Tales From The Radiator

Machines break. So do people. Both can be replaced.

Jax is a failing children's performer who has just received some bad news: there's a 50% chance that they're about to die. Their wife begs them to take it seriously, but Jax believes that one of their best qualities is never taking anything seriously for their whole life. Unable to cope with the prospect of their own death, they train a household robot to replace them in hopes that their wife won't notice when they're gone.

With two coin flips that determine the course of the play, this performance has four different iterations. There's a 50% chance it will end in tragedy.

Written by Alex Kingsley. Performed by Grace Griego, Jaymes Rodriguez, and Alex Kingsley.

Presented by Cannonball Festival. Hosted at Fidget.

Performances dates:

FREE preview at The Deep End August 26, 8:00pm

September 4, 9:30pm

September 6, 8:00pm

September 9, 7:00pm

For more information, visit unplannedobsolescenceplay.wordpress.com

Written by O. Wulf. Performed by Roanna Cruz.

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

O. Wulf is a writer and teacher living in Minnesota, where she enjoys hiking near Lake Superior, relaxing with her cat, and visiting the library. Her work has been published previously in "Minnow Literary Magazine."

Roanna Cruz is a bilingual Filipino-American voice actor based in Los Angeles. She loves

collaborating with creators to bring their characters to life! She’s professional, friendly, and

makes sure to always have fun behind the microphone! Since starting her voice acting career in

2020, her voice has been heard in video games, animations, audio dramas, apps, commercials,

and more. Visit Roanna’s website at www.RCruzVO.com.

Written by Len Klapdor. Performed by Michelle Goff. 

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Len Klapdor is a queer, autistic writer from the sprawling Ruhr region of Germany. Enthralled with the art of storytelling from an early age, she has worked as a story developer for gaming and theater projects for more than a decade before committing full-time to novel writing. Len writes speculative fiction from dark fantasy to solarpunk and published her first book, the sci-fi noir thriller "The Hand That Feeds", in 2021. Her short stories are published in Etherea Magazine and Flourish Fiction, her novel-length work is represented by Lauren Bieker at FinePrint Literary.

Michelle Goff: "I am a British voice actor who has been acting since the age of 17. I have been in many theatre productions and shows, both professional and amateur.

Having had my own YouTube channel since 2017 where I have uploaded over 200+ comic dub videos that I have both edited and voice acted, I have also used this knowledge and experience to further assist me in the vocal world.

I have provided voices for different video games and animations during my time as an actress. I have a unique, dynamic, strong, emotive and extremely versatile voice with years of acting experience in theatre and voice over. my normal speaking voice is clear, mid-to-low in pitch with a Northern Accent.

Easy and pleasant to work with, I will deliver work punctually, take direction easily and strive to make my work the best quality it can possibly be."

Written by Nicklas Berild Lundlad. Performed by Mike Cuellar. 

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Nicklas Berild Lundblad writes speculative fiction, essays and books. His latest book - written with professor Fredrrik Stjernberg in Swedish and published in 2021 - was called Frågvisare, or Wiser by asking and explored the philosophy, history and literature of questions. He has a PhD in informatics, an LLM and a BA in Philosophy and works at DeepMind LLC in London with questions about artificial intelligence, law and the future of society.

Mike Cuellar is a voice actor, audiobook narrator and podcaster from Marietta, Ga. He can be heard narrating your favorite weird fiction on The Weird Tales Podcast, and has appeared in @PatronSaintPod, @reignitionpod and the forthcoming @hgwontdiepod among many, many others.

Multiple stories by Griffin Raynor. Performed by Sammy Burchell. 

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Griffin Raynor is a writer and editor from Texas who enjoys colorful and often uncanny stories. He also likes playing games, making jewelry, and nerding out about scifi and fantasy. Griffin's other work can be found in Dark Cheer from Improbable Press and Volume Six of Paddler Press. They can be found on Twitter @griffinraynor.

Sammy Burchell is an occasional voice actor and podcaster who plays the ill fated Mel on Strong Branch Productions’ debut podcast, The Stench of Adventure. When not struggling to speak into a microphone she delights children as a museum STEM educator and spends time with her very good cat, Beans. You can find her at burchell_sammy on Twitter, assuming she figures out how to post on twitter before it becomes entirely obsolete.

Written by Sean Donaghue Johnston. Performed by Jason Cryer.

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Content warning: violence, death

Sean Donaghue Johnston writes speculative fiction and teaches philosophy at Niagara University and Canisius College. His fiction has appeared in Space Squid, Every Day Fiction, and Broken Pencil Magazine. He lives in St. Catharines, Ontario, with his wife Caroline and their two children, Atticus and Finula.

Written by Taylor Poulos. Performed by Beus Lunaire.

Content warning: reference to death.

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Taylor Poulos is a speculative fiction writer living in Brooklyn, NY.

Beus is from Madrid and living in Austria. By profession musician and Spanish teacher, among a million other things. Lover of theatre and poetry.

Dear Starlight by Delphi Foster. Performed by Katlyn Griffin.

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Content warning: disease, death

Katie Griffin: Actor. Drag Queen. Storyteller. Nerd. In her 22 years on the stage, Katie has worn many hats. She graduated from Indiana University with a degree in Folklore and Ethnomusicology, as well as a certificate in Theatre and Drama. Since then, she has been performing wherever the wind takes her through the world. She is excited to join the Strong Branch family in Tales from the Radiator.

