WriteOn Joliet presented “Shades of Noir,” an original radio theater production, on April 18 at the Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park Theatre, 201 W. Jefferson St. Joliet.
"Shades of Noir" authors and performers were Denise M. Baran-Unland, Mauverneen Blevins, Ed Calkins, Holly Coop, Steve Cordin, Cean Magosky, Jenny Russ, and Duanne Walton.
Director was Jake Thomas.
Production assistant was Rebekah Baran.
The story revolved an aging detective (Ed Calkins, aka Detective Ed) preparing to turn his business over to his replacement (Denise M. Baran-Unland, aka "Denny.").
During the transition, the two detectives debate and argue over how cases should be approached, and they reviewed past, present, and future cases in the form of various original poems and stories written by the author/performers.
Enjoy photos (mostly) by Timothy Baran of all the vignettes except mine for which no photo apparently exists, with more photos of Detective Ed and Denny to come on Saturday.
“CRIME SCENE”
Author: Cean Magosky
Readers: Edward Calkins
(Ed) and Denise M. Baran-Unland (Denny)
“DARK ALLEYS”
Author: Mauverneen
Blevins
Reader: Jenny Russ
Author: Holly Coop
Readers: Edward Calkins
(Ed), Denise M. Baran-Unland (Denny), and Mauverneen Blevins (wife)
“THE GARBAGE MAN”
Author: Tom Hernandez
Readers: Duanne Walton (narrator), Ed Calkins (Ed), Cean Magosky (Nelson Edwards), Holly Coop (Helen Edwards)
“SLEIGHT OF HAND”
Author: Cean Magosky
Readers: Duanne Walton
(narrator), Char (Steve Cordin), Marie (Jenny Russ), Mr. Montini (Mauverneen
Blevins), Mrs. Montini (Denise M. Baran-Unland)
“MISSING PERSON”
Author: Denise M.
Baran-Unland
Readers: Duanne Walton
(narrator), Cean Magosky (Kellen Wechsler), Holly Coop (Margaret Vollbauer)
(We have no photo of "Missing Person," so I'm substituting this photo Timothy took, which captures the mood of the piece, I think).
“UNCOMFORTABLE SHOES FIT
FOR TWO”
Author: Holly Coop
Readers: Jenny Russ and
Steve Cordin
INTERMISSION
“MISSING MO”
Reader: Duanne Walton
(Photo by Jenny Russ)
“THE FIRE PIT”
Author: Mauverneen
Blevins
Readers: Cean Magosky
(narrator), Jenny Russ (Ivy), Steve Cordin (Sheriff Bill), Duanne Walton
(Jefferson)
“THE WRITE ON ZONE”
Author: Edward Calkins
Readers: Duanne Walton
(narrator), Mauverneen Blevins (waitress), Denise M. Baran-Unland (newsboy),
Cean Magosky (Kellen Wechsler), Kellen) Holly Coop (Trudy)
“A DAME TO STING FOR”
Readers: Duanne Walton
(Beeman), Queenie Wasp (Jenny Russ), Bumble (Edward Calkins), Holly Coop (Vanessa/Princess
Mean Streak), Steve Cordin (Ultrabomber)
“BUMPED WITH A THUMP”
Readers: Cean Magosky
(narrator) and Mauverneen Blevins (wife)
“ARTIFICIAL HUMANITY”
Author: Jenny Russ
Reader: Cean Magosky
(Sam), Denise M. Baran-Unland (LEAH), Holly Coop (Carmen)
SPECIAL APPRECIATION:
Joliet Drama Guild for producing
“Shades of Noir and managing concessions and ticket sales
Henry Scherrer, for
sharing original songs (performed by The Black and Blue Hearts)
Mauverneen Blevins for designing marketing materials
Cean Magosky for writing the interstitial script
Coops Bowsmith and Holly Coop Books for donating cast T-shirts
Edward and Nancy Calkins
for donating cast supplies
Rebekah Baran for
providing one-stop checkout and overall behind-the-scenes support
The Raven's House for sponsoring twenty-five “Missing Person” booklets
B.L.O.C.K.S. for sponsoring twenty WriteOn Joliet 2026 anthologies and dinner for cast and crew
Paula Sanzenbacher of Garden
Keepers, Chicago, for a generous donation to cast and crew’s dinner
Roc City Bar & Grill
for generously discounting dinner for cast and crew
The City of Joliet and
the Billie Limacher Bicentennial Park Theatre staff and leadership for invitingus back for a fourth year in a row.
Joliet Public Library
staff and leadership for its unwavering support of local authors and WriteOn
Joliet in particular.
Janet Staley of The BookMarket in Crest Hill for providing an outlet for local authors and space for WriteOn
Joliet to rehearse after-hours.
We thank our families for
tolerating our oddities, the Zoom rehearsals, the late nights and early
mornings in front of screens and typewriters and notebooks and for
understanding that they can’t simply throw out a grocery list because we may or
may not have been developing a storyline in the checkout line at Target.
Finally we, the writers,
thank you for attending tonight and supporting local art. We are deeply
grateful.
BIOGRAPHIES
Denise M. Baran-Unland is WriteOn Joliet’s co-founder and co-leader and author of the
phantasmic BryonySeries, which includes the “drop of blood” vampire trilogy for
young and new adults, a Gothic prequel for adults, the Limbo trilogy, a
standalone werewolf novel, the Adventures of Cornell Dyer mystery series for
grade and middle school students, the Girls of the BryonySeries series for
tween girls, and the Bertrand the Mouse series for young children.
