Director's Notes – Episode 117

(NOTE: As always, Director's Notes contain spoilers)

Joseph and I first met in 2009, shortly after he had moved to New York. I was writing and performing in a theater collective called The New York Neo-Futurists. Joseph volunteered often with our tiny little company, and he and I became friends bonding over writing and theater and storytelling.

Our connection to the Neos has remained strong, as many of the voices in our podcast have come from this company: Cecil Baldwin, Meg Bashwiner, Kevin R. Free, Desiree Burch, Kate Jones, Dylan Marron, Lauren Sharpe, Christopher Loar, Erica Livingston, and Flor De Liz Perez. And in this particular episode, we have the voice of longtime Chicago and New York Neo-Futurist Lusia Strus as Missy Wilks. 

I know Cecil is America's Greatest Voice, but Lusia might be a close second. She, like Cecil, knows exactly how to engage an audience with just her voice. There's such power and range, a ferocity to every word, that there have been times when I'm not sure if I'm laughing because she's funny or because I'm scared. Usually the former, as Lusia is also one of the nicest people I've met in theater. 

Since Episode 1, Joseph and I have had Lusia on our minds to get onto Welcome to Night Vale. We even named a character after her way back in Episode 61 (Lusia Tereshchenko: a ghost who coaches little league). So when we saw the part for Missy Wilks, we knew we needed to get Lusia. Just listen to the line "shot a guy once." It's damned perfect.

Oh, also, I mentioned that Joseph and I met way back in 2009 & we became friends because we liked talking to each other about great writing. Well, the very first book recommendation Joseph ever made to me was Sunnyside by Glen David Gold. The same Glen David Gold who wrote this 3-part episode (as well as Episode 37 – "The Auction"). 

Sunnyside is about Charlie Chaplin and the birth of American cinema. It's historical fiction, but also weird and quirky and profound and funny and beautiful, and I'd be remiss if I didn't say those are the exact adjectives we're always trying to achieve with Welcome to Night Vale.

Finally, I don't know Hunter Canning, but I know The Outs, and he's great. Hunter and Cecil are friends IRL. You can hear it so clearly in the opening dialogue of this episode. The banter–which is rare in our podcast–is quick and dry. Cecil and Hunter elevated the comedy of this scene so much with their chemistry.

- Jeffrey Cranor
November 1, 2017