Dramatic Reading Suggestions

Plays and other dramatic works
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Elizabby
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Post by Elizabby »

I think before anyone gets too excited, you need someone to commit to BC the project - that's usually the limiting factor. I personally have three fully scripted novels and a short story collection ready to launch - but no space!

I think the Good Practice guide suggests getting a BC, a narrator and an editor lined up first, before trying to get up a new DR.
LikeManyWaters
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Post by LikeManyWaters »

benderca wrote: February 13th, 2018, 2:10 pm
Excellent! That's three...
Actually that’s still two. :) I should have been clearer. I currently have zero experience doing any recording. Still learning “the ropes” here. Hopefully someone who knows how will be interested. The most I could hope to do eventually is PL and I haven’t learned that yet either. (It’s NEVER quiet enough around our house for recording) LOL

But it is a great book... just wanted to suggest it...
Last edited by LikeManyWaters on February 13th, 2018, 10:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.
April
annise
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Post by annise »

Backing up Beth's statement - attempting to cast a project at this stage is very premature . And more likely to discourage a potentential BC than encourage one :D
Until such time that an experienced BC has decided that they want to spend 2 or 3 years committed to the project it does not exist. DR are more difficult than a normal project and take longer to complete and require a long term commitment from BC, editor, and proof listener.

Anne
benderca
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Post by benderca »

Elizabby wrote: February 13th, 2018, 5:34 pm I think before anyone gets too excited, you need someone to commit to BC the project - that's usually the limiting factor. I personally have three fully scripted novels and a short story collection ready to launch - but no space!

I think the Good Practice guide suggests getting a BC, a narrator and an editor lined up first, before trying to get up a new DR.
No worries. I have more than enough to do right now and am in no hurry. I just thought I'd express my interest to narrate (maybe to motivate a potential BC to look at it). I read it half way through, and as an actor and an avid e-book listener, I think it would be more interesting as a DR than a solo. The characters are diverse and interesting. I understand that a solo project would be much less complicated and time-consuming, but for me it's not so much fun. I enjoy the collaborative projects and I'm here for the fun! So if any BC wants to pick up this project, I'm in! (I'm sure I'll want to BC a book eventually, but as of now, I can't commit the time).
annise wrote: February 13th, 2018, 10:05 pm Backing up Beth's statement - attempting to cast a project at this stage is very premature . And more likely to discourage a potentential BC than encourage one :D
Until such time that an experienced BC has decided that they want to spend 2 or 3 years committed to the project it does not exist. DR are more difficult than a normal project and take longer to complete and require a long term commitment from BC, editor, and proof listener.

Anne
I thought expressing my willingness to narrate and make scripts would motivate rather than discourage a potential BC (less work for her/him). While I don't get the logic, I'll take your word for it.

I think this book is worth doing. I'd never heard of Maria Thompson Daviess before, but from what I've read so far in this book, I wouldn't want her works to fade into the abyss of forgotten literature. I also don't mind doing it gradually (I'd have to if I were to narrate). I also don't mind reading other parts if someone else wanted to narrate. If someone wants to read this book solo, then I could help PL. I'm just throwing a general "I'm interested in participating" vibe out there for someone to pick up on.
silverquill
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Post by silverquill »

Books done as dramatic readings are great, of course. Eventually, I'd like to undertake one. But, they are HUGE, and never go smoothly. I've participate only as a reader, but small parts and big parts. There is one I read a major role for that is still being pieced together after more than three years. I think that can be a discouraging factor in getting volunteers.

I've done couple of pieces in the one act play collections, just to get taste of the process, and have stepped in to do some editing in other projects. It just takes a lot of hands and voices to get the final production completed.