She has six adult children, three adult stepchildren, twenty total
grandchildren, two great-grandchildren, six godchildren, two cats, and one
corgi.
Denise blogs daily at bryonyseries.blogspot.com and is currently the
features editor at The Herald-News.
To read her feature stories, visit theherald-news.com. For more
information about BryonySeries, visit bryonyseries.com.
Mauverneen Blevins (or
Maureen as she is generally called) has been interested in both writing and
photography since she was quite young, never missing an opportunity to spend
time in the Library or the Bookmobile when it came to school.
An award-winning photographer and published writer, she decided to
combine both those passions into a children's book. Published in November of
2022, I KNOW That Bird! uses simple verse to identify each bird and is
illustrated with her own photographs.
Blevins has been published in a diverse assortment of publications
such as the Chicago Tribune, Woodshop News, Chicago Parent, A Cup of Comfort
books, and several anthologies. She currently edits, writes and photographs for
The Dashboard, a classic car magazine, and several other newsletters, publishes a blog, and travels whenever she
can.
A Joliet native, she is the
mother of three grown daughters and currently lives in New Lenox with her two
dogs.
For more information, visit mauveonthemove.com and mauverneen.com.
Edward Calkins is a
real, 60-something, proud of his Irish-heritage computer programmer and amateur
writer who has also spent his entire life working in newspaper circulation.
Years ago, Calkins invented a "ruthless dictator" alter ego, also
known as "The Steward of Tara."
With Calkins' permission, BryonySeries author Denise M. Baran-Unland
furthered altered him to create a minor character in "Bryony," making
Calkins the first Irish vampire of any significance. Of course, Calkins claims
"Bryony" is really all about him, so he’s held his own book signings,
which he is calls, "The Ed Calkins Tour." There must be some truth in
his sentiments, because Calkins' plot importance does grow with each novel in
the original BryonySeries trilogy.
Calkins is the author of three
books chronicling his fiction backstory: “The Fifth,” “Ruthless” and
“Recovering Ruthless” and is also the author of “Denise M. Baran-Unland's Irish
Genealogy.” He also shares his writings on the BryonySeries blog. Email him
at bryonyseries@gmail.com.
Holly Coop has made
touching hearts with words her life purpose.
Coop writes and publishes inspirational poetry, motivational quotes,
and spiritual insights. As the author of five poetry collections, Coop hopes
her words will stir hearts and inspire others in their purpose. Coop also
enjoys sketching, creating photo notecards and art, featuring her poetry.
(hollycoopcards.Etsy.com).
At hollycoopauthor.wordpress.com, Coop shares reflections, nuggets of
wisdom, and anything that comes to mind.
Coop resides in Joliet, Illinois with her husband, children, and furry
friends.
For more information, visit HollyCoopBooks.com.
Steven James Cordin is a native of the
Chicago South Suburbs. Cordin works in the financial crimes prevention
industry, which is how he became interested in writing crime fiction.
In addition to his writing, Cordin enjoys weightlifting and
working on business projects with his brother.
His crime and horror fiction can be found in several anthologies,
Shotgun Honey, and The Yard, Crime Blog. He currently lives near Joliet, Illinois.
Cean Magosky is a surgical
nurse, sometime musician, and history buff, He’s been a WriteOn Joliet member
since 2020, contributing to multiple anthologies as well as the annual WriteOn Joliet
radio theater event. He is also active in the story-teller community with Barbara
Eberhard’s Stories-R-Us.
Drawing on experiences in
theatre, musical performance and outdoor life, Cean’s writing focuses on
sharply drawn images, diverse characters and a strong sense of place and time.
Jenny Russ writes fiction of all
kinds ranging from general and serious to whimsical and peculiar. They are the
author of “The Heart’s Bone,” a fictional account of Tibet’s youngest
self-immolators, and “Whitewallsville: One Man’s Journey Through Tigers, Frozen
Birds, and Suicide,” a story of grief and redemption set within the walls of a
mental health treatment center. They also write for and perform in WriteOn
Joliet’s annual Radio Play.
When Russ is not writing, they enjoy petting dogs, smelling
old books, cosplay, and all things spooky, nerdy, or absurd.
Duanne Walton said:
"Writing is my gift from God and it's been with me forever. It's seen me
through rough times and brought me to WriteOn Joliet where I've found support,
encouragement and friends.
"I've also
discovered other talents as an intrepid videographer, interpretive dancer or
mime, and comic strip writer artist. I am blessed and thankful."
Check out Duanne’s
YouTube channel at 4thtroika (@4thtroika), where you'll see his recordings of
WriteOn Joliet live events along with a wide assortment of Duanne's videos on
varied topics.
For more information,
visit youtube.com/@4thtroika.
ABOUT WRITEON JOLIET
WriteOn Joliet is a
welcoming, diverse group of writers of varied skills, interests and experience.
The group includes professional journalists, fiction novelists, bloggers,
screenwriters, musicians and poets.
We promise a safe,
comfortable and supportive atmosphere to share your work, and constructive
feedback so that everyone can benefit from our shared knowledge.
WriteOn is a dues-paying
organization. The first visit is free.
For more information,
visit writeonjoliet.com.
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