Twelve Elves 'til Christmas
LifeLabNotes
You’ve got big plans. Worked out every detail. Thought of every contingency. Except one. “12 Elves ’til Christmas” is a story about a dream, a machine, and half a team. [Explicit -- One swear word, bleeped.] Presented by Life Lab Notes - field observations from the lab of Life in a storytelling podcast. 12 Elves ’til Christmas features the voice talents of Claire Barnhart, Keith Ferguson, Ernie Gilbert, Robyn Heller, Chris Mathieu, Phil Ward, and Silvie Zamora. Engineering by Phil Ward. Written and directed by Silvie Zamora. You’re always welcome over at LifeLabNotes dot com,...
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The New Kid on the Shelf
LifeLabNotes
Big news! Life Lab Notes has stumbled upon the remote meeting link and password for the weekly meeting of a certain local chapter of a certain group of elves. Obviously, we cannot divulge our sources. Listen in as Carol tries to control the bunch, especially Dibbles, who's in a mood. Featuring the voice talents of Claire Barnhart, Keith Ferguson, Ernie Gilbert, Judith Goldstein, Kristen Smith, Inger Tudor, Phil Ward, and Silvie Zamora. Written, directed, produced by Silvie Zamora. Please visit for more info about this episode.
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Whistlebottom - a trespasser's tale
LifeLabNotes
If a radio play and an audio book met at a haunted campfire to share a chilling account of mayhem that takes place in hell and the parking lot of a real estate office, it would sound like this: Whistlebottom - a trespasser's tale. Written and performed by Silvie Zamora. Battle March by Phil Ward. Episode album art by @jamahartart.
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Slow Cooker Chronicles - A Fable in Three Recipes
LifeLabNotes
Chapter Three: Desimmer (There’s More Than One Way to Make Hot Chocolate) Slowly, Cathy's been opening up to La Señora, but it’s going to take one more episode, one more recipe, to help her open up to herself. This is that episode. This is Chapter Three: Desimmer. Nerea Duhart as Cathy; Graciela Valderrama as La Señora; Phil Ward as the neighbour. By Silvie Zamora and Vanessa Espino, with original music by Phil Ward.
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Slow Cooker Chronicles - A Fable in Three Recipes
LifeLabNotes
Chapter Two: Slowvember (Giving the Seeds Their Heat) Part two is chock full of flavour and, like any good fable, metaphors. Cathy remembers a little from her last visit with La Señora, but will this month’s Tex-Mex Chile con Carne push her further away from herself?
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Slow Cooker Chronicles - A Fable in Three Recipes
LifeLabNotes
Chapter One: Crocktober (Or How To Make Chili Without Your Soul)
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How To Feel During the Holidays In the Year-That-Must-Not-Be-Named
LifeLabNotes
There's a lot of pressure to put out the perfect end-of-year podcast, that is the perfect blend of a thoughtful review of the year, a humourous look at life’s outtakes, and an upbeat toast to the future.
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To Gather, Together
LifeLabNotes
We’ve already been gathered together for months. It hasn’t been easy turning home into school, office, gym, toilet paper storage facility. We’ve had to bob and weave more than usual to make things work, and this year, the holidays will be more of the same, so we present a fun little audio fiction episode that won't spoil your dinner.
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The Backyard
LifeLabNotes
Just a few thoughts about how connected we all are, and how hard that is to see sometimes.
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Some When
LifeLabNotes
"What do you mean by this haunting of me?" Othello IV.i.14
info_outlineEach spring, Theatre of NOTE in Hollywood has a mini season of five 10-minute, one-act plays, produced by a professional team of actors and directors. And written by high school kids.
The Young Writers Project has been around for over fifteen years, which means hundreds of students have been coached by professional writers from Theatre of NOTE (in addition to working with their high school drama or English teachers) and hundreds of short plays have been submitted. But only five can be produced each year.
The choosing of which plays to produce is challenging and poignant. All of the plays submitted represent hours of creative work, and some of that work results in a deeply thoughtful and/or surprising piece for these students.
To honour these young writers and Theatre of NOTE and the Young Writers Project, I interviewed some students from a participating school. Ten plays were submitted from their school, one was chosen to be produced. I met with five of these kids to talk about writing, their voice, and not being chosen.