Obviously the BC is the key person and needs, as Annise said, to make a long-term commitment It is a challenge to pick up one of the projects in the middle. From my observation, it seems a lot of projects bog down with the narrator. People who don't understand the enormity of the task often just get overwhelmed, it seems. Often two DPLs are needed -- one for the individual parts and one for the completed chapters and work. Ah, and the editing is a huge commitment as well. All told, there is more work on the production end of a DR than there is in the reading, or at least as much. Oh, did I mention that we can't do anything without our tremendously dedicated MCs? :clap:

So, to launch a DR, a BC needs to take the reins and line up the major tasks. I think it is fine to put this out there to stimulate interest and offer to help in various ways. That might make a potential BC more willing to take it on.
~ Larry
annise
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Post by annise »

It's always hard to adjust posts to suit everyone , I'm well aware that the more experienced know that DRs are very long term projects, but when I first joined , I wanted to see something I had helped with in the catalogue , not sitting around in the forums for 3 plus years, so I try to encourage enthusiastic less experienced ones to be involved in something giving early satisfaction and then they can get some experience and maybe then run a DR themselves.
But there are no rules about what newbies read - and we get all levels of experience signing on, and enthusiasm is a great thing :D

Anne
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Post by mightyfelix »

I've been kicking around the idea of another Doctor Dolittle DR for some time. I'm reading through The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1154) right now, and I've decided I'd like to do it. This is the only Dolittle book that's PD currently for which we don't have a DR. It'll take a good bit of prep work on my part before I'm able to launch it, but I think it'll be a lot of fun.

Most of the chapters are extremely short, probably less than 10 minutes, so I think I'll combine several. And the story is told in first person, from the perspective of Tommy Stubbins, only 9 or 10 during the story, but much older as he is looking back and telling it. So ideally, I'd like the narrator voice and Tommy to have similar accents, if possible, since they are actually the same person at different ages.

If you're interested, let me know. Like I said, it will probably be awhile before I'm ready to go on this, but if you want to be involved, I can drop you a line when it's ready.
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Post by HannahMary »

mightyfelix wrote: July 17th, 2017, 8:37 am I'm toying with the idea of starting a DR of The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/708

If I start this up, it won't be until at least one of my current projects (probably Guy Fawkes) wraps up, but in the meantime, I thought I'd test the waters to see if there's any interest in this story. I'd be willing to narrate, and it would be nice to do a DR of the sequel, too, The Princess and Curdie. If possible, I'd like the same voices for both books for at least Curdie and Princess Irene. Maybe Curdie's parents and Irene's father and grandmother, too. I believe those are the only characters that reappear in the second book.

Any takers?
I see this post is old, and you may not be thinking of it anymore. But if you do pick up this project (which I think is a great idea!), check with me. I may be interested in a role like the grandmother through both books.
~ Hannah
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him" - Romans 15:13
Blog: Come Be Still
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Readers needed for:
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mightyfelix
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Post by mightyfelix »

HannahMary wrote: April 13th, 2018, 3:15 pm
mightyfelix wrote: July 17th, 2017, 8:37 am I'm toying with the idea of starting a DR of The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/708

If I start this up, it won't be until at least one of my current projects (probably Guy Fawkes) wraps up, but in the meantime, I thought I'd test the waters to see if there's any interest in this story. I'd be willing to narrate, and it would be nice to do a DR of the sequel, too, The Princess and Curdie. If possible, I'd like the same voices for both books for at least Curdie and Princess Irene. Maybe Curdie's parents and Irene's father and grandmother, too. I believe those are the only characters that reappear in the second book.

Any takers?
I see this post is old, and you may not be thinking of it anymore. But if you do pick up this project (which I think is a great idea!), check with me. I may be interested in a role like the grandmother through both books.
Thanks for your interest. I still think this would be fun, although in some parts, it's very narrator-heavy. I have recently launched a DR of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, though, and one DR at a time is quite enough!

Next year, the next Dolittle book will enter public domain, and I'm considering a DR of that one at that time, but I will keep this in the back of my mind.
HannahMary
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Post by HannahMary »

mightyfelix wrote: April 13th, 2018, 6:45 pm
HannahMary wrote: April 13th, 2018, 3:15 pm
mightyfelix wrote: July 17th, 2017, 8:37 am I'm toying with the idea of starting a DR of The Princess and the Goblin, by George MacDonald. http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/708

If I start this up, it won't be until at least one of my current projects (probably Guy Fawkes) wraps up, but in the meantime, I thought I'd test the waters to see if there's any interest in this story. I'd be willing to narrate, and it would be nice to do a DR of the sequel, too, The Princess and Curdie. If possible, I'd like the same voices for both books for at least Curdie and Princess Irene. Maybe Curdie's parents and Irene's father and grandmother, too. I believe those are the only characters that reappear in the second book.

