(Photo courtesy of John Muir)
Written by Colleen Bement, Editor
For those craving fresh stories to listen to, look no further than “Enter The House Between.” It is smart, expertly made, and very entertaining. Hours fly by without a notice when diving into these episodes. Get to know some of the creators behind this audio drama in Nerd Alert News’ latest interview. All episodes are out for our enjoyment. The first six dropped earlier, and the final three came out yesterday, September 13th. Nicely chosen date, guys! Catch it on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, Audible, and all major audio-streaming services. For more information, visit www.housebetween.com.
What’s it about?
After consensus reality shatters, humanity evacuates to mysterious sanctuaries known as smart houses. These smart houses allow a group of survivors to navigate the uncertain future of the Quantum-sphere. Six survivors are cast out from sanctuary. They find shelter on a seemingly abandoned farm. There, they explore parallel lives, discover hidden secrets, and witness the birth of a strange and mysterious child. The child may represent the next stage of human evolution. Meanwhile, a sinister cult leader, known only as Father, launches an apocalyptic campaign. Father has designs to impose, by force, a singular vision of reality on an infinitely diverse Quantum-sphere.
Colleen Bement: I am absolutely enjoying “Enter The House Between,” and congratulations. It’s entertaining, and excellent quality, and each episode leaves me wanting more. Who is the brainchild behind this venture, and how did you select the cast and crew?
John Muir: I am so glad you have been enjoying Entering The House Between! That means so much to me! The series is a child of many parents. I created the series based on my obsession with quantum physics and science fiction television, and so far, I write all the episodes. Tony Mercer not only plays scientist Bill Clark, but he has constructed the “aural” universe of the series and the Quantumsphere itself with rules and consistency, and great dynamism. His soaring imagination couples with my crazy imagination, and then our amazing cast brings the characters to life. Kim Breeding is not only a great actor playing Astrid, but a talented graphic designer, and she has created the look of the series — the logos, episode covers, and so on. So it really is a creative family, up and down the line.
Kim Breeding-Mercer: I’m thrilled to hear that you’re digging our production! John Kenneth Muir is the creator/author of the series and can tell the story better than any of the rest of us. It’s his world and we’re all happy to help bring it to life.
Tony Mercer: I’m so glad you’re enjoying the show! The world of The House Between sprang from the fevered imagination of one John K. Muir. I’d best leave the origin story to him.
Alicia Martin: I am so, so glad you are enjoying the series so far. John is the brainchild behind this adventure. He wrote the majority of the stories and continues to provide them! John did have great enablers in his life, though, and his fantasy came to be because of those individuals. I think it was a degree of separation kind of situation with the cast and crew. I think John found his producers and everyone came aboard because they knew someone. In my case, I came to the project because one of my college professors was involved in the original production of The House Between and helping fill in the cast. I was essentially a stranger to the group, but was excited about the premise of the show and the character, Theresa, I’d be playing. Theresa has become a part of me, and I love seeing and hearing how she has evolved over the course of the show.
CB: What is the atmosphere during the recording sessions? I did an audio drama once and we had SO much fun. No doubt, your set is far more professional (laughs).
JM: Oh my gosh, our recording sessions are crazy. They are usually not at all serious. We have people laughing, cracking up, doing impressions, and ribbing one another constantly. So far, Tony, our producer Kathryn (my wife), and I have directed episodes, and it has been an amazing experience putting the cast through these stories. We all break down laughing, and then we have to pick up the pieces. We generally do three takes for every scene. In Take One, we find where our characters need to be. In Take Two, we nail it down. Then, in Take Three, we have our play take — we try new things and see what lands. We all love being together, so doing this audio drama is a lot of fun, though also a lot of work. And a lot of time. Honestly, most of the hard work after recording falls on Tony, who has to weave magic from hours and hours of recordings. Fortunately, he has never let us down.
KBM: Without a doubt, being in the recording booth is my favorite place in the world. It is fun, for sure, but it’s also a challenging, gut-wrenching, collaborative experience unlike anything I’ve ever done. We ask a lot of ourselves and each other, with the goal of growing as artists and making these stories the best they can be.
