be blamed for the Dante Experience but… You’re making that face again. You’re making that face and so I know you are not happy and…

SOUND: Lighting!

MICHAEL: Whoa, Whoa! Come on! Let’s be reasonable here. Do you seriously think I would bother the big Guy if I didn’t have a reason? I’m not stupid…. Ok, I’m stupid. I agree with you there. But this is important. And there is a reason why I was chosen to discuss the situation with you.

MOVING ANGEL: Where do you want this stuff?

MICHAEL: Oh, great the computer supplies are here. Just set them up here.

MOVING ANGEL: Wow, is that who I think it is?

MICHAEL: Yeah, it is… Don’t stare, he doesn’t like it. Continue reading →

Episode 10 (the last one!) of The Dante Experience

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This is it, people! The battle at the gates of heaven is about to begin!

The final episode of The Dante Experience, the award-winning series produced by Mind’s Ear Audio Productions is up for your listening pleasure. You can listen to the episode here:

If you are interested in owning your own copy of this creation of Hell, please visit amazon.com (here) or contact Mind’s Ear Audio Productions via their Web site (here). Next week, I begin to share the scripts to the second part of The Dante 3– Time Out Of Mind.

Introducing Time Out Of Mind

I gave myself one month. Continue reading →

Episode 9 of The Dante Experience (including an interview with executive producer, Dana Dyer Pierson!)

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Today brings us the penultimate episode of The Dante Experience! What a long, crazy ride through Hell it has been.

Today, I am also proud to share an interview with Dana Dyer Pierson, executive producer and sound designer for The Dante Experience! So to begin you can listen to episode 9 here:

Share and enjoy!

Dana Dyer Pierson

Dana Dyer Pierson, along with her husband Joel Pierson, created the award-winning Mind’s Ear Audio Productions. They created such nationally honored productions as French Quarter, Children’s Zoo and The Dante Experience. Besides producing Dante, Dana also created the sound design; a series that included everything from a musical number in Hell, to a boxing match, to a TV talk show! Every time I listen to the series I am just floored by her work on the series.

What inspired you to work in radio?

I chalk it all up to lazy babysitting, honestly. When I was little and my older brothers tired of me, they would plop me into a wingchair, put some headphones on my tiny head, and drop the needle on one of their sound effects records. I was entranced by these random noises—and would unconsciously start creating stories to make sense of them. Thus, by accident, a sound designer and playwright was born. Continue reading →

You know you want to listen…

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…to The Dante Experience, that is!

I just created on Soundcloud a set list, which means all of the episodes are in one place and you can listen to all of them back to back to back. Here it is:

http://soundcloud.com/scott-d-southard/sets/the-dante-experience/

And like with the Dante 3 page, I will add a new episode each week. I hope you enjoy this fast and new easy way to check out episodes 1 through 8.

Now go to Hell… In a good way with humor, of course. It’s a comedy about Hell and devils and the like, see… Geez, I am having a hard time walking that line between humor and inappropriateness with this series…

Episode 8 of The Dante Experience (including an interview with series director, Joel Pierson)

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It’s Friday and today I have something special for you. Along with another trip to little ol’ Hell, I have an interview with series director, Joel Pierson.

So to start here is the link to today’s episode (8) of The Dante Experience:

Joel Pierson

Joel Pierson, besides being a very charming individual, is a writer and director of radio works. Along with his wife Dana they created the award-winning French Quarter and Children’s Zoo (You can learn more about those works via their Web site here). Recently, Joel has been working on a series of novels called The Messenger, you can find the books on amazon. Joel’s Web site is located here. Below the interview is an additional radio story for your listening pleasure- “A Camping Trip With Joe or My Search for the Meaning of It All.” It was directed by Joel as well. (The interview begins after the jump). Continue reading →

Episode 6 of The Dante Experience

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It is friday and Hell is calling you for episode 6 of The Dante Experience. Take the call, this is one of my favorite episodes in the series. Here is the link:

You can find links to the previous episodes (as well as read about the writing of the series) via the links on the Dante 3 page (top of the page, right up there^). And remember, you can find the series on amazon (here) or by contacting the production company that made it, Mind’s Ear Audio Productions.

Here is the next chapter in the writing of the series:

Moving Right Along

Frankly, I moved on.

While others may have left the Midwest Radio Theater Workshop that year inspired to make their own radio dramas, I left feeling like I had just finished a funeral and everyone else didn’t know the host was a corpse. The fact that a few years later the MRTW disbanded because of internal conflict didn’t surprise me. There was definitely a power struggle among their different heads, and each seemed to have their own vision of what radio drama can be used for. Continue reading →

Episode Five of The Dante Experience

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It is Friday and time for another trip to Hell. Here is Episode Five of The Dante Experience, the radio comedy I wrote that was produced by Minds’ Ear Audio Production. You can listen via this link:

You can catch up on the previous episodes via The Dante 3 page (link above). On The Dante 3 page you can also get more information where you can find the series.

Midwest Radio Theater Workshop

So I was busy into the writing of The Dante Experience, feeling like I had clear plan ahead of me for getting the work produced. Initally, I was more than happy with the idea of doing it on just the local Michigan State radio, I had no delusions of grandeur… yet.

Then I got the call from Joel Pierson and that changed in a hurry.

OK, to back up, I need to say something about myself and writing. See, at this point in my life I was always entering writing competitions- short stories, plays, screenplays, etc. If there was a competition and a reasonable fee for entry (not over 40 dollars) I would enter one of my work, cross my fingers and hope my check doesn’t bounce. Contests are a great way to build some name recognition and do something about the writing resume. Continue reading →