Any takers?
I see this post is old, and you may not be thinking of it anymore. But if you do pick up this project (which I think is a great idea!), check with me. I may be interested in a role like the grandmother through both books.
Thanks for your interest. I still think this would be fun, although in some parts, it's very narrator-heavy. I have recently launched a DR of The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle, though, and one DR at a time is quite enough!

Next year, the next Dolittle book will enter public domain, and I'm considering a DR of that one at that time, but I will keep this in the back of my mind.
Yes, MacDonald is notorious for using whole chapters on narration. :-) Enjoy your DR ventures!
~ Hannah
"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him" - Romans 15:13
Blog: Come Be Still
IG: @storytime.with.hannahmary
Readers needed for:
A Rough Shaking by George MacDonald
TriciaG
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Post by TriciaG »

Deep in the recesses of the forum, we found a partly-completed DR file:
Way back, someone wrote:One suggestion for a text, is that we carry on with Freaks on the Fells. I've not finished editing what we did last time (with Sibella), but it was fun...

[links]

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/23505
Here are some quotes and information from the Abandoned Projects thread:

The files are located here: https://librivox.org/uploads/abandoned/freaksonthefells%5bNK%5d/
Linny wrote:First file...
8:17 a line is misplaced. Should be:
“Good-night, Jack, I will!”
End of Story 2, chapter 1
Story 2, chapter 2

The misplaced line is there. A simple cut and paste it in at the correct place followed by a spot PL will take care of it.

File 2 is PL OK.

What has been recorded is Story 2, chapters 1-4.

What remains is:
Story 1, chapters 1-21
Story 2, chapters 5-10
Story 3, chapter 1-2

It's 73k words so this would be a long running DR.
I wrote:Regarding finishing it up: one could probably just finish up Story 2 as a DR, I'd think, rather than doing the whole book. Then either Stories 1 and 3 could be left out completely, or they could just be done as regular group project work.

The voice credits: I'm thinking in the intro/summary we could just put that these were old files found in the cobwebby corner of our uploader, and that we don't have regular voice credits (or perhaps even catalog entries) for it. It'd be nice to put them in a cast list and give them section/catalog credit, but it's probably not required for such a unique situation.
Throwing this challenge out there in case someone wants to catch it...
Serial novel: The Wandering Jew
Medieval England meets Civil War Americans: Centuries Apart
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linny
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Post by linny »

In case anyone is interested in BCing the Freaks on the Fells.

I've started making the scripts for story 2. It's narrator intensive. The narrator is also the main character, Bob.

EDIT: Project has been launched here: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=70036
Kalilei
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Post by Kalilei »

I want to start a new project: dramatic reading of the Finnish epic Kalevala, Kirby translation. I tried to advertise for the editor and narrator in the Listeners and Editors Wanted -subforum but was told that was the wrong way to go about and this thread suggested instead. So here is my post:

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This text is PD, and can be found at Project Gutenberg. A solo project of it has already been completed here but I feel the text would render well for a dramatic reading. It has a wide variety of human characters of all ages, both male and female but also many appearances of talking animals, celestial bodies and inanimate objects, in one case even a beer.

I am a native Finnish speaker, so I think my skills would be best suited for the roles of BC and DPL. I will also make a pronunciation guide for all the Finnish names (that are quite common in the text). I have already made a color-coded word file of the PG text.

At the moment I am looking for willing people for the roles of EDITOR and NARRATOR for this project.

1) EDITOR: can be one or two people. While editing a DR is always a lot of work, I believe this project will not be the worst in the way of piecing together. The text is ca. 500 pages but is in verse so the actual amount of words is less than a book of similar length. Additionally, there is very little in the way of rapid-fire dialogue as the character lines often go on for a good block of text with some monologues being quite long.

2) NARRATOR: I'd prefer this was one person. But if no one is found, I will consider breaking the narration into smaller portions, which as such would fit this book (Lönnrot collected the stories from various folk singers). I plan on keeping the cast gender-specific but as there is no gender specified for the narrator, anyone with the will to commit to this project, fluent English voice, and the desire to put a little effort in their Finnish pronunciation (it's not that difficult, really) is welcome to sign up for the job. I mention Finnish in this context as the narrator will have to deal with character names constantly. I would estimate that roughly 50 % of the entire text is narration.

