These actors are bringing suspense to your ears

In the days before television, people would gather around the radio and listen to plays.

Listeners had to use their imaginations and bask in the suspense of what would happen next.

Fast forward to 2022, and true crime genre has started to explode in popularity once again.

People are obsessed with learning about a series of mysterious events, and one Okanagan group is doing just that.

West Kelowna’s Kimberly Billinton created Where the Leaves Fall Purple, an audio drama that tells the story of university student Ben Miller and his failing true crime podcast, as he devises a way to make it popular.

“He asks his friend Janie if she’ll go missing or fake her own disappearance so he can document it on his show, and it works really well,” she said. “Ben and their friends are helping this podcast gain traction, but things go off the rails when Janie really does go missing.”

Billinton added the podcast has another element of mystery to it.

“The show’s also a show within in another show. There are two mysteries in it,” she described. “One, what happened to Janie, and two, someone is calling into a radio show telling the story five years after and saying it never was concluded. So, you also have to figure out who is calling to tell that story.”

The show has garnered positive feedback from listeners not only in Kelowna, but from all around the world

Billinton started the project a year ago to create a creative opportunity for actors who weren’t working due to the pandemic.

“I wanted to tell a good story, and I met someone who believed in this project and helped me make it happen and get actors working again,” she said. “We started pretty remotely, and now we’ve been able to come back together and record together.”

She said creating a sense of believability with the audience, and maintaining continuity are the two biggest challenges with a radio drama.

But at the heart of it all; defining the characters.

“It’s an ensemble cast and it’s really about what they want in their heart and learning about themselves,” she said. “Each episode our main character is going to accuse someone else as we go. Each episode should lead you to something while all the clues play in the background.”

Among the cast of voice actors is Aaron Johnson, who plays Ezra Hansen. Johnson described him as a very eccentric character who masks his real feelings by pretending everything’s okay. He ultimately gives the main character, Ben, the idea to do a podcast in the first place.

Johnson said performing as his character using just his voice has been an adjustment.

“I wouldn’t say it’s been super difficult to do, but it takes a while to go from presenting yourself on a stage and having facial expressions…to just one sense, which is hearing,” he said.

Unlike being on stage, Johnson and the rest of the cast have their script with them, which presents the vocal challenge of sounding as natural as possible.

“I usually have to memorize my lines and say them on a stage, but in the booth, I just look at the script and I get to read it because there are a lot of lines,” he said. “But it’s hard, because you have to pretend, you’re not reading off a script. You have to pretend that’s what your character would say, and you have to be genuine about it.”

Episodes of Where the Leaves Fall Purple are available wherever you get your podcasts.