Karyn having a bit of fun in the studio.
As Karyn O’Bryant writes plainly on her website: “I read books out loud. Best. Job. Ever.”
And that kind of sums Karyn up in a couple of words. She’s an experienced narrator: with twenty-five years of acting experience, an English degree, and dozens of audiobooks under her belt, that’s perhaps no surprise. But what truly sets her apart is her energy. Her commitment to each and every scene, moment, breath. What sets her apart is just how much fun it’s clear she’s having. And it’s catching, which is why it was so wonderful to have her on set for EGA, giving Crazy Tom a blood-curdling battle scream that none of us will soon forget one second, then giving toon leader Vlad Portchkot an amazing Russian accent the next. Not to mention the fact that she filled in the gaps wherever necessary, bringing her refreshing enthusiasm for even the tiniest role.
Nathan studies the script between takes.
You might recognize Nathan Dana Aldrich from one of his several television experiences, popping up on shows such as Dirty Sexy Money and Ghost Whisperer, but we know him best from his excellent work as a narrator and session director here at Skyboat. For ENDER’S GAME ALIVE, Nathan took on the character of Taloe Momoe—an army commander at Battle School—and he literally brought us to the edge of our seats in those tense fighting moments, rallying up his fellow fighters/actors and bringing the excitement to the next level. And if you live in the LA area, well, lucky you: it just so happens that you can experience Nathan’s acting chops for yourself in Moskva, a play based on The Master and Margarita up at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica until mid-December. He plays Pontius Pilate. Toguro!
Kelly in the studio.
Kelly Catey is a young actress who’s trained at UCLA, Howard Fine Studios, and The Groundlings. If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, then you know that we grappled with the question of whether or not to cast children in some of these parts, but ultimately we decided to go with the adults for reasons of emotional gravity. Quite frankly, Kelly is one of the reasons why we felt 100% confident in that decision. Kelly is a key member of the Skyboat team; she lends her quicksilver talents as our Administrative Assistant, but she is first and foremost, a fabulous actress. In ENDER’S GAME ALIVE, she plays Girl, a student in Ender’s pre-Battle School classroom, and she’s able to harness that whiny elementary school tone with complete believability. Kelly played several other children as well, popping up in several scenes to fill roles as other Boys, Girls, Salamanders, and more. We count ourselves truly lucky that we had a handful of voices with the ability to be totally childlike, and Kelly is certainly one of them.
CAST LIST
Andrew “Ender” Wiggin……………….Kirby Heyborne
Valentine Wiggin………………………….Susan Hanfield
Peter Wiggin…………………………………..Paul Boehmer
John-Paul Wiggin……………………………Arthur Morey
Theresa Wiggin…………………………..Gabrielle de Cuir
Mazer Rackham………………………Richard McGonagle
Chamrajnagar/Fly Molo/Pol Slattery……Vikas Adam
Jayadi………………………………………….Samantha Eggar
Colonel Graff………………………………..Stefan Rudnicki
Doctor/General Levy……………………………..Theo Bikel
DeeDee/Server………………………………………..Janis Ian
Dap………………………………………………………..Rex Linn
Bean………………………………………………..Emily Rankin
Alai/Stilson……………………………………Sunil Malhotra
Mick………………………………………………….Kathe Mazur
Bernard/Dink/Carn Carby………………Jim Meskimen
Shen………………………………………….Taylor Meskimen
Major Anderson………………………….John Rubinstein
Bonzo………………………………….…..Christian Rummel
Pumphrey…………………………….……..Lisa Renee Pitts
Crazy Tom/Vlad Portchkot…………….Karyn O’Bryant
Talo Momoe………………………….Nathan Dana Aldrich
Girl………………………………………………………Kelly Catey
Have we mentioned that ENDER’S GAME ALIVE is available NOW?! (Yes, we have, but why not mention it once more?) Buy it today at Audible.com!
