Once upon a time, there was a Portland-based event called The Surprise Shakespeare Party. Every few months, people would come together and read a Shakespeare play. Except for the largest roles, nobody knew what character they'd be reading until they arrived at the venue.
Once upon a time, Jeff took that idea to have groups of Gamestorm and OryCon convention attendees read Doctor Who scripts out loud as part of Creation Station.
In 2020, the conventions were canceled and Jeff decided he could host a Doctor Who reading anyway, just online. Then he thought he could also do a Star Trek story. That led to him realizing that this could be done far more often, with a wider variety of source material, and posted as a podcast. All of which led to the creation of--
HOW THIS WORKS
The Unpracticed Disorganized Acting Company is a podcast presenting script readings. The stories are from pop culture series such as "Doctor Who," the various "Star Trek" series, "Firefly," "Batman," and more.
Jeff (that's me!) decides on a story and modifies the script to work for an audio format, color-coding each character's lines so they're easier to find. He creates a Facebook Event to announce the show. A link to the Google Doc containing the script is added to the event once said script is ready. (The script can be E-mailed as a PDF if someone can't access Google Docs.)
Those interested in participating E-mail Jeff (PodCascadia@Yahoo.com) with the title of the script in subject line. People who have E-mail'd Jeff ahead of time have priority over those who didn't if there are more volunteers than roles. They should include the name they want in the credits, too.
Only the narrator for each story--that's Jeff--is assigned ahead of time. Anybody who wants to participate but doesn't want a huge role (examples being The Doctor, Captain Kirk, or Mal Reynolds) can request that they have a relatively minor role.
At the appropriate date & time, everybody participating gathers online in an audio chat room.
At this point, Jeff randomly assigns the roles to the gathered thespians without regard for experience, talent, gender, or being related to him. Anybody who has requested only a minor role is assigned their part. After that's been done, the larger parts are assigned.
Recording begins and so does the fun! It is completely up to each person how they play their part.
When the story is done, Jeff stops recording and congratulates the cast on a job well done. Since there are no standards anybody has to live up to except their own, it's always a job well done.
Jeff takes the raw audio and edits it to take out pauses, fumbles, and interruptions. He adds an introduction, sound effects, music and an outro. Then it's cast to the Internet for all to enjoy.
Unannounced recordings are "TUDAC Two-Ups" when Jeff contacts somebody who’s already performed in the group to do a two character story with no narrator. Watch for these bonus episodes if you’ve subscribed to the show in your podcatcher of choice!
The Unpracticed Disorganized Acting Company does not make money off of this. We do it for the sheer enjoyment. We recognize that we own neither the stories nor the characters we are using.
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