You know the old cliche of the group project in school, where one person does all the work? Our process is what I think teachers all hope group projects will be like for their students. Everyone not only pulls their own weight, but holds a safety net under each other as we work. We talk and feel our way through each scene, give each other room to explore, and play (and fail, and try again). I’ve been moved to tears in that booth, and then minutes later laughing until my sides hurt. Our cast and crew genuinely love each other and I consider them family. You can’t spend that much time together, with your heart wide open, and not forge deep connections.
TM: Oh, we have fun. We’re blessed with a great group of people. We prefer to record as an ensemble, with all scene partners present, and that approach brings its own challenges, both technical and temporal. Hours can be long, the pace can be hectic. But we have fun.
AM: Recording is always an experience. It’s interesting for all of us to be in different places but performing together virtually. Luckily, most of us met our characters and each other about fifteen years ago, so the candor and familiarity is palpable, which makes it easier to fall into our characters. When we first started recording, we definitely had to make adjustments. I was used to acting Theresa as much with my face and posture as anything, but now I had only my voice. The same was true for all of the cast, and so we have definitely had to make adjustments as we became more comfortable with the medium and how we portrayed our characters using only our voices. If you think this first season is good, I think I can confidently say that the subsequent seasons are even better- not just because of the stories, but of the experience all of us now have under our belts. Of course, there are early mornings, late nights, and loud lawn mowers at times, and we are all human, so not every moment is harmonious and fun, but every recording session has fits of laughter, squirrel-like distractions, one-liners, and good times.
CB: I love that you dropped the last three episodes of the first season beginning on September 13th! I know the reason behind this, but would you mind explaining it to your fans?
JM: If you happen to be the fan of a very special 1970’s science fiction series, as I am, the date is of extreme importance. September 13 is the day the moon “breaks away” from Earth orbit in Space:1999 (1975-1977). I have seeded all kinds of references to Space:1999 in the show, actually. There’s a grading scale for psychic astronauts that comes up in the second season called the Anderson-Freiberger Sensitivity Scale. I am always looking to throw in oblique references or allusions to the series. I know the number 311 (the number of people stationed on Moonbase Alpha, comes up in one story).
KBM: John is a huge “Space:1999” fan (as are many of the cast). I’m sure he will elaborate on that. 😉
TM: In a cave, in Tibet, I stared too long into a deep pool of stagnant water. There, I saw the face of my father, long passed. After some immeasurable interval, the paternal apparition spoke to me, and said, “My son… On September 13th, the Moon will break away from Earth’s orbit…” Actually, I was thinking about the 20th. I’m pretty sure John maneuvered me into launching on Breakaway Day. Sigh.
AM: I hope you asked others this question, because I really shouldn’t be the one with the commentary on this. From what I understand, September 13 is “Breakaway Day” in Space: 1999. This is a big deal for John, who apparently treats the date like a major holiday. I’ll have to find out more about that- find out how he celebrates… Confession time- The cast and crew of THB introduced me to some of my first sci-fi and horror films and shows. I was a next Gen kid, and loved Star Wars, too, but the classics came to me much later in life. I have never watched Space: 1999 (because I am a baby, according to the cast/crew). If Enter the House Between makes us millionaires, I will retire, pour some bourbon, and watch all of it with John and whoever else wants to screen it with me.
CB: What can you tell me about the second season?
JM: We’ve already recorded it, and it consists of 11 stories, rather than nine. Our second season features a very different brand of villain from “Father” in Season One, and the episodes feature a lot of gamesmanship in terms of the mind-blowing nature of that villain. In Season Two, you’ll really get to “see” (or hear, rather), what a fully-operational smart house can do. It’s very exciting. We have a great variety of settings and adventures that this smart house manifests for the denizens. It’s a bigger, crazier ride than our first season. I can’t wait for everyone to listen to it! I will say, we shot the second season finale on our last day of recording together in that production block, and there were a lot of tears and emotions doing the climax. There was a big moment, and it was worth the build-up.
KBM: Everything blows wide open in Season 2. More action, more mystery, new and crazy locations, and one very challenging episode that asked us all to operate even further outside of our comfort zones, but which I think paid off in some great laughs and fun character moments.