In case someone is willing to co-BC this with me, I am open to that option as well.

I expect that it will take some time before these roles are filled and all other preparatory work is done. So currently I am NOT looking to sign anyone up for any of the character roles. However, to speed up casting in the future, I will list and shortly describe major characters here. If narration/editing is not for you, but you would be interested in these roles, keep an eye on the DR board. But to re-iterate, they are not open quite yet.

Väinämöinen (mature male voice): main protagonist for much of the work. A primeval minstrel and culture-hero. Has the power of magical song and goes on several journeys, some for shamanistic purposes, others to woo maidens (in vain)
Ilmarinen (male voice): a prodigious smith and a companion of Väinämöinen. Also looks for a wife, and is somewhat more successful than Väinämöinen.
Lemminkäinen (young male voice): a brash, handsome young man, quick to anger. His temper gets him to trouble and, worse still, killed. He is resurrected by his mother and continues his reckless campaigns.
Louhi (mature female voice): the mistress of the north, also a powerful spellsinger who uses her abilities to gain power and wealth. Gracious when things go her way but great in her wrath when they don't. It is largely her daughters that the male protagonists woo.
Maid of Pohja (young female voice): a beautiful maiden, daughter of Louhi. Is wooed by Väinämöinen and Ilmarinen and becomes the latter's wife. Is most likely a composite character of several designers as her temperament goes through a couple major changes throughout the story.
Lemminkäinen's mother (female voice): always trying to keep her son out of trouble, with little success. Gives wise counsel but is unheeded.
Kullervo (young male voice): an utterly tragic character. Orphaned as young, of great physical strength but unfit for any work. Reunited with his family but in the end outcast by everyone save his mother and ridiculed into taking his own life with his sword.

------

A concern on maintaining the rhythm was also mentioned. My plan is for the narrator to make a sample verse or two and have other readers listen to the sample before recording and strive for that rhythm. This is more important for shorter lines within the main body of text (which are not so common) so the rhythm doesn't change rapidly back and forth. As for the more common long lines the character have, I don't think maintaining the exact same rhythm throughout the whole work is that important. The characters "sing" (no actual singing is required of the readers) and thus it is to be expected that they might have different rhythms. It should be noted that the reader almost never changes during a line (a row) of text.

The most difficult parts to line up would be the couple of spots where several people are saying a line. My initial plan for this is someone to first record the line, upload it, and then others can listen to the line while recording their own in order to match the rhythm. If this turns out to be too difficult, the process can be simplified so that a single reader is used also for the lines that have several simultaneous speakers in the text. These occasions are almost solely lines of groups of unnamed extras anyway.

My Librivox CV: have participated on several DR as a reader, with a couple of them being medium-sized roles. Have one solo project just about finished. Have started to DPL another solo project. I realize that this project is a large commitment on my part also and plan to see it through if any way feasible.
Looking for a narrator for a dramatic reading of the Finnish epic KALEVALA
Elizabby
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Post by Elizabby »

What a fascinating project! I'll have to go listen to it!

I'm not in a position to narrate, and I don't edit either but I hope you find suitable people for both and I'd love to take a part when the project is launched!
ZamesCurran
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Post by ZamesCurran »

Kalilei wrote: June 24th, 2018, 1:54 am At the moment I am looking for willing people for the roles of EDITOR and NARRATOR for this project.

1) EDITOR: can be one or two people. While editing a DR is always a lot of work, I believe this project will not be the worst in the way of piecing together. The text is ca. 500 pages but is in verse so the actual amount of words is less than a book of similar length. Additionally, there is very little in the way of rapid-fire dialogue as the character lines often go on for a good block of text with some monologues being quite long.
I can handle at least some of the editing. I edited about 2/3rd of Michael Strogoff, plus a few one-acts. (Sound editing is something I can do on a laptop on the train to work).

(and when it comes time, Ilmarinen sounds like an interesting role)
Truth,
James
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