This episode begins with a promo for Hot Copy Radio. 

Orikata by Briana Cox. Performed by Grace Griego.

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Content warning: death

Briana Cox was born and raised in Tullahoma, TN — a town inexplicably found on state maps. She is the oldest of seven children and a first-generation academic, now a Swarthmore College and Purdue University alumna. Briana started out as a prose writer. You can find her works in the Swarthmore Review,  Leaf~Land Journal, HCE Review, Bookends Review Best of 2020 Anthology, and the Studio Ensemble Arts Exchange short story podcast. She began collaborative writing projects as a proud playwrighting fellow with the TN Playwrights Studio in Nashville, Tennessee and has produced stageplays in Nashville and Beverly Hills through the Wallis Annenberg Center for Performance Art. Briana has since branched out into writing for film and television for independent studios and producers.

Grace Griego (she/her) is a mixed-race woman writing queer speculative prose, comedy sketches, and stand-up. She graduated from Swarthmore College with a degree in Theater and English, she has written and starred in her own stand-up show called Mixed: A Solo/Stand Up Show, she is the co-founder, producer, and lead voice actor of Strong Branch Productions, she stars as Stella Thomas in Strong Branch Production’s The Stench of Adventure, she stars as Eshe in Aster Podcasting Network’s SkillSet, and her short story, My Favorite, was produced by the Wallis Studio Ensemble in the Ensemble Arts Exchange Podcast.

Learning To Fly by Brian MacDonald. Performed by Oliver Smith.

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Brian MacDonald writes in the earnest hope that his words can bring joy and comfort like the books of his youth brought him.  He has returned to writing after a twenty-plus-year hiatus filled with teaching Intensive Special Education in both private and public schools in Massachusetts.  His years with his students have informed his worldview and taught him to take nothing for granted as well as to see the beauty in the chaos swirling in our minute-to-minute struggles in life.  Brian's work often includes elements of fantasy and science fiction as well as humor and fisticuffs.

Brian would like to state that he disagrees with Conan.  While he agrees that crushing one's enemies and hearing the lamentation of their loved ones is indeed enjoyable, Brian is absolutely certain that “Homemade Calzone” night at the MacDonald house with his wife, sons, and reruns of Leverage is the best thing in life.

Brian has been published in the House of Loki anthology, “Ghosts, Ghouls, and Ghastly Creatures” and the Knight Writing Press’ anthology “Mermaidens.”  Look for him and more stories from all his characters on his Facebook page: Brian MacDonald - Storytelling Scallywag

Oliver Smith is a Northern Irish voice-over artist and actor with two years of professional experience and over a decade of amateur and behind-the-scenes acting experience. Since their first role as Cleo’s Dad in ‘Cleo: A Pirate’s Tale’, Oliver has played a wide range of roles in indie and mainstream video games, audio dramas, and animations.

Oliver’s love of acting began as a teenager when they took up drama in secondary school, leading on to several roles on stage with a local amateur acting group. After joining this group, Oliver took up an interest in the behind-the-scenes running of productions and decided to move backstage. Since the age of 16, they have worked for one of Northern Ireland’s top event production companies as a lighting, audio, and rigging technician, and have worked on production for events such as BBC Proms and the Riverdance world tour.

During the lockdowns of 2020, Oliver was moved to return to their love of acting and particularly voice work. They have since built a custom acoustic-treated recording booth in their home and used their experience in sound production and acting to produce quality voice roles. Having built a solid foundation of indie work, they are now excited for the next chapter of their voice work career.

When not voice acting Oliver can be found on Twitter and Tik Tok, making comedy sketches and sharing cat pictures.

Craning by Toshiya Kamei. Performed by Rae Loy.

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Content warning: death

Toshiya Kamei is a genderqueer writer who uses they/them pronouns. They write short fiction inspired by mythology and folklore.

Rae Loy is all things geek encapsulated and a self-dubbed 'fandom quadruple threat' as a cosplayer, voice actor, artist and fanfiction writer. Rae's passion for voice acting ignited after gaining experience as a fashion model and background talent working on set and made the transition into voice acting in 2020. Rae continues to improve their craft by working with QueerVox and The Halp Network and hopes to bring more nonby East Asian representation to media.

“Not a Bedtime Story” by Sean F. Smith. Performed by Daryl Colosi.

Directed by Alex Kingsley. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Content warning: body horror, parent death

Sean F. Smith (he, him) is a magician, games designer, dreamweaver, plus writer. He lives in London, technically, with many cats and an interest in parasitoids.

Daryl Colosi: “My name is Daryl Colosi (pronounced Dare- ul Co- low- see) and I am 24. My biggest passion lies with animation and storytelling, mainly through both animation and comics, but I also am a fan of TTRPGs, where I mostly GM. I am officially going back to school in the fall to get my Bachelors in Animation.”

Written and performed by Alexander Sheldon. Theme song by Optima Noorani-Kamtekar.

Alexander Sheldon is an LA-based actor, writer, and designer. He was classically trained at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum and is a founding member of The Wallis Studio Ensemble, a movement based theatre company. He is also a playwright who has written many scenes and poems for stage and podcasts. With Strong Branch Productions, he was the Narrator for The Stench of Adventure, as well as a combination of other aliens.

Hosted by Alex Kingsley. Music by Owais Noorani-Kamtekar. Season 0 coming this Halloween.