TM: Season 2 will be far bigger, deeper, and stranger than anything we’ve done before, or that most have done before, I’ll wager. You may hear those same adjectives from more than one of us, as “bigger, deeper, stranger” became something of a mantra during pre-production. In the first season, we got our legs under us. In the second, we run. We run straight toward the incredible possibilities of our premise, and of this wonderful medium we’re working in. The word “epic” gets thrown around a lot these days. It usually just means that lots of things explode. But trust me, Enter the House Between Season 2 is genuinely (capital ‘E’) Epic in scope.
AM: The second season is the one I remember recording most vividly. There are lots of areas where our characters grow and discover things about themselves and their situations. The relationships between all of the denizens become more complex and you’ll definitely have those you are pulling for. There is no shortage of adventure either. What made the recording of season two so memorable for me was how we had to really stretch our characters. I’m not going to give anything away, but I had the most exhilarating time taking Theresa to new places in this season, in the way she is evolving, but also in the fun things I got to try with her. I think all of the cast would agree that this was a challenging and fun season.
CB: Halloween is coming up and you’ve written some fabulous books on horror films. What are your top 3 go-to movies for Halloween?
JM: My top three? I can’t do less than ten! Just kidding, I’d have to start, predictably, with John Carpenter’s Halloween, because it never ceases to scare me. Second is The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, which is wild and funny, and terrifying too. When I show that film to my students, I always tell them that it’s okay to laugh. The movie walks the line of laughs and screams so beautifully. And then for my third choice, I’d have to go with my favorite found footage movie, which I know is controversial: “The Blair Witch Project.” I know some people don’t like that movie, but for me, the ending, in that ratty old house, is a suffocating, tour-de-force of paranoia and hysteria. My blood gets pumping just thinking about it.
KBM: It is a tradition in our house that we watch “Trick or Treat” (1986) every year. That is in the #1 spot, permanently! The original Universal “Frankenstein” is also one I always love to revisit. It’s just beautiful. Any of the handful of Lovecraft-inspired films starring Jeffrey Combs; I love that man. 😍 Not a movie, but it is also a personal tradition for me to listen to Jeff Wayne’s “The War of the Worlds” (1978) every October.
TM: Frankenstein (1931), Black Sabbath (1963), and Trick or Treat (1986)
“Enter The House Between” Cast and Crew:
Cast:
- Kim Breeding-Mercer as Astrid
- Alicia Martin as Theresa
- Jim Blanton as Arlo
- Tony Mercer as Bill
- Craig Eckrich as Sgt. Brick
- Chris Martin as TJ
- Leslie Cossor as Eris
- John Kenneth Muir as Sam
-
Credits:
- Written and Created by John Kenneth Muir
- Produced by Joe Maddrey and Tony Mercer
- Edited, Designed, and Mixed by Tony Mercer
- Title Theme and Original Music by TKU
- Directed by John Kenneth Muir
More on John, Kim, Tony, and Alicia!
As Writer, Director, and Producer of this amazing independent audio drama, John Muir is the ideal creator. 15 years ago, his web series, “The House Between” entertained audiences, and now he follows up that brilliance with “Enter The House Between.” Muir is the award-winning author of Horror Films of the 1970s, Horror Films of the 1980s, The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film and Television, and The X-Files FAQ, and the creator of the web series, “The House Between.” His blog, Reflections on Film and Television, was named one of the 100 best film sites on the net in 2010, and his book is Horror Films of 2000 – 2009 which was highly recommended by the Library Journal.
Kim Breeding-Mercer has used nearly every mode of artistic expression she knows in her work on Enter the House Between, drawing on her background in theater and music as well as her day-job skills of writing and design. She loves that this show and its cast and crew push her, and each other, to continue to grow and try new things. She lives in Virginia with her husband, daughter, dog, and grand-snake.
Tony Mercer gets pulled away from editing and sound design two or three times a year to say words. He sincerely hopes you like the words.
Alicia Martin (Ravenclaw) is an Operations Manager for a corporation by day, slinger of indoor plants on nights and weekends, mother to three little boys (Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw) and wife to one adult male (Slytherin). She is also the provider of food and occasional snuggles to three cats and a dog. In her abundance of spare time, Alicia enjoys slipping into the character of Theresa Melita for the web and audio series, Enter the House Between. She enjoys watching Star Wars and anime, and dreams of one day playing a Disney villain or a professor at Hogwarts.
Again, catch “Enter The House Between” on Spotify, YouTube, Apple, Audible, and all major audio-streaming services. For more information, visit